:00:22. > :00:25.Good afternoon. Heavy rain has caused flooding in parts of south-
:00:25. > :00:29.west England, south Wales and eastern Scotland. Nearly 500 flood
:00:29. > :00:33.warnings and flood alerts are in place across Britain. The flooding
:00:33. > :00:36.has meant travel disruption for thousands of Christmas commuters.
:00:36. > :00:46.And the BBC Weather Centre is warning that there may be a lot
:00:46. > :00:49.
:00:49. > :00:56.more rain to come on Christmas Eve. In Cornwall, they arrested 12
:00:56. > :01:00.people along with their pets by lifeboat overnight. We have one or
:01:00. > :01:03.two people that do not want to leave. We have told them to go on
:01:04. > :01:09.to the first floor and take anything valuable with them. We are
:01:09. > :01:14.making a note of where they are in case we need to rescue them later.
:01:14. > :01:19.Extra sandbags were brought in to shore up the defences of the town
:01:19. > :01:23.that has suffered terribly from flooding only two years ago. The
:01:23. > :01:29.Environment Agency is monitoring the scene around the clock encased
:01:29. > :01:33.floodwaters rise again. It has fallen back at the moment. There is
:01:33. > :01:41.another band of significant rainfall coming through this
:01:41. > :01:51.evening, between 9pm and around 5am tomorrow. That is of concern to us.
:01:51. > :01:51.
:01:51. > :01:55.Shops and homes in Braunton also suffered after flood defences were
:01:55. > :02:00.breached. In South Wales, 30 houses were flooded near Swansea and a
:02:00. > :02:08.woman was rescued from her part in the bail of Glamorgan bypasses by
:02:08. > :02:14.using a ladder. -- her car. pulled the ladder out of the car. I
:02:14. > :02:22.suppose about a minute later, off it went, under the bridge. There is
:02:22. > :02:26.no question. The poor lady would have been drowned. There is no
:02:26. > :02:33.question. There have been dramatic scenes in Aberdeenshire where about
:02:33. > :02:38.60 people have been moved from their homes and a centre set up in
:02:38. > :02:42.the town. Gloom for people commuting by train. First Great
:02:42. > :02:46.Western is advising people not to travel west of Taunton in Somerset
:02:46. > :02:49.unless they really have to. An NHS Trust is apologising to families
:02:49. > :02:52.for failings in care in which one person starved to death. The Health
:02:52. > :02:55.Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said the problems at the Alexandra Hospital
:02:55. > :03:02.and Worcester Royal appalled him. Worcestershire Acute Hospital Trust
:03:03. > :03:05.has paid compensation totalling �410,000 in 38 cases. The former
:03:05. > :03:08.Conservative chief whip, Andrew Mitchell, has given a full account
:03:08. > :03:12.of the incident in Downing Street in which he was alleged to have
:03:12. > :03:16.called police officers plebs and morons. Writing in the Sunday Times,
:03:16. > :03:20.Mr Mitchell denies using both terms. He talks of a stitch-up aimed at
:03:20. > :03:29.harming the Tory Party and destroying his career. Our
:03:29. > :03:32.political correspondent reports. So, what did happen when Andrew
:03:32. > :03:36.Mitchell tried to take his bike out through the main gate at Downing
:03:36. > :03:40.Street on this evening back in September? The official police
:03:40. > :03:48.reports say he called officers Lives Too Short Pledges and morons
:03:48. > :03:56.Boston he has given his own account to a Sunday paper. He said the or
:03:56. > :04:00.fourth-rate -- phrases were hung around his neck. He said he never
:04:00. > :04:05.uttered the phrase is and they were completely untrue. He does admit
:04:05. > :04:10.swearing in exasperation. He said the Prime Minister was too quick to
:04:10. > :04:14.tell him to get on to his bike when the story broke. He was persuaded
:04:14. > :04:18.to hold an inquiry. He did resign but think the inquiry should have
:04:18. > :04:24.been more thorough. And he complains about treatment by the
:04:24. > :04:27.media. Negative coverage affected sleep and appetite. This morning,