09/01/2017 South Today

Hello and welcome Sal cat matches at -- to South Today. I cannot get over

the fact that grown adults cannot sit around the table and actually

come to some sort of compromise, agreement. Nine cases of bird flu

are confirmed in Dorset, and it is feared many more swans have died.

And after a mild start, we'll see some rain with wintry showers later.

I will have the weather for the week ahead shortly.

In just over an hour, another strike begins

by drivers on Southern Rail, which will affect thousands

of people across the South and South East.

The company says no trains will run tomorrow, on Wednesday or on Friday.

Southern is laying on 200 buses instead which will run

But the company has advised people not to travel on strike days.

And the drivers union Aslef is planning three more days

of industrial action on January 24th, 25th and 27th.

Tonight a special debate was broadcast here in the South that

looked at the issues behind the long running dispute on Southern

The televised debate pitched the head of Southern's

And for the two men on either side of the

long-running dispute over driver only trains,

There will be a second safety trained person...

Oh, let him speak, for goodness sake.

We will roster a second safety trained

person on as many trains as had them before...

Hang on a second, you need to let me finish.

A second safety trained person on as many trains as we had

What's stopping the settlement is the attitude of

the company towards changing the way the trains are operated, and

they are backed up by the DFT and Chris Grayling, and they're

The invited audience was largely made up of

Southern rail passengers, or former passengers,

who told their personal stories of daily frustration since the

By July I had quit my job and I had taken a job closer to home, losing

myself ?7,000 a year, but I did that so I could see my son

because you could not get me home in time to do so.

That journey time extended to 2.5 hours, it was

becoming absolutely impossible, in fact lead to the break-up of my

The continued rail disruption has meant we had to close

the business and we've actually lost our livelihoods because of this.

The Transport Secretary and the Rail Minister

declined to be part of the

programme, and it was left to Bexhill MP Hugh Merryman to

answer questions about the government's lack of intervention.

It;s not the government refusing to drive trains

which the independent safety regulator has decreed as

They could have put pressure on Southern rail with their track

It is hard for the government to come up with more.

The question may be whether the parliament has to give the

government more powers in legislation to bring this matter to

Not everyone is taking sides in a dispute.

Alison from Crawley has kept a video diary of her

She say she only has her fellow passengers' interests at

I cannot get over the fact that grown adults cannot sit around

a table and actually come to some sort of compromise, agreement,

As you can imagine, the disruption on Southern is one of the

issues we get the most feedback on, and here are some of your comments

And if you missed the debate, you can see it on the BBC iPlayer -

A strain of bird flu which has wiped out thousands of birds in Europe has

Nine swans at the famous Abbotsbury Swannery near Weymouth

It was first found in the UK last month with cases in Wales,

Scotland and a number of English counties including Gloucestershire,

where the wetland reserve at Slimbridge was affected.

Since New Year there've been further cases in Devon and Wales.

However, the outbreak at Abbotsbury is the biggest yet.

Confirmation of the presence of the bird flu virus

here at Abbotsbury Swannery came after ten dead swans

Nine tested positive for the H5N8 strain of the disease.

Obviously it's not a threat to our staff or

humans generally, that's been confirmed

by the health agencies, so

that is the good thing, but it is a very serious condition

And it does strike the young ones, particularly, very hard.

So far this winter, around 80 swans have been found dead.

Double the usual number for the winter period.

Tonight, government scientists are stressing the current strain

of bird flu does not pose a risk to people.

This is a very serious disease of birds,

but the good thing is it is

not causing any concerns to human health, so we need people to keep

this disease out of their kept birds, whether it is in their

backyard or it's a full-scale, commercial poultry farm.

At the start of December, the government

ordered poultry farms like this one near Weymouth to bring their free

range hens in doors and to take precautions in a bid to stop the

They say they are disappointed that Defra did not tell

them about the presence of the virus at Abbotsbury a few miles away.

We heard that from our vet that we liaise with and

Already, keeping their hens in doors has led to a

20% of what we normally get, so for us

financially, it is quite a big impact, really.

The measures imposed to try to restrict the spread of

bird flu will be enforced until at least February 28th.

The swannery has closed at the moment for its

They are hoping the bird flu virus will run its

course by the time the swannery reopens on March 18th.

The West Sussex car maker Rolls Royce says it will keep

its headquarters in the UK - despite telling workers last year

that Brexit would limit its ability to plan for the future.

1,700 people are employed by the company in Goodwood

Today it also reported a 6% rise in sales in 2016.

But the company's chief executive told the BBC he still wants more

clarity on what Britain's trading relationship with the rest

of Europe will be, after it leaves the European Union.

We are of course interested knowing that over 90% of our cars are

exported into the whole world that we are not face of any trade

barriers, that we see a free flow of goods still happening. That we can

exchange goods worldwide, that we can also get talent from all over

the world, 80% of our workforce is British, but 20% on international as

well, and I would like to maintain that.

Sailing - and Gosport's Alex Thomson is closing in on the leader

of the Vendee Globe round the world race.

Thomson - aboard Hugo Boss - is attempting to become the first

Briton to win what's called the Everest of the seas.

He's less than 100 miles behind leader Armel Le Cl ac'h.

The winner is expected to cross the finish line in western France

Football, and the draw has been made this evening for the fourth

Only two of the south's teams remain in the competition.

Brighton will travel to the winners of the third round replay

While a home tie against Arsenal will be the reward for Southampton,

if they can beat Norwich City in a third round replay next week.

That's all from others for this evening, we'll leave you with our

weather forecasts. How is it looking? It is set to get colder

this week, the weather starts on a fairly mild note would temperatures

today reaching double figures and a similar scenario tomorrow. Some rain

at times, some sunny spells but cold off on Thursday, that's when the

colder. To dig in. Overnight I, the breeze from the west increases in

the early hours, temperatures falling away to four Celsius, the

chance of solar showers but most places dry with a cute clear spells.

A try and a bright start tomorrow, but in the morning, cloud increases

and we'll see some rain. Not everyone will have the rainfall, a

lot of dry weather. Some cloud with some bright spells and a high of

seven to 10 Celsius, with the increasing westerly breeze. Through

and I'd come holding on to the cloud, some outbreaks of rain,

turning drier, so to start Wednesday, it should be mainly dry,

the odd miss patch, we're blows tomorrow night a lot milder, down to

around seven. The breeze will increase in the course of the day,

as start to change direction to a more north-westerly airflow,

dragging in some showers from the north-west. One or two showers on

Wednesday after a Tri-Star, temperatures reaching a high of nine

to 11 Celsius. -- a dry start. Bringing were at the risk of an

isolated shower from the north-west, and with that the chance we could

have some wintry nest in the showers, a mixture of rain, sleet

and even the odd snow flurry, but aren't expecting any accumulations.

Temperatures coming in, making it feel bitterly cold. Temperatures

could reach a high of 34 Celsius on Friday in some parts. The weekend

will remain cold, the wind will stay with us, wintry

precipitation we get will be of a wintry nation and Thursday is one we

have to watch out for. The weekend outlook, it stays chilly with a

northerly wind and possibly frosty nights.