23/10/2017 Inside Out South West

Hello and welcome to Inside Out South West,

stories and investigations from where you live.

Set to go supersonic - we look under the bonnet

of Bloodhound, designed to reach 1,000 mph.

This car is a class apart, I have never driven anything

If you look out there, there is a camera.

Oh, my God, my mother is going to kill me.

Jonathan Gibson exposes classified ad crime.

And all sold-out - troubled times for newsagents

The hardest part was telling all the staff.

I am Jemma Woodman and this is Inside Out South West.

Not something most drivers know much about.

Particularly here in Cornwall on our windy country lanes.

But imagine a car that could drive so fast you'd never have to worry

about getting stuck behind a caravan or anything else ever again.

Well, that's exactly what's being worked on here at Newquay Airport.

A car that could one day travel at a truly hair-raising 1,000mph.

And I'm here to find out how they're doing it.

Those initials by the way stand for Super Sonic Car

which means it'll go faster than the speed of sound.

In fact, it'd get you from Newquay to London in around 15 minutes.

But no-one really wants to drive that fast, do they?

I have never driven anything quite like this before.

A fighter pilot in his day job, it is his own record that

Andy was in the driver's seat when Thrust SSC

went 763 mph in 1997, making it the first car

What was it like the last time you did it?

We set the record now 20 years ago this month.

Being involved with some of the world's best engineers

solving problems that have never been solved before,

that was a tremendously satisfying thing to do

and that is the expertise that we have not only

shared with industry, universities over the last 20 years,

but of course we are relying on now to go to that massive step

So why are you trying to break it again if you still hold it?

Modern technology allows us to go not just a bit

But pushing the limits of speed can be a risky business.

He's now the project director of both Bloodhound and Thrust SSC,

but his own World Land Speed Record attempt more than thirty years ago

What they discovered later was that if his car had gone just seven

miles per hour faster, he would have taken off and Noble

American driver Craig Breedlove also had a close shave when trying

On Breedlove's last run on the American Black Rock Desert,

his car suddenly flipped on its side and careered off course at 670 mph.

Miraculously it righted itself again and Breedlove was unhurt.

Bloodhound will have far more power than those cars,

so getting the design right is critical.

I like to push boundaries and someone of my age does not

normally get the opportunity to do so.

Retired missile scientist Ron Ayers is behind Bloodhound's design.

As the project's chief aerodynamicist, it's his job to make

Any mismatch in the pressures around the car will easily be big enough

to lift it off the ground or crash it into the ground.

Ron also has a bit of experience in this kind of thing.

In 1992, Ron was recruited by Richard Noble to design Thrust SSC.

I said right at the beginning to Richard, "This is totally

But try it they did and now he's back figuring out how to make

When we started designing Bloodhound, there was no-one

could tell us what shape a supersonic car should have,

The air arriving from the front now gets squeezed under the nose

and causes an increase in pressure, which at these high speeds

we are going would be quite sufficient to lift the front end

So to counter that, I took down the nose so it is much

closer to the ground, so less air can get underneath.

There was three years of aerodynamic research,

constantly changing the shape until we got one that could satisfy

That is to say the car would stay on the ground and at the same time,

it would not crash its suspension at any point.

The key to Bloodhound's speed is that as well as a jet engine,

Ron has designed a space for a rocket.

But even with all that hard work, there are still

1,000mph is about the maximum that is physically achievable,

because it is an ultimate record to see whether it is possible.

I'm not guaranteeing that we're going to get there.

But guaranteeing Andy's safety is Ron's top priority.

If I thought there was a serious risk of killing Andy,

You have total faith in him, of course.

Ron and I have been working together a long time,

first of all as part of the Thrust SSC team and I genuinely do not

think we would have managed to get supersonic without Ron's expertise.

Every single bit of this shape is critical.

Where the tail waists in here, the shape underneath

What is this going to look like when it actually fires up?

When this is running at full thrust, we have gone flame as long

It is one of the loudest noises in the world right

But building a fast car doesn't necessarily happen at great pace.

Bloodhound's been in development since 2008, but raising the money

to keep a project like this going is almost as complicated

This is the cutting edge of motorsport, there has never been

We would like to move a little faster, but actually

we are dictated by the cash flow as well as the technology.

The car's here at Newquay Airfield because the plan is for Andy to take

it on a test drive in front of an audience of 4,000

The run will test all the mechanics, but the short runway means

she will only hit a top speed of 200mph.

So just a leg stretch is going to be a wow.

Yeah, this is just a small leg stretch.

200 mph is just a fifth of our targets speed.

We are going to have the crowd standing about 100 metres away,

that is about twice as close as you'll ever get to an airshow

and you will physically feel it in your chest.

Your organs will move with the low-frequency vibrations.

It is genuinely going to quit people in a way that those here will be

If the Newquay trials go well and they can raise enough money,

the plan is to take Bloodhound to the South African desert in 2019

and it's there that attempts on the record will begin.

Driving this little car does not seem quite

But at least I know what will happen when I put my foot down.

Still to come tonight: A sad farewell.

Shutting shop on 100 years of trading in Bridport.

It is going to be hard letting go and saying goodbye.

Next tonight, Jonathan Gibson investigates a classified ads

website where they do not just sell toasters and sofas.

What he discovers is a place where criminals connect

So what is being done to stop this crime online?

As an investigative journalist it's sometimes easier to work

When people aren't watching what you re doing.

If you're looking for something illegal, it's the go to part

of the internet that's hidden from prying eyes.

The place where criminals use encrypted websites and virtual

You don't need to bother with all that, mate.

Shouldn't you be getting on with the...?

It was setup in America by a guy called...

It's a website where people buy and sell everything.

Just say where you live and get started, but lots of the stuff

on Craigslist won't be in the buy and sell section of

your local newspaper, including bootleg tobacco.

The kind of cigs you'd probably buy from some dodgy

Or in this case a supermarket car park.

So are they knocked off then or are they?

No, no, no, so they're old packaging but they can't resell

He says his supplier's someone else on Craigslist.

I've seen some crazy stuff on Craigslist.

That's why I've come to another car park ready for another dodgy deal.

And that's why his tobacco is just a third of the price

But there is a difference because counterfeit goods are among

the things Craigslist says you're not supposed to sell on its website.

It's as easy to find marijuana on Craigslist

And you might need a seat because what I'm buying next

I'm on a Derby estate to meet a dealer selling

Turns out as street cocaine goes it's pretty pure stuff.

I'm shocked at what's there because it's not difficult

for the internet companies to put elements onto their websites

to police this sort of stuff and they should be policing it

But if you have made money from crime.

you won't want the police to find it.

So what you need is someone to hide it -

But where would I find someone to do that?

On a street corner, I'm meeting Stacey.

She's offering her bank account on Craigslist to anyone

But we are walking into the bank to pay in what I've told her

She'll charge me a fee to get it back and there are plenty of people

on Craigslist offering to do the same thing.

Sometimes through overseas bank accounts.

But if you've sent your money overseas, how

Well, what you need is a new identity.

And I know just the place you can get it.

The place where I can find a stolen passport.

And there are plenty more where that came from.

I've known some stories where it's taken people ten years

to get their credit ratings back again after it's been completely

trashed by people who have stolen their identities,

but it will allow you to get on and commit other crimes

And it's not just about selling stuff.

This advert's looking for postmen to steal the letters they're

On Craigslist there's also disorganised crime.

This guy wants someone to pass his driving theory test for him.

But for 50 quid, it's not that black and white.

For a start, he's black and I'm white and someone's going to notice.

Well, they check your photo against the database.

Mate, there s no point, there's no way I m going to get through.

You go in now or you're going to lose your test fee.

When I later revealed I'm a journalist, he didn t

In fact, when we asked it for an interview,

And that came from the top -

I think whilst they're making money and nobody is asking them or forcing

them to change what's going on, you'll find selling sites like this

using the ostrich effect to what's going on -

sticking their head in the sand and ignoring it.

No wonder criminals can carry on regardless.

Well, unless they're really selling to a journalist.

If you look out there there's a camera.

I'd like to know, mate, why you're offering to sell?

Oh, my God, my mother's going to kill me.

But he's not the only one thinking about his relatives.

I don't know why I'm doing it to be honest.

I'm trying to make money for my family.

Take a good look at my cocaine dealer cos he's not around for long.

The thing is, mate, I work for the BBC and we're...

trying to find out why you're pedalling cocaine.

Well, he wasn't hanging about, was he?

I'm trying to find out why you're willing to launder money for people?

Why are you actually doing that, Stacey?

I'm not buying a passport off you because I work for the BBC.

Why are you selling stolen passports, mate?

Why are you selling stolen passports?

The amount of organised crime that is sitting behind everything

you've shown there is frightening and it's critical I think

that the police force or the law enforcement agencies force the likes

of Craigslist to do something about it.

When we asked to interview a minister, all we got was a home

Well, we've kind of done

So maybe it's time the government forced websites like Craigslist

If you want to catch up with the news, do

For many of us, this is how we keep up to date which can make sad

headlines out of businesses which used to thrive

on selling newspapers, like Frost's in Bridport.

About to say a sad goodbye to both staff and customers.

Across the country, more newsagents are closing

Frost's in Bridport has been in the same family for 60 years.

But owner Adrian Franklin says technology is changing everything.

As soon as I get it, it is already probably 12 hours old.

The iPad or phone, the news is already there.

We are only reading now what happened in the past.

The shop itself has been here I suppose for nigh on 100 years.

When I came into the business, it was decided we had

to make the shop bigger to justify their wages basically.

So we did a 3-part extension and build the shop all the way through.

Adrian and his wife Judith have run the business

Got married at 19, been married 40 years now.

As an independent retailer, Adrian has always taken pride

They have come in and they have said, we love

We always know when we have been everywhere else,

we always come to you afterwards because we know you will have it.

If you cannot find something or you need something,

At the end, it's like an Aladdin's cave of toys and I go back

to when I was about four or five years old and I think,

If it wasn't the toys, it was the sweets.

A lot of stationary and various things that you use

They say, first place they come to, as soon as they come to town,

we come to you because we have got nothing like you where we come from.

But soon, Trudy and her sister Lillian will have to find

They are running it down. Frost's is closing down. The Internet is

killing this business. Retail is really suffering. Unless you are

prepared to offer an Internet service, you will not do well and on

top of that you have to be the cheapest. I used to do online

shopping but I did not like it. Terrible. My computer had a mind of

its own. It is lovely to serve people face to face. You can see

them, hopefully they are happy with what they have purchased. The

purchase has gone out the door and it is done. The problem with the

Internet it is faceless. It is nice to see people happy and they react,

we are pleased with that, it is what we wanted. And you get a bit of

banter which is quite nice. You cannot do that with a machine. Fewer

people send letters and postcards these days and Lillian can call

Trudy for next to nothing. I can phone over in the States for 1 cent

a minute. It goes on for an hour, an hour and a half, sometimes two

hours. It is easier than writing and you can get more into it. When you

get to our age you find people that were alive with you at that time are

not here now. We are still kicking. You'll find a of these shops have

gone and they are all becoming charity shops. The whole village

effect we have here is slowly disappearing. The closing down sale

has given Frost's a final flourish. This is busy. If you had come in

here five weeks ago you would be lucky to see three or four people at

a time. There is no market for The Independent trader any more. We

cannot compete with the Internet and big stores. After more than 100

years as a Bridport landmark, Frost's has no choice but to close.

None of our family want to take it on. So... We are going. We are going

whilst we can. Many of the staff have been with Frost's for years.

Susan started work in 1977 aged 14. I happen to walk in here one day as

a little Saturday girl with my parents. Mum had to bring me in here

to work every day and I have been here ever since. This is my one and

only job. The hardest part was telling the staff they were being

made redundant. Had a full-time job the after-school, then got married,

had children and the hours suited so I stayed here. I am sad to think it

has gone. It -- at just 20 minutes of nine o'clock, Frost's will close

for the last time. It is a P 45 and redundancy cheque. Has to be done,

but there you go. Judith feels hugely responsible for the nine

members of staff now out of a job. They are friends, they have been

here as long as I have. Very responsible for them. It is going to

be hard. It is going to be hard letting go and saying goodbye. It

may be old-fashioned but you get the personal touch. I find life today so

busy, there is so much to do an little time to do it. I am going to

miss this place. We are all gutted. I just do not know where I will go

now because every time I come in, papers are ready for me and it is

wonderful service you get here. I believe in going into a shop

because you get personal service. Oh, dear. It is the last time. What

am I going to do now on a Saturday. Trade was different, people were

different. People now seem to be very angry, they have got no time

any more. Everything is being done a million mph. We are all doing it,

people get in a queue and... You are only waiting in it. I do know what

it is. People sat chiefs have changed. A bit of the humour has

gone out of it. People are more serious. Everybody was always the

same, everybody got treated exactly the same. The attitude was the same,

it was irrelevant the amount of money. Money was not the driving

factor. This is it. Just sad that it is all over now. I

can't believe it. And that is all from Inside Out tonight, but join us

next week for the crew to the rescue. The self-styled life-savers

who will did you out of any hole. When the sun comes out, we go

underground and if we can put our skills to a good cause, that is

really good. Join me for that and more next Monday at 7:30pm on BBC

One. See you then. go. That's it for others to night

from the Medway Hello, I'm Riz Lateef

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