:00:12. > :00:15.Hello, good evening. A spate of fuel thefts from
:00:15. > :00:19.vehicles in Bristol has led police to warn motorists and business
:00:19. > :00:22.owners to be extra vigilant. Rather than siphoning the fuel, thieves
:00:22. > :00:30.drilled directly into the tank of transit vans, two of which belonged
:00:30. > :00:34.to a charity. Sarah-Jane Bungay reports.
:00:34. > :00:37.They smashed off the fuel cover and drained the fuel tank. This garage
:00:37. > :00:40.is used to replacing brakes and radiators on commercial vehicles
:00:40. > :00:50.which arrive in its workshop. Recently, it is damaged fuel tanks
:00:50. > :00:50.
:00:50. > :00:54.keeping the mechanics busy. For a basic fuel tank on a lorry: a
:00:54. > :01:01.thousand pounds. Then the cost of the fuel. It may have to be towed
:01:01. > :01:04.in. We can get 15 lorries in the night, a lot of money is lost.
:01:04. > :01:14.crime isn't postcode specific, it's been reported across the west, and
:01:14. > :01:16.
:01:16. > :01:19.has seen motorbikes to HGVs targeted. Click Sargeant has had
:01:19. > :01:22.two vehicles drained of diesel, costing �700 so far. For those with
:01:23. > :01:26.businesses, if you have access to CCTV, utilise that, park your
:01:26. > :01:30.vehicles within its coverage. If you have a depot yard, make sure it
:01:30. > :01:33.is secured overnight. In the last financial year, �28,000 of fuel was
:01:33. > :01:38.stolen from garages across Avon and Somerset because people filled up
:01:38. > :01:41.at the pump and drove off without paying. Add in the cost of theft
:01:41. > :01:51.from domestic and business vehicles from fuel tanks, and it rises to
:01:51. > :01:54.�150,000. Fuel theft is costly and inconvenient for the individual or
:01:54. > :02:00.business, but it is also dangerous for thieves. Drilling into fuel
:02:00. > :02:07.tanks could cause an explosion from one spark. That appears to be a
:02:07. > :02:10.risk criminals are prepared to take. Police in Bath are conducting an
:02:10. > :02:14.investigation after bones, believed to be human were found close to a
:02:14. > :02:18.golf course. A dog walker made the discovery in Bathwick Woods, close
:02:18. > :02:21.to Bath Golf Club, on Tuesday. The area has been sealed off, and
:02:21. > :02:24.anyone with information is asked to come forward. Police say they are
:02:25. > :02:27.currently treating the death as unexplained.
:02:27. > :02:34.A man remains in a serious condition in hospital tonight,
:02:34. > :02:37.after being found with head injuries on a Bristol street. The
:02:37. > :02:41.victim was discovered in Ashley Down Road in Horfield, near to the
:02:41. > :02:44.Lazy Dog pub. The road was closed for some time, while police
:02:44. > :02:47.investigated. Motorists in the west are to benefit from new scanning
:02:47. > :02:50.technology aimed at reducing the time motorways are closed after
:02:50. > :02:53.crashes. The 3D laser equipment recreates images of the whole crash
:02:53. > :02:57.site, instead of investigators having to survey multiple sections
:02:57. > :03:02.of the scene. Dorset will have one scanner, while Avon and Somerset
:03:02. > :03:06.police and the Devon and Cornwall force will each get two.
:03:06. > :03:11.This is a massive Christmas present. If we can deliver this, then there
:03:11. > :03:15.will be a big cheer from so many people. We estimate that, for every
:03:15. > :03:21.hour that the M5 is closed by a fatal or serious accident, it costs
:03:21. > :03:28.about �1 million. It is fantastic to see the police look as though
:03:28. > :03:31.they will get this bit of kit. Egg farmers in the West say they're
:03:31. > :03:36.worried about their future, with many saying they could be forced
:03:36. > :03:40.out of business. From the New Year, an EU wide ban on keeping battery
:03:40. > :03:43.hens comes into force. But nearly half of all the countries in the EU
:03:43. > :03:48.say they plan to ignore it, which means cheaper, illegal eggs could
:03:48. > :03:51.make their way into Britain. Luke Hanrahan reports.
:03:51. > :03:57.For almost 70 years, chickens have been kept in cramped and confined
:03:57. > :04:01.conditions, like these, on an industrial scale. For Peter Wood,
:04:01. > :04:05.who has been a poultry farmer in Somerset since 1959, the new law
:04:06. > :04:11.has been looming large on the horizon. Spending �2 million to
:04:11. > :04:15.convert his farm was always a daunting prospect. One that has
:04:15. > :04:20.been made more difficult by the fact that 13 European countries are
:04:20. > :04:28.simply turning a blind eye to the new EU legislation. Basically, what
:04:28. > :04:31.has happened, Brussels have wiped their hands of it. And it's been
:04:31. > :04:37.left to individual countries to police. In the 52 years I've been
:04:37. > :04:41.keeping chickens, this is the biggest change we have ever had.
:04:41. > :04:45.Eggs from caged birds like these will soon be a thing of the past on
:04:45. > :04:51.our supermarket shelves. But half of the 18% of imported eggs come in,
:04:51. > :04:55.in powdered or liquid form, which is almost impossible to police.
:04:55. > :04:57.That does not take into account the illegal eggs that are used in the
:04:57. > :05:05.baking of cakes and quiches, effectively making an illegal egg
:05:05. > :05:08.like this legal to sell in the UK. Which is what is worrying people.
:05:08. > :05:11.The National Farmers' Union says it will be impossible to compete on
:05:11. > :05:17.price, They believe they could be overrun by illegal imports, and
:05:17. > :05:21.will lose markets on the continent. The farmers in this country have
:05:21. > :05:24.spent over �400 million getting the system to where they are. And we
:05:25. > :05:28.just require a level playing field to allow these illegal eggs to be
:05:28. > :05:32.kept in the country of origin, and not come into this country. Banning
:05:32. > :05:35.battery cages in the UK is obviously a positive step forward.
:05:35. > :05:40.But the fact that many European countries will not comply with the
:05:40. > :05:43.law has piled financial pressure on the south west's poultry farmers.
:05:43. > :05:51.Have you contemplated shutting up shop?
:05:51. > :05:54.Have you got to that stage? Um. We shall have to wait and see.
:05:55. > :05:58.A charity in Gloucestershire, which is raising money to pay for a new
:05:58. > :06:00.scanner, received a special visitor today. Cobalt, which is based in
:06:00. > :06:03.Cheltenham, supports people with cancer and other life-limiting
:06:03. > :06:07.conditions. Their treasurer Tabitha Scrivener is rowing the equivalent
:06:07. > :06:10.of John O'Groats to Land's End, without leaving the county. This
:06:10. > :06:13.afternoon, Beth Rodford, current world rowing champion in the
:06:13. > :06:16.women's quad, came to offer her support. Beth began her rowing
:06:16. > :06:23.career at Gloucester Rowing Club, and is a strong medal hope for
:06:23. > :06:26.London 2012. Avon and Somerset cops turned
:06:26. > :06:30.robbers today to bring some Christmas cheer to Children's
:06:30. > :06:34.Hospice in Wraxall. The police arrived just in time to wrestle the
:06:34. > :06:37.gifts from some naughty pirates, with the help of their dogs. Santa
:06:37. > :06:42.arrived in style in the police helicopter and the children also
:06:42. > :06:49.got to meet some of the horses and ride in a patrol car before he gave
:06:49. > :06:52.The weather. The showery outbreaks of rain will slowly fade away this
:06:53. > :06:56.evening, apart from in the west of Somerset. Temperatures will fall to
:06:56. > :06:58.around three Celsius in parts of the countryside, and eight Celsius
:06:58. > :07:01.in urban areas. By daybreak tomorrow, cloud will have spread
:07:02. > :07:05.eastwards across all parts of the west, bringing patchy rain through
:07:05. > :07:08.the morning, and heavier more prolonged wet weather later in the
:07:08. > :07:16.day. It'll be mild with highs around 11 Celsius, but staying
:07:16. > :07:21.If you're still suffering from wildlife withdrawal symptoms since
:07:21. > :07:26.the BBC's Frozen Planet came to end, fear not. A brand new series starts
:07:26. > :07:30.tonight, giving us a real "bird's eye" view of the world. Earthflight
:07:30. > :07:33.was made in Bristol by film maker John Downer. He and his team
:07:33. > :07:40.attached tiny cameras to birds and charted their movements across five