24/10/2016 Inside Out South East

The illegal cockle pickers of the South coast.

The evidence that we have ddtected It's not just for personal

If it is a commercial activity, it is illegal.

We are certainly looking at a crisis in

Which does threaten to bankrupt the NHS.

If we continue with these current trends.

And how diabetes is being fought here in the

I just really don't want to lose limbs, lose my site.

I'm Natalie Graham with untold stories closer to home.

For all around the South East, this is

Hello and welcome to the programme, which today comes to you

We often see people out speaking shellfish on our

But is there something more sinister going on?

The Adur Estuary in Shoreham.

A Site of Special Scientific Interest, one of the South Dast s

And it's common, when the thde is out, to see groups of people

all of whom appear to be of oriental origin, out on the mud flats.

Recently I counted 28 out there one day, they range from childrdn

six and seven years old up through women,

But because the Adur Estuarx is a triple SI site,

So Adur estuary is one of the most important sites on south co`st.

The fact that got this spechal citation as a triple SI means really

Cockles are a vital source of food for the birds, so picking them

damages the ecosystem, and there's another good re`son not

Eating cockles from the Adur can make you very very ill.

We take regular samples of water from the River Adur.

Sometimes we have found high levels of E Coli, which are indicators

It certainly looks very picturesque down here on the Adur Estuary,

so why is it dangerous to eat shellfish here?

Well, case in point - look behind me see 30 or 40 river

barges here and they pour out their raw sewage into this

And that is all sucked up by the shellfish.

Well, locals suspect they are picking these cockles

for sale, they're in it for the money.

You know if you were just doing it for leisure purposes, just for self,

and probably come on sunny day and take half little bucket

You know amount they take it, I can't believe

taking them for their own use and that.

Would you describe it as just opportunist,

You have to be some opportunist to eat that much shellfish.

Do you believe that they ard worth a lot money and this is org`nised

cockle harvesting for sale `nd entry into the food chain?

The evidence we have collected indicates that it's not just

for personal consumption - it looks like something elsd

is going on, which is a commercial activity.

And if so, that is illegal commercial activity and cockles

like all shellfish, quite frankly are a high value commodity.

So bearing all that in mind, we thought that it was time to wait

and catch the cockle gangs in action.

And you've seen them on this side of the river?

Seen them on both sides of the river, see them both side

And you think we will be successful in a couple days - they turn up

I don't fancy eating them, do you?

Another low water on the Adtr Estuary and another pillaging

At 20 pounds a kilo of cockles, about the size of a bag

of sugar, there is a lot of money to be made here.

How much are they to buy?

Kilo shells, so really ?20 pounds kilo.

The gangs are well-organised, often with someone in chargd,

We estimate this haul of cockles is worth about ?500.

I would say it is a harvesthng of the riverbed.

I mean, coming along with btckets full, trolleys full of shellfish,

huge scale, putting them into backs of vans and 4x4s -

quite an organised outfit I would say.

Simon Cooper and his son Olly have watched the cockle gangs decimate

When the authorities refused to act, Simon tried to step in himsdlf.

Got to point I'd seen so many times, I thought I'd confront them, see

At this point, they became puite aggressive, they moved the whole

operation other side of the river and just continued.

And to my horror, ferrying people across the river at low tidd.

Putting younger people in danger, crossing the rivdr

As well as being an illegal activity, the authorities stspect

some of the pickers are the victims of human trafficking -

slave labour on a triple SI site in Sussex.

You would have to say that the human story is the tragic one.

Exploitation of people who are picking cockles.

Many pickers are women in their twenties.

We saw children, some younger than ten.

Their faces are concealed in case they are the victims

Cockle picking is back-breaking work.

Hours hunched down, but the cash rewards can be big

At ?20 a kilo, there is big money to be made, but where

Well, we don't know a great deal of where it's going.

Well, a vast amount of them come from the London area,

so God knows what they're doing with them in London.

Lots of shellfood stalls in London - maybe that's where they end up.

Oh, you come down from London.

Then this cockle-picking duo attracted our attention

because they came with their own shopping trolleys.

Finally, just before the tide came in, a third.

But following them, well, that was to prove rather trhcky

We got another clue when we spotted this on their windscreen.

A London parking permit to a tower block in Deptford,

home to one of the capital's largest fish markets.

Well, this is the car we followed from Shoreham full of cocklds.

And the parking permit has taken us here to aptly-named Mermaid Tower

Now, we have to try and find out where the cockles are being sold.

Deptford Market in Lewisham - a must for anyone after

There's something for everyone here...

Fresh cockles stacked in a supermarket just

from where our cockle car was parked.

Not a trace of where they come from, unlike the mussels being

If you want to be sure that you re buying cockles that are safd to eat,

And when I leave the shop, who do I bump into a couple

The man who drove the cockld car from Shoreham.

Us will try as hard as we can to resolve it

And it's also clear the polhceare interested in this as well.

The Adur Estuary is a tripld SI site.

Shellfish should not be taken from here.

It's illegal, and yet this small army of pickers from London

help themselves to this Sussex nature reserve,

Could all these really be for personal consumption?

Or are there shady money men behind this whole operation,

feeding London's appetite for Shoreham cockles?

Facing up to the realities of diabetes in the South East. I'm not

having anything cut off this week. Diabetes comes in many forms,

but they one they call type two is usually linked to lifestyle

and is largely preventable. 10% of the NHS budget is spdnt

treating that But those costs are

likely to spiral if Here's Dominic Hughes,

and you may find some of the pictures

in his report disturbing. Today, I'd like to invite

you to a shoe shop with a And they represent 140

amputations that take place in England every week due

to complications associated with We set up this shoe shop

to show just how serious Where you come from and your family

history can increase But doctors say most

of it is down to obesity. Now, new data given exclusively

to the BBC by Public Health England estim`tes

there be an extra 250,000 Diabetics are at risk of kidney

failure, blindness, even prdmature The NHS is spending ?10 billion

a year on diabetic care. That's nearly 10%

of its entire budget. As things stand, we are certainly

looking at a crisis in diabetes that threatens to bankrupt

the NHS if we continue with these One of our shoes belongs

to Stephen Woodman. We caught up with him as he arrived

at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospit`l

for an appointment Like 90% of diabetics,

Stephen has the type II version which is linked to lifestyld,

so largely But diagnosed as a young man,

he ignored his GP's I carried on leading

the lifestyle that I was. I was younger, this was over

25 years ago. I was out at the pub and dohng

all the Like many diabetics,

Stephen developed an ulcer on his The ulcer wouldn't heal,

and in the end had to have his toe My surgeon did say to me,

when he was taking my third toe off, it is only a matter of time

before you lose that one. He says it is inevitable

that will go the same Patients with Type 2 diabetds aren't

just losing their toes, somd have had to had a foot amputated,

or even a lower leg. It's life changing

and very expensive. For the first six months

following the patients And even a basic prosthesis

costs thousands of All of those aspects mean

that it is a very expensive process Nick is the health

economist who worked at the Most of that is spent

on competitions. FOot ulcers and amputations

cast nearly ?1 billion Then there is sight

loss, nerve damage. But the biggest cost

of all is for heart attacks and With both obesity and Type 2

diabetes affecting more and more of us, costs for diabetic c`re are

expected to increase to ?17 billion There is a fixed amount

of money for the NHS. Clearly if one disease area

like diabetes is taking up a more considerable

amount of that cost, there is less to spend

on It is important

that the policymakers and local commissioners of care

think about the way in which those costs can be mitigated

over the next few years. Clearly there isn't going to be

enough to go around. I'm just taking

a measurement to make up thd Back at the Royal Shrewsburx

Hospital, Stephen is getting Losing three toes means she has

to have specially made Out of interest, how

much is a pair of Because the boots will be ctstom

made to fit your feet, they will We really need to try

and find ways of preventing those patients from

reaching surgeons. The cost to the patient

and to the NHS is skyrockethng. A new problem is expected to put

even 16-year-old Aisha is one of a small

but growing number of children with I developed Type 2

diabetes by having a sweet I used to drink quite

a lot of sugary drink. When I was taken to the hospital,

the doctor told me I was diagnosed with Type two diabetes,

it hit me then, because I started Aisha now has to rely

on medicine to control But she has managed

to lose a stone in weight. Those fizzy drinks are a thhng

of thepast. You have to keep

changing your diet plan New research shows the numbdr

of children like Aisha with type 2 diabetes has ne`rly

doubled in the last ten years. They are likely to

develop complications People who are getting Type 2

diabetes when they are 15 They are going to have signhficant

problems, likely to have That is much younger

than you would expect. These are things like renal failure,

heart attacks, They are going to have

a huge impact for them. Ultimately, tackling the rise

in Type 2 diabetes would depend

on reducing our waistlines. We really needs concerted

action right across For us to fund more research

to provide the best And crucially to

prevent so many cases Unsteady on his feet

after losing his toes, he was told by his employer

that he is not fit for work. Given everything you have bden

through, Steve, what would your advice be

to other people who are being It is the biggest regret I have

ever made in my entire Of course, it is important

to follow Steve's advice What action is being taken

here in the South East Many ordinary families

across the South East are Janet and her husband

Chris are among them. Today, they are learning to use

the blood sugar level test which she was given

by a diabetes clinic. She has already suffered ond heart

attack - if she doesn't get her diabetes under

control, she could be just. She said it shouldn't go

any higher than 8.5. Francis is another newly

diagnosed diabetes She is determined to tackle

the disease because she is terrified of what will

happen if she does not. I really don't want to lose limbs,

lose my sight. Type two 2 diabetes starts

when the body no longer reacts Interfering with the body's

ability to convert That leads to high sugar levels

in the blood, which can Nearly 100,000 people have been

diagnosed with diabetes in the It is a potentially

life-threatening illness. We will be looking at the special

effort being made to stop it In Medway, almost

one in 14 people has Patients are referred to spdcialist

clinics and classes for the newly Provided by Medway

Community Healthcare. These are overseen

by Ann, who has been a Much earlier, and pick

it up much earlier. A lot of people now

who are diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes don't

have any symptoms of diabetds This is one of the

classes for people who have been recently

diagnosed with diabetes. Your body will kick in the symptoms

dart Francis and Janet had been referred here to learn how to

control their disease as well as find out about the drugs thdy might

take, losing weight is one of the things they are being advisdd to do.

Kate is a diabetes educator. A lot of the time, people want to know

what they can eat. Food portions, I bring them into show them what a

portion looks like. That is shocking to many people. And the

carbohydrates have an effect on blood sugar levels, not just sugar.

Portions at Newtown are my problem, I am trying to cut back. I have lost

about ?9 and will try to lose more. What is the link between obdsity and

type two diabetes? The link between obesity and diabetes relates to the

accumulation of facts. We c`ll it a visceral fat. That means around the

organs. It has the ability to produce certain harmful substances

that unfortunately results hn an increase in insulin resistance. Once

you have diabetes, can you get rid of it by losing weight? I al yet to

see anyone remitting their diabetes. The one that sticks in my mhnd

the divorced lady who met a the divorced lady who met a

long-distance runner. She started going out on a bike with hil. She

ended up taking part in a m`rathon. But the majority of patients will

need lifelong treatment to `void competitions like heart att`cks and

gangrene. I have gone back to visit France's and her husband to see how

she is getting on. She showdd us fairly graphic pictures of people

that she has known that havd had happy days and is. Then I w`tched

Panorama. I don't want to go down that road. They both found the

programme shocking. Look at all the toes. It is like you are gohng to

make a shared. It is horrible. - makeover ten Lee.

Did you find it scary? Yes. And after make me think, oh, my God I

didn't realise this could h`ppen to you. The Government is so worried

about the ?10 billion a year treatment costs, it has lost the Lee

launched the prevention schdme in Medway, one of the first ardas to

launch the... The website h`s lifestyle advice for those

identified as being in risk. The prevention programme will elphasise

exercise for everyone and hdlp people sign up to sporting

activities. A new spot on offer for people with diabetes is walking

football. -- a new sports. Ht is a new, more sedate version of

football. It is not as frenzied as five a side. It is done at ` walking

pace. I noticed a little bit of jogging here and there. Walking is

defined as having one vote on the ground at all times, and yot can do

that quickly. After I retirdd, I decided I needed to lose wehght How

stone when I retired. It is too late stone when I retired. It is too late

for Janet is to prevent her diabetes, but she is learning to

control it with the help of the classes. I would never have guessed

that a crumpets is equivalent to 1.5 slices of bread. The whole thing has

made me think. Janet and Fr`nce s course has one a national award

Anyone can give information to people. But they are the onds who

are motivated so I am proud of them. It is difficult to avoid thd impact

of diabetes once you have it. That said, many diabetics are le`rning to

help themselves to control the disease. And leading full and active

lives. Excellent! If you would like to know more about

the programme, you can visit our life pages... You can also watch the

show again online. Coming up next week... The trade in fake train

tickets. The quality of the counterfeit is the highest goatee I

have seen for a long time. ,- the highest quality. The latest from the

Calais Jungle camp. And football for over 50 women. Not all women want to

go to classes, I just love playing football. That is all for Rochester.

Thank you for watching.