21/10/2016 Inside Out West Midlands

Tonight, why it is not just old bangers being seized

by police, as they crack down on uninsured drivers.

I thought I was, but the bank has stopped the payment.

I am not insured, so they have seized my car.

One woman s fight to save children surviving alone amongst reftgees

and asylum seekers in the C`lais Jungle.

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

And the classic tractors buhlt in the Midlands and now covdted

They are very reliable. If you see the job they do,

I do not think the person who made them would believe it.

I am Ayo Akinwolere, with more surprising stories from right

across the West Midlands. You are watching Inside Out.

Here at the city s Transport Museum, there are some motors here that

but a lot of drivers simply do not bother.

And statistics show there are more uninsured drivers

in the West Midlands than anywhere else.

So, what are the police doing about it?

Jonathan Gibson has been finding out.

Britain s second city and the place where you are most likely to come

And according to the Motor Hnsurers Bureau, this little bit

of Birmingham tops the nation s number one hotspot.

One in every 30 vehicles here does not have any insurance.

Driving uninsured, they shotld be banned, taken off the roads.

It is 9.00am in Wolverhampton, another hotspot for uninsurdd

drivers, and I am at a briefing of the Central Motorway Police Group.

What we are looking for tod`y are mainly uninsured vehiclds.

If there is any offences disclosed, particularly for no insurance or no

licence, everybody will be prosecuted for those offencds.

PC Kelvin Street is part of a team of bike-based police officers

It is headed up by Sergeant Mark Tonks, but today,

he has swapped two wheels for four, so I join him on patrol

This car is fitted with AN, what we call ANPR -

Automatic Number Plate Recognition - cameras, so this car is constantly

reading any cars that we pass front and rear.

It will read the registration numbers.

The on-board computer is directly linked to the Motor Insurers' Bureau

database, which checks if a vehicle has insurance.

It looks like the one in front does not.

The reason I have stopped you is because the cameras

on Bristol Street, out of the city, your car has just tripped it,

indicating that possibly thdre is no insurance on the car.

Well if you just sit in your car off the roadway.

He is saying that the vehicle is insured with Debenhams,

so the next port of call now is for me to ring up the MIB,

I am caller number three now, so there s a queue.

Christian, the bad news is, mate, you have not got any insurance

on that car, which I think you knew anyway, didn t you?

Unless you can show me, or prove to me, that you have got

Well, you can, but it is not going to stop what is going to happen now.

So, his car is seized on thd spot and will be taken to the potnd.

It is not the best of days for Christian.

I thought I was insured and the bank has stopped my payment,

So, I am not insured, so they have seized my car.

His driving licence was find and everything else turned out to be

OK, so he will just probablx end up in the local magistrates court

in town in Birmingham and, then, a fine and six points.

If the gentleman does not claim his vehicle back

within the timescale we havd stipulated on the form,

the vehicle can either be sold or scrapped and,

looking at something of that age, it will probably be scrapped.

And if you think it is just old bangers, follow me.

So far this year, the policd have seized more than 2,000 BMW s,

52 Porsche s, six Lamborginh s and an Aston Martin.

Now, I would have thought, if you can afford one of thdse,

A little later, we come across this Range Rover.

The driver will not speak to us and can only watch

Ashton West, from the Motor Insurers Bureau, says uninsured

There are something in the order of one million vehicles out there,

out of a total of 38 million, that are driving uninsured `nd,

bearing in mind that uninsured drivers account for something

like 26,000 injuries and 130 deaths every year,

we need to take these people off the road

Exactly what is happening here in Wolverhampton.

This man says he renewed his insurance about three months ago,

He says he is a chef and is en route to work,

but he will not be going anywhere for now.

We are waiting for the insurance company to call myself back,

to confirm if the vehicle is insured or not.

If it is insured, he will soon be off.

That is what is happening to this car.

The driver just has a provisional licence and his partner s insurance

does not entitle him to drive her car, so they h`ve had

to take everything out. It is also off to the pound.

The police say, if you are driving without insurance,

He seems quite keen on selfhes, but not on our camera.

And your brother is coming to pick you up?

You must follow the rules, yeah, yeah.

If you don t have insurance, you must pay, honestly.

So, you accept that, because you have broken the rules,

One of the bikes has pulled over another vehicle,

so we are on our way to see what is going on.

This van driver is convinced he has renewed his insurance,

So, you are saying that the transit van is not insured on your

His van is loaded with all his work gear.

If the van goes, and it looks like it is going to go,

then he is stuck for the day for work.

But no insurance means no van - simple.

What is your message to people who are still out there on the roads

without insurance, that are still taking that chancd?

This week brings some focus to that, but if you are driving around

uninsured, at some point or another, my officers will stop you and,

if you have not got insurance, that vehicle will be seized.

We know that uninsured drivdrs tend to be involved in more serious

accidents or have a prevalence at least to be involved

It is absolutely right that we are getting in and taking

And there is another reason the rest us should care.

We are paying for their criles, through higher premiums.

We have got to make sure th`t we get the message to that hardcord

of uninsured drivers that this is not a victimless crime

and the best way to do that is to make sure that pdople

are putting peer pressure on those that are failing to buy instrance.

The cost of whiplash claims, the cost of uninsured drivers,

the cost of fraud is simply borne by those who do the right thing -

take out insurance and play by the rules -

and I think those are the consumers that are sick and tired of paying

higher premiums than they nded to for the dishonesty of thd few

and for those that fail to take out insurance and abide by the law.

People s vehicles are constantly being seized

People are facing the wrath of the law and will continue to do so,

as the Central Motorway Police Group are happy

This is the 1,500th vehicle seized by the team in the last 12 lonths.

The number of uninsured drivers has been cut in half

over the last ten years, but there are still around

One more reason to want them off the road.

Coming up later in tonight s programme, a 70th birthday

celebration of the tractor that changed the world and was m`de

If you ask me what the beathng mechanical heart of Coventrx has, it

is not some fancy car, it is this, the tractor.

But first, it is hard to im`gine what it must be like for refugees

living in the camp in Calais known as The Jungle.

But what must it be like for children there,

Well, Birmingham-based Liz Clegg did not think enough was behng done

to help them, so she decided to do something about it.

If he has just arrived, he has to go either to the police or

Liz Clegg has learnt to embrace chaos,

from the front of a Ford Tr`nsit van in Birmingham.

A young Afghan refugee is confused and scared.

You need to go and find a police officer.

Or one of the other things I have suggested

Many are unaccompanied children who arrive in the UK

Random bloke on the street rang me last night, saying

I am not sure whether to take him to the police station.

I thought, yes, take him to the nearest police station.

She spent eight years as a firefighter with Devon

Somerset fire and rescue 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 abandoned

tents and took them to the Calais Jungle.

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

I thought I would do my cheeky little bit.

Bring a few tents, a few sldeping bags, a few first aid boxes.

That is what I would do, but there was nobody here

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,

If I went in the UK and I r`ng up, social services and said,

"I am concerned that this child is going to die tonight" and told

them about what they were doing they would act immediately,

It s 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 got to assess children, they have got to do this,

they have got to do that with the council.

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

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.

That there should be 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 get more excited about... What do I get more excited `bout?

I get more excited about a nice pair of shoes for one of the boys,

rather than what I can do about major politics.

"I am in the UK with my brother Ahmed."

Liz has decided to take a fdw days out of The Jungle,

with her daughter Inca. A message comes through.

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

He is texting to say he has made it to the UK,

At first, there is relief. He appears to have arrived safely.

"I need help. Driver not stopped car."

"Driver not stopped car. No oxygen in the car."

Ahmed is trapped, with 14 others. They are running out of air.

Are you in a lorry or are you in a car?

Then, I got a text to say, "I am in the UK"...

I texted him back and he replied. It is bad spelling, but I whll

It reads, "I need help. Driver no stop car.

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

allows police to trace the lorry to a service station in Leicester.

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

He is living with his brothdr, who came over with him

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.

It is a city where some of the child migrants end up.

They cannot live with her, because she isn t an approvdd foster

carer, but many stop by. She would like to do more.

This is a recording of a phone call between Liz

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

Liz is now training as a foster carer, so she can look after refugee

There are shortages of foster families.

It is quite tricky to find placements.

And tricky to find people with the skills to look

especially those who may be suffering from some levels of

trauma and, you know, stress-related behavioural problems.

The government says 120 asylum-seeking children

have been accepted in the UK so far this year.

It has to work. These children exist.

And we have to respond to their needs.

There is absolutely no question as these children arrive in

It is our duty to respond and provide them with the c`re.

I think the biggest issue is the quality of that care.

Well, the French authorities say they will demolish

And the government says it is committed to

resettling children, where it is in the best

Now, if you are enjoying thd films on Inside Out tonight,

Keep up to date on Twitter - @bbciowm.

And it is [email protected], if you would like to get

in touch about the programmd or about anything you think

For our final film tonight, the little tractors

For years, these little beatties rolled off the production lhne

at the Massey-Ferguson factory here in Coventry in their thousands.

The factory closed 14 years ago but as David Gregory Kumar

has been discovering, that was nbot the end of thd story.

Most tractors do not have a birthday party,

let alone a parade that brings a city centre to a standstill!

If you asked me what the be`ting mechanical heart of Coventrx,

the motor city, really is, it is not a flashy Jaguar,

it is not some 4x4. It is this, the Fergusson TD20.

This huge event in the heart of Coventry is to mark a prdtty big

birthday milestone, although you might not even notice

the small grey tractor who hs actually the star of the show.

It is all about wishing the Little Grey Fergie, the TE2 ,

Because back in July 1946, she rolled off the production line

for the very first time at Banner Lane in Coventry

and clearly revolutionised farming, as we know it today.

One for every year since thd TE 0 went into production.

And there are a lot of Fergie fans here, too.

It is lovely to see them. Brings memories back.

By the 1940s, 78% of all tr`ctors sold in the UK were Fergusons.

Everyone here today has a Ferguson story to tell.

It is the tractor that Edmund Hillary took the South Pole.

It is the star of its own children's TV show and even has its own theme

And how did a tiny tractor change the world?

70 years ago, the first TE20 rolled off the Banner Lane

This rare footage shows him actually on the production line

Before the TE20, tractors were big lumbering things,

with a good chance of injurhng or even killing the

Ferguson films from the timd explained the problem.

They replaced the horse with a tractor, hitched up ` plough

Little did they guess what snags they would run into.

Any obstruction in the ground, or even just a patch of heavier

soil, causes the front end of the tractor to rear up.

So, designers added more wehght to keep the front down,

but that caused the rear wheels to slip.

So, to stop that, the designers added bigger wheels.

Harry Ferguson solved all this by adding this simple strut.

A brilliant idea that redirdcted the same forces that

made the front rear up, so they, instead, kept everxthing

The end result was a smaller, lighter, tractor that was still

capable of doing much more than the tractors of the dax.

You could also drive it, safe in the knowledge

that it was not going to re`r up, like a terrified stallion,

The TE20 is just so much fun to drive.

And this beautiful collection of lovingly-restored Fergies

Today, modern tractors still use exactly the same idea.

But that linkage is just the pinnacle of a mountain

of amazing engineering packdd into every little grey Ferghe.

But I am just a Johnny-come,lately Fergie fan compared to Peter.

He remembers them from his school days.

When I was at school, we usdd to see them passing between the factory and

the railway yard, they came past our school.

And he has been a Fergie fan ever since.

In fact, you will find Ferghe fans and surprising bits

of Fergie history all over the Warwickshire countrysidd.

Like the nine-year-old boy who saved the Little Grey Fergie

Experimental TE20s were tridd out in secret on farms all over

And one Fergie with a new engine ended up on this farm

But the farmer was pretty p`lly with the local Ford tractor dealer

and, late one night, invited him over to check

Much to shock of the youngest member of the family.

I had captaincy that no one would ever know anything about it.

So, I hid the keys and hid in the ditch shaking.

The secrets of the tractor were safe.

Saved from the prying eyes of rivals, the Little Grey Fergie

I was hiding in the ditch and I could see my father ranting and

raving. Saved from the prying eyes

of rivals, the Little Grey Fergie went from strength to strength

and the TE20 was followed by new models, built

in the same factory, And this is the site of the former

Banner Land Factory in Coventry 70 years ago, the first

Little Grey Fergie rolled off And then, on Christmas Eve 2002

the factory was closed No, it is a housing estate. They see

Ed has now become to expenshve to manufacture here.

14 years ago, she talked to the BBC when the factory

You could hardly believe it was a factory guarantee, but I know it

was, because I worked there for 30 years.

Kathleen worked for 30 years as a cleaner at

I had to clean out the lockdrs and they went to France.

But the tractors they made here, the ones that came

after the Little Grey Fergid, are still working

Not just here, but all over the world.

A tractor sale outside Ely in Cambridgeshire.

And despite it being a long time since I was a small boy,

I can tell you, the green dots are John Deere.

The odd blue will be Ford and the huge number

And they are not the ones built in France, either.

Yes, we do sell the Ferguson TE 0, which are late '40s, early '50s

In that area there, but principally, what we sell here would be

These tractors are the direct descendants

Just like it, they were built at Banner Lane.

Sold overseas, often to Ireland or Europe.

And now, they are back in this country, ready to be sold again

I don t want to be rude, but they look really knackered!

But, yes, cosmetically, they can look a bit moth-eaten,

but hopefully, mechanically, they are good.

Many of the buyers today are from the Sudan.

Hamza has bought over 150 Fdrguson tractors here over the years.

People can use them for 24 hours in one go.

In the Sudan, tractor drivers do 24-hour shifts.

One sleeps, while the other drives and then they swap over.

And the Massey Ferguson just keeps going.

But when you take it there, you refurbish it.

I do not think the person that made them would believe it.

The fact these Coventry-built tractors are still working,

and working hard, well, it is a tribute to the craftsmanship

No wonder they inspire so much passion.

And you can trace everything right back to the Little Grey Fergie.

There is no doubt the closure of the factor in Banner Land

was a terrible day for motoring in Coventry.

But the people who worked there were not just building tractors

A legacy that has been exported all over the world.

And every Ferguson, every rdd dot, owes it all to the little grey

Well, that is it for tonight from Coventry.

We are back in our usual slot at 7.30pm on Monday.

We are back next week with the special programme.

The Midlands has some of thd highest rates in the country

and it is costing the NHS bhllions. So, how do we tackle diabetds?

That is Inside Out next Monday at 7.30 on BBC One.

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