:00:00. > :00:10.In the next half an hour, speaking out, the man who led Cumbria Police
:00:11. > :00:15.tells us of the day his 30 year career came tumbling down. I felt as
:00:16. > :00:20.if the world had dropped out of my life. I was absolutely devastated.
:00:21. > :00:24.My life was taken away. Ten years on from the Tebay rail
:00:25. > :00:29.disaster, we ask why workers lives are still being put at risk.
:00:30. > :00:37.He said, I think he's been in an accident, I think he's been killed.
:00:38. > :00:44.I was in a daze, numb. And the 21st century triffid. Is it
:00:45. > :00:48.under your house? We were told we would have to have
:00:49. > :00:51.our house torn down. Stories from the heart of the North
:00:52. > :01:06.East and Cumbria, this is Inside Out.
:01:07. > :01:12.He was Cumbria's top cop, but out of the blue, Stuart Hyde was suspended
:01:13. > :01:15.as Chief Constable. For ten months, investigators trawled through his
:01:16. > :01:20.e`mails, his diary and questioned his colleagues. The enquiry cost
:01:21. > :01:25.taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds and cleared Stuart Hyde.
:01:26. > :01:32.Throughout, he has stayed silent, until now.
:01:33. > :01:38.It doesn't feel like a fair process at all. What it feels like is a
:01:39. > :01:42.one`sided view. I don't think that's what justice is about. You're always
:01:43. > :01:49.told you're part of the police, they're your family. Then the day he
:01:50. > :01:52.was suspended, suddenly, that went. I never thought I'd understand why
:01:53. > :01:55.people take their own lives, but I think I understand it now.
:01:56. > :01:58.The 13th of September 2012. Cumbria's chief Constable, Stuart
:01:59. > :02:05.Hyde, was travelling back from a meeting in London. At six o'clock in
:02:06. > :02:09.the evening, I received a phone call to say could I go immediately to
:02:10. > :02:12.committee room two and see the chair of the authority. I couldn't
:02:13. > :02:21.understand why no one would actually talk to me. I was phoning home
:02:22. > :02:25.numbers, mobile numbers. It was almost as if I was in some sort of
:02:26. > :02:28.seclusion zone. And you also thought, presumably, everyone else
:02:29. > :02:32.knows what is going on, they are not answering your calls. Yes, and I
:02:33. > :02:34.knew it was about me then. Just before midnight at police
:02:35. > :02:38.headquarters in Penrith, he was handed a letter. I was absolutely
:02:39. > :02:46.devastated. Basically, it suspended me. I just got woken up when he
:02:47. > :02:49.phoned me up at about one o'clock in the morning. And he was absolutely
:02:50. > :02:53.devastated. Both of us did not really know what was going on. I
:02:54. > :02:57.felt as if the world had just dropped out of my life, basically.
:02:58. > :03:00.In just a few hours, a 30 year police career was facing ruin.
:03:01. > :03:03.Stuart Hyde joined the police in 1983. I've been involved in fights,
:03:04. > :03:10.been punched, involved in riot disorder and things like that. But
:03:11. > :03:14.I've loved every minute of it. It looks like there may have been early
:03:15. > :03:17.signs that you would have been in the police force, going by your
:03:18. > :03:20.photograph album. It just sounded right, it seemed to fit right. It
:03:21. > :03:24.had the right sort of discipline that I probably needed at the time,
:03:25. > :03:29.it also meant the chance to give something back. Mr Hyde took the
:03:30. > :03:36.number two job here in Cumbria in 2009. The Queen's police medal
:03:37. > :03:45.followed, an officer heading for the very top.
:03:46. > :03:48.The day terror came to Cumbria. At least 12 killed and 25 injured as a
:03:49. > :03:51.gunman goes on the rampage. We're not able at this stage to
:03:52. > :03:55.understand the real motivation behind it or understand whether this
:03:56. > :03:58.was a premeditated or random attack. His handling of the Derrick Bird
:03:59. > :04:01.shootings put him in the spotlight. Three years later, he was promoted
:04:02. > :04:06.to Chief Constable. But he served just nine months before he was
:04:07. > :04:13.suspended. For almost a year, the man who loved policing could only
:04:14. > :04:19.walk the Fells. Stuart Hyde says he was given no information about the
:04:20. > :04:22.allegations being made against him. South Wales Police were brought in
:04:23. > :04:26.to investigate, but he says he was still in the dark. It's only now
:04:27. > :04:29.that he feels he is starting to piece together the whole case
:04:30. > :04:33.against him. The South Wales report investigated claims that Stuart Hyde
:04:34. > :04:41.spent more than a fifth of his time away from the county. Quite frankly,
:04:42. > :04:56.the numbers that were given in the report are wrong. I've been able to
:04:57. > :05:00.go through my diary completely and they have not taken any account of
:05:01. > :05:04.weekend working and any account of the work that I used to do during
:05:05. > :05:07.the evenings so I don't accept those figures. The investigators also took
:05:08. > :05:10.an interest in a holiday flight to Tunisia. Mr Hyde was taking part in
:05:11. > :05:14.a charity swimming event. He used air miles gathered on work business
:05:15. > :05:18.to pay for the flight. They were my air miles, they did not belong to
:05:19. > :05:22.Cumbria Constabulary, they did not belong to anyone else, that's what
:05:23. > :05:25.was proven in the end. I felt it was an appropriate use. With hindsight,
:05:26. > :05:29.I should have been very clear about what I was using them for and what I
:05:30. > :05:32.was doing and in recognition of that, last March, I made a personal
:05:33. > :05:36.contribution of the cost of the flights to the Blue Lamp Foundation.
:05:37. > :05:38.And the trip raised eyebrows in another way. Cumbria's Police and
:05:39. > :05:44.Crime Commissioner criticised this photo of Stuart Hyde taken at the
:05:45. > :05:47.event. I'm somewhat surprised, particularly that people might think
:05:48. > :05:51.I was on duty there. I really don't see that I did anything wrong in
:05:52. > :05:54.having a photograph of me. You said yourself, you don't take the Chief
:05:55. > :05:58.Constable label off even when you're off duty. You never take it off. But
:05:59. > :06:02.there you are with your clothes off, so didn't you think that might lead
:06:03. > :06:05.to someone thinking it wasn't right? I think if I was engaged in a
:06:06. > :06:08.swimming event, people would expectme to be wearing swimming
:06:09. > :06:12.trunks. Had I been stood there in uniform, it would have looked a bit
:06:13. > :06:15.daft to say the least. The investigation also probed
:06:16. > :06:19.business meetings Stuart Hyde held with private companies. Critics said
:06:20. > :06:24.there were grave concerns within the force about the impression these
:06:25. > :06:27.meetings gave. We have a contract for the provision of our radios, for
:06:28. > :06:32.example, and it's a very large contract. My objective in
:06:33. > :06:38.communicating with them was to try and get our services a bit cheaper.
:06:39. > :06:48.We have to make cuts and the objective here, I think, is
:06:49. > :06:52.perfectly laudable. We did that with many suppliers. I think they believe
:06:53. > :06:55.somehow that I was some sort of very corrupt officer, doing dodgy deals
:06:56. > :06:58.here there and everywhere. That was clearly not the case. Are you
:06:59. > :07:01.perhaps guilty of not thinking how it might look? Possibly, possibly.
:07:02. > :07:11.But that's very different from being a corrupt officer. Investigators
:07:12. > :07:14.asked if Mr Hyde had been favouring his local pub in Great Salkeld,
:07:15. > :07:18.holding business meetings there in return for favours. I've had no
:07:19. > :07:22.benefit in kind from the landlord. The only reason for using it is it's
:07:23. > :07:26.very convenient to here, it means I do not have to get drivers out to
:07:27. > :07:30.take me all over the county. Yes, it was to suit me, but that means I'm
:07:31. > :07:32.maximising my time. Mr Hyde attended the Conservative Party conference
:07:33. > :07:35.representing the Association of Chief Police Officers. He was
:07:36. > :07:38.speaking about wildlife crime. I've never been paid a fee for speaking,
:07:39. > :07:41.I think that's part of my responsibility. I've spoken at many
:07:42. > :07:45.conferences. Yes, I take the point that it could be taken as supporting
:07:46. > :07:48.a political side, but I was equally talking to the other two
:07:49. > :07:50.organisations as well. So I was being impartial.
:07:51. > :07:53.The final allegation levelled at Stuart Hyde was that he was tweeting
:07:54. > :08:05.inappropriately and misusing his police credit card. One tweet that
:08:06. > :08:09.may have caused offence was a picture of a pie. I'm still not sure
:08:10. > :08:14.where this has come from. Nobody has come to me and said to me, we don't
:08:15. > :08:17.like the fact that you have posted a picture of a pie. If they did, I
:08:18. > :08:21.would probably have done something about it. If it was causing offence,
:08:22. > :08:25.I would have removed it. I can't understand how this has anything to
:08:26. > :08:29.do with somebody's ability to do his job as a senior police officer and
:08:30. > :08:32.how it could be in any way included in a misconduct enquiry. Will I stop
:08:33. > :08:35.eating them? Absolutely not, I thoroughly enjoy them. They're
:08:36. > :08:40.delicious. Mr Hyde was found to have used his credit card twice for
:08:41. > :08:43.personal use. The meal I had at the cinema, that was a private meal, I
:08:44. > :08:46.paid for that immediately afterwards, as I have normally done.
:08:47. > :08:50.The second in relation to Sports Relief, some cash had been handed
:08:51. > :08:53.in, I thought that was actually the best way to demonstrate that the
:08:54. > :08:57.cash had got through to where it should be. I wasn't pocketing it and
:08:58. > :09:00.spending it on anything else. But in hindsight, yes, I could have done it
:09:01. > :09:03.differently. The South Wales Police report in
:09:04. > :09:06.July last year concluded that there was no evidence of misconduct in any
:09:07. > :09:10.of the allegations. It made recommendations for Cumbria Police
:09:11. > :09:13.and Stuart Hyde to follow. In essence, the net result of this
:09:14. > :09:17.investigation was, Stuart, get your paperwork right, tell people what
:09:18. > :09:23.you're doing, talk to them a bit more and move on.
:09:24. > :09:27.So, in the clear, Mr Hyde thought he could get back to work, but there
:09:28. > :09:29.was another twist in this tale. Cumbria's Police and Crime
:09:30. > :09:37.Commissioner disagreed with some of the report's findings and thought
:09:38. > :09:42.there was a case to answer. He resuspended him. The Commissioner
:09:43. > :09:47.wanted me to either retire or resign. At that point. Which
:09:48. > :09:53.basically would have been a week later. What signal do you think that
:09:54. > :09:57.would have sent out? An appalling signal. I think it would have said
:09:58. > :10:00.to everyone, basically, that I... That they looked, the searched,
:10:01. > :10:04.didn't find everything, but you were guilty of something and you ran
:10:05. > :10:07.away. Mr Hyde returned to work as Deputy
:10:08. > :10:11.Chief Constable in September and retired at the end of last year.
:10:12. > :10:18.It's an outcome I could've expected but it isn't an outcome that I was
:10:19. > :10:40.happy with. The process took nearly a year. The
:10:41. > :10:44.suspension was reviewed every month but Mr Hyde was left in limbo, he
:10:45. > :10:47.couldn't work. The investigation costs are estimated at more than
:10:48. > :10:51.half a million pounds, met by the taxpayer. And it was only last week
:10:52. > :10:55.that he was given a copy of some of the statements made against him.
:10:56. > :10:58.Does this process feel like a fair, just system? Absolutely not. It
:10:59. > :11:01.doesn't feel like a fair process at all. What it feels like is a
:11:02. > :11:04.one`sided view. People that made allegations, their information and
:11:05. > :11:07.their allegations have been treated as correct without any opportunity
:11:08. > :11:11.for me to address them and I don't think that's what justice is about.
:11:12. > :11:14.Is there less justice in this kind of situation than if you had been in
:11:15. > :11:18.a courtroom accused of something? You would know what the allegations
:11:19. > :11:21.were in detail. If it was a courtroom, or if it was a tribunal,
:11:22. > :11:25.a discipline tribunal, I would have been given all of the statements,
:11:26. > :11:28.all of the information. I'm now still fighting to get hold of those
:11:29. > :11:32.and I will get them eventually, I hope. And we'll be able to make some
:11:33. > :11:35.judgement. It could be legal action, it could be going back to other
:11:36. > :11:38.agencies, the Independent Police Complaints Commission, it could be
:11:39. > :11:42.going back to the Police and Crime Commissioner. But I think I'll wait
:11:43. > :11:45.until I've read those statements. What price has your family paid for
:11:46. > :11:49.this? It's been an extremely stressful
:11:50. > :12:00.time for all of us. Obviously, you want to protect your children.
:12:01. > :12:05.Stuart has suffered immensely. 30 years of public service in a job he
:12:06. > :12:08.loved has been tainted at the end. Cumbria's Police and Crime
:12:09. > :12:11.Commissioner Richard Rhodes told us he'd given detailed interviews about
:12:12. > :12:13.Stuart Hyde back in August and he did not want to be interviewed
:12:14. > :12:47.again. In a statement he told us... I've learned a lot about the support
:12:48. > :12:56.from my family. I've learned a lot about the support from my friends. I
:12:57. > :12:59.now know who my friends are. I've also found out, unfortunately, that
:13:00. > :13:03.you can't always trust and rely on people you work with. I'm proud to
:13:04. > :13:07.have done something for Cumbria and I want to continue doing that. It's
:13:08. > :13:12.a special place and it will always be a special place for me.
:13:13. > :13:15.I have written about the time I spent with Stuart Hyde on my blog on
:13:16. > :13:32.the BBC website. Ten years ago, former railway
:13:33. > :13:36.workers were killed here when a truck crashed into them as they
:13:37. > :13:39.prepared the track. After the death of another northern worker, Paul
:13:40. > :13:43.Murphy has been investigating whether the culture of long hours
:13:44. > :13:52.and corner cutting is still putting lives on the line. Not once did
:13:53. > :13:59.Scott ever give to me that his job was a dangerous job. I thought they
:14:00. > :14:02.were protected. It's December 2012, early in the afternoon on a railway
:14:03. > :14:09.line near Saxilby, Lincolnshire, and a gang of workers are repairing the
:14:10. > :14:15.track. One of the workers steps back, just as a train is passing. He
:14:16. > :14:29.doesn't survive. A report into his death reveals a string of broken and
:14:30. > :14:32.ignored safety procedures. Network Rail called the death of Scott
:14:33. > :14:35.Dobson a watershed moment, and promised new safety rules. But Scott
:14:36. > :14:38.wasn't a Network Rail employee. Like the majority of workers maintaining
:14:39. > :14:48.and rebuilding our rail network, he was employed by an agency. Scott was
:14:49. > :14:53.always the gang leader, a reliable one, the office used to bring him.
:14:54. > :14:57.Scott Dobson was in charge of site safety for a work gang repairing a
:14:58. > :15:00.fault in the track that day. Scott and his gang were working on the
:15:01. > :15:09.down line, which was closed to trains. But the other side of the
:15:10. > :15:12.track was still in use. For some reason, somebody somewhere along the
:15:13. > :15:15.line has asked them to do the voiding. They were filling in gaps
:15:16. > :15:23.under the track, a job which required working in the "6 foot",
:15:24. > :15:27.the gap between the two rail lines. It's a job for which both rail lines
:15:28. > :15:31.should have been closed. Scott would not then have been able to step back
:15:32. > :15:35.into the path of an oncoming train. As I walked into the kitchen, Thomas
:15:36. > :15:50.said, "Mum, you need to speak to Hayesy, he's on the other end of the
:15:51. > :15:57.phone in tears." He says, "I think Scott's been in an accident, I think
:15:58. > :16:05.he's been killed." At that, I was actually in a daze, numb. A report
:16:06. > :16:18.into Scott's death lists many safety failings. The report shows that he
:16:19. > :16:21.should not have been working in that safety critical position that day.
:16:22. > :16:24.He'd been involved in two other safety breaches, in the preceding
:16:25. > :16:35.two months, and according to Network Rail rules, he should have been
:16:36. > :16:39.moved to a less senior role. On the day, no`one had asked for the second
:16:40. > :16:42.line to be closed, and no one challenged the lack of any risk
:16:43. > :16:45.assessment or safety briefing to perform the job. So the question is,
:16:46. > :16:49.why were they there when they knew, all that gang knew, that somebody
:16:50. > :16:53.would have been in danger working in the six foot as there was trains
:16:54. > :16:56.still running on the up side of the track. Scott had been hired that day
:16:57. > :17:05.by a recruitment company called sky`blue, a subsidiary of the
:17:06. > :17:08.engineering giant Carillion. Carillion express their condolences,
:17:09. > :17:11.but tell us they are unable to comment on specific questions or
:17:12. > :17:21.issues related to Scott's death until after an inquest and further
:17:22. > :17:24.inquiry. They do however say that they go to great lengths to ensure
:17:25. > :17:28.their workforce know they can raise safety concerns, and that these will
:17:29. > :17:31.be acted upon. They say their Don't Walk By programme encourages staff
:17:32. > :17:34.to raise safety issues, and though they recognise some fear they'll be
:17:35. > :17:37.penalised if they speak up, the company makes every effort to
:17:38. > :17:40.highlight this is not the case. Since the incident, they say they
:17:41. > :17:44.have gone beyond industry standards to put in place new safety
:17:45. > :17:47.procedures, and have developed a new barrier to be used in co`ordination
:17:48. > :17:51.with a physical look`out when people are working on a rail line which is
:17:52. > :17:57.closed but adjacent to a line on which trains continue to run.
:17:58. > :18:03.Saxilby is a sad reminder of how dangerous the railway is. It's an
:18:04. > :18:06.accident that could have been avoided, and the root cause is
:18:07. > :18:09.Network Rail's usage, high usage of contractors and agency workers.
:18:10. > :18:12.We've talked to trackworkers who've done casual shifts for renewals
:18:13. > :18:21.companies across the north of England. They tell us bad safety
:18:22. > :18:26.practices are widespread. I've turned up on the site, driven two
:18:27. > :18:29.hours to get to a work site, I don't hold the competencies that they're
:18:30. > :18:32.asking me for to run that site safely. I've turned round, phoned my
:18:33. > :18:37.agency up, and said, "Look, I can't do this, what do you want me to do,
:18:38. > :18:42.break the rules?" Is it commonly accepted that if there's a safety
:18:43. > :18:45.problem you keep quiet? Some people do because they are that scared of
:18:46. > :18:49.losing work, because you speak up, because you speak out, that agency
:18:50. > :18:57.can't put you out, and if you're part of a gang, the whole gang loses
:18:58. > :19:28.work. 81,000 people are registered to work on the railway, only a
:19:29. > :20:10.quarter of them Network Rail staff. Those who survived have been
:20:11. > :20:15.campaigning ever since. They want workers to have access to a simple
:20:16. > :20:21.warning mechanism. To say I'm disappointed with the
:20:22. > :20:29.understatement. I'm so upset. So upset with Network Rail who say
:20:30. > :20:39.safety is first and here we are, going into the 10th anniversary, and
:20:40. > :20:45.yet there is no protection. Have any lessons at all be learnt? It
:20:46. > :20:54.frustrates me all the time when I hear there has been an accident. But
:20:55. > :21:02.his campaign may be about to succeed. There is an additional
:21:03. > :21:18.level of protection required. We will rule the out nationally. The
:21:19. > :21:21.main contractor involved at Tebay, like at Saxilby, was Carillion ` one
:21:22. > :21:24.of the biggest companies tendering for major railway engineering works.
:21:25. > :21:27.We've had long conversations with Carillion because of the incident
:21:28. > :21:30.that took place at Saxilby. I've personally been to Carillion's board
:21:31. > :21:33.to make it clear our expectations and to understand what plans they
:21:34. > :21:36.have in place to improve safety. We are comfortable Carillion are very
:21:37. > :21:39.committed to improving their safety record. Carillion say "health and
:21:40. > :21:42.safety is central to all their operations, and they create a
:21:43. > :21:44.culture of openness and continuous improvement in their workforce."
:21:45. > :21:48.When accidents do occur, they tell us, they "leave no stone unturned to
:21:49. > :21:50.ensure that the causes are thoroughly investigated, any
:21:51. > :21:53.learnings are adopted, and actions taken." Meanwhile, Scott Dobson's
:21:54. > :21:59.family must wait for a coroners' inquest to resolve questions about
:22:00. > :22:06.his death. There was a duty of care towards Scott and his team on that
:22:07. > :22:09.day. Who failed? I don't think anyone wants to claim that
:22:10. > :22:11.liability, whether or not it's protecting Scott, protecting
:22:12. > :22:14.themselves, I really don't know. The gangs that are working on the rail,
:22:15. > :22:22.and the managerial staff, they really need to be as one. Any
:22:23. > :22:24.fatality is horrific, devastating to families, and it's and never, ever
:22:25. > :22:42.the same. It may look like a harmless enough
:22:43. > :22:48.garden plant, but Japanese knotweed is striking fear into the region's
:22:49. > :22:50.homeowners. With roots capable of ripping through concrete and
:22:51. > :22:56.brickwork, it's cutting some property values in half, with many
:22:57. > :23:00.unaware there's a problem. And getting rid of this alien invader
:23:01. > :23:12.can be a costly struggle too, as Mark Jordan discovered. Somewhere in
:23:13. > :23:16.the south, an invasion is under way. We were told we'd have to have our
:23:17. > :23:22.house torn down. You don't expect that when you just bought a brand
:23:23. > :23:33.new home! A destructive force deep below your home. I was in floods of
:23:34. > :23:36.tears. That's our money gone. Be very afraid if Japanese knotweed is
:23:37. > :23:42.growing in your garden. It can push into foundations and block drainage.
:23:43. > :23:46.How strong? It can push through tarmac and concrete. How deep? Three
:23:47. > :23:53.metres. How dormant? There are reports of of it being longer than
:23:54. > :24:04.20 years if it's buried deep enough and resurges. This plant is strong
:24:05. > :24:06.enough to undermine foundations. Matt and Suzie had no idea their
:24:07. > :24:08.?300,000 house was built on top of knotweed. I wanted a brand new build
:24:09. > :24:11.and no problems. We first spotted it coming up through the garden ` it
:24:12. > :24:21.looked like asparagus. We had to get some advice. The worst moment was
:24:22. > :24:25.finding it growing in the house. That was shocking. Forcing its way
:24:26. > :24:28.up through the floor. But their home survey hadn't even spotted it
:24:29. > :24:32.outside, and insurers now refused to pay out. The house cost in excess of
:24:33. > :24:41.300,000. Without treatment it was now worth ?150`160,000. The first
:24:42. > :24:44.contractor said we had to knock the house down and rebuild. It was
:24:45. > :24:51.cheaper to do that than actually remove the knotweed from what they
:24:52. > :24:58.were saying. I'm on patrol with a knotweed exterminator. So how did it
:24:59. > :25:06.get here into your garden? There is a wall there ` it's in a terraced
:25:07. > :25:09.road. How did it get there? I have no idea! Claire's one of thousands
:25:10. > :25:12.now having to call in the professionals There is no instant
:25:13. > :25:18.fix. Anyone telling you they can kill it instantly is lying. This
:25:19. > :25:21.firm offers five`year guaranteed eradication plans. Plants are
:25:22. > :25:28.regularly injected with poison. Treatments can cost up to ?25,000.
:25:29. > :25:39.You would ignore knotweed at your peril. Certainly it will flag up if
:25:40. > :25:43.you try and sell it. If it grows from yours to an adjacent property `
:25:44. > :25:47.and it can grow up to seven metres a season ` you could be sued for
:25:48. > :25:50.damages under private nuisance. So a southern problem right? Wrong!
:25:51. > :25:54.Japanese knotweed is right up to our doorstep here in the North East and
:25:55. > :25:57.Cumbria. It seems to be unstoppable ` from Whitehaven to Wallsend there
:25:58. > :26:05.are reports of the rampant weed springing up. Including in this
:26:06. > :26:08.street in Newcastle. You don't need to walk far before you spot the
:26:09. > :26:12.dreaded knotweed. There's quite a lot scattered all over Heaton if you
:26:13. > :26:15.walk the streets. There's quite a lot in these two gardens, and
:26:16. > :26:20.they're just growing right up into the drains as well, up close to the
:26:21. > :26:23.house. The roots have probably got underneath the drainage and the
:26:24. > :26:26.concrete to the plinths of the side. It's beginning to take over. If it's
:26:27. > :26:30.not controlled, it'll keep growing and growing and become more and more
:26:31. > :26:34.of a problem. Is it poisonous? No, it's not poisonous. In Japan, they
:26:35. > :26:38.eat it. Some residents are completely unaware of what lies
:26:39. > :26:40.beneath. My neighbour's son`in`law's a gardener and he did say something
:26:41. > :26:44.about Japanese something but I wasn't paying attention because the
:26:45. > :26:57.whole garden is just a state anyway, but he did say about it spreading. I
:26:58. > :27:00.don't know anything about plants. Right, well, other things aren't
:27:01. > :27:07.going to cause you problems, but that one could do. Right. The street
:27:08. > :27:10.here has over 100 houses in it, we've seen it in at least 20
:27:11. > :27:13.gardens, and that's just where we've seen it. I think it's quite a
:27:14. > :27:17.significant problem down here, and this is not an isolated street. The
:27:18. > :27:21.good news is all is not lost. Science is fighting back. There's
:27:22. > :27:24.186 species feeding on it in Japan. Our job was to try and find the
:27:25. > :27:28.things that only attack Japanese knotweed and don't pose a threat to
:27:29. > :27:32.the rest of the environment. We ended up with a thing called the
:27:33. > :27:35.psyllid. It sucks the sap out of the plant. The bioscientists at Cabi had
:27:36. > :27:40.found a bug that only eats knotweed. So these are the critters in action.
:27:41. > :27:45.This is healthy knotweed. This is two months later, with real damage
:27:46. > :27:49.showing. Wow! So they're really suffering. Yes, these won't grow
:27:50. > :27:53.from this point. The psyllids have been released in eight secret UK
:27:54. > :27:56.test sites. How long will it be before knotweed is falling like
:27:57. > :28:02.this? We normally say five`ten years before you know. We are nowhere near
:28:03. > :28:12.that yet. But we're still hopeful. A few good summers and we could have a
:28:13. > :28:14.really good run at it. As those psyllids muster for battle, Suzie
:28:15. > :28:17.and Matt fired the cowboys that wanted to bulldoze their home. Four
:28:18. > :28:22.years and ?30,000 worse off, they now have an eradication plan that's
:28:23. > :28:28.working. The battle goes on, but I think we'll win the war. So now you
:28:29. > :28:36.know what knotweed looks like. The leaves will die back for winter, but
:28:37. > :28:39.they will be back. I bet that will have you checking for the dreaded
:28:40. > :28:43.knotweed in your garden. That's it for tonight. Next week, it survived
:28:44. > :28:49.neglect and arson, but what does the future hold for an iconic piece of
:28:50. > :28:50.our industrial past. I'll see you next Monday. Till then, from
:28:51. > :29:11.Appleby, good night. A longer day, more exams and tougher
:29:12. > :29:17.discipline. That is what the A longer day, more exams and tougher
:29:18. > :29:21.government wants for pupils in England's state schools. Ministers
:29:22. > :29:25.believe it would bring standards closer to those in private schools.
:29:26. > :29:30.There is a warning over a social network raise after it was linked to
:29:31. > :29:33.guess in Ireland. It involves drinking and filming a stun. The
:29:34. > :29:38.body of the young man was found in the River. Tributes have poured in
:29:39. > :29:44.for the actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. It is thought he died from
:29:45. > :29:45.a heroin overdose. More of us are undergoing plastic
:29:46. > :29:48.surgery. The number of operations surgery. The number of operations
:29:49. > :29:50.jumped 17% last year. Most were for surgery. The number of operations
:29:51. > :29:55.breast implants, but the biggest surgery. The number of operations
:29:56. > :29:57.rise was for liposuction. Imagine parking your car outside
:29:58. > :30:03.your house and waking up to this dash a
:30:04. > :30:07.Hello. I'm Amy Lea. Two soldiers killed when their car
:30:08. > :30:10.hit a tree in Catterick Garrison have been named. 23`year`old Trooper
:30:11. > :30:12.Mark McKeen and 20`year`old Private Codie Richardson died on Saturday
:30:13. > :30:13.night. Berwick MP