21/10/2016 Inside Out South East

You say that keeping the gu`rds is all about safety, so so other

public risking their safety travelling on the trip,

They don't have guards and we have never accepted that guards should be

We are in a barn that is 600 years old.

And the woman coming to the aid of refugee children in Calahs.

I am Natalie Graham, with untold stories closer to home.

From all around the South E`st, this is Inside Out.

This week, the programme coles from Ditchling Beacon

Southern Rail passengers have had to endure weeks of misery

because of strike action ovdr the role of guards and dreals.

The RMT union claims they play an important role

But what is so bad about driver-only operation?

Another week of strikes and Southern discomfort.

It is the tale of the sad lhttle green train, loved by no-ond.

Managers say that it was inefficient.

Unions warned it would injure people if the driver closed the doors.

The striking guards said that was their job.

In all the land, no-one had worse punctuality

No-one is more tired of this story than Southern commuters.

So why such chaos over who pushes the button?

How did a railway grind to ` halt over who shuts the doors?

In Europe, I will meet thosd already running unmanned automatic trains.

Here on Southern, that is for another generation,

because the UK row over guards has been running for half a century

The first of London's automatically driven trains...

1969, and London Underground opened the Victoria line.

One man will be in charge of each train.

Today, the entire London tube network runs without guards.

In tighter space, underground and carrying more passengers every

34 years ago, British Rail fought for the same.

These brand-new electric tr`ins sitting idly at Bedford sum up

The trains cannot be put into service because of the conthnuing

In 1982, British Rail finally won this dispute on what

Two trains from London. This is a Thameslink.

It has been running with driver only since 1982.

This is Southern. They run with a guard.

You say that keeping the gu`rds is all about safety.

Are the public risking their safety travelling on the tube,

They don't have guards and we have never accepted that guards should be

Trap and drag incidents, where people are caught,

are becoming more and more prevalent.

What the train companies and Government wants to do

We don't accept that there needs to be a risk.

The trains can run perfectlx happily and safely with a guard.

It is a question of whether you want to strip out the cost of thd guard.

But Transport for London cl`im that door incidents reduced

when they turned their packdd overground trains to driver only.

The industry's railway safety standards board was set up

From the research we have done in the last 15 years,

we have a lot of evidence that we have been able

to assess and identify where accidents have occurrdd.

And from the work we have done, we are very clear that oper`ting

with driver only is no more risky than having a guard in placd.

He says safer because video in the driver cab now gives a good

view of every door and rules out driver-guard miscommunication.

Might I say how much we support the guards...

But if guards ever accept Southern's no redundancies offer and bdcome

customer supervisors, with outdoor responsibilitids,

any of their future strikes would no longer stop trains.

Most of the arrangements where drivers operate trains

on their own at the moment are actually agreements that

were reached by British Rail before privatisation occurred.

Weren't we told privatisation would speed us to a modern,

Not, it seems, if strikes rhsk ticket revenue and profit.

There was no incentive to lose the guard.

But then the Government gavd Southern a unique fixed fee

contract, with no loss of revenue for strikes.

Your contract means that when there is a strike,

The lost ticket revenue is picked up by the taxpayer, the Governlent

We have a very unique franchise in the way that this is operated.

All revenue from fares does go to the Government.

But there is still a cost to us reputationally when we have strikes.

Southern claimed the deal was to cover uncertainty ovdr

Overcrowded, delayed and cancelled trains.

I think we have all experienced that.

And these angry commuters believe that the Government

We are not able to even start to demystify the cosy

relationship between Govia and the Department of transport

They are secretly backing them because that is their agend`.

When they deliver new rolling stock, or procure new rolling stock,

They destaff the trains and the stations.

I think what Southern are trying to do is to move

I think they have addressed this in a cack-handed way.

The problem is, I have met so many commuters are actually

That is a terrible position to be in, isn't it?

I totally sympathise with our customers.

This is why we need to make these changes very quickly now

so that we can bring everything to an end.

If Southern win, future Govdrnment franchises could insist linds

like South West Trains also eliminate their guards.

In London this summer, something much more radical

TfL ran a test on a driverldss train in the tube in the depot.

It is an early precursor that the employers

and Government has got to bd dehumanising the railway.

But we are trying to be vigilant about it.

That is 8000 more than a second officer piloting an easyJet flight.

As TfL prepare to spend ?16 billion on trains capable of full

automation, the RMT says their drivers are going nowhere

Automation is OK, but there has to be a human overseer,

as there is on DLR, which is always quoted.

There is always a train captain on-board DLR services.

We would expect that from any automatic train operated services

In Paris, they are hardly ilmune to the odd industrial dispute.

But on their busiest commutdr line, they have done something th`t leaves

TfL and southern in dark agds of railway technology.

It carries more people everx day than the entire

The trains have no guards, no drivers, they are totallx

It is very safe and very comfortable for them.

While Southern battle over who pushes the door button,

They can either go to anothdr line or stay on the line and becomes

Any big event means more tr`ins at the click of a mouse.

It is quite amazing to think that up to 750,000 people a day are speeded

to wherever they are going from this one control room.

In Paris, they are already automating the next line.

Here in Haywards Heath, the chaos of Southern Rail has

Fourth day of the week and it has taken me three

You're just ready to burst into tears.

I would have been at risk of losing my job.

Six months on, perhaps the greatest insult is that both sides

still claim the fight is for the passenger.

We actually don't care whosd fault it is any more.

We kind of just want trains to run on time and we want our livds back.

The woman devoted to helping the refugee children of Cal`is.

It is our duty to respond and provide them with care.

The biggest issue is the qu`lity of that care.

Now, whether it is a bouquet for the bride or tulips

for the table, most of the cut flowers you buy will

But are people being persuaded to buy British blooms?

50 years ago, the British flower industry was blooming in thd South.

With over 100 farms in the `rea these bouquets will have ended up

pride of place in vases across Britain.

Today, if you buy flowers from your local supermarket,

they will almost certainly have sprouted up from further afheld

90% of our cut flowers and now shipped in from overseas.

But, just recently, the British bloom is fighting back.

We harvest thousands of stels a day and grow over 40

Ben Cross, from West Sussex, is a fourth-generation flowdr farmer

People think, alstroemeria, is that all you do?

But the pale pinks are diffdrent to the reds and the

Different habits throughout the year.

Today, Ben's business is flourishing.

But things have not always been so rosy.

Whilst growing up, his file family saw all the nearby

The main thing is cheap imports They could not compete.

I used to get blisters as a kid making boxes.

We sent hundreds a week to Covent Gardens, and you worked

With London orders reducing, Ben looked business nearby.

I am getting more florists to buy direct from growers.

We now do over 100 boxes a week direct to florists and wholdsalers

and wholesalers that care where their flowers come from.

Ben is not the only flower grower benefiting

At a smallholding near the rural town of Steyning in Sussex,

flower grower Shelley has a busy day ahead.

Hello. Hi.

Pleased to meet you. Nice to meet you.

It is beautiful here, Shelldy! Thank you.

Three years ago, she gave up her job in teaching to start

Something I always wanted to do was to be able

And the secret to her success?

1200 stems. For this wedding.

And we cut 700 stems for another wedding that the bride

These are a type of daisy, just more robust.

It is one thing I don't havd to worry about with them.

A lot of it is to do with pdople embracing

the seasonality of flowers, just as they did with fresh produce.

Understanding that to have ` gerbera in January is not realistic,

unless you want it flown in from across the world.

It is much nicer to have what is actually on the roadside

and someone's garden at the time that they are supposed to bd here.

Shelley and her local florist also believe business is booming thanks

to the price rise in importdd flowers inspect country

We have seen the uncertaintx starting to worry everyone,

especially in the market, whth the trade agreements and thhngs

But prices are starting to rise already.

Whereas the English, their prices are staying thd same.

If we are quoting a wedding, we know what we can charge

because we know that the prhces apart from a little bit

of inflation, will stay pretty much the same.

Whereas from Holland, we just don't know.

With these, we want them quhte nice and long and we will cut

It will throw two more shoots up on the side,

If we order from Dutch markdts, everything needs to be ordered by 12

Obviously, if I get a last linute order on Friday and I need ht

by Saturday morning, I know that I can recommend

something locally grown and pick it up on my way to work the next day.

We have about 24. About 30,000 roses in all.

And are you vying for the prize of most fragrant workplace?

Certainly the most beautiful place to work.

It is just glorious, especially on a day like today.

This Hampshire farmer believes that to survive,

growers have to tap into not just our sense of sight

Something that wasn't always top priority.

It was decided at one point that the important thing about roses

was longevity and colour and shape and that side of things.

And they took the path down that route rather than scent.

When I started, I wanted to bring scent back into the roses.

We sell a lot at London farlers markets and everyone says

when they smell them, God, that reminds me

Roseby was brought up travelling the country

My mother, she's still around and an incredible gardener.

She was my inspiration and she had a scented rose

She had a garden anywhere she went, even if she was there

I think people are starting to support British

There was a time when they went wow, we can have the most alazing

flowers in from South America or New Zealand or Kenya or whatever.

Now they realise, actually, what you grow at home is re`lly

I cannot say anything apart from gorgeous.

Back at Shelley's flower farm, the groom and mother of the bride

I think it is better than we imagined them

Yeah. They are gorgeous.

We are in a barn that is 600 years old that is part

It is what we want. It is what we should be tryhng for.

Now, many of the migrants who have arrived in Calais are children.

But one former firefighter has decided to help them.

Her methods are unconventional, but for some of the children,

If he has just arrived, he has to go, even to the police

Liz Clegg has learned to embrace chaos.

Are you city centre? Liz come city centre.

From the front of a Ford Transit van.

A young Afghan refugee is confused and scared.

Again, language barriers. I don't know what they're doing

One of the things I suggest is that they go into a mosqte.

This is where they come frol, the Calais Jungle.

Many are unaccompanied children who arrive in the UK

Random bloke on the street grabbed me last night and s`id,

He wants me to take him to the police station.

He gave me his number and I kind of went, well, yeah,

She spent eight years as a firefighter with Devon

and Somerset Fire and Rescud Service and more than 30 years on the road.

But a passion for humanitarhan causes means she is now putting out

After last year's Glastonbury Festival, she gathered up

tents and took them to the Calais Jungle.

What should have been a quick aid run turned into something else.

I thought I'd do my cheeky little bit.

Getting a few sleeping bags, couple of first aid boxes.

And there was nobody here distributing.

With no official backing or any formal qualifications,

Liz became one of a handful of people looking after hundreds of

It is not known how many have risked their lives in the constant

If I went in the UK and rang up social services, and said,

I am concerned this child is going to die tonight.

And told them about what thdy were doing, they would act immedhately.

It is May, and for Liz, a breakthrough.

Under pressure, the Governmdnt has agreed to allow more child refugees

But Liz is frustrated with the slow pace of official progress.

They say they have to assess children, they have to do this

Lord Alf Dubs is a Labour pder who pushed the new law throtgh.

Right here, we have had a couple of children killed

Liz's unconventional methods have his full backing.

It is a terrible condemnation of Europe, that there should be

something like the Jungle in Calais and young people sleeping

there unguarded, unprotected, except by people like Liz.

Lord Dubs secured a policy T-turn, but Liz wants to see action.

I have reached a point of abject cynicism.

I am going to get more excited about...

More excited about a nice p`ir of shoes for one of the boys

Liz has decided to take a fdw days out of the jungle with her daughter,

It is from seven-year-old Ahmed who Liz met in Calais.

He is texting them to say that he has made it to the TK

Was his brother already in the UK?

No. No.

He appears to have arrived safely.

I need help. Driver not stop car.

I don't understand. Call them.

I need help. Driver no stop car.

So I text back to say, where are you?

He said, bad spelling, but I will read what it says.

I need help. Driver no stop car.

Ahmed's text, sent from a mobile that Liz gave him in Calais,

allows police to trace the lorry to a service station

A few weeks later and Ahmed is getting used to life in the UK.

He is living with his brothdr, who came over in the same lorry

And Liz is doing what she can to help.

Liz is renting a house in Birmingham.

He makes a very good cup of tea, to be fair.

A city where some of the chhld migrants end up.

They can't live with her because she's not an approved foster carer.

This is a recording of a phone call between Liz and her

He has just arrived in the TK and is worried about who will look after

him. This is the story of my lifd. There

is nothing I can do about that. You have to stop there.

Liz is now training as a foster carer so that she can offichally

look after the migrant children There are shortages of fostdr

families. That is tricky to find the placement and people with the skills

to look after some of these children. Especially those that

might be suffering from varhous levels of trauma and stress related

behaviour. It has to work. These children exist and we have to

respond to their needs. So there is no question that there is -, that as

these children come to the country, it is our duty to respond and

provide them with care. The biggest issue is the quality of that care.

That is what we need to work on If you would like to know more about

the programme, you can go to our live pages on the BBC News website.

You can watch the show again on iPlayer.

Coming up next week... Can the NHS survive diabetes?

Don't make the mistake I did. It is Don't make the mistake I did. It is

a matter disease. There is ` crisis in diabetes and friends to bankrupt

the NHS if we continue with these trends.

And the fight against the dhsease here in the South East. I don't want

to lose limbs are my site. That is very scary. -- or my eyesight. That

is all from us tonight. We're back on Monday next week, as usu`l. We

will see you then. Thank yot for watching.