03/02/2014 Inside Out North East and Cumbria


03/02/2014

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In the next half an hour, speaking out, the man who led Cumbria Police

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tells us of the day his 30 year career came tumbling down. I felt as

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if the world had dropped out of my life. I was absolutely devastated.

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My life was taken away. Ten years on from the Tebay rail

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disaster, we ask why workers lives are still being put at risk.

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He said, I think he's been in an accident, I think he's been killed.

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I was in a daze, numb. And the 21st century triffid. Is it

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under your house? We were told we would have to have

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our house torn down. Stories from the heart of the North

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East and Cumbria, this is Inside Out.

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He was Cumbria's top cop, but out of the blue, Stuart Hyde was suspended

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as Chief Constable. For ten months, investigators trawled through his

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e`mails, his diary and questioned his colleagues. The enquiry cost

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taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds and cleared Stuart Hyde.

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Throughout, he has stayed silent, until now.

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It doesn't feel like a fair process at all. What it feels like is a

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one`sided view. I don't think that's what justice is about. You're always

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told you're part of the police, they're your family. Then the day he

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was suspended, suddenly, that went. I never thought I'd understand why

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people take their own lives, but I think I understand it now.

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The 13th of September 2012. Cumbria's chief Constable, Stuart

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Hyde, was travelling back from a meeting in London. At six o'clock in

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the evening, I received a phone call to say could I go immediately to

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committee room two and see the chair of the authority. I couldn't

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understand why no one would actually talk to me. I was phoning home

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numbers, mobile numbers. It was almost as if I was in some sort of

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seclusion zone. And you also thought, presumably, everyone else

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knows what is going on, they are not answering your calls. Yes, and I

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knew it was about me then. Just before midnight at police

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headquarters in Penrith, he was handed a letter. I was absolutely

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devastated. Basically, it suspended me. I just got woken up when he

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phoned me up at about one o'clock in the morning. And he was absolutely

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devastated. Both of us did not really know what was going on. I

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felt as if the world had just dropped out of my life, basically.

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In just a few hours, a 30 year police career was facing ruin.

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Stuart Hyde joined the police in 1983. I've been involved in fights,

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been punched, involved in riot disorder and things like that. But

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I've loved every minute of it. It looks like there may have been early

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signs that you would have been in the police force, going by your

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photograph album. It just sounded right, it seemed to fit right. It

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had the right sort of discipline that I probably needed at the time,

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it also meant the chance to give something back. Mr Hyde took the

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number two job here in Cumbria in 2009. The Queen's police medal

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followed, an officer heading for the very top.

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The day terror came to Cumbria. At least 12 killed and 25 injured as a

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gunman goes on the rampage. We're not able at this stage to

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understand the real motivation behind it or understand whether this

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was a premeditated or random attack. His handling of the Derrick Bird

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shootings put him in the spotlight. Three years later, he was promoted

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to Chief Constable. But he served just nine months before he was

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suspended. For almost a year, the man who loved policing could only

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walk the Fells. Stuart Hyde says he was given no information about the

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allegations being made against him. South Wales Police were brought in

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to investigate, but he says he was still in the dark. It's only now

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that he feels he is starting to piece together the whole case

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against him. The South Wales report investigated claims that Stuart Hyde

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spent more than a fifth of his time away from the county. Quite frankly,

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the numbers that were given in the report are wrong. I've been able to

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go through my diary completely and they have not taken any account of

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weekend working and any account of the work that I used to do during

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the evenings so I don't accept those figures. The investigators also took

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an interest in a holiday flight to Tunisia. Mr Hyde was taking part in

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a charity swimming event. He used air miles gathered on work business

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to pay for the flight. They were my air miles, they did not belong to

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Cumbria Constabulary, they did not belong to anyone else, that's what

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was proven in the end. I felt it was an appropriate use. With hindsight,

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I should have been very clear about what I was using them for and what I

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was doing and in recognition of that, last March, I made a personal

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contribution of the cost of the flights to the Blue Lamp Foundation.

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And the trip raised eyebrows in another way. Cumbria's Police and

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Crime Commissioner criticised this photo of Stuart Hyde taken at the

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event. I'm somewhat surprised, particularly that people might think

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I was on duty there. I really don't see that I did anything wrong in

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having a photograph of me. You said yourself, you don't take the Chief

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Constable label off even when you're off duty. You never take it off. But

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there you are with your clothes off, so didn't you think that might lead

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to someone thinking it wasn't right? I think if I was engaged in a

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swimming event, people would expectme to be wearing swimming

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trunks. Had I been stood there in uniform, it would have looked a bit

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daft to say the least. The investigation also probed

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business meetings Stuart Hyde held with private companies. Critics said

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there were grave concerns within the force about the impression these

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meetings gave. We have a contract for the provision of our radios, for

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example, and it's a very large contract. My objective in

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communicating with them was to try and get our services a bit cheaper.

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We have to make cuts and the objective here, I think, is

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perfectly laudable. We did that with many suppliers. I think they believe

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somehow that I was some sort of very corrupt officer, doing dodgy deals

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here there and everywhere. That was clearly not the case. Are you

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perhaps guilty of not thinking how it might look? Possibly, possibly.

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But that's very different from being a corrupt officer. Investigators

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asked if Mr Hyde had been favouring his local pub in Great Salkeld,

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holding business meetings there in return for favours. I've had no

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benefit in kind from the landlord. The only reason for using it is it's

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very convenient to here, it means I do not have to get drivers out to

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take me all over the county. Yes, it was to suit me, but that means I'm

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maximising my time. Mr Hyde attended the Conservative Party conference

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representing the Association of Chief Police Officers. He was

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speaking about wildlife crime. I've never been paid a fee for speaking,

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I think that's part of my responsibility. I've spoken at many

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conferences. Yes, I take the point that it could be taken as supporting

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a political side, but I was equally talking to the other two

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organisations as well. So I was being impartial.

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The final allegation levelled at Stuart Hyde was that he was tweeting

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inappropriately and misusing his police credit card. One tweet that

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may have caused offence was a picture of a pie. I'm still not sure

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where this has come from. Nobody has come to me and said to me, we don't

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like the fact that you have posted a picture of a pie. If they did, I

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would probably have done something about it. If it was causing offence,

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I would have removed it. I can't understand how this has anything to

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do with somebody's ability to do his job as a senior police officer and

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how it could be in any way included in a misconduct enquiry. Will I stop

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eating them? Absolutely not, I thoroughly enjoy them. They're

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delicious. Mr Hyde was found to have used his credit card twice for

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personal use. The meal I had at the cinema, that was a private meal, I

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paid for that immediately afterwards, as I have normally done.

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The second in relation to Sports Relief, some cash had been handed

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in, I thought that was actually the best way to demonstrate that the

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cash had got through to where it should be. I wasn't pocketing it and

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spending it on anything else. But in hindsight, yes, I could have done it

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differently. The South Wales Police report in

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July last year concluded that there was no evidence of misconduct in any

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of the allegations. It made recommendations for Cumbria Police

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and Stuart Hyde to follow. In essence, the net result of this

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investigation was, Stuart, get your paperwork right, tell people what

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you're doing, talk to them a bit more and move on.

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So, in the clear, Mr Hyde thought he could get back to work, but there

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was another twist in this tale. Cumbria's Police and Crime

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Commissioner disagreed with some of the report's findings and thought

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there was a case to answer. He resuspended him. The Commissioner

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wanted me to either retire or resign. At that point. Which

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basically would have been a week later. What signal do you think that

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would have sent out? An appalling signal. I think it would have said

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to everyone, basically, that I... That they looked, the searched,

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didn't find everything, but you were guilty of something and you ran

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away. Mr Hyde returned to work as Deputy

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Chief Constable in September and retired at the end of last year.

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It's an outcome I could've expected but it isn't an outcome that I was

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happy with. The process took nearly a year. The

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suspension was reviewed every month but Mr Hyde was left in limbo, he

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couldn't work. The investigation costs are estimated at more than

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half a million pounds, met by the taxpayer. And it was only last week

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that he was given a copy of some of the statements made against him.

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Does this process feel like a fair, just system? Absolutely not. It

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doesn't feel like a fair process at all. What it feels like is a

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one`sided view. People that made allegations, their information and

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their allegations have been treated as correct without any opportunity

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for me to address them and I don't think that's what justice is about.

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Is there less justice in this kind of situation than if you had been in

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a courtroom accused of something? You would know what the allegations

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were in detail. If it was a courtroom, or if it was a tribunal,

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a discipline tribunal, I would have been given all of the statements,

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all of the information. I'm now still fighting to get hold of those

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and I will get them eventually, I hope. And we'll be able to make some

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judgement. It could be legal action, it could be going back to other

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agencies, the Independent Police Complaints Commission, it could be

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going back to the Police and Crime Commissioner. But I think I'll wait

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until I've read those statements. What price has your family paid for

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this? It's been an extremely stressful

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time for all of us. Obviously, you want to protect your children.

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Stuart has suffered immensely. 30 years of public service in a job he

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loved has been tainted at the end. Cumbria's Police and Crime

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Commissioner Richard Rhodes told us he'd given detailed interviews about

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Stuart Hyde back in August and he did not want to be interviewed

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again. In a statement he told us... I've learned a lot about the support

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from my family. I've learned a lot about the support from my friends. I

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now know who my friends are. I've also found out, unfortunately, that

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you can't always trust and rely on people you work with. I'm proud to

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have done something for Cumbria and I want to continue doing that. It's

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a special place and it will always be a special place for me.

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I have written about the time I spent with Stuart Hyde on my blog on

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the BBC website. Ten years ago, former railway

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workers were killed here when a truck crashed into them as they

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prepared the track. After the death of another northern worker, Paul

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Murphy has been investigating whether the culture of long hours

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and corner cutting is still putting lives on the line. Not once did

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Scott ever give to me that his job was a dangerous job. I thought they

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were protected. It's December 2012, early in the afternoon on a railway

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line near Saxilby, Lincolnshire, and a gang of workers are repairing the

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track. One of the workers steps back, just as a train is passing. He

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doesn't survive. A report into his death reveals a string of broken and

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ignored safety procedures. Network Rail called the death of Scott

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Dobson a watershed moment, and promised new safety rules. But Scott

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wasn't a Network Rail employee. Like the majority of workers maintaining

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and rebuilding our rail network, he was employed by an agency. Scott was

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always the gang leader, a reliable one, the office used to bring him.

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Scott Dobson was in charge of site safety for a work gang repairing a

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fault in the track that day. Scott and his gang were working on the

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down line, which was closed to trains. But the other side of the

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track was still in use. For some reason, somebody somewhere along the

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line has asked them to do the voiding. They were filling in gaps

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under the track, a job which required working in the "6 foot",

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the gap between the two rail lines. It's a job for which both rail lines

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should have been closed. Scott would not then have been able to step back

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into the path of an oncoming train. As I walked into the kitchen, Thomas

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said, "Mum, you need to speak to Hayesy, he's on the other end of the

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phone in tears." He says, "I think Scott's been in an accident, I think

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he's been killed." At that, I was actually in a daze, numb. A report

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into Scott's death lists many safety failings. The report shows that he

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should not have been working in that safety critical position that day.

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He'd been involved in two other safety breaches, in the preceding

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two months, and according to Network Rail rules, he should have been

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moved to a less senior role. On the day, no`one had asked for the second

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line to be closed, and no one challenged the lack of any risk

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assessment or safety briefing to perform the job. So the question is,

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why were they there when they knew, all that gang knew, that somebody

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would have been in danger working in the six foot as there was trains

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still running on the up side of the track. Scott had been hired that day

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by a recruitment company called sky`blue, a subsidiary of the

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engineering giant Carillion. Carillion express their condolences,

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but tell us they are unable to comment on specific questions or

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issues related to Scott's death until after an inquest and further

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inquiry. They do however say that they go to great lengths to ensure

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their workforce know they can raise safety concerns, and that these will

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be acted upon. They say their Don't Walk By programme encourages staff

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to raise safety issues, and though they recognise some fear they'll be

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penalised if they speak up, the company makes every effort to

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highlight this is not the case. Since the incident, they say they

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have gone beyond industry standards to put in place new safety

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procedures, and have developed a new barrier to be used in co`ordination

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with a physical look`out when people are working on a rail line which is

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closed but adjacent to a line on which trains continue to run.

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Saxilby is a sad reminder of how dangerous the railway is. It's an

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accident that could have been avoided, and the root cause is

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Network Rail's usage, high usage of contractors and agency workers.

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We've talked to trackworkers who've done casual shifts for renewals

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companies across the north of England. They tell us bad safety

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practices are widespread. I've turned up on the site, driven two

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hours to get to a work site, I don't hold the competencies that they're

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asking me for to run that site safely. I've turned round, phoned my

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agency up, and said, "Look, I can't do this, what do you want me to do,

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break the rules?" Is it commonly accepted that if there's a safety

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problem you keep quiet? Some people do because they are that scared of

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losing work, because you speak up, because you speak out, that agency

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can't put you out, and if you're part of a gang, the whole gang loses

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work. 81,000 people are registered to work on the railway, only a

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quarter of them Network Rail staff. Those who survived have been

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campaigning ever since. They want workers to have access to a simple

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warning mechanism. To say I'm disappointed with the

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understatement. I'm so upset. So upset with Network Rail who say

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safety is first and here we are, going into the 10th anniversary, and

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yet there is no protection. Have any lessons at all be learnt? It

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frustrates me all the time when I hear there has been an accident. But

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his campaign may be about to succeed. There is an additional

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level of protection required. We will rule the out nationally. The

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main contractor involved at Tebay, like at Saxilby, was Carillion ` one

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of the biggest companies tendering for major railway engineering works.

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We've had long conversations with Carillion because of the incident

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that took place at Saxilby. I've personally been to Carillion's board

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to make it clear our expectations and to understand what plans they

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have in place to improve safety. We are comfortable Carillion are very

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committed to improving their safety record. Carillion say "health and

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safety is central to all their operations, and they create a

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culture of openness and continuous improvement in their workforce."

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When accidents do occur, they tell us, they "leave no stone unturned to

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ensure that the causes are thoroughly investigated, any

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learnings are adopted, and actions taken." Meanwhile, Scott Dobson's

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family must wait for a coroners' inquest to resolve questions about

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his death. There was a duty of care towards Scott and his team on that

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day. Who failed? I don't think anyone wants to claim that

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liability, whether or not it's protecting Scott, protecting

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themselves, I really don't know. The gangs that are working on the rail,

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and the managerial staff, they really need to be as one. Any

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fatality is horrific, devastating to families, and it's and never, ever

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the same. It may look like a harmless enough

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garden plant, but Japanese knotweed is striking fear into the region's

:22:43.:22:48.

homeowners. With roots capable of ripping through concrete and

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brickwork, it's cutting some property values in half, with many

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unaware there's a problem. And getting rid of this alien invader

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can be a costly struggle too, as Mark Jordan discovered. Somewhere in

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the south, an invasion is under way. We were told we'd have to have our

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house torn down. You don't expect that when you just bought a brand

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new home! A destructive force deep below your home. I was in floods of

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tears. That's our money gone. Be very afraid if Japanese knotweed is

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growing in your garden. It can push into foundations and block drainage.

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How strong? It can push through tarmac and concrete. How deep? Three

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metres. How dormant? There are reports of of it being longer than

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20 years if it's buried deep enough and resurges. This plant is strong

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enough to undermine foundations. Matt and Suzie had no idea their

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?300,000 house was built on top of knotweed. I wanted a brand new build

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and no problems. We first spotted it coming up through the garden ` it

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looked like asparagus. We had to get some advice. The worst moment was

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finding it growing in the house. That was shocking. Forcing its way

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up through the floor. But their home survey hadn't even spotted it

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outside, and insurers now refused to pay out. The house cost in excess of

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300,000. Without treatment it was now worth ?150`160,000. The first

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contractor said we had to knock the house down and rebuild. It was

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cheaper to do that than actually remove the knotweed from what they

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were saying. I'm on patrol with a knotweed exterminator. So how did it

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get here into your garden? There is a wall there ` it's in a terraced

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road. How did it get there? I have no idea! Claire's one of thousands

:25:07.:25:09.

now having to call in the professionals There is no instant

:25:10.:25:12.

fix. Anyone telling you they can kill it instantly is lying. This

:25:13.:25:18.

firm offers five`year guaranteed eradication plans. Plants are

:25:19.:25:21.

regularly injected with poison. Treatments can cost up to ?25,000.

:25:22.:25:28.

You would ignore knotweed at your peril. Certainly it will flag up if

:25:29.:25:39.

you try and sell it. If it grows from yours to an adjacent property `

:25:40.:25:43.

and it can grow up to seven metres a season ` you could be sued for

:25:44.:25:47.

damages under private nuisance. So a southern problem right? Wrong!

:25:48.:25:50.

Japanese knotweed is right up to our doorstep here in the North East and

:25:51.:25:54.

Cumbria. It seems to be unstoppable ` from Whitehaven to Wallsend there

:25:55.:25:57.

are reports of the rampant weed springing up. Including in this

:25:58.:26:05.

street in Newcastle. You don't need to walk far before you spot the

:26:06.:26:08.

dreaded knotweed. There's quite a lot scattered all over Heaton if you

:26:09.:26:12.

walk the streets. There's quite a lot in these two gardens, and

:26:13.:26:15.

they're just growing right up into the drains as well, up close to the

:26:16.:26:20.

house. The roots have probably got underneath the drainage and the

:26:21.:26:23.

concrete to the plinths of the side. It's beginning to take over. If it's

:26:24.:26:26.

not controlled, it'll keep growing and growing and become more and more

:26:27.:26:30.

of a problem. Is it poisonous? No, it's not poisonous. In Japan, they

:26:31.:26:34.

eat it. Some residents are completely unaware of what lies

:26:35.:26:38.

beneath. My neighbour's son`in`law's a gardener and he did say something

:26:39.:26:40.

about Japanese something but I wasn't paying attention because the

:26:41.:26:44.

whole garden is just a state anyway, but he did say about it spreading. I

:26:45.:26:57.

don't know anything about plants. Right, well, other things aren't

:26:58.:27:00.

going to cause you problems, but that one could do. Right. The street

:27:01.:27:07.

here has over 100 houses in it, we've seen it in at least 20

:27:08.:27:10.

gardens, and that's just where we've seen it. I think it's quite a

:27:11.:27:13.

significant problem down here, and this is not an isolated street. The

:27:14.:27:17.

good news is all is not lost. Science is fighting back. There's

:27:18.:27:21.

186 species feeding on it in Japan. Our job was to try and find the

:27:22.:27:24.

things that only attack Japanese knotweed and don't pose a threat to

:27:25.:27:28.

the rest of the environment. We ended up with a thing called the

:27:29.:27:32.

psyllid. It sucks the sap out of the plant. The bioscientists at Cabi had

:27:33.:27:35.

found a bug that only eats knotweed. So these are the critters in action.

:27:36.:27:40.

This is healthy knotweed. This is two months later, with real damage

:27:41.:27:45.

showing. Wow! So they're really suffering. Yes, these won't grow

:27:46.:27:49.

from this point. The psyllids have been released in eight secret UK

:27:50.:27:53.

test sites. How long will it be before knotweed is falling like

:27:54.:27:56.

this? We normally say five`ten years before you know. We are nowhere near

:27:57.:28:02.

that yet. But we're still hopeful. A few good summers and we could have a

:28:03.:28:12.

really good run at it. As those psyllids muster for battle, Suzie

:28:13.:28:14.

and Matt fired the cowboys that wanted to bulldoze their home. Four

:28:15.:28:17.

years and ?30,000 worse off, they now have an eradication plan that's

:28:18.:28:22.

working. The battle goes on, but I think we'll win the war. So now you

:28:23.:28:28.

know what knotweed looks like. The leaves will die back for winter, but

:28:29.:28:36.

they will be back. I bet that will have you checking for the dreaded

:28:37.:28:39.

knotweed in your garden. That's it for tonight. Next week, it survived

:28:40.:28:43.

neglect and arson, but what does the future hold for an iconic piece of

:28:44.:28:49.

our industrial past. I'll see you next Monday. Till then, from

:28:50.:28:50.

Appleby, good night. A longer day, more exams and tougher

:28:51.:29:11.

discipline. That is what the A longer day, more exams and tougher

:29:12.:29:17.

government wants for pupils in England's state schools. Ministers

:29:18.:29:21.

believe it would bring standards closer to those in private schools.

:29:22.:29:25.

There is a warning over a social network raise after it was linked to

:29:26.:29:30.

guess in Ireland. It involves drinking and filming a stun. The

:29:31.:29:33.

body of the young man was found in the River. Tributes have poured in

:29:34.:29:38.

for the actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. It is thought he died from

:29:39.:29:44.

a heroin overdose. More of us are undergoing plastic

:29:45.:29:45.

surgery. The number of operations surgery. The number of operations

:29:46.:29:48.

jumped 17% last year. Most were for surgery. The number of operations

:29:49.:29:50.

breast implants, but the biggest surgery. The number of operations

:29:51.:29:55.

rise was for liposuction. Imagine parking your car outside

:29:56.:29:57.

your house and waking up to this dash a

:29:58.:30:03.

Hello. I'm Amy Lea. Two soldiers killed when their car

:30:04.:30:07.

hit a tree in Catterick Garrison have been named. 23`year`old Trooper

:30:08.:30:10.

Mark McKeen and 20`year`old Private Codie Richardson died on Saturday

:30:11.:30:12.

night. Berwick MP

:30:13.:30:13.

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