10/03/2014 BBC Points West

into why some police forces in the UK are

Good evening. A Ministry of Defence investigation is under way `fter a

live artillery round strayed miles off course, passing over two

villages before exploding close to a mainline railway. Fortunately, no

one was injured, but the shdll left a six foot crater in a farmdr's

field, and now all live firhng on the Plain has been stopped. Scott

Ellis reports. The rumble of artillery, firing live

high explosive shells. A faliliar sound to everyone living ne`r

Salisbury Plain. But on Wednesday, one shell drifted miles off course.

Landing in this farmer's fidld. We sort of went, like that. We thought

that was a bit close. We didn't think it would come over thhs close.

A local artist was another who felt the errant shell explode a few

hundred yards from her home. This bang was exceptional becausd the

house shook. It reminded me of the days are used to live near Wareham

Concorde used to come over `nd the windows would rattle. It was very,

very loud. This MOD newsletter states which regiments were firing

on the Plain last week. It hncludes a reference to the 105mm light gun.

These are 105mm guns in acthon. They have a range of 11 miles, ddpending

how much propellant charge hs put in, after the shell is loaddd. It's

likely the gun was being fired from a position at the south of Salisbury

Plain near Tilshead. Shells are normally fired northwards, `nd

impact inside the danger zone. This stray shell appears to have gone

clean over, to Patney, off target by as much as five miles. Bomb disposal

experts have collected shrapnel from the crater. But, so far, no MOD

apology. I would expect an `pology. The first thing they need to do is

inform the public as to why it has happened. And then say, we `re

sorry, it is extremely frightening, and we can assure you it is such a

rare occurrence, it is not going to happen again. The MOD has stspended

all live firing on the Plain while they investigate.

At last there seems to be some light at the end of a very wet tunnel as

far as the Somerset flooding is concerned. More train services are

operating, roads are re`opening and water levels are falling. Btt, as

Clinton Rogers reports, there is still a long way to go.

The train standing at Taunton station is a clear sign things are

beginning to return to norm`l. Following the floods that m`de this

stretch of line between Taunton and Bristol impassable, today, for the

first time, trains were running over it again, though, for now it is

still a reduced service. Thdre remains a lot of water on the

Somerset Levels. But mush ldss than there was. 33 million tonnes of

water today, a third of what it was at the height of the floods. We have

got a good weather forecast for the week, we've had a number of days

without rain, so it gives us the chance to take a lot of the water

off that has been accumulathng over the last few weeks. But the main

A361 from Taunton to Glastonbury remains closed. The Environlent

Agency says it hoped to havd all roads reopened by the weekend of

March 22nd. And, for this h`ulage company, that can't come fast

enough. Every day, their lorries face a 12 mile detour to re`ch the

motorway, and the bills are piling up. It has cost us between ?150

?2000 a week in extra fuel `nd expenses for the drivers, to keep

them away from the, still. `` to keep them away from the depot,

still. And flood victims will be counting the cost, financially and

emotionally, for many months to come. Few here are expecting to be

back home before Christmas. Tomorrow is the start of thd

Cheltenham Festival. It's rdgarded as the top meet in the National Hunt

season with the best horses and jockeys giving their all. It's taken

months of preparation but the scene is set. Here's Alistair Durden.

Around a quarter of a million spectators will come here over the

next four days for the clim`x of the National Hunt season. The r`cecourse

has seen a number of changes over the last 12 months but if you are

coming tomorrow, the most notable one will be the improvement in the

weather. 12 months ago, this course was under frost covers with subzero

temperatures. This year, it has been so mild, the grass has been cut six

times already. The wettest of winters has not been a problem. We

know this place dries out rdally quickly and the course is in

excellent condition. People have been looking around it. Rickey

Henderson yesterday, Alan Khng, Willie Mullins have all said in

their lifetime they've never seen it look better. The major change has

seen the old Royal Box demolished and the racecourse has put tp a

giant temporary building th`t houses a full kitchen and a restaurant

Just to give it an element of scale to it, we're in a structure that's

110 metres long, three storhes high. The longest, highest ever structure

built in Europe so it is a significant structure. One local

horse to look out for tomorrow is The New One, trained by Nigdl

Twiston`Davies just up the road in Norton. That goes in the Ch`mpion

Hurdle, but the big roar whhch traditionally greets the first race

of the day will be going up at 1:30pm. If you'd like those amazing

flying pictures of the racecourse in his report, we've put them on our

Facebook page. If you want to have a look at them just go to the site and

click on the video. And, of course, Alistair will be

reporting from Cheltenham throughout the week. Radio Gloucestershire will

also have the latest from the races including the latest travel

information around Cheltenh`m. We're back with you tomorrow, but, for

now, let's get the latest wdather with Ian.

Rain does not feature in thd forecast for the rest of thhs week.

Tomorrow will be tricky whether cloud cover could prove stubborn for

some of you as it did today, but, nonetheless, quite hopeful that we

will see some sun in the afternoon. Tonight, the cloud cover will

dictate the temperatures with sunspot stripping down to as low as

two macro three, but most areas will be at around 3`5, and tomorrow

morning, most areas will be under a lot of cloud, and so it will remain

through the morning, and probably through the afternoon. I wotldn t

hold your breath for things to brighten up, but I am hopeftl that

there will be some sunshine around which will continue into thd early

part of the evening. Winds, light a moderate tomorrow. Temperattres

around ten. With the sunshine, it could lift to about 12 or 13. Those

temperatures are on the risd jury the week. Wednesday and Thursday,

some sunshine. 11 or 12 degrees. This is the

outlook. If you are heading somewhere else in the UK, you need

the forecast. Hello. The local weather detail you have just heard

fit into an overall pattern which is now equivocal in different from the

one that gave us our wettest winter on record.

We have spent the day watching high pressure pushing across the UK. It

is settling our weather down like any area of high pressure. It is

here for a while. It is here for this week. The Jetstream has moved

north and the wet and whether - whinny systems have moved towards

Iceland. Our weather is now much quieter. Sundays are sunnier than

others. In the sunshine from it feels warm. At night it will be

chilly. This is the most important word making a big impact - dry. We

have had some cloud in the next few hours. Under that, you avoid frost.

Where it is