09/09/2011 BBC Points West

Hello, and welcome to BBC Points West. In the programme tonight:

Stopped from landing by flashing laser pens - police hunt a group of

youths after an air ambulance was prevented from flying a dying man

to hospital. Fulfilling a cancer victim's final

wish - a campaign starts to build a centre specially for young

sufferers. We just need this unit because of

Tom, it was what he wanted. It is my goal to try to get him it.

Also tonight: Looking for new ways to cut costs -

councils consider switching off traffic lights and collecting bins

only once a month. And nominated for a prestigious

Emmy - meet the man behind the Hello.

An air ambulance was last night prevented from taking a dying man

to hospital, after laser pens were flashed at the pilot as he tried to

land in Wiltshire. The helicopter was trying to help a

man who had suffered a heart attack. Today, police began an

investigation into the incident and described the actions of the people

involved as a "very serious offence". Lizzie Way is in Calne

for us tonight. The air ambulance saves lives

because it is fast. On Wednesday night, it needed to land in this

area. A man was in cardiac arrest and needed to be transferred

straight away to hospital. It should have taken just 10 minutes,

but instead he was forced to travel by ambulance on the road. It took

30 minutes. 20 minutes were lost. Here is the reason why.

This shows just how blinding a laser can be when shone from the

ground. It is a police Simulation, but in Calne it happened for real.

The pen was shone at the air ambulance as it tried to land to

reach -- to treat a man who was in cardiac arrest and taken to

hospital. They were 2000 ft and became aware of a laser beam shone

at the aircraft, but is a very dangerous incident to have happened.

It lines the pilot temporarily and did away with them night vision,

and it means they lose all sense of height and means they have to fly

away from the area for safety Foster police have issued a

statement saying they do not believe the helicopter not being

able to land affected the outcome, but that is just in this case.

is not a one-off. It has happened before to us and quite widely

across the country, it is becoming a problem. Since January 2010, it

is now a criminal offence as well. The police were able to pinpoint

exactly where the laser was shone from. It is a criminal offence with

a penalty of up to five years in prison. It is not just reckless,

but could be life threatening. The police investigation is still

ongoing. It might not have made a difference in the case of this

patient, but 20 minutes in another situation could. Our air ambulance

as might mean to be safe in the air, and laser pens are put in countless

lives possibly at risk -- our air ambulances need to be safe.

As public service spending cuts begin to bite, it has emerged that

one council in Somerset is even considering collecting rubbish

monthly to try to save money. A leaked document, seen by the BBC,

reveals Taunton Deane Council is looking at a raft of radical

solutions including closing all public toilets and selling off the

crematorium. The council insists they are just

ideas and not firm proposals. But they do illustrate the tough

choices local authorities are being forced to make as they struggle to

balance their budgets. Here is our political editor, Paul Barltrop.

This week it has become crystal clear, the cuts we have seen so far

are just for starters. To make ends meet councils will have to get more

drastic still. Things like youth services and subsidised bus routes

will lose out yet again. But how about shutting down public toilets

or leaving parks and flower beds are intended. At the least, council

leaders would like someone else to take over doing all paying for this.

In Taunton, a report seen by the BBC shows councillors bracing

themselves for some tough times. A fortnightly bin collection in

Taunton's Kilve Crescent today. Try telling people here that in future

it could be every four we do. four weeks? Possibly. No way.

have got foxes and everything around here, so it depends what

people put in their bins, doesn't it? A neat council document has

revealed monthly rubbish rounds is a topic up for discussion as

Taunton Deane seeks to cut its spending by 40% in four years. I

have seen the document, it is about an inch thick, 18 chapters in all,

outlining how the council could save millions of pounds if it is

prepared to save -- to take tough decisions. We should make it clear

at this stage, these are only suggestions, options put forward by

council officials. But there are some radical thoughts there. Going

to monthly been collections could save �150,000. Doing away with many

hanging baskets, �189,000. How about closing all public toilets to

save �244,000? The council leader - - a council leader says he is angry

the document has been neat, especially as these are not firm

proposals. It is a list prepared by senior officers that is happening

across the country, and they are saying, do you want to look at this

in Taunton Deane? The councillors have to look at it and say, do we

want this to happen in Taunton Deane or do we want to draw a line

in the sand and say no, that goes out of the window? What is clear is

that everything is up for discussion, including selling

council property like the local crematorium.

And in quite a number of places, the lights may be going out,

literally. A lot of councils already make savings by switching

off street lamps after midnight. In North Somerset, they are looking at

traffic lights. This setting was turned of two years ago to improve

traffic flow. It has proved popular and save �2,000 a year. Councillors

say it could be copied elsewhere. What we are looking to do is

basically a cat or of our traffic lights in the district, either to

remove some or switch them off in the early hours so that we both

saved on carbon emissions and also saved on money. Politicians know

cuts are rarely popular and voters can punish them at the ballot box.

In a council by-election in Bristol last night, the ruling Liberal

Democrats did not just lose one of their seats to Labour, they came a

poor third. Today, they complained of having to make unprecedentedly

deep cuts in spending. The bad news for them and councils everywhere is

that these will not be the last. You are watching BBC Points West.

It is the start of what could be a windy weekend.

The weather shortly. Plus: Flying the flag for Great Britain -

the team from the West on their way to France to take part in the

world's oldest balloon race. And will they taste success this

season? Bristol Rugby prepare for their first home game of the new

First, a huge fundraising event is taking place in north Somerset this

weekend to raise money for a specialist cancer unit in Bristol

to treat teenagers and young adults. Millions are needed to build the

facility, which would provide care for young patients from across the

South West. Doctors say survival rates among

teenagers with cancer are particularly poor, and specific

wards could make a vital difference. John Maguire reports.

Melissa was 13 when she was told she had cancer. When I was put on

the ward when I first got diagnosed, I was put on to a ward with very

small children. During the night you would hear screaming babies and

you would say little toddlers getting needles and that kind of

thing, not something you want to be around. A week or two later I got

moved on to a teenage Cancer Trust ward in Newcastle and it was

fabulous being around two of the teenagers, patients going through

the same situation as May. Tonight, she is singing before hundreds of

guests here at Langford Court in North Somerset. The beginning of a

weekend of raising money for the teenage Cancer Trust. The plan is

to build a specialist unit in Bristol similar to this one in

Newcastle. Survival rates for teenage patients lad behind others.

Doctors say they are a group that can prove difficult to reach.

lack of clinical trials and clinical trial entry in this age

group, and it is clinical trials that drive the treatment and drive

survival forward, said that is important. The second thing is that

these patients, it is a difficult time for them to have cancer, a

time when concordance with treatment is quite difficult, so if

they are asked to come to a building designed for 60 or 70-

year-olds, they are likely to say, I don't know about that. They are

not making the decisions and so they are not helping themselves to

get through their cancer. Tom Hunt enjoyed life to the full. He was

diagnosed with bone cancer at the age of 15. Despite being in

remission, the disease returned and he died on Boxing Day. Now, his

family and friends are furiously raising money for the cancer unit

in his name. We just need this unit because of Tom, it was what he

wanted. It is my goal to try to get it for him. It won't help Tom, but

hopefully it will help somebody else. And others will be helped

from across the south-west and perhaps helped to survive this

disease. And there are still tickets

available for tomorrow night's fundraiser, Langford Live in North

Somerset. Ocean Colour Scene will be performing, plus a The Who

tribute band. You can turn up on the night or

book by going on the website Langfordlive.org.

Two men from the West are on their way to France today to take part in

the world's oldest balloon race. The Wiltshire adventurer David

Hempleman-Adams and his co-pilot Simon Carey, from Bath, are

Britain's only entry in this year's Gordon Bennett race.

But last year the event, which then started from Bristol, was marred by

tragedy when two American competitors were killed. Richard

Abruzzo and Carol Rymer Davis were lost as they travelled over the

Adriatic Sea. We are joined by flight director

Clive Bailey and weather expert Luc Trullemans, who will guide the

British team from a hotel in Bristol this weekend. The first

question of course has to be about safety. Has anything changed since

last year it? I think one thing last year did was to remind

everybody come at us and the pilots, how dangerous the race is, and it

is dangerous. It is the Olympics of ballooning, pitching themselves

against the elements and the weather will always win if it

catches you out, so it has brought it to the forefront. Were mistakes

made last year that you can put right this time? I think they are

flying hydrogen balloons, they are doing the same this year. We think,

it has not been proven, that they got too close to a thunderstorm,

says that is something to monitor this it. The weather is crucial in

this, that is your area of expertise. How will you help them

to? We do a lot of looking at the wind at all levels. We start about

17,000 ft -- 7,000 ft, so the wind will be crucial at the beginning

and day-by-day the balloon will be lighter and lighter and can fly

higher and higher. The main winds at the moment are from the south to

the south-west, so the four regions we will reach in two days, it will

be more than finance to the Baltic states and then going down to the

board of the Ukraine. How much more dangerous will it be with Diouf old

hurricane coming in? This hurricane is not so bad, but thunderstorms

are now dropping over the Channel in northern France, and they will

come to eastern Germany, western Poland, and the balloons will be

there also, so it will be important to cite just in front of the

thunderstorms to be safe, 50 miles ahead of the thunderstorms.

have you helped David and Simon prepare for this? We have got all

of the kit, Lady Luck, the balloon they flew last year, this is its

third flight. The balloon is proven. They are pretty fit, now it is down

to the tactical planning that we will be doing tomorrow, and

hopefully they will get away tomorrow night. They can always

delay the race until Sunday if the cold front is to close, so

hopefully we will get them away tomorrow night. The first 12 hours

is critical. We will watch it carefully. Good luck. Thank you for

coming in. The University of Bath has won a

prestigious accolade. It has been named University of the Year by the

Sunday Times. The award takes into account research, teaching,

employability and the overall student experience. And in the

education league tables for universities, Bath has risen to its

highest ever position, fifth out of 122.

The comedian David Walliams has now swum almost 80 miles along the

Thames despite being hampered by a Thames to make. The Little Britain

* is hoping to make it from Gloucestershire to London --

suffering from Thames Tommy. He has already raised nearly �460,000 for

Sport Relief. Now to sport, and the Rugby World

Cup is underway in New Zealand, and England play their first game

tomorrow. Alistair is here. What are their

chances? Well, they should beat Argentina

comfortably. As for the rest of the tournament, much tougher tests

await them. Kick-off is at 9.30am tomorrow, our time, and

Gloucester's Mike Tindall will captain England in the absence of

Bath's Lewis Moody. Tindall, a veteran of the 2003 World Cup-

winning side, will also become England's most capped centre,

overtaking Will Carling. He is the West's only player in the starting

line-up tomorrow, although Bath's Matt Banahan is on the bench.

In club rugby, Bristol are full of confidence ahead of their first

home game of the new season after an impressive opening win in the

Championship. It is a contrast from 12 months ago when members of the

squad were asked to take a pay cut, and many players left. Now, there

is a new head coach with a settled squad, and it seems a real appetite

to get back to the Premiership. Enjoying the taste of success again.

It was all smiles at the club BBQ this week, hosting supporters and

sponsors. It is only one game, but they are top of the table. More

importantly, free from the unsettling pressures that dogged

them last year. It is a lot more happy this time. With everything

that happened last year, it was hard to focus on everything, the

mind was clouded. The first day we came back in pre-season we said,

let's forget about that, it is in the past. The guys have done that

so the camp is a lot happier. what you hear about people in

Bristol, there is a good camaraderie in the team and that

counts for a lot. Their aim this year is to get back into the

Premiership so everybody is feeling good about this season. In a dark

video analysis room, new head coach Liam Middleton and his players are

hatching their plan to get out of the Championship at the third

attempt. A task he believes is getting tougher each year. A team

has come on, London Scottish, who will be playing this weekend who

are better than a relegated team. Other teams of bolstered their

claim budgets. It will get better every year and the longer we stay

here, the more competitive it gets and the harder to get to the top,

but that is our goal, obviously. where can they improve? The word is

the squad is the fittest it has been. Bristol faded in matches last

year, but the way they finished the win at Doncaster suggested the

opposite will be true this season. We finished the game quite well,

which is a strong point from a fitness point of view, and that

will hopefully continue throughout the season. It was good to see

George Watkins, I hate to pick people out, but when he got through

that gap, it was a warming moment. And hopefully not the last for this

club, desperate to prove they can be contenders again.

Football, and Bristol City return from the international break with a

new signing and a new international in the squad. They will both be on

show against League leaders Brighton at Ashton Gate. And, as

Geoff Twentyman reports, they will be trying to spark what has been a

slow start to the season. Just one win and five points from

five games is cent drop dead average start. The two-week break

has given the man in charge the chance to work on key issue. It is

a big game for us, I think. They are flying, playing well, it is one

for us to enjoy and I want us to go out there full of energy. We have

worked hard in training for the last couple of weeks and it will be

down to the players to go out there and deliver, and if they do that I

am sure our fans will get behind them and create a good atmosphere.

A left-back has been recruited on a season-long loan from Manchester

City and will go straight into the team against bright and. I will

give 100% every game. I like to get forward and help create a goals.

Had fully between now and the end of the cistern I will get to show

the fans what I am about. During the recess, one player has

graduated to the international ranks. Albert Adomah graduated --

debut for Ghana this week and he believes it will make him a better

place. Getting better, I think, is down to training. If you don't

practise, you can't improve, so it is down to training and playing

games, which I am doing, so it is quite nice for me, but I think I

will get better and now I am playing international football so

that improves me, if I get a chance to play for an international team,

that will improve me. Bristol City have not won at home yet this

season, or even scored a goal here at Ashton Gate, but a big chance

tomorrow to turn on the style against the league leaders. A home

win would really kick-start the season.

Cricket, and Somerset and Gloucestershire will be trying to

force wins tomorrow in their vital county championship matches.

Somerset had a lead of 194 runs against Yorkshire, nothing other

than a win will keep them in the title and with one game left to get.

In Division Two, promotion chasing Gloucestershire bowled

Leicestershire out for 135 in Bristol but it proved harder second

time around and the game is heading into the final day, with

Leicestershire 255-fork, still four runs behind Gloucestershire -- to

Now, the opening titles of a TV programme are seen as extremely

important, designed to draw you into watching the show. These are

from the BBC Two comedy Episodes. But it is not just the pictures

The music from Episodes was written by a composer from Somerset, and he

has now been nominated for a prestigious Emmy award. Jules Hyam

went to meet him. She is just not interested in you.

You don't know that. Everyone knows that. And cuts! They hit comedy is

a story of Brits abroad, screenwriters taking their TV

showed a Hollywood and finding their show is not really there's

any more. Did I mention I hate the show? I believe it has come up.

Because it is the Brits in Hollywood, I thought of the halcyon

days of the Brits, Katharine Hepburn, so wanted to introduce an

elegant tap dancing, typewriter sort of soft shoe element to it to

bring a witty element to the music. It does have a definite fail, and

it has won him an Emmy Award nomination. The telephone rang one

morning and they said, Mark, you have been nominated for an Emmy. I

couldn't believe it! What do you say?! It took me at least a week

before I have realised that it wasn't a practical joke. If you

have not been watching Episodes, you will have heard some of Mark's

compositions. He arranged the updated Coronation Street's --

Coronation Street team, the updated music for a Reggie Perrin, and the

type of music for Shaun the Sheep, which does not even have any

dialogue. They are using the bagpipes and they think, he is an

exotic bird, and they think the exotic bird is injured and they

want to operate on him. There is the stretcher, off they go to the

operating theatre. This time I at the music. It lends a sense of

It is an idea of a hospital drama, That is not even the finished

version, the final one was a bit different to that. Mark will find

out tomorrow whether he can call himself an Emmy Award winner.

That would be terrific, we will let you know in our Bulletins on Sunday

how he does. Now, Ian has some important weather

news for us, some strong winds By the time we get to Monday things

will change for the worse in terms of wind strength. Saturday and

Sunday, nothing exceptional, so we need to separate Monday from

Saturday and Sunday which, yes, will be the classic British wet,

windy weekend. Wet at times, dry interludes as well. For some,

prolonged dry spells, but the winds will be a feature. Let's start that

on Saturday morning with this cold front, which will be the feature of

interest on Saturday morning and will bring heavy rain. By the

afternoon, things will brighten up but it will remain blustery.

Further showers and sunny spells on Sunday, and then this on Monday,

the remnants of a tropical storm. It has undergone all sorts of

modifications and is no longer a hurricane or a tropical storm, but

it is a deep depression and one which, by Sunday night and into

Monday, has the potential to bring trouble. In recognition of that,

the Met Office has issued alerts and warnings, the yellow alert

covered there includes our stretch of the world, particularly parts of

Somerset. Valid from midnight on Sunday throughout Monday. The

Orange area is an amber alert in north-western parts, where the

strongest of the winds, potentially storm-force, could a cat. There is

a lot of uncertainty on whether most destructive winds could happen,

but a yellow alert in force. Keep in touch with us through the

weekend and we will keep you updated on that as it develops. For

the rest of this evening, a good deal of low cloud, not dissimilar

to yesterday evening. That will bring some patches of drizzle, hill

fog, and by tomorrow some extensive outbreaks of rain coming from the

West. An exceptionally mild night, mind you. Barely two or three

degrees down on what we have seen through the day. Tomorrow, the cold

front gets its act together, marching to the east. Heavier

pulses associated with that, we will all see some wet weather on

Saturday morning, heading towards the east as the afternoon wears on.

By that stage, a lot brighter, blustery, temperatures about 20, 21.

Sunday, sunny spells and showers, some of those quite frequent on a

blustery breeze for the Bristol half-marathon, and for the one in

Chippenham. The winds on Monday are the concern, and there will be some

high tides. There could be problems locally, we will keep you updated

on that. Thank you. That is all for now, I

am back with the ten o'clock News tonight.