11/12/2017 BBC News at Six

Tonight at Six: Snow gets

the better of Britain -

a catalogue of disruption

across the country.

Drivers are being told to take care,

flights have been cancelled

and there are delays

on the railways.

A big job to get things right again.

We've covered something like 17,000

miles of gritting, which is from

Gloucester to Australia and back,

trying to keep the place moving.

A day of fun on the snow as more

than 1,000 schools in England

and Wales shut their gates.

And there are warnings

of treacherous conditions as snow

turns to ice for many tonight.

Also on the programme:

A breakthrough that

brings hope for patients

with Huntington's disease -

the biggest advance for 50 years.

Manchester police launch a murder

investigation after three children

die in a suspicious house fire.

An attempted terror attack

at New York's main bus station -

the bomber and some

bystanders are injured.

Tributes to TV star Keith Chegwin

pour in, as his family

announce his death at the age of 60.

Coming up on Sportsday on BBC

News - the full line-up

for the Champions League,

including a messy draw for Chelsea,

who face Barcelona in the last 16.

Good evening and welcome

to the BBC News at Six.

Snow, ice and plunging temperatures

have caused major disruption

across swathes of the country today.

More than 1,000 schools have

been closed in Wales,

the Midlands, the south west

and other areas.

Rail travel

across England and Wales has been

disrupted and hundreds

of flights cancelled.

Tonight, conditions on many

roads are treacherous.

Forecasters are warning that

temperatures could hit

minus 13 degrees overnight.

That would make it the coldest night

of the winter so far.

Our correspondent Sima Kotecha sent

this report from the West Midlands.

A blanket of snow, covering large

parts of the UK. An ideal playground

for children, many of whom have had

the day off with hundreds of schools

closed due to treacherous

conditions. Here in Birmingham the

council run schools are closed

today. The local authority has faced

criticism with some saying there was

no need because roads like this one

have been cleared throughout the

day. The council says tomorrow it

will be up to individual

headteachers as to whether they open

or remain closed and that the

priority of them is the safety of

children. It's not just here,

schools and Buckinghamshire,

Shropshire and Staffordshire have

also been closed. Many roads have

been layered with ice is making

driving difficult. Some vehicle

emergency services are claiming

they've had almost 14,000 calls

today from people struggling on the

roads.

Yesterday we did 14,000, 600

of those were vehicles stuck in

snow. Main advice would be take it

very steady. Pack a few extras in

the car like a blanket, and make

sure your mobile phone is charged.

Make sure you have your main

contacts saved in phone.

In south

Wales to Laurie got its tyres stuck

in the snow, while in Northern

Ireland a postcard picture emerged

on the Belfast to Londonderry route.

In the highest village in Surrey,

freezing temperatures combined with

strong winds proved challenging but

some of the locals cannot get

enough.

Up here we sometimes get a

flurry but it never really settles

and this is the first time in about

three years we've had some decent

snowfall.

In the west Midlands and

NHS trusts put an appeal allowed for

four wheel drive vehicles to help

stranded nurses get to hospitals.

We

offered a number to our colleagues

because there's pressure on them in

the moment to get patients to

hospital. We have well-trained

drivers and good vehicles that we

are happy to lend.

A quarter of the

flights from Heathrow have been

cancelled, while the port of Calais

has reopened. However it says there

are still some delays to ferry

services between the port and Dover.

The Met office says it will be an

extremely cold night with some

places experiencing temperatures of

around minus 12 Celsius. Much of the

snow will turn to ice, raising more

concerns about getting out and about

tomorrow.

Our correspondent Jon Kay

is at a gritting station

at Stroud in Gloucestershire.

This weather was forecast, so

shouldn't councils have been better

prepared?

Some councils have faced a

lot of criticism, not just today but

especially over the weekend. Here in

Gloucestershire they would say they

are doing everything they possibly

can, they have been working flat out

for days to try to keep things

moving. To give you an example, this

depot was full of gritting salt on

Friday night. You can see now it's

only half full, that's how much they

have been spreading on the roads.

450 tonnes of salt will be spread on

the roads in this county alone

tonight, that's just this county

just a night. But it's not just

Gloucestershire where they are

expecting incredibly low

temperatures over the next few

hours. In the Scottish Borders,

temperatures tonight expected to

drop to about minus nine Celsius. In

rural parts of Cheshire are expected

to be down to minus 10 Celsius and

the Met Office thinks the coldest

place in the UK this evening could

be in mid Wales, down to minus 13

Celsius, possibly even colder than

that so you can see why there's a

for salt, not just here but in many

parts of the country. It is when the

salt is spread which is crucial.

They are trying to do their sums to

follow the forecast but also data

from sensors in the road to make

sure it's not too cold or worked to

make sure they spread the salt at

the optimum time. Rush hour tomorrow

is expected to be very difficult for

commuters of all kinds. One last

fact - if you are sprinkling salt on

your fish and chips watching

television right now, enough salt

will be spread in this county

tonight to cover 300 million

portions of fish and chips. So now

you know.

Thank you very much.

Scientists are hailing

a major breakthrough

in the search for a treatment

for the brain disease Huntington's.

A research team at University

College London has managed

to correct the defect

which causes the disease.

It's being described

as potentially the biggest

breakthrough in 50 years,

as scientists look for a way

to treat this and other

brain-wasting diseases.

Our Health Correspondent James

Gallagher was given exclusive

access to the trial

and has this report.

When you've got something that's

degenerative, you know every day,

the last day was probably better

than the next one is going to be.

This family has been blighted by

Huntington's, they have seen their

mother Stephanie, uncle Keith and

grandmother lived all dying from it.

They describe it as Parkinson's,

Alzheimer's and motor neuron disease

rolled into one. Frank, his sister

Sunday and also their brother

Peter's brains will all slowly

degenerate from Huntington's too but

now they have hope. The treatment is

called gene silencing. Huntington's

disease is the result of a corrupted

gene that leads to the creation of a

toxic protein which destroys the

brain. A messenger carries the

blueprint from the corrupted gene.

This treatment sticks to the

messenger, disabling it and lowering

the production of the toxic protein.

46 patients had to be experimental

drug injected into the fluid that

babes the brain and spinal cord. The

therapy was safe and effective, led

by scientists at University College

London, who say the results are of

ground-breaking importance.

For the

first time we have the potential and

hope for a therapy that one day may

slow or prevent Huntington's disease

completely.

This is the experimental

therapy. It is exciting but it is

not a cure. It will require far more

research and following patients for

years to come. This is a brain dying

of Huntington's. Doctors are

starting longer trials to see

whether targeting the protein can

change the course of this disease

for families like the Allens.

If it

works and it stops me getting any

worse, that will be fantastic.

Personally I never really thought it

would happen, that that would

happen. It's all about can we stop

it in other people, our children.

Toxic proteins also build up in the

brains of patients with diseases

like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

Trials are now planned to see if

gene silencing could help these

people too.

Police in Greater Manchester have

begun a murder investigation

after three children died in a house

fire in Worsley.

Another child, aged three,

is critically ill.

Their mother is being

treated in hospital.

Detectives have urged

the suspect to hand himself in.

Danny Savage reports.

A short street of terraced houses

on the edge of Manchester.

Early today, it became a murder

scene, when someone deliberately

set fire to this house.

Neighbours who knew the victims

and saw what happened

have been left deeply upset.

I just heard people screaming

and shouting, and then I just opened

the bathroom window and just looked

over, and it was just like...

all I can imagine,

like a big orange cloud.

Just a bang and all fireballs

coming from the house.

Susan Smith watched in horror

as the children who

used to pat her dog were rescued.

All the ambulances, then

the ambulances were pulling up

at the side of our house

because they couldn't get down.

They were carrying

the children to the ambulance.

Awful thing to happen

on your own street.

Very.

A 14-year-old girl

died at the scene.

An eight-year-old boy

and seven-year-old girl

died later in hospital.

The three-year-old girl

is in critical condition.

Their mother is also seriously ill.

Police are being very forthright

about what happened.

I want to describe

what this incident is.

It's the murder - using fire -

of three children,

and we have a three-year-old girl

fighting for her life,

who is seriously ill.

This will devastate this family

forever, and words cannot describe

what they're going through.

And they believe they know

who is responsible.

All I will say is he knows

who he is, and he should give

himself up immediately.

In the hours before the fire,

there was trouble here

and police were called.

That means the force has to refer

itself to its own watchdog.

Tonight an investigation continues

here at the scene and in the wider

area. Police won't publicly named

their prime suspect but scores of

officers are out looking for him.

Meanwhile friends and family are

trying to deal with the events here.

For three children to die is bad

enough, but knowing it was

deliberately started and this is now

a murder inquiry makes it even more

shocking.

Danny, thank you.

Police in New York say an explosion

at Manhattan's busiest bus

terminal during rush hour

was an attempted terror attack.

The suspect was injured

along with three others.

He had a homemade bomb

strapped to his body.

From New York, Nick Bryant reports.

There are disturbing images from the

beginning.

It is 7:20am, the height of

rush-hour, and a security camera

appears to show an explosive device

going off amidst a crowd of Monday

morning commuters. A picture taken

from CCTV appears to show him on the

floor shortly afterwards. It was a

low-tech bomb which left the bomber

himself with the worst injuries.

Three others were treated afterwards

for minor injuries including a

police officer, in what the

authorities have described as an

attempted terror attack.

Police were

called to a reported explosion,

responding units found and injured

27-year-old male. We have identified

him as Akayed Ullah. He had wounds

to his body. An investigation at the

scene indicates he was wearing an

improvised low-tech explosive device

attached to his body.

Coming out

such a busy time in such a congested

place, the intent appears to have

been to cause maximum disruption.

The port authority bus terminal

serves 65 million passengers a year,

this could have been so much worse.

This was an attempted terrorist

attack. Thank God the perpetrator

did not achieve his ultimate goals.

Thank God our first responders were

there so quickly to address the

situation to make sure people were

safe.

What's remarkable is that

within two hours of the attack, New

York City has returned to normal.

The subways are all open and people

are going about their business. This

attack failed to cause death and it

failed to cause much disruption. The

speed at which this city started

moving again not only speaks of its

determined resilience but also the

creeping normalisation of these kind

of attacks in the world's major

cities. New Yorkers know that their

transportation systems are

vulnerable.

We have been learning Akayed Ullah

came here in 2011 with his family,

that he got a green card and is now

a US permanent resident. What the

police are not telling us is what

his possible motivation may be.

Whether he was inspired in some way

by the group calling itself Islamic

State or whether he had a direct

link with Islamic State, but at the

moment they think he was acting

alone in a very amateurish way.

Our top story this evening.

Snow has caused major disruption

across the country as road,

rail and air travel are all hit.

And still to come...

Six months since the Grenfell fire -

how a community came together

at the very moment it

faced its gravest threat.

Coming up on Sportsday on BBC News:

Tempers flare at Old Trafford.

As City are accused of milking

their celebrations -

it's Jose Mourinho who ends up

with milk on his face.

The BBC has commissioned one

of the largest surveys

of sexual harassment at work.

The poll of 6,000 men and women,

found people working

in the hospitality sector,

self-employed workers,

and those on zero hours

contracts, more likely

to face unwanted behaviour.

Among the other findings -

40% of women, and 18% of men said

they'd been sexually harassed

in the workplace.

Nearly one in seven women -

14% - said they've been

sexually assaulted at work.

And 5% of women said

they were told their career

would be advanced in return

for sexual favours.

Our Special Corrrespondent, Lucy

Manning, has been listening to some

of the women affected.

I've had people ask me to send them

nude photos in the workplace,

and you feel like nothing

is going to be done about it.

As a waitress, I experience sexual

harassment all the time.

I almost think of my

work as sex work.

He's drunk, and tries to come

onto me wearing this like bathrobe.

He's disgusting.

For many young working women,

the question is not IF they've been

harassed doing their job,

but how many times.

It's one of those things where there

are so many examples of it,

it's difficult to choose one.

It's difficult to even pick one

thing because it seems so ingrained

into every interaction you have.

Honey Jamie worked in gyms,

but had to leave the industry due

to harassment by men

and women she worked with.

The BBC's poll of 6,000 people,

the largest survey on harassment

at work, found 40% of women said

it's happened to them.

I was a teenager at the time,

so I thought, almost in a way

as well, that this must be just

what it's like to have a job.

This is what it's like

to be a young woman.

This is normal.

A work contact of mine

who wasn't in my company,

a colleague from somewhere else,

decided to stick his

tongue down my throat,

completely uninvited.

She has the text sent

by the senior colleague

who lunged at her.

I'm like, you don't

remember trying to kiss me?

He's like, "Oh, my

God, I'm devastated.

"No, not at all.

"I'm so sorry.

"I've never done that in my life."

The BBC's poll shows that 10%

of women have experienced

harassment in the last year.

Is that something

you find surprising?

No.

I don't think it's getting

any better with time.

I just feel like it's

more normalised.

I think women just accept it more.

Not necessarily.

People might think it's

surprising that so many women

are still being harassed

in this day and age.

I can't imagine...

When the whole #MeToo happened,

it was not a single one

of my girlfriends that was remotely

surprised at how many

people spoke up.

The majority of my male friends

just looked at me and went,

I had no idea that this

was so common.

Female flexible workers are the most

likely to suffer harassment at work,

with nearly 60% saying

they've experienced it.

I guess you just feel less

worthy in precarious work.

I suppose there's more

people in our generation

who are working like this.

Nilufer prepares to head

to her waitressing job.

She works in the industry

with the most harassment.

The poll shows women

in hospitality have experienced

the most harassment,

where more than half have

suffered it, followed

by the service industry.

High rates of harassment

were reported in the public

sector and also in retail.

I was pouring a bottle

of wine for one guest,

and a bit of wine splashed out

onto his hand,

and he told me to lick it off.

The poll found few have spoken out.

Of those women who say

they were harassed at work,

just 25% reported it

to anyone at all.

I know that I never reported it.

I left two jobs because I didn't

feel confident enough

to report what was happening.

Do you think the high profile cases

are going to change it

for women in the workplace?

The high profile cases at the moment

are what inspired me to speak

up for the first time,

because I've never

spoken about it before.

If famous, prominent women

can be treated the way

they've now revealed,

the reality for women

in offices, cafes and shops

is still largely hidden.

Lucy Manning, BBC News.

And tomorrow we'll be hearing

from the older generation of workers

and revealing new figures

about the levels of

harassment they faced.

A man has been arrested

on suspicion of trespass

after attempting to climb a wall

into Buckingham Palace last night.

The Metropolitan Police said

the suspect was not carrying any

offensive weapon and the incident

is not being treated

as terror-related.

There's major disruption

at London's Waterloo station this

evening after a track-side fire.

South Western Railway says train

services have been cancelled

or delayed by up to an hour.

The disruption is expected to

continue until the end of the day.

On Thursday, survivors and families

of the victims of the Grenfell Tower

fire will gather for a special

remembrance service

at St Paul's Cathedral -

six months to the day that

71 people died in the disaster.

This week on the News at Six,

we'll be featuring some of those

affected by the fire.

Tonight, we hear about

the community response

from Reverend Mike Long,

Minister of the Notting

Hill Methodist church,

which sits in the shadow

of the tower.

I remember a phone call,

waking me up,

from one of my church members,

telling me that the

tower was on fire.

We're the closest church

to the Grenfell Tower site,

and when the building was opened,

obviously, we were very close

to what was going on.

There was a huge amount of noise.

SIRENS WAIL.

Emergency vehicles moving,

the streets were full of people.

The sights, the sounds,

the smells were awful.

I think many of us didn't

want to look, at that stage.

It was too dreadful a sight,

and although we didn't know

the number of people who'd

lost their lives,

it was very evident that

the death toll would be enormous,

and that this was a

complete catastrophe.

People were, I think,

so shocked and horrified,

they were galvanised

into some form of action.

We were inundated not only

with people offering their services,

but people coming

and offering money.

We had donation boxes very

quickly up and running

in our building, and people

were stuffing notes, coins...

Sometimes people were giving

us hundreds of pounds

so that we could then offer them out

to the local community

who needed them, people

affected by Grenfell Tower.

By early afternoon, we had put signs

on the building saying,

"No more donations, please"

because the building was full.

The scenes for the first

few days were utter chaos.

Six months on, it feels like a very

long period of time since the fire.

For some, I suspect,

it's felt interminable.

They may have only just

received news of loved ones.

The recovery operation

has only just been completed.

It still feels as though

the heart has been ripped

out of the community.

Then, it was chaotic, noisy,

hot, incredibly busy.

Six months on, now, it's calmer,

it's dark, it's cold,

and it still feels as horrible.

That was the Reverend Mike Long,

minister of the Notting

Hill Methodist church.

The TV star Keith Chegwin -

better known to fans

and friends as Cheggers -

has died at the age of 60.

He became a household name hosting

shows like Multi-Coloured Swap Shop

and Cheggers Plays Pop.

In a statement, his family said

Keith Chegwin had passed

away after a long battle

with a lung condition.

Our entertainment correspondent,

Lizo Mzimba,

looks back at his career.

His energy, his sheer enthusiasm,

made Keith Chegwin into a household

name.

Welcome to our very special

Christmas edition of Cheggers Plays

Pop.

A career on TV seemed somewhat

inevitable, even in his early teens.

He was a natural in front of the

camera, in productions like this

road safety video.

Do you want to

swap this?

Just a few years later,

Cheggers, as the public now called

him, was sharing the screen with

some of entertainment's most famous

faces. Figures who worked with Keith

Chegwin have been paying tribute.

I

knew he was very unwell. I spoke to

him about four weeks ago, and he

said he was recovering, so I didn't

expect this. Very, very sad news.

His one-time presenting partner and

former wife, Maggie Philbin, said:

his career did decline for a time,

and the public were shocked to

discover that he was an alcoholic,

something he spoke about when he

appeared on Celebrity Big Brother.

What I'd do is all the tricks. You

never buy a full bottle of whiskey,

because you can't hide it, so you

buy 2/2 bottles.

In fact, reality TV

helped give him a new outlook. He

was able to regain much of the fame

of his early career, thanks to his

honesty, personality, and endless

ability to laugh at himself. Few TV

stars can claim to have had a

top-selling chart hit, to have

entertained and delighted millions

while in their teens, and then to

have still been doing the same for

viewers decades later.

Keith Chegwin, whose death was

announced today.

Time for a look at the weather.

Here's Darren Bett.

Good evening. The weather is calming

down, but it's not necessarily good

news, because more places will have

clear skies tonight, causing a

severe frost and widespread ice

overnight and into tomorrow. This

picture was taken in Essex, where

the rain turned into sleet and snow.

Not much rain falling today, and not

much snow either. Where we had the

snow we had sunshine today here in

Wales. Moving away from the

south-east, so skies are clearing

and temperatures are falling. I

think we will lose those it showers

in the Scotland, but some still

going in the west of England and

West Wales, and in the southern

counties as well. For most of us,

very cold, very frosty, headline

temperatures down to around -13 over

those fields. A much colder night in

the south-east. Potentially an icy

start to tomorrow. Showers in the

South West tomorrow. Increasing

cloud in the west, and later some

rain in Northern Ireland and western

Scotland. Ahead of that, winds will

be light, it will be dry, with some

freezing fog patches. Coming into

the cold air tomorrow evening, this

cold front threatens the hills in

Scotland and northern England. It

allows us to draw in a westerly wind

for Wednesday, so quite a change.

Much more cloud around on Wednesday

and quite heavy rain as it pushes

eastwards. The showers will turn a

touch wintry, but on the whole a

milder day on Wednesday. Nothing as

severe as we