:00:17. > :00:22.Good evening and welcome to Points West. Our headlines tonight: The
:00:22. > :00:27.revolving door at Bristol council. Barbara Janke quits. The 7th leader
:00:27. > :00:32.to come and go in 10 years. Our mobility scooter is a menace? The
:00:32. > :00:39.family of Bennett injured girl called for greater regulation. It
:00:39. > :00:45.is the last thing we were expecting to happen. We were paying an going
:00:45. > :00:50.there a transaction and not expecting to get mown down. Inside
:00:50. > :00:59.the blood factory as their owners are needed for the Olympics. And
:00:59. > :01:03.the long arm of the law around a long neck of a swan.
:01:03. > :01:07.Good evening. They shot at the council house in Bristol tonight
:01:07. > :01:10.after the resignation of the council leader just a week before
:01:10. > :01:15.the crucial referendum on a city mayor.
:01:15. > :01:19.The leadership has changed seven times in 10 years. Barbara Janke
:01:19. > :01:24.opposes a directly elected mayor, but a decision to quit has given a
:01:24. > :01:28.boost to the Yes camp -- Yes campaign who insist Bristol cannot
:01:28. > :01:34.go on with a revolving door of political leaders.
:01:34. > :01:38.It has been a big job in sometimes turbulent times. 15 years leading
:01:38. > :01:44.the Liberal Democrats, three spells in charge of the council, she is
:01:44. > :01:49.about to turn 65 so has decided to stand down. It is quite sad because
:01:49. > :01:53.I have enjoyed being the leader. I found it an enormous privilege to
:01:53. > :01:57.lead such a wonderful city as Bristol and I am sorry to be giving
:01:57. > :02:03.it up, but I have been doing it now for seven and a half years and
:02:03. > :02:09.nothing goes on for ever. Bristol leaders don't. It is like a
:02:09. > :02:14.revolving door at the council house. Diane Bunyan was in 2003 followed
:02:14. > :02:19.by Barbara Janke. Then came Helen Holland and Barbara Janke's final
:02:19. > :02:23.turn three years ago. That instability has many critics.
:02:23. > :02:27.think there have been 60 from leaders of the council in 10 years.
:02:27. > :02:33.If you have that degree of chopping and changing you do not get a
:02:33. > :02:38.coherent policy, don't get decisions taken and there is a
:02:38. > :02:45.general disenchantment in the way the city is run.
:02:45. > :02:51.Excited is a big reason to say yes to an elected mayor. Today,
:02:51. > :02:57.political differences mattered less. We work together on a rainbow
:02:57. > :03:01.Council. I was her deputy leader so we worked very closely. She is a
:03:01. > :03:05.nice lady. We have never had a problem working together. We
:03:05. > :03:10.disagree politically, but we have to get on and do the job for
:03:10. > :03:14.Bristol and our hearts were in the right place. This all means change
:03:14. > :03:17.for Bristol. Straight after the referendum, Lib Dems will be
:03:18. > :03:22.deciding on their leader who then has to be ratified by a full
:03:22. > :03:25.council leader. By November the people of the city could be
:03:25. > :03:28.choosing the first ever elected mayor.
:03:28. > :03:33.We will tell you where you can listen to a debate on the issue
:03:33. > :03:37.later in the programme. A second man on board a boat which
:03:37. > :03:42.caught fire in Bath earlier this month has died. The 30 year-old man
:03:42. > :03:47.from Swindon was taken to hospital with severe burns. Stephen Phelps
:03:47. > :03:51.who was 42 was also killed in the fire which broke out on a cabin
:03:51. > :03:55.cruiser moored close to Pulteney Bridge last month.
:03:55. > :04:00.The family of a girl injured in an accident with a run away mobility
:04:00. > :04:04.scooter is calling for drivers to have proper training. The nine-
:04:04. > :04:09.year-old suffered a broken ankle when the vehicle crashed into her
:04:09. > :04:16.in Clarks Village in Somerset. The swimming lessons are on hold,
:04:16. > :04:20.she has had to give up her part in the school play. Akeyla Pike's
:04:21. > :04:27.ankle broken by a runaway mobility scooter. It hurtled into the nine-
:04:27. > :04:31.year-old as the family were paying for shoes in Clarks factory shop.
:04:32. > :04:37.would hate to see anybody else go through what we went through. We
:04:37. > :04:42.were paying a not expecting to get mowed down. It was very painful
:04:42. > :04:47.because it kept going into it. After it happened, she kept saying
:04:47. > :04:52.she was sorry, but when it was happening she said she couldn't
:04:52. > :04:56.stop it. The driver was in her seventies and was using her own
:04:56. > :05:00.powered wheelchair similar to this one. We spoke to the family of the
:05:00. > :05:04.74 year-old today and they say she is still shocked and upset herself
:05:04. > :05:09.about what happened in this store on Monday. Her daughter says that
:05:09. > :05:13.her mother was stationery at the checkouts and the accident happened
:05:13. > :05:17.when a cashier handed her some bags over the counter.
:05:17. > :05:21.The driver's family say the banks may have knocked the joystick of
:05:21. > :05:25.the wheelchair setting it off in the direction of the young girl
:05:25. > :05:28.five yards away. The Pike family wonder if there will chair should
:05:28. > :05:33.have been turned off and are demanding tougher controls over the
:05:33. > :05:38.use of mobility scooter us. don't know what happened, we don't
:05:38. > :05:43.know whether the lady could have taken control of the vehicle or not,
:05:43. > :05:48.but it is nothing we will find out because the police would not get
:05:48. > :05:53.involved. The law does need to change on that aspect. Mobility
:05:53. > :05:59.scooter has can weigh up to 150 kilos and make 12 miles an hour,
:05:59. > :06:03.but there is no need for training or insurance. In Norfolk and Dorset
:06:04. > :06:09.the police have introduced training courses after a spate of accidents.
:06:09. > :06:14.These drivers approved. In the village, it is quite easy to run
:06:14. > :06:20.into someone when it is crowded. you are not used to it, they can be
:06:20. > :06:25.quite quick. If you can't stop it, they cannot people. The government
:06:25. > :06:30.is considering legislation to make them safer, but scooter design and
:06:30. > :06:35.street layouts may also help reduce accidents.
:06:35. > :06:39.As we have been hearing, The family in this case wants people who drive
:06:39. > :06:44.motorised scooters and cause accidents to be called to account.
:06:44. > :06:47.Earlier I spoke to the head of road safety for the Royal Society for
:06:47. > :06:53.Prevention of accidents and asks for his response.
:06:53. > :06:56.I think that very much depends on how they caused the accident. If
:06:56. > :07:01.someone behave recklessly then the law should be applied the same as
:07:01. > :07:05.it would to anyone else, but we have to remember that people using
:07:05. > :07:09.their ability scooters are probably not in the best of health so
:07:09. > :07:13.prosecution is not necessarily appropriate. What would be
:07:13. > :07:17.appropriate? The best thing is to avoid this happening in the first
:07:17. > :07:22.place so try to ensure that people using mobility scooter has have
:07:22. > :07:27.been properly assessed and we are confident they are able to use them.
:07:27. > :07:33.You said, quite rightly, for many people it can be a lifeline, but
:07:33. > :07:38.they can be very big, quite fast and more people are using them. Are
:07:38. > :07:42.they safe in an environment like a shop? There are clearly risks. The
:07:42. > :07:46.key issue is that many people who use mobility scooter has all become
:07:46. > :07:51.housebound if they do not use them. We have to be careful that we don't
:07:51. > :07:56.stop people using these mobility scooter has unless they are clearly
:07:56. > :08:00.not safe to do so. We also need them to behave responsibly when
:08:00. > :08:05.they are doing it. I am not suggesting the lady was
:08:05. > :08:09.irresponsible, but there is always some level of risk. I suppose that
:08:09. > :08:14.is a good point, if there is more regulation it could take away some
:08:14. > :08:18.bodies life are in. Absolutely. That is why there is no compulsory
:08:18. > :08:22.training all insurance because all of those things will increase the
:08:22. > :08:25.cost for people using their ability skitters and that might mean some
:08:26. > :08:30.people wouldn't be able to do so. If that happens, they could be
:08:30. > :08:34.stuck at home or in a care home. Should there be training for
:08:34. > :08:39.everybody, because there isn't at the moment. There isn't, but they
:08:39. > :08:42.should be. The problem at the moment is that we need to build a
:08:42. > :08:47.sufficient number of training providers and we need to be
:08:47. > :08:51.confident about what training is effective. If you bought in a nor
:08:51. > :08:55.now saying that mobility scooter has must be trained, an awful lot
:08:55. > :09:00.of them would not be able to find a trainer in the first place. From
:09:00. > :09:04.next year, police are going to be asked to monitor at accidents
:09:04. > :09:09.involving motorised scooters, do you think this will help and how?
:09:09. > :09:13.Yes it will because it will provide better data on the number of
:09:13. > :09:19.accidents that are happening. Where they are happening and he has been
:09:19. > :09:23.injured. That sort of information helps to justify the cost of
:09:23. > :09:27.responses such as regulation. At the moment we have virtually no
:09:27. > :09:33.data are torn apart from cases recorded in the media such as this
:09:33. > :09:38.one. Thank you very much for joining us.
:09:38. > :09:43.You are watching Points West. One more day to go and it is the
:09:43. > :09:46.weekend! We are being warned it can be an extremely wet and windy one.
:09:46. > :09:51.Ian will be here with the forecast shortly.
:09:51. > :09:56.Along with the weather there is lots more to bring year including:
:09:56. > :10:01.We look into the menace for motorists. Pot holes and the
:10:01. > :10:05.special gangs out to fill them in. And for more than 100 use the armed
:10:05. > :10:10.forces were based here in West Somerset yet they have never had a
:10:10. > :10:16.war memorial. Today after years of waiting, the final designs for one
:10:16. > :10:21.have been revealed. So that is all to come, but first,
:10:21. > :10:27.the agent from GEC HQ he was found dead in a back has been described
:10:27. > :10:33.as a man with a world-class intelligence. Gareth Williams was a
:10:33. > :10:39.protege he went to university when he was 16. He was central to return
:10:39. > :10:43.to Cheltenham after a secondment to Cheltenham with MI6.
:10:43. > :10:48.The mathematics whizz kid he became an encryption expert. Gareth
:10:48. > :10:55.Williams entered Britain's world of intelligence gathering at just 21.
:10:55. > :11:00.10 years later, his body was found in the bath inside a locked bag. As
:11:01. > :11:05.the inquest continues, his former boss at GCHQ says he was considered
:11:05. > :11:11.a prodigy, a private individual who shuns social gatherings but none
:11:11. > :11:15.the less had a friendly sense of humour. Able to lighten the tone in
:11:15. > :11:21.what was often an intense occupation. His body lay in his
:11:21. > :11:25.Pimlico flat for nine days, enough time to begin to decompose.
:11:25. > :11:32.Toxicologists asked about the possibility of poisoning because he
:11:32. > :11:36.lay undiscovered soda long, Test on his blood and body were unreliable.
:11:36. > :11:42.Yesterday the landlady at of his flat said he wants tied himself to
:11:42. > :11:48.his bed and had to call her husband for help. He had gone on secondment
:11:48. > :11:54.to MI6. Before he died, he requested to return early to his
:11:54. > :11:57.work at GCHQ. Mr Williams gained his qualifications early. He became
:11:57. > :12:04.intelligence specialist before many had finished its education. A
:12:04. > :12:08.decade of life live privately now or in death, the subject of intense
:12:08. > :12:12.public conversation. His inquest continues.
:12:12. > :12:17.They are the pet hate of many motorists, now potholes have
:12:17. > :12:20.attracted the attention of the government. And National Review has
:12:20. > :12:24.published recommendations for councils and how best to deal with
:12:24. > :12:29.them. At the same time, Gloucestershire is trailing a
:12:29. > :12:34.scheme that tackles pot holes as soon as they are spotted.
:12:35. > :12:40.Last year, Gloucestershire County Council repaired 42,000 potholes.
:12:40. > :12:44.The year before, it was 90,000. Normally they sent out teams to
:12:44. > :12:48.mark the roads and repair crews come back later. This time is
:12:48. > :12:53.different. The idea is to get to repair more
:12:53. > :12:57.potholes more quickly. There will be a dedicated crew and they will
:12:58. > :13:01.be acting on information from the public and going out on a fine and
:13:01. > :13:05.six mission. Today, Lynsey and Andrew are
:13:05. > :13:15.working their way down this road repairing whatever they can as they
:13:15. > :13:17.
:13:17. > :13:23.I have marked out this pothole as a defect. Then we will fill in and
:13:23. > :13:27.cut it out. This is all extra to the normal repair programme. It is
:13:27. > :13:35.our job to be as proactive as possible and make sure that we
:13:36. > :13:41.react quickly. We also have the weather to contend with. We have
:13:41. > :13:45.about 5,500 kilometres in Gloucestershire to deal with. We
:13:45. > :13:50.need to operate as efficiently as we can. A repairing potholes is
:13:50. > :13:56.costly, but so is leaving them. Drivers can easily damage
:13:56. > :14:00.suspension, wheels and bodywork. To cyclists and motorcyclists they can
:14:00. > :14:07.spell serious danger. But with budgets being squeezed, the
:14:07. > :14:15.pressure is on to find better ways of tackling them. Bristol council
:14:15. > :14:21.is thinking of pioneering a smart phone application which so shows --
:14:21. > :14:25.shows drivers wear pot holes are. The National Blood Service based in
:14:25. > :14:30.south Gloucestershire says that it needs to increase blood stocks by
:14:30. > :14:35.almost a third before this summer. We have events like the Olympics to
:14:35. > :14:38.contend with. As part of its appeal it has given the BBC's special
:14:38. > :14:43.access to its processing plant in Filton.
:14:43. > :14:48.Filton, home to the largest blood manufacturing centre in the world.
:14:48. > :14:52.Nearly half of all blood donations made in England and Wales end up
:14:52. > :14:59.here where they are separated into different products, like red blood
:14:59. > :15:03.and plasma. But during big national celebrations like the royal wedding
:15:03. > :15:07.last year, not only is there a spike in demand with more overseas
:15:07. > :15:11.visitors, but donations dip as people miss their appointments.
:15:11. > :15:18.That is why there is a big push are bound to get blood stocks up by
:15:18. > :15:21.nearly a third by the summer. expect this year that we will have
:15:21. > :15:25.about 1.2 million extra visitors coming into the country. We will
:15:25. > :15:32.also have athletes taking part. We need to be prepared for every
:15:32. > :15:37.contingency. What Jessica Smith was unprepared for was being diagnosed
:15:37. > :15:41.by -- with about cancer by the age of 27. She had a young baby at the
:15:41. > :15:46.time and was severely anaemic and needed blood transfusions every
:15:46. > :15:55.week. I was so anaemic that my blood count was just half of what
:15:55. > :16:01.it should have been for a woman of my age. When you are very ill, you
:16:01. > :16:06.do not realise that the treatment you are having his life saving. My
:16:06. > :16:10.family or give a blood now without question. When you have had
:16:10. > :16:15.somebody that you have seen a survive just from having the blood,
:16:15. > :16:19.it gives you a whole new outlook. The there are nearly 2 million
:16:19. > :16:23.blood donations every year. Today these people were giving blood.
:16:23. > :16:29.There are always people who need blood and it is a good idea. As
:16:30. > :16:39.soon as I was able to donate I did. I have been donating ever since,
:16:40. > :16:40.
:16:40. > :16:44.this is my 89th donation. Helping to top up supplies that need an
:16:44. > :16:48.Olympic-sized boost before the summer.
:16:48. > :16:53.People in Watchet in Somerset are trying to raise money for the war
:16:53. > :16:56.memorial. Despite its history as a garrison town for the Air Force and
:16:56. > :17:01.the army there has never been a local monument for those who lost
:17:01. > :17:06.their lives. Instead, their names are scattered in several locations.
:17:06. > :17:15.Now a campaign is under way to change that. Chris is in Watchet to
:17:15. > :17:20.tell us about it. Good evening. Watchet is on the
:17:20. > :17:28.Somerset coast. Around 4,000 people live here. It has a rich military
:17:29. > :17:33.history. There are signs of it all over the town. You imagine a with
:17:33. > :17:41.such a rich history of the armed forces in of the town that they
:17:41. > :17:46.would be a war memorial here. But there is not. That is about to
:17:46. > :17:50.change thanks to local schoolchildren. First, I have been
:17:50. > :17:59.leafing through some of the news archives back at the BBC to find
:17:59. > :18:05.out what it was like in 1938. progress of aviation is here at
:18:05. > :18:15.Watchet. The coast at the start of World War II. Hundreds of service
:18:15. > :18:19.personnel were based here in Watchet. They even got the chance
:18:19. > :18:23.to fire live ammunition at unmanned aircraft, a remote controlled by
:18:23. > :18:28.radio from the Somerset shoreline. This was a key instalment for the
:18:28. > :18:38.British war effort. According to local records, 55 men from the town
:18:38. > :18:39.
:18:39. > :18:49.died in both world wars. 60 years on, schoolchildren have been
:18:49. > :18:49.
:18:49. > :18:57.designing a suitable monument for the town. The winning entry...
:18:57. > :19:02.is a cross with a puppy -- poppy on. Around it is decoration. Are you
:19:02. > :19:09.pleased with it? Yes. Are you pleased that you one question mark
:19:09. > :19:14.yes. The war memorial has also been chosen. It is next to the train
:19:14. > :19:17.station for a reason. The troops used to march along the railway
:19:17. > :19:22.line of by the railway station. They would get on to the trains
:19:23. > :19:28.that would then take them away from the area. This would be the last
:19:28. > :19:33.sight that they would have of Watchet on the way out. For those
:19:33. > :19:38.that were fortunate enough to come back, this would be the first sight
:19:38. > :19:41.that they would see. It is also hoped that when the tourists come
:19:41. > :19:49.in they will spot the memorial from the carriage window and pay to
:19:49. > :19:55.visit. And pay their respects. Just a few feet from the harbour to
:19:55. > :19:59.my left is the old library which was saved from closure. This is
:19:59. > :20:07.where the war memorial will go. This is a watercolour of what it
:20:07. > :20:11.will look like. They wanted to be in place by 2014. But they need to
:20:12. > :20:15.raise �18,000 to do it and they are at �3,000 at the moment. They have
:20:15. > :20:20.some events over the summer where they are hoping to raise all of
:20:20. > :20:24.that money. Always a treat to visit Watchet.
:20:24. > :20:29.Traffic police have been grappling with some beautiful but potentially
:20:29. > :20:34.aggressive customers today, they can peck, hiss, and even break an
:20:34. > :20:44.arm with a flap of the wing. But they are being betrayed to deal
:20:44. > :20:47.
:20:47. > :20:51.with runaway swans in case they The traditional view of frontline
:20:51. > :20:56.policing, fighting crime, dealing with the drunks, crashes on the
:20:56. > :21:05.roads, but for the traffic police are working in a rural patch this
:21:05. > :21:09.sometimes need a more softly-softly approach. It seems that swans are
:21:09. > :21:15.proving a big problem when they end up in the middle of the road and
:21:15. > :21:19.refused to budge. It causes road closures and tailbacks and officers
:21:19. > :21:23.trying to dupe -- shoo them away. We are training up some of the
:21:23. > :21:28.officers to catch the swans and release them safely. We hope to
:21:28. > :21:31.improve the safety for the public on the roads. It is not just about
:21:31. > :21:36.handling the swans but also being able to protect and transport them
:21:36. > :21:40.safely if they have been injured. Experts from the Wildfowl and
:21:40. > :21:44.Wetlands Trust were more than happy to offer their advice. It is great
:21:44. > :21:47.for us to be able to show the police have to handle them
:21:47. > :21:52.correctly and that great for them to respond to things at the time.
:21:52. > :21:57.They've will not need us to come and help them out. The reality is
:21:57. > :22:05.that these are wild birds and if they refuse to move, they will have
:22:05. > :22:10.to be caught. That is the tricky bit. I was a bit apprehensive that
:22:10. > :22:15.because they are powerful birds. We have been talked today that as long
:22:15. > :22:21.as you are positive with them at it will not be a problem. -- has been
:22:21. > :22:26.talk today. Confidence is the key thing. Now I have the confidence, I
:22:26. > :22:31.will be happy to do it again. may not be the sort of training
:22:31. > :22:39.that police in urban areas are used to, but it does reflect a life on
:22:39. > :22:45.the beat in a patch famous for its wildlife.
:22:45. > :22:54.Before the weather, it seems that our story about an accident
:22:54. > :22:58.concerning a motor scooter has prompted some of you to write in.
:22:58. > :23:05.Paul has e-mailed to say that to use a similar vehicle on a golf
:23:05. > :23:08.course you need insurance. Romulus says that when she bought her
:23:08. > :23:18.skewed on line she was given training by the company's
:23:18. > :23:21.technician. Daniel has says that when his father was dying of cancer
:23:21. > :23:28.they borrowed a mobility scooter for a friend of the family. He was
:23:28. > :23:31.only able to use it a couple of times before he became bed-bound.
:23:31. > :23:40.Requiring regulation would have taken their freedom away from him,
:23:40. > :23:46.says Daniel. We have also had an e- mail from someone from Taunton who
:23:46. > :23:50.does offer training to use them. It thank you for all of those.
:23:50. > :24:00.Flood alerts have been in place around our region but they have now
:24:00. > :24:04.been stood down. This picture taken of the River Stour shows that the
:24:04. > :24:13.heavy rains are impacting the river levels. Is there more of this to
:24:13. > :24:17.There will be more of this to come. I suspect the river levels will
:24:17. > :24:27.rise again through the course of tomorrow. Heavy downpours are
:24:27. > :24:40.
:24:40. > :24:46.developing. Did you put grease on that for me? There is a discreet
:24:46. > :24:50.line through the south-west which shows us where the showers will be.
:24:50. > :24:54.The met Office is sufficiently concerned that we have the yellow
:24:54. > :24:59.warning in force for tomorrow. The showers will not really barge
:24:59. > :25:04.through the course of the day. Western areas have primarily been
:25:04. > :25:09.seeing the showers today. They will continue to seek showers through
:25:09. > :25:16.this evening and tonight. Effectively there will be a dry
:25:16. > :25:22.night through the eastern part of the region. Tomorrow will see a wet
:25:22. > :25:28.start for the western parts of the region. Tomorrow will be drier
:25:29. > :25:33.further southwards. Late morning, the convergence line of showers
:25:33. > :25:38.will be up and running. Gradually that will feed further southwards
:25:38. > :25:42.as we get later on into the day, there could be torrential thundery
:25:42. > :25:50.downpours associated with that. They will be slow to move because
:25:50. > :25:55.the winds will be lighter. As we head into the weekend, we are
:25:55. > :26:01.watching the jet stream a loops, they are going all the way down to
:26:01. > :26:09.the Canaries and then back up north. That will spin up an area of low
:26:09. > :26:14.pressure and Sri -- Low pressure as we go to Saturday. Through Saturday
:26:14. > :26:20.it will still be fairly benign with a largely dry start. Into the
:26:20. > :26:28.evening and overnight into Sunday that there could be gales and there
:26:28. > :26:38.will certainly be heavy rain. There will be have met Office warning out
:26:38. > :26:39.
:26:39. > :26:49.As we have been hearing tonight it is just a week to go until
:26:49. > :26:59.Bristol's big May oral vote. BBC Radio Bristol heard from the
:26:59. > :27:00.