05/03/2012 Inside Out North East and Cumbria

In the next half an hour, no one likes to pay tax, but we found out

the length one Royal landlord is going to to avoid it. If you have a

charity, you get three months a rates free. What happened next? We

told stories that touched a raw nerve and you responded in your

droves. All the complaints I now understand they are getting and

nothing has changed. Nobody has learnt a darn thing. And remember

this? I would rather be free then be in jail. It is not worth going

to jail over copper. We will find out what happened to the self-

confessed metal thieves, stories from the heart of North East and

Times are tough, so any means to reduce your bills will be welcome,

but we have discovered one business with World credentials has been

going to unusual lengths to avoid paying tax on one of its properties

in Hackett. J Nicolson investigates. This is

Number 11 Ripon Road in the centre of Harrogate, an office building on

the market for around �1 million. But it has been standing empty for

nearly three years and that could be costing the owner �16,000 a year

in business rates. Who owns this property? Ikea is a clue. It is

owned by the Duchy of Lancaster. The Duke of Lancaster is, of course,

the Queen. The Duchy dates back to the 13th century and holds more

than 18,000 hectares of London's property on behalf of the sovereign.

Last year it made a net surplus of more than �13 million. Since 2008,

landlords have had to pay business rates on properties after they have

been empty for three months, but it seems the Duchy of Lancaster has

been trying to find ways around paying. What happens is if you have

a charity in, you get three months rates free. The we have been told

that in order to avoid business rates, 11 Ripon Road has been

filled with art. Could the Duchy really be trying to avoid tax by

placing so called Work sop art in its property.? We decided to find

out. Posing as a businessman, Richard

has made an appointment to view the property. It has been arranged for

9am on Thursday. It is a few minutes to nine and the property is

just up the road. We have hired a Jaguar so we get

the full business look. Richard is met by one of the estate agents who

is selling the property on behalf of the Duchy.

Hello. Sorry I'm late. He walks into the first room and is

immediately struck by what is in there. What is this? If you have a

charity in, you get three months rates free. Is there some art

grouping as tenants? No, they just literally come in and do their art.

Is it OK if I quickly take a few pictures? Here has finished his

meeting, so we will catch up with him and see what happened. How did

that go? What if you have in there is a deserted office block and all

there is in their is a rather bizarre, modern art work. What did

it look like? Look at that. That looks like toilet rolls. Actually

it is bin-liners, it is rolls of plastic bin-liner festooned across

the room. Our all the rooms like this? They have got different types

of art work. There are balloons, oven foil stuck on the walls,

various types of plastic bags on the floor. What explanation do they

give you? The estate agent was perfectly open. She said it was

there to reduce the outgoings of the people who own the building and

the people who own the building are the Duchy of Lancaster. The due

find out anything else about the artist? There are a little cards

and this is the guy who has done the artwork, Josh Artus. Is that

Josh Artus? Josh explains that the services company office. -- offers.

And know it is not a charity. help our clients manage their empty

buildings. He assures Richard he knows what he is doing. There are

lots of cases forced against particular companies and we do

occupations of properties. We do not stick a bunch of boxes in the

room, we have operators working in the building. On ACTE Arts's

website they say people can e-mail them to view the artwork. We e-

mailed them to make an appointment, but after two weeks we still had no

response. Since then we have tried e-mailing and Colin Josh Artus and

his colleagues several times, but they have not returned our calls.

The Duchy have told us that ACTE Arts had apologised for not

responding and they will make sure this is not repeated. The

organisation says it has had several exhibitions on the site

which have all been viewed favourably and there are plans to

gyrate many more over the remainder of its tenancy. It says the

building is supporting artists and is for the benefit of the local

community. So are they doing anything wrong? It is not my taste

in art, although I am no art expert. Stuart Hicks is an expert on

business rates and advises landlords on how to reduce their

tax liability within the law. Whether it is to your taste or not,

would you advise people to go down this route? It would not be

something that I would advise to proceed with. So Stewart has

sympathy with landlords who are facing huge bills on properties

that are lying empty. The economy at the moment is very difficult and

landlords holding empty property are suffering. Why it kinds of

things can people do to reduce the liability? The law is very black

and white in terms of what people can do, such as in terms of

occupation for 43 days. After 43 days there is a period of relief.

The problems that can arise is if the property is not occupied

genuinely, or occupied for the purpose for which the property is

there. What do you think is the use of this property in Harrogate?

would be concerned the occupation was not genuine, in which case the

authority could seek to take action to recover the money is that have

been claimed. The Duchy told us that ACTE Arts occupied the

building for two periods last year and in accordance with the law, the

Duchy had claimed a total of six months business rate relief. The

arts company occupied the building for 45 days in March and April and

50 days between late July and September, in other words just over

the 43 a limit and there were precisely three months between the

occupations. The Duchy's say they reimbursed ACTE Arts for the

business rates they paid and that the company recently signed a new

six-month lease during which time for business rates would be paid.

There are many charities who are genuinely occupier empty buildings

and I have come to see one of them. This is Kasia, she is a painter.

East Street Arts is a registered charity that has been around for 20

years and they have been occupying this empty office building in

leaves since October. What things have you got going? A high range of

things ranging from young people producing an art prize, people

doing experimental and a nation -- animation. What deal do you have

but the landlord? They give us a tenancy on the building and in this

case it is for a year. Because we are using it for purposes we get

rates relief. We get a building cheaply and the landlord finds a

tenant and they are shedding some of their costs. So Stuart Hicks

believes are putting these so- called art works into 11 Ripon Road

was a mistake. Have you ever heard of anything like this before?

have been approached in the past by companies offering a similar sort

of service, but my advice to landlords I represent has been not

to go ahead. Her serious could this be? If the occupation is found to

be a sham, there are problems potentially with HMRC who could see

the claiming of rate relief as a serious issue. So, could the

queen's private land portfolio find itself in trouble with her

Majesty's Revenue and Customs? This is the last programme in our

current series, our 21st, so we thought we would catch up on some

of the stories over the last year. We begin with two reports that have

provoked the biggest response from you, although they share one common

theme, how we care for elderly people, be it in hospitals or care

homes. Either way you have been in touch to tell us more. Last month

we asked whether this rosy image of nursing care was a thing of the

past. We heard from two families whose experience with the

University Hospital of North Durham caused great pain. It is awful

human beings can be treated in that way. That person who is there is

the world to you. For them he is just a number, but he was my dad,

my daughter's grandad. People complained about patient care,

patients are not being fed or washed properly. That certainly

chimed with you. Dozens of you wrote to us telling us about your

experiences. Among them, George McGregor, an ex-military man.

Patients were sitting waiting for a whole load of stuff to happen,

medicines, bedpans and all this sort of thing. George wrote to the

hospital several times, so when he saw our programme he felt they had

not been listening. Nothing has changed, nobody has learnt a darn

thing from all the letters I wrote, all the complaints I now understand

they are getting and the process is getting worse. November, 2011, MS

patients David Hambleton was admitted to the University Hospital

of North Durham. Sadly he died a month ago, but his family had a

whole list of concerns. His teeth were not bras, his face was not

washed and he was not put on the toilet for six days. His food was

brought out too hot for him one day. He asked the lady who was feeding

him to slow down and she turned round and said, how slow can you

go? He asked her to take the food away because she had upset him. You

feel guilty because you are leaving these people, you are leaving these

people to look after people that you care about and they are

treating them like that. David even resorted to extraordinary lengths

to discharge himself from hospital. When the doctor asked my dad if he

had a wife at home he lied and said DSO he could get out of hospital.

Other families with a recent experience also got in touch. This

is an e-mail, a diary said to the hospital by a nurse who says her

father was denied a dignified death. This is from a viewer who says his

mother was unable to eat and he was asked to leave the ward at meal

times. This is from an elderly patient who was discharged 10 days

ago. She saw an old lady, 80 years old, ring in her buzzer for 10

minutes, she was desperate for the toilet, but by that time the nurse

had arrived she had wet herself. The nurse said, look, you are doing

it on the floor. The day after our report went out the regulator

publish the findings of its latest inspection and confirmed when

inspectors visited, the hospital did not meet standards surrounding

dignity and T'ai Chi needs. The inspectors say it now meets the

requirements. It said improvement still need to be made. The trust

which runs the hospital declined our offer of an interview, but told

The Trust also told us inspectors had lots of positive feedback from

patients and commented on the work they had been doing to improve care

and the elderly wards. They said there were, nevertheless, always

improvements which could be made and encourage anyone who is unhappy

with the care provided to contact the Trust. But it's not just in

hospitals where the care of the elderly has been a real concern for

you. We highlighted cases of neglect and abuse at care homes run

by Southern Cross based in Darlington. The company has ceased

to operate. Now, a judge has voiced his serious concerns about the way

the company was run. Last week, the Southern Cross story

finally ended up in court after an investigation into the death of 16

elderly patients at St Michael's View in South Shields. The police

found evidence of old people being subjected to degrading and

unauthorised invasive treatments. Sean Abbot, a care worker, admitted

assaulting an 84-year-old man and 89-year-old woman and was given a

one year jail sentence. Meanwhile, Daphne Joseph, a nurse, was given a

suspended sentence after failing to prevent the death of Joyce

Wordingham in 2010. In separate cases, both judges were scathing in

their criticisms of Southern Cross. They said staff were operating in a

regime that was not fit for purpose. There was poor management of

individual care needs, an endemic culture of neglect and a lack of

leadership. Endemic failures, systematic failures. Neglect and

indeed criminal offences. These are vulnerable people and we have a

duty to care for them. According to one regular visitor to St Michaels

View, it was understaffed and out of control well before the recent

events came to light. Found him lying on floor next to

office. Eye cut and cheek badly grazed. No explanation. Diane

Pounder has kept a diary of the maltreatment of her father Donald

Laws- an Alzheimer's patient who lived and died at the home in 2008.

He was sitting with a t-shirt on, no vest or sweater. He was

absolutely freezing cold, no heating on in the home. Needless to

say, I kicked off, didn't I, about it. I put a blanket about his

shoulders to keep him warm. I have heard them shouting and crying

about things and it took them ages because they were understaffed.

Near the end, it was easier for them to leave my dad lying in bed

rather than getting him dressed to rather than getting him dressed to

sit in his chair for half an hour. sit in his chair for half an hour.

I will we said I wanted to be with my dad. Worst day of my life today.

My dad died at 7:20am, St George's Day. I touched my dad and he was

cold. He'd been dead a long time. So many agencies have been involved

in the St Michael's story. All have responsibilities for making sure

people living there are well cared for, but all declined to be

interviewed for Inside Out. South Tyneside Council spends more

than a million pounds a year placing patients at St Michael's

View. Its staff were regular visitors. It's now begun a serious

case review into the death of Joyce Wordingham, the patient who sparked

the police inquiry. Along with the local health authority, it would

say only that protecting vulnerable adults is of paramount importance,

and that the home, which is now run by another care provider is meeting

all of the government standards although it would ensure that

lasting lessons are learned by all of the agencies involved.

Profits from Southern Cross made some of its former directors multi-

millionaires. Others, like Phil Whitaker, managing director for the

North were forced to apologise when previous failings were highlighted

We as an organisation are sorry, very sorry. When I say sorry, we

let four people and their families down. I am very sorry that happened.

Now, Mr Whitaker works here as operations director for a firm

called Bondcare based at one of their care homes, Stockton. I

wanted to ask Mr Whitaker about the judge's comments on Southern Cross

and the years of failing at St Michael's View. He decided not to

face the cameras. In a statement, Mr Whitaker

confirmed that he gave evidence to the inquiry into events at St

Michael's View and added they decided against a prosecution of

the company or myself. He maintained that at the home, which

he said he was not legally responsible for, funding and

staffing were entirely appropriate. However, training needed to be

addressed, which he says he did. Mr Whitaker's new employer Bondcare

now runs about a third of Southern Cross's former homes in the North

East and says its culture and systems are completely different to

those followed by Southern Cross. We have looked at just one hospital

and one care home provider. Last week, the Commission set up to

improve care in residential homes and hospitals produced a detailed

action plan in response to worrying evidence across the country.

Problems with nutrition in hospitals, people not being given

the care and attention they deserved. With an aging population,

we are going to find that our hospitals and care homes are

increasingly full of vulnerable patients. There is a need for a

spotlight to remain on this as even though there has been a series of

damning reports that have come out, we still haven't managed to crack

the problem. You wrote to me in your droves

about Southern Cross but there was another story covered that also

In January, we reported allegations of bullying by managers at

Newcastle College which the college strenuously denied. Since then,

more concerns have been voiced. Barbara Clark says she was forced

to accept redundancy after returning from sick leave. I get

really anxious whenever I think about it. I was given no warnings

and felt ambushed and as if I was something to be got rid of a very

quickly. That was not acceptable. Christine Duffy says she was sent

to Coventry. They told the students not to come into college one day

because I was coming back after sick leave and told the students

they could be rest assured I would never teach at an educational

institution again. If many others contacted us. They want people who

do not argue. You programme was spot on. They have completely and

utterly failed us. The lecturer's union carried out a survey of past

and present members at the college. The accept that is not scientific

but shows there is a problem. Out of 131 people who have responded,

71 said they had received bullying and harassment. 72 said they had

witnessed it. Newcastle College decline to be interviewed but in a

statement said it takes allegations of bullying extremely seriously and

has a clear and transparent process for dealing with that. The survey

has no legitimacy or recognised research methodology and says it is

subject to multiple false claims. We also followed people on a

variety of testing journeys. Here is what happened next.

Last summer, we met up with eight jobseeker's on the hunt for work.

Since then, unemployment across the North East has risen from 10.7 per

cent to 11.2 per cent. Despite this, four other group have found jobs.

The job is wonderful and the pay cheques goes towards all the bills

I have. Also, to lose the label of being a job-seeker is great. Angela

is training to work, nor will it and she has had better news. I am

hope for at the moment that I have secured an interview with a

worldwide company who erect wind farms all over the world. I am

looking forward to that. What is striking is that of her original

grip, not one of the three people over 50 has managed to find work or

even got a job interview. What about the older people? What about

the experience and the knowledge? So much we have to offer if we are

given an opportunity. I walk up this morning crying my

eyes out. This cable thief in November. Gill has probably shed a

few more tears. He was one of more than 200 people arrested by up

police team fighting this growing crime and has been jailed for 18

months. Mike Parker accepted an inside-out

challenge that many of us would find extremely tough - the off the

alcohol in the run-up to Christmas. He stayed off for all of 31 days in

December. Two months on, is he still on the wagon? I am

disappointed because I thought I would be able to cut down

significantly but I have moved back. I am not drinking as much as I was

in November of last year. Scampers beware. We will get you in

the end. Remember this man - Ron Clarke. You have been taking

advantage of these people. You need to speedy Ian Johnson. He and his

partner were running at an online con, taking money from jobseeker's

with the promise of employment which did not exist. Both men

appeared at Newcastle Crown Court. They pleaded guilty to a total of

11 counts of fraud and deception. They will be sentenced in April.

The hospital landscape is facing big changes in our region. We

reported from both coasts on the changes affecting staff and

patients. This sound like a system close to

breakdown? I cannot deny that. consultant at the North Cumbria

University Hospitals Trust warned what could happen a further

spending cuts went ahead. Patients would be horrified to hear you say

that. Yes. We can reveal that while staff face a pay freeze, the

interim Chief Executive is receiving almost �26,000 a month

for a three-day week and that is paid to his consultancy, something

the Government is seeking to change. It beggars belief that you can

signed a contract for someone to come in and turn around a trust who

are facing a massive deficit and pay him such a huge amount of money,

62% over what the previous Chief Executive was earning. It makes

very little sense to me. The trust will does in a statement that the

arrangement Aboyne that extra expense because it with a temporary

appointment. He had a high level of knowledge and would be judged on

results and delivering financial turnaround and improved patient

care. Last month, it was announced that North Cumbria is to be taken

over by North Cumbria Healthcare Trust.

Meanwhile this baby who received a life-saving heart operation is

making progress. It is looking great. The arteries are fine and

working at the rate pressure so he is much better, just like a normal

baby. The future of children's heart care surgery at this hospital

was in doubt after the review said some centres would have to close.

There is confidence here that their future it is now assured because

other units have been earmarked for closure. Whichever way we look at

it, it looks as if the outcome will be favourable for Newcastle. We

have appointed a third surgeon and are already too old.

We've also had time to look at the quirkier side of life too.

Middlesbrough band Rivers Invitation recorded a version of

Seasons in the Sun years before it became famous. But the lead singer

was tragically killed in a car crash. BBC Tees presenter John

Foster helped to find the lost recording, ending a lifelong quest

for the singer's son Adrian Ludley who was just a baby when his dad

died. I was a mess. I had a couple of schoolmates email me saying, you

were right all along. We're sorry we didn't believe you. It has

definitely filled a huge void in my life.

We featured the many talents of Tyneside soundman Chris Watson.

It's his recordings you hear on natural history programmes. Most

notably, on the recent Frozen Planet series. Last month, the

regional Royal Television Society gave him a special award in

recognition of his amazing work. And if we can blow our own trumpet,

Inside Out also won an RTS award for best current affairs production

for our reporting on Southern Cross, which we could only do with your

help. So, if you think there's a story we should know about, please