17/12/2012 Inside Out South

Welcome to inside-out. This is home to one of the most important

collections of vehicles in the country. We will be meeting

Britain's biggest fan of the Ford Transit van while we discover there

is only one Turkey on the minds of Southampton workers this Christmas

as jobs are going. You put your heart and soul into making

something work and you get no thanks for it. Also, arson. How a

pub landlord and himself -- his wife tried to cover their tracks as

they set light to their business. What a year it has been. We meet

some of the family struggling to cope with 2012's incredible

downfalls. I will be glad when 2012 has finished and we can get on with

hopefully a normal life in 2013. The citizens Saadi for the South of

-- This is inside-out for the South I will explain why we have come

inside in just a moment. But first arson, it is thought every week in

the UK 2000 fires are started deliberately. The cost - �14

million. When Hampshire Fire Investigation teams will call to a

pub in Lymington, the cameras were there. Summer, 2011 and a local pub

is ablaze. Five people are inside when the alarm goes off. The

landlord and his dog are plucked to safety by firefighters. But is

everything as it seems? Mind you step down here. The arson

investigation team has been called in. We have come to the other end

of the building so we must have at least 10 metres walk. What you have

his plastic that has melted down from the emergency lighting. The

heat has got such in this room, it has melted lighting, the smoke

detector up there. This is good evidence as to why you should close

the doors. If you look to the damage to this rule and the damp --

damage to the store, which was closed at the time, you can see him

there, the amount of damage which is considerably less. It's down to

Andy and his team to piece together where and how this fire started.

The crews were met with a well- developed fire in the stairwell.

What happened originally, the occupiers were woken by the smoke

detector. The occupier found a fire in the bar area, and he could see

the flames under the door. there is a more worrying part to

their story. If we push the door open. It would appear this mob was

in this position unlike so. This was used by whoever said the fire

to prevent anybody escaping. And it doesn't take long to sniff out

something's been used to start the blaze. We have evidence on the

carpet out here which is possibly liquid. And it has a petrol smell

to it. It will be taken away for scientific analysis. The landlord

told the firemen he had been blocked from getting out. This is

the Fyodor the gentleman tried to use to make escape with his family.

He was unable to open the door because this piece of timber was

wedged up against it. Someone had come round to the back of the

building and render the fire escape useless. With alarming stories from

the landlord and his family it was Andy's job to make sense of what

appeared to an appalling crime. have not seen anything like this

before where people have gone to the effort to block a fire exit and

blocked the door into the bar as well. Potentially trapping five

people within a property that has been set light to, with no means of

escape other than a window where they risk a fall from height. In

fact, one of the occupiers had to be rescued by fire crews on a

ladder. It is unusual. It was easy enough to work out an arsonist was

to blame, and the hunt was on to find the culprit. But in the end

they wouldn't have to look far. So that firefighters know how to spot

suspicious fires there's regular training at Hampshire Fire Service

HQ in Eastleigh. We have a bed, or computer, a video. Stuff on the

walls. It is a room set up. We will set up a fire and hopefully we will

find the seat. We are looking for the seat of the fire. When you find

the seat of the fire you can establish the cause. But petrol

Virk, Labour trail down. The room is packed with red herrings - soon

to be smoked out. They could investigator will investigate every

possible cause when he gets to the seat of the fire. But will today's

students spot how this blaze was started? Back at Lymington, police

forensic teams are looking for clues. A nearby field is being

searched for any discarded fuel containers and the hunt is on for

finger prints. The Landlord's wife Mylinda Thomas has implicated her

brother - who she claims had been making threatening phone calls. He

will be exonerated and no charges or will it be brought against him.

When the breathing apparatus crews came to make an entrance, they

found signs of a forced entry through the toilet. When a window

is broken, you get glass fragments, microscopic incise coming back

towards the offender. They will be able to look at the clothing and

the glass fragments and tide that up to see if it is the same class.

It will put back person on this side at that particular time.

it's this evidence that will eventually lead police and fire

investigators to the culprits. So how are the students getting on

back at Hampshire Fire Service HQ? Obviously we have the least damaged

at this end. The The new recruits get to work. Sooner they are hot on

the trail. What does that look like? Batteries. A lot of the

carpet has been consumed. There is nothing here to develop the fire in

this part. But we have had a serious fire in this part of the

room. I am thinking, has something been introduced? You get a bit of a

feel and think, not at all is right. Sometimes you cannot put your

finger on what is wrong, it just doesn't seem right. And back in

Lymington things definitely don't look right. What looked like

someone trying to burn down a landlord's beloved pub, now looks

like an inside job. On closer inspection during the investigation,

certain pieces of evidence did not tie up with what the gentleman was

telling us. Something just didn't seem right with the blocked back

door. Initial reports from a landlord at the property, it told

us of the door was a wedged shut and they were unable to escape

through it. When we looked at the door closely, there were salt

deposits, so the smoke particles had stuck to the door which

indicated the door had been open at the time of the fire. Police also

find a bag containing clothes, petrol and fragments of glass from

the bathroom window. They take it away but leave secret cameras to

see if the guilty parties will come back to get rid of this crucial

piece of evidence. And guess who comes back? The landlord and his

wife. And it seems obvious they're looking for the hidden bag. No

surprise then that last week, Dean and Melynda Thomas appeared in

court charged with arson. The prosecution claims the landlord

started the fire as they were heavily in debt and the pub

business was failing. It is a bit surprising people would do that.

However, these things to happen. Had they remained within the

property, I am quite confident we would have had fatalities due to

the level of the smoke. But it is worth remembering, it is not just

those people who were put at risk. There was the risks to responding

emergency crews. And the firefighters face an element of

danger when dealing with an incident like this. Two members of

the breathing apparatus crew got tangled in wires dropping down from

the ceiling and had to be cut free. Dean and Mylinda Thomas were found

guilty of life-threatening arson. The judge warned Dean he could face

a lengthy prison sentence. For I think a lot of people who commit

arson think they will get away with it. Otherwise they wouldn't do it.

They are under the impression most of the evidence will be destroyed.

That is not the case. With the fire investigation and the crime scene

investigators, we often find the evidence people would have thought

to be destroyed and it enabled us to paint a fuller picture. In

Hampshire, the arrest rate is six times the national average and

conviction rate fasten in Hampshire is a massive 23 times the national

average. -- for our son. This you could call a forerunner of

the Ford transit. It has been a few months and workers at the

Southampton plans were told production would switch to Turkey.

Questions and accusations have flown as to how and why it was

allowed to happen. It is a sorry end to a great piece of British

motoring history. Southampton's had a love affair with the Transit

since the first van rolled off its production line in 1972. Welcome to

transit land. There is a mobile library at the back. Ambulances, a

billion van, another Luton. I got my first fan in 1981 before I could

drive. You have heard of white van man. I am blue van woman. And they

are like part of the family. have dogs as well. We say dogs of

the dogs, the vans are the children. Yep, you've Guessed it - Fred

collects Ford Transits. But next year if she wants a shiny new one

it'll come from further affield as Ford moves the entire production of

You do move heaven and earth for them. You choose between me and the

van. Two months ago Ford announced it was separating from the

Southampton factory which has love it for 40 years. Businesses and

union leaders tried to save the marriage of a city and a farm.

angry at the way it has been handled. There is a genuine feeling

of anger and disbelief. It is 2:30pm and these workers are coming

off shift. In six months' time the factory could fall silent. An

estimated �8 million it brings to the local economy could be lost.

Phil Mellor has worked here for her eight years. His father works here

also as does his uncle. I am the main breadwinner. When you first

start here, you start with a pension, think in the future is

going to be bright. If something happens you have to start re-

evaluating everything. Things do not work out the way you expected.

Karen Sharp used to work at Ford in Dagenham but prettier in 1985

thinking the job he was more secure. -- moved here in 1985. She is

counting pay packets until the factory closes. You put your heart

into making something work. You get no thanks for it. No respect. No

respect whatsoever. This will have such an effect and Southampton. It

will be a domino effect. All the small businesses that rely on

Transit will close. It will have eyes huge impact. But a was of very

different for Ford in 1972. They grew production of the whole

Transit from Berkshire to Southampton. It brought an economic

boost to the area. Is there extra jobs for local people? I at the

moment about 700. A total workforce of 3,000. Further expansion plan?

We are always in the field for further expansion. We are thinking

ahead, planning ahead. We are always ready to expand. Ford says

what is necessary now is moving all production to Turkey. It comes

after the European Investment Bank granted Ford �80 million for its

plant. Labour costs are one third of what they are here. Two years

before that Ford received �450 million in alone encouraged by the

then they go government believing it would help keep jobs in it did

UK for some time to come. -- encouraged by the then Labour

government. We were told to keep the factory open and we would be

helped with loans. If the European Investment Bank knew what would

happen up in the European Union it might have been a different answer.

Did the European Investment Bank have all the facts when it agreed a

cheap loan to a motor manufacturing giant. -- a motor manufacturing

giant? The point about the Turkish loan was that all to the

development of the loan up to and including the approval of that loan,

it was clear that Ford expected to continue production at Southampton.

My understanding is that Ford only took the decision to close the

Southampton operation in October. You will have to talk to them about

the reasons why they made that decision. We went to the UK

headquarters to ask them. They confirmed that �80 million loan was

to update the Transit plant in Turkey but categorically exist it

had no bearing on the home of the Chadderton Southampton. --

categorically insists. It has no direct impact on Southampton. It

was not to achieve incremental capacity. It was Updating the plant

in preparation for the new vehicle that was coming forward. Our

decisions have been driven by Very Severe economic crisis in Europe

which has had a knock-on effect on the vehicle sales. Vehicle sales

are down by 25 %. That has left us with the situation where we have

too much capacity chasing too few customers. Ford says the �450

million it got two years ago was spent on research and development

in Dunton. Amongst other things they were looking at a new low

carbon engine which will be built in the UK. Good news for Essex boys

and girls, not much comfort for workers at Southampton. At this

point the decision has been made by executives and destroyed. The best

we can do as local members is get the best redundancy package. --

executives in Detroit. There is a big package therefore afford's own

employees. There are people who work here who are not direct

employees. They have been offered that in like the same terms and

conditions. This man is lucky. He has a redundancy package. He would

prefer to keep his job. Some of the contractors are not getting what we

have got. I feel sorry for them. What ever you get is never going to

be enough. What is your future. You have made plans. That has all come

out the window. I do not know what figure you can put on that. We are

currently engaged in talking with employees about their options. Once

they have considered the terms that are on offer, whether the good

fight to stay with us, advocate and the redeployment opportunities,

there are generous provisions for those who want to stay with us.

Those discussions are happening now on a one-to-one basis. My mother

worked at Dagenham. My father turned round to me and said a few

years ago if Turkey takes off Southampton will not be here any

longer. It will be gone. He said that seven years ago. He said that

the writing would be on the wall of Fred is still doting on her

increasingly rare Southampton made fan collection. This is a 76 fan.

That could have come from Southampton. The consultation

period ends in January next year. You are on a housing estate. You're

out with your mates. You hear this. There is that the sound of the

1970s? It seems factory workers are not the only ones wishing some

things did not have to change. If you have been affected by the

news that Ford to let me know. Hundreds of families across the

region are facing a miserable Christmas because of the flooding.

It has been an unprecedented year for weather. We have been following

one Dorset village as it tries to get back on track after a series of

extraordinary events. Much of the South of England is

chalk country. Usually that is good news. Chalk acts like a sponge and

regulates water that goes into our rivers and cover of her taps,

holding it until we need more. Shortly after a drought was

announced in 2012 the spans became very wet. -- comes out of our taps.

Usually the Winterbournes only has running streams in winter. At the

height of what should have been the summer the stream became dangerous.

Ground water began to force its way up through flowers and gardens.

That target came up. I thought I had this book in a house. I laughed.

Then it came through. It was a torrent. It went up the wall. It

was like a shower. It came straight up through the carpet. There was no

time. You can still hear it under the floorboards. It was pandemonium.

We ran out into the street. There was pandemonium in the road. It had

burst its banks within one hour. Framed by Hell's Winterbourne Abbas

was sitting on a header tank. The first week in July brought to be

times the expected rainfall for the month. Standing on chalk. It is

full of water. The force of that water is fortunate that to

weaknesses in the rock. If that happens to be in somebody's front

room it is of such a pressure that it forces its way up through

floorboards. There is a lot of pressure involved here. Natural

forces at work. The water came up there. It lifted the plant pot. A

plump woman flying across the room. It exploded in here. Right through

into my dining room. It came straight up in the hallway into the

kitchen. When I would doubt the back, there was raw sewage pouring

in. British Geological Survey and universities are researching the

ground. They point out that some measures which might help drain

water a we could have a negative affect in times of drought. They

should be perfect places to live next to. That is why people built

mills next to them for centuries. The water is controllable most of

the time. It rises and falls with the season. It is good for

Agriculture. That is why people have flocked to them for ages past.

Every now and again you get deluges of rain in winter, out of winter

where we are at the moment, and that has some of the and impact. In

1955 a village down the road at 270 mm of rain in 24 hours. That was a

British record. It happens every now and again. If you were in the

wrong place at the wrong time it will have devastating consequences.

This car it was only down in October. -- this car that.

I could hear gurgling noises. The garden was very soggy. It was only

when my partner had gone to bed and also steered let the light on in

the garage. By open the garage door and all the water poured in. You

that has got to wait. That is a heartbreaking thing. You cannot do

anything about it. It is horrible. They every time it rains a start

trembling. In the local guesthouse Jane Deller found springs extolling

through her floor. Just in the corner there. We have never had

water in. There is a spring that is coming all the way along here. The

water is bubbling right up. You just have to give up and admit

defeat. We had no idea it was happening. My

husband and son were busy helping the couple in the cottage next door

who had the river flowing into their house. I was busy moving

staff around their thinking we would be careful. I walked into my

store room and found a paddle. I decided to try and what that up. --

at puddle. The water was just streaming up to the floor. Within

one hour the whole of the back area was flooded.

Disasters do not just happen in one day. With Christmas just over one

week away many families are still struggling to get back to normal.

Come in and have a look. It is a disaster at the moment.

We're getting there slowly. This is phase one. Last time you were here

- red carpet. Complete the ruined. It thing is complete been ruined.

It have to be stripped out. It could not try. -- it would not

drive. This is as far as we have got.

Hoped next week builders will come in. I have not been at work for

five weeks because I was offered stress. I am going back on Thursday.

I have gone as far as I can go. The rest is down to the insurance

company and the builders. How will you remember 2012? It was a

nightmare. The Olympics came and went. I did not see any of it. I

was too busy dealing with this. guest house manage to stay open for

the season. With the builders now in it is gales. -- chaos. It has

been miserable. Everything has been messy. My home has not been my own.

Little things like putting a washing machine on - I have got to

negotiate past builders, cement mixers, planks across floors. It

has been a misery. We have got through it. We have got to worse. I

am still smiling. At least the floor is going back in now. It is a

positive thing. I will be glad when 2012 is

The best of luck took everyone the year. We are back on January 7th