20/02/2014 BBC Oxford News

And that is all from us for this evening. Now on BBC One, it

Good evening. The Environment Agency will find it impossible to cope with

a repeat of this year's flooding if plans to cut hundreds of jobs go

ahead ` according the the GMB Union. It says 1,700 jobs are at risk,

include lock keepers along the River Thames. The Prime Minister says that

no jobs would be lost until flood waters subside ` and the

government's pledged an ?130 million to deal with flooding. Charlotte

Stacey reports. Running the region's rivers. Lock

keepers could go as part of the Environment Agency job cuts. They

have more than 100 posts in the West Thames region alone. They are at

risk. Government money has been cut. When the water is high, it gets

dangerous. Living on a boat just along there, we would be a bit stuck

if it was not for him. It seems crazy at this time with all the

water. We need all the help we can get. It is important to have them on

site to help people. And to make sure everything is running as

smoothly as possible. In the last two weeks, the lock keeper here at

Abingdon Lock has rescued two people ` a man who fell into the river, and

a young boy who slipped into floodwaters and was in danger. The

Environment Agency did not want us to speak to him, but the union says

quick action like his saves lives. Since 2009, the Environment Agency

budget has been cut by 25% in real terms and they have already lost

3000 staff. To take another 1700 staff out of the workforce will make

it absolutely impossible for them to deal meaningfully with flood crises.

The GMB union called for a stop to cuts today. They met with the

Environment Agency, which says it is trying to work out what difference

?130 million will make ` that is the extra money made available by the

Government since the floods this year.

The union says it is worried lessons from the flooding have not been

learned and that cuts will go forward when floodwaters recede.

A woman has died and four children have been seriously injured in a

crash on the A41, close to Waddesdon in Buckinghamshire. Three cars were

involved in the accident, which happened at around 11am this

morning. One of the vehicles, a black Toyota, was carrying seven

children. Four of them have been taken to the John Radcliffe

Hospital. An undercover police operation into

scrap metal thefts has been described as a complete waste of

taxpayers' money by the lawyer representing two men who were

wrongly convicted. Simon Rogers and Martin Pace have had their names

cleared after taking their case to the Court of Appeal. They'd been

accused of knowingly buying stolen property from undercover officers in

an operation that started two years ago. Tom Turrell has the story. When

` nearly two years ago ` a handful of Thames Valley Police officers

posed as crooks selling stolen scrap metal to dealers, they thought they

had enough evidence to make successful prosecutions against five

men working here at T R Rogers Sons in Nuneham Courtenay.

But their case ultimately unravelled. Three of the men were

found not guilty in the trial that followed, and after going all the

way to the Court of Appeal, even the other two have ` this week ` been

cleared of any wrongdoing. A total waste of time and taxpayers' money.

There was no intelligence saying there were stolen goods at the yard.

There were none found at the yard. Was it in the interests of justice

to bring the case in the first place? Thames Valley Police have not

decided yet whether to appeal this latest decision. What they do say is

they are committed to reducing metal theft crime. We'll have to wait to

discover if there's to be another twist in this long saga, but for now

Thames Valley Police force will surely be left wondering how they

got it all so wrong. There's been a sharp rise in the

number of abandoned or homeless horses taken in by an animal charity

in Oxfordshire. The Blue Cross in Burford says it took in nearly 200

horses last year ` that's nearly twice as many as in 2011.

Prehistory was brought to life in Oxford today. Life`sized dinosaur

puppets walked and roared their way through the newly renovated Museum

of Natural History. Adina Campbell watched the action.

It's not quite Jurassic Park, but there's a recreation of some of the

most successful animals ever to have lived on the Earth, millions of

years ago. They come in all shapes and sizes, and there's one just

behind me ` welcome to the land of dinosaurs! Make way for big,

stomping dinosaur feet. This lifelike puppet has been strutting

to an audience of excited and ` in some cases ` terrified children.

It's one of the first shows at the museum since it reopened last week.

But it's not all about the dinosaurs. Major restoration work

has been happening here over the last 14 months, which included

scrubbing 8,000 roof tiles. On a sunny day, the light hitting them is

really beautiful. The whole building glows. We have had a deep clean. And

what better way to show off the museum's make over than with a

theatrical dinosaur experience? The company behind this show is from

Australia. We have a bit of baby New Zealand dinosaur. He's only seven

months old, give or take 100 million years. Real dinosaurs may be a thing

of the past, but for today at least, people here got to take a walk on

the wild side. Tonight's Question Time is coming

from Swindon. The author Jeanette Winterson is on the panel. You can

see it after the national weather forecast. Alexis is coming up our

regional outlook. From everyone here, goodnight.

could be heavy in places with hail and under in the mix. There will be

sunshine but that will be limited in the afternoon with highs of eight or

nine cells years. Along the south coast, we could have wind gust of 40

to 60 mph. `` eight or nine degrees Celsius. Let's take a look at the

outlet. Sunny spells and scattered showers and that is also the case on

Saturday. We see increasing cloud on Saturday through the latter part of

the day and gales are due on Sunday. the outlook. On Sunday, we have grey

skies and a bit of drizzle, too Good evening. You may have had the

latest from the Met