:00:05. > :00:07.Hello and welcome to South Today from Oxford. In tonight's
:00:07. > :00:10.programme: Fine dodgers. Councils paying
:00:10. > :00:19.companies to track down unpaid parking fines racked up by foreign
:00:19. > :00:22.drivers. The main reason there are so many foreign tickets is that
:00:22. > :00:27.they believe they cannot be identified, it cannot be enforced,
:00:27. > :00:30.and they will get away with it. Also, its owner is charged with ill
:00:30. > :00:33.treatment of a child, but a nursery reopens under new management.
:00:33. > :00:43.Later, row, row, row your boat, across the Atlantic - the 16-year-
:00:43. > :00:47.
:00:47. > :00:50.old aiming for the record books, Hundreds of thousands of pounds in
:00:50. > :00:55.unpaid parking tickets and speeding fines clocked up by foreign drivers
:00:55. > :00:58.are going uncollected by our councils and police force. A
:00:58. > :01:01.Freedom of Information request by BBC South Today has revealed that
:01:01. > :01:03.over the past four years more than 6,000 parking tickets issued to
:01:03. > :01:08.foreign-plated vehicles by Oxfordshire County Council remain
:01:08. > :01:16.unpaid, more than any other authority in the South. That's
:01:16. > :01:20.�358,000 of penalties. Meanwhile, foreign drivers have been caught
:01:20. > :01:24.speeding by Thames Valley Police more than 10,000 times in the past
:01:24. > :01:27.four years, yet not one has received a fixed penalty notice.
:01:27. > :01:35.But that could all be about to change. Emma Vardy has this
:01:35. > :01:40.exclusive report. Parking in Oxford is in short
:01:40. > :01:44.supply, and the charges are some of the most expensive in the country.
:01:44. > :01:49.A thriving tourist industry means the City welcomes many visitors
:01:49. > :01:53.from abroad, but if drivers with foreign-plated vehicles do not pay
:01:53. > :01:57.the fines, there is Murray little that authorities can do.
:01:57. > :02:03.Oxfordshire County Council says it has no way of tracing drivers if
:02:03. > :02:07.vehicles are registered overseas. We have no agreement with various
:02:07. > :02:12.European companies to go cross border. And the traffic management
:02:12. > :02:17.act is only for England and Wales. Most councils told us they simply
:02:17. > :02:22.write off the tickets if vehicles are registered abroad. In some
:02:22. > :02:26.places, wardens do not issue fines at all to foreign vehicles because
:02:26. > :02:30.of the slim chance of recouping the money if the owner does not pay.
:02:30. > :02:40.But a few councils have started to chase up the thousands they are
:02:40. > :02:40.
:02:40. > :02:44.legally Oh would. -- they are legally entitled to. They make
:02:44. > :02:50.contact with foreign vehicle Licensing Agency's, ask for the
:02:50. > :02:54.keeper details and send letters requesting -- requesting payment.
:02:54. > :02:58.We have seen one out of every three foreign vehicles has 10 or more
:02:58. > :03:02.parking fines. The main reason there are so many foreign tickets
:03:02. > :03:06.is that I believe they cannot be identified -- they believe they
:03:07. > :03:10.cannot be identified and they will get away with it. Oxfordshire
:03:10. > :03:15.County Council is considering using the same firm to collect its unpaid
:03:15. > :03:20.fines. We have to pay, so everybody else should. You cannot have one
:03:20. > :03:24.rule for one and one rule for everybody else. That is not right.
:03:24. > :03:28.It is robbery. We would not get away with it in their country.
:03:28. > :03:34.While council finances are tight, this is a potentially large
:03:34. > :03:39.untapped revenue stream for some authorities, with �350,000 that
:03:39. > :03:44.could be claimed for Oxfordshire alone.
:03:44. > :03:50.We can get more on this with Emma now. Emma, is it possible to chase
:03:50. > :03:54.up drivers anywhere in Europe? quite. About 80% of countries will
:03:54. > :03:58.give out driver details if requested. But in particular France
:03:58. > :04:03.and Belgium will not. They say they do not recognise these penalties,
:04:03. > :04:08.so it is still impossible to trace drivers with outstanding fines in
:04:08. > :04:11.these countries. Some councils are lobbying for Government to get this
:04:11. > :04:15.changed and put pressure on those countries to change their policies.
:04:15. > :04:20.What happens if a British driver gets a fine while they are
:04:20. > :04:23.overseas? The same thing applies. The firm we spoke to when we were
:04:23. > :04:28.filming will also chose UK drivers who have outstanding fines and
:04:28. > :04:33.other countries to recoup the money. But procedures vary in different
:04:33. > :04:38.countries. In some places, you could get much to a straight to the
:04:38. > :04:42.cashpoint to pay their own them. What about speeding fines? How can
:04:42. > :04:46.foreign drivers be held to account for speeding fines? Police have
:04:46. > :04:51.much the same problem as the councils, in that they cannot track
:04:51. > :04:54.down drivers abroad. At the moment, foreign plated vehicles that get
:04:54. > :04:59.caught speeding do not give issued with fines or points, but there is
:04:59. > :05:04.a pilot scheme under way in London to change this, so the Met police
:05:04. > :05:08.are working on it. They are looking at ways to be able to chase drivers
:05:08. > :05:12.for speeding points overseas. When they have those legalities ironed
:05:12. > :05:17.out and have it all working, they hope to roll it out to other forces
:05:17. > :05:20.like Thames Valley. The owner of a nursery school in
:05:21. > :05:24.the Cotswolds has been charged with the ill treatment of a child in her
:05:24. > :05:27.care. Ofsted closed the nursery in Bourton on the Water in February
:05:27. > :05:30.while police investigated a serious incident which was alleged to have
:05:30. > :05:39.taken place there. It has now reopened under new management.
:05:39. > :05:44.Stuart Tinworth has the details. The nursery school in Bourton-on-
:05:44. > :05:50.the-Water has reopened today for the first time since Ofsted and
:05:50. > :05:53.police closed it down following what was described as a serious
:05:53. > :06:01.incident back in February. We understand the former manager has
:06:01. > :06:05.been charged with assault, or ill- treatment of a child in her care.
:06:05. > :06:11.66-year-old Carole Court from Beckford will appear before
:06:11. > :06:15.magistrates on May 2nd. I have been speaking to parents and staff today.
:06:15. > :06:19.Staff assure me that they have reopened under a new registration.
:06:19. > :06:23.They are keeping the name of the nursery but they insist the woman
:06:23. > :06:29.in question is no longer working here. Parents have paid tribute to
:06:29. > :06:33.the staff, telling me they do an excellent job. In a statement from
:06:33. > :06:37.Gloucestershire County Council, they say that although this nursery
:06:37. > :06:42.is independently and privately run, they have got involved with Ofsted
:06:42. > :06:45.and police to ensure the protection and safety of the children.
:06:45. > :06:48.The RSPCA was alerted to the condition of animals at an
:06:48. > :06:51.Oxfordshire animal rescue nearly two years before it was eventually
:06:51. > :06:54.closed down. The owners of Crunchie's in Longworth were told
:06:54. > :06:59.to make improvements following a visit by an inspector in 2010, a
:06:59. > :07:09.court heard. Eight people deny more than 100 animal neglect charges.
:07:09. > :07:11.
:07:11. > :07:17.Jeremy Stern reports. Crunchies it and more rescue Centre, days after
:07:17. > :07:22.a joint police and RSPCA raid. -- Crunchies animal rescue centre.
:07:22. > :07:27.Eight people are charged with neglect. Defence barristers claim
:07:27. > :07:32.to the RSPCA caused the damage and set up the defendants. An RSPCA
:07:32. > :07:37.inspector told the court these accusations were preposterous. Luke
:07:37. > :07:41.Hughes led the raid, and he said conditions were appalling, with
:07:41. > :07:46.animals running free. The court also heard the charity had
:07:46. > :07:49.previously visited Crunchies in April of 2010. There was a warning
:07:49. > :07:55.but no significant action was taken until the raid in nearly two years
:07:55. > :07:59.afterwards. The owner, Angela Russell, seen here at an earlier
:07:59. > :08:02.hearing in the black-and-white top, denies animal neglect. Several
:08:02. > :08:05.other defendants, including her father, say they were not
:08:05. > :08:08.responsible for the animals. Millions of extra pounds is being
:08:08. > :08:11.put towards tackling potholes in Oxfordshire. The county council has
:08:11. > :08:15.recently received an unexpected Government grant of �3.5 million.
:08:15. > :08:18.It says it's decided to use the money to repair roads which have
:08:18. > :08:21.been badly affected by the weather over the past three years.
:08:21. > :08:25.Freedom of Information requests have uncovered a high level of hare
:08:25. > :08:29.coursing in West Berkshire. In the two years up to December 2012 there
:08:29. > :08:33.were more than 130 reports of hare coursing, and 19 arrests. Hare
:08:33. > :08:37.coursing has been an issue of concern in the area for a couple of
:08:37. > :08:43.years with many claiming not enough is being done to address the
:08:43. > :08:47.More than �160,000 of equipment has been stolen from military bases in
:08:47. > :08:50.Wiltshire over the last two years. Figures obtained by the BBC, show
:08:50. > :08:59.there were just a handful of prosecutions, as Tom Hepworth
:08:59. > :09:04.reports. Between 20th January 11 and 20th
:09:04. > :09:09.December 12, �160,000 worth of equipment went missing from bases
:09:09. > :09:13.in Wiltshire alone. For example, a Land Rover form of communication
:09:13. > :09:19.equipment and worth �38,000 disappeared from Salisbury Plain.
:09:20. > :09:23.Copper piping were �13,000 vanished from bases across the county. So
:09:23. > :09:29.did a vacuum cleaner, two tumble driers, a microwave oven and a
:09:29. > :09:35.television. Four diving helmets are unaccounted for, as well as a set
:09:35. > :09:39.of night-vision goggles, worth over �13,000. In total, there were 58
:09:39. > :09:43.separate incidents of theft but just six prosecutions. It comes at
:09:43. > :09:47.a time when the Government is looking to cut 80 military police
:09:47. > :09:51.jobs in Wiltshire. As defence spending cuts run into billions of
:09:51. > :09:57.pounds, reducing any unnecessary losses, even comparatively
:09:57. > :10:01.insignificant, would appear to make sense.
:10:01. > :10:05.Plans for a new cinema and theatre at Abingdon's historic Guildhall
:10:05. > :10:10.have been unveiled. The �3.5 million project will see the
:10:10. > :10:15.building transformed into a social and cultural hub. The plans include
:10:15. > :10:18.a 100-seat cinema, a renovation of Abbey Hall, with theatre seating,