03/05/2012 East Midlands Today

This is East Midlands Today with Anne Davies and me Quentin Rayner.

Tonight BMI Baby will stop flying from September.

As a buyer is sought 80 writs will close from East Midlands Airport.

Also tonight, after a spate of shootings, Danielle Beccan's mother

pleads for them to stop. All power to your elbow, the bad booze put to

good use. We have been scratching our heads to find a safe way of

getting rid of it. They raise the 900 bottles here. You can't just

porridge down the drain. And it is a Dr feel-good, a new take on

teaching and medicine. Good evening, welcome to Thursdays

programme. More airline jobs are under threat tonight - this time at

BMI Baby. The company has been trying to find a buyer for several

months. But today staff were told that some flights from the East

Midlands will be chopped next month and - unless a new owner is found -

the airline would close completely in September.James Roberson has

been following the story this afternoon - it sounds pretty grim

news from Castle Donington again. It was only last month that the

parent company announced it was cutting 1200 jobs, that is a total

of 550 at Castle Donington. This followed the takeover of BMI, and

BMI Baby, by the parent company British Airways. They have

announced that this afternoon that consultation is starting this

afternoon with the unions. So far a buyer has not been found for BMI

Baby, so BMI is saying that many flights will end by a be ended June

-- by it at the end of June. These flights.: not good news for

passengers. The Unite union is saying they won't be -- there will

be no immediate job losses, but the staff will all go up if no buyer is

found by September. The union spokesman says he is not very

hopeful of a saviour being found. It is not all bad news, we are

thinking of the travellers. Absolutely right. Even as BMI Baby

made this announcement, And Mark said they would be expanding their

flights from East Midlands Airport. -- More. There are a lot of

expansions going on in the East Midlands. They could be alternative

flight. -- there could be. Next, tonight "stop the shootings".

A heartfelt plea from a mother whose daughter was gunned down on a

Nottingham street. It's almost eight years since Danielle Beccan's

murder prompted a huge backlash against gun crime in the city. But

after several more shootings in the last few weeks Danielle's mother

agreed to speak exclusively to our Social Affairs Correspondent,

Jeremy Ball. Nottingham has made huge progress

since the days when Danielle Beccan was murdered when she walked home

with her friends. She was only 14, she was killed by a bullet that was

fired up from a car and ricocheted off the street. Her mother is

worried that it is happening again. It is not a badge of honour. It

should be a badge of shame. They should be ashamed. I am concerned

about the amount of retaliation. Please don't do it, but the guns

and denied his down. It causes so much heartache. It's got to stop.

Today detectives investigating a murder revealed it might be linked

to another shooting on March 30th. More shots were fired days ago

through the windows of this car. They were also two recent shootings

that for the victims into hospital. We are very concerned, the number

of firearms offences had gone down over the years, there are a number

of incidents, we are concerned about it. We need to work with

young people, to stop them getting involved in gang activity. That is

something they tried in Derby, when she things became a problem there.

The authorities acted quickly to be put in the bulb. There was a

dedicated team targeting gangs with guns. Nottingham is going to use a

similar approach. The violence just breeds more violence. It's got to

stop somewhere. Why can't you be the one who stops it? Why do other

families have to suffer? Here in Sherwood, floral tributes are being

left to the victim of the latest shooting. Detectives asking for the

information -- asking for information, and to stop the

censors violence. A taxi driver has described how he

was viciously assaulted by three passengers. Raja Khan says the two

women and a man punched him repeatedly leaving him with cuts

and bruises. The private hire association says the number of

attacks on taxi drivers is increasing. Mr Khan says he's been

left so traumatised by the attack he's not sure he'll be able to work

nights again. Taxi driver Raja Khan is slowly

recovering from his injuries. They were inflicted by two women and a

man who jumped into the -- into his car in the early hours of Sunday

morning. When he explained he couldn't drive them because they

had not been booked, they attacked him. One of them are grabbed me,

they started hitting me on my back and face. I managed to get out of

the car, and I started running. They followed me, and they hit me

on the pavement. They left me lying on the floor. He suffered severe

cuts and bruises to his head, his hands, and his legs. I was shocked.

It was a brutal attack. It is difficult for me to work at night,

especially, because I feel insecure. Taxi drivers are vulnerable to

being attacked. Yesterday, we reported on this actress he was

given a suspended jail sentence after attacking a taxi driver in

Derby. The number of attacks on drivers is increasing. In the whole

of last year 170 drivers reported being assaulted, already this year

230 drivers say they have been attacked. We do the best to improve

the situation. All of our cars are fitted with CCTV. There are still

situations where a man and a woman is alone in a car. The police say

investigations are ongoing, but no arrests have been made.

Plenty more on its way here on BBC East Midlands Today. Later we

really put you in the picture in Leicester with a fifty foot image

of the city centre. The body of a soldier who grew up

in Nottinghamshire has been returned to the UK. Guardsman

Michael Roland was shot in Afghanistan on Friday. The

headteacher of his former school paid tribute to Michael today. He'd

been in Afghanistan for less than Carefully, and with respect, the

body of guardsmen Michael Rowland was brought to it Brize Norton. He

served with the Grenadier Guards. He lived in Worthing, but grew up

in Tollerton. He was shot while on patrol in Helmand province. Today,

the headteacher of his school paid tribute to him. He joined us in

2000, and left in 2005 with a great set of GCSE results. Teachers

remember him, a conscientious, hard-working student with a strong

work ethic. He had strong academic ability, determined to get the job

done. Current pupils will be thinking about what happened to him.

Myself, and the rest of the staff will take the opportunity to

discuss it with students in assemblies. We will talk about the

sacrifice he made, and what that means for the community. His family

said he was a caring and loving son, who always wanted to join the Army.

A demand has been made for a judicial inquiry into what happened

to thousands of children who were sent to Australia in a child

migration scheme. Many were dispatched without their parents

knowledge and were terribly abused in a scandal uncovered by a

Nottinghamshire social worker twenty five years ago. Tony Roe

reports. Two years ago former migrants were

here in large numbers to hear an apology from the British government.

This time a handful are in the same room. The apology from Britain and

Australia was long awaited, those who witnessed it made that clear.

Money was taken from the health budget to mark the second year of

the apology. The abuse we suffered at the hands of those who had set

out to destroy the lives of young children is now documented. Still

there is no judicial inquiry. government's decision is

restitution, not an inquiry. What I think we need to do, and we are

focusing on that, is to accept the responsibilities that flow from

that as a government and a country, just as the Australian government

does, and through that restoration fund, recognise we can do some one

-- something as a consequence of that. Those who lied and abused

children remain unpunished, there will be something missing. It is

about understanding what happened and who did it. But those to suffer

the abuse, they often say to me, perpetrators three walk free.

the apology, the government has helped 300 families in Australia

and here, but there are still more the need support. -- that need

support. A leisure complex in Nottingham has

been sold for �50m. Land Securities has bought the Cornerhouse from the

BP Pension Fund. The complex includes a multiplex cinema, 11

restaurants and a casino. The Cornerhouse opened 12 years ago. It

attracts more than four and a half million visitors each year and

employs about 750 staff. Train drivers have denied that

their industrial action is politically motivated. Members of

the ASLEF union went on strike again today, disrupting East

Midlands Train services across the region and to London. The company

has claimed that the action, which will continue next week, is not

just about pension issues.. As for being politically motivated, I

don't think it is politically motivated, but the government's

involvement by propping up East Midlands trains with their revenue,

makes the strike political. Hundreds of litres of fake alcohol

are being used to generate electricity. The counterfeit whisky,

vodka and gin was all seized by trading standards officers in Derby

just before Christmas. The problem was how to dispose of it safely.

And as Geoff Maskell explains, it was Severn Trent Water that came up

A trading standards officer examining a van load of hundreds of

bottles of fake alcohol. The legal bottles or all seized by officers

in raids in Derby last December. Because they all contain dangerous

industrial chemicals, it was a problem how to get rid of them.

were trying to find a safe way to get rid of it. Three could not just

pour it down the drain. Severn Trent have stepped in to help but

their sewage and treatment works have anaerobic Digest does return

waste into methane gas this can then be used to generate

electricity. Any industrial products need to have care for

treatment to make sure they are treated safety. Essentially pouring

it down the sewer could cause damage. The real bonus is we can

use this product to produce renewable energy. Severn Trent uses

a huge amount of renewable energy to provide our water services so if

we can take these alternative Wace and generate electricity, that has

to be good for the environment. Trading standards and Severn Trent

of bad the alcohol is being disposed of safely.

Amazing! Next tonight, the singing talent that has emerged at

Glenfield Hospital. Tapas Mukherjee is a specialist doctor in

respiratory medicine and he has a whole new way of training medical

students about asthma. It is a video filmed on his smartphone

where he sings his way through advice. It is a big hit on YouTube

and Rob Sissons has been to meet him.

He is the singing doctor. Breakfast For their posters, lectures, retain

staff, Tapas is hitting the right note getting the latest asthma

guidelines over two medical students. Putting them to music, a

challenge. We got most of the lyrics in about an hour. The

hardest part was co-ordinating everyone to BA in the same place at

the same time. -- be in. The phone has been everything for this video.

It was filmed on it and I have put it on Facebook and Twitter.

thought he was a professional singer not a doctor. It is very

catchy, all the staff and patients enjoy it. We are not making light

of asthma but drawing more attention to the fact we could be

managing it better. Where will this lead? A talent show? Who knows?

Tapas Mukherjee! And he is not short of advice from the patients.

Like his voice? Yes, I do. You sing a bit? Yes I do. That his horrible!

Did he say horrible? He did. Now the sport. No, it is just

around the corner! With a shock for the Stags. And the Bank Holiday

weather, we will have a bit of a surprise. We say goodbye to the

rain but it is a cold wind with a widespread frost. More weather

towards the end of the programme. It is now the sport. Football first.

Mansfield Town were in play-off action last night. The Stags came

away with a draw in the semi-final first leg but the football was

overshadowed by goings-on off the pitch.

The action did not just kick-off on the pitch last night. In fact, it

events were getting pretty heated elsewhere in the stadium.

Mansfield's chief executive was arrested and cautioned for using

threatening words and behaviour during the game. A statement from

the Mansfield chairman claims it is all being blown out of proportion

and it was a light hearted, hot- headed quip. On the pitch, things

were event for also. Mansfield went into this type on the back of six

straight wins and were looking to take a result to the one called

Stadium next Monday. After a nervy start, the stacks took the lead. --

Stags. It was not to be. The only contribution. Diverting this cross

past his own keeper. It was to be the last goal of the night but not

the last talking point as striker Matt Green were shown a second

yellow for this hand ball. referee said he handled it. The

cameras show he did not. But you need referees in big games to make

big decisions and he made quite a few of them wrong last night.

Saying that, it is a tough job and we hope the one we get on Monday

will make the big decisions, the correct ones. We have not played

grade. We have had a debrief and realised where we went from. We

have to put that to bed and get back here in front of a full house

and go about our business and our game plan. All to play for in the

second leg on Monday. Notts County are hoping to follow

in Mansell's footsteps and to make the play-offs in League One. They

need a point against Colchester. But whatever happens, they say it

is a big achievement just to be challenging. A few months back we

were 10 points of the play-offs so it has been a great run of results

to get us to this position. If you give us the opportunity to take it

to the last game, to be end up with a shout of the play-offs is

brilliant for us. Cricket and what a performance it has been from

Notts bowler Andre Adams. He took seven wickets at Lancashire and

Notts are looking to build a healthy lead their. In Division Two,

Derbyshire are boiled in their command in their match against

Leicestershire. But just to cheer Leicestershire fans up there has

been good news. Captain Matthew Hoggard has signed a one-year

extension to keep him at Grace Road and till next year. He is not

playing at the moment because of a dislocated finger. Now he H for

hockey which is appropriate because this is the week the first games

were being played at the Olympic parks riverbank arena. We have been

enjoying the test event action. Just watched this for the freak

goals the German men's score after That is a brilliant goal! She makes

the goalkeeper do something. It is massive having the Games here in

this country. Great Britain hockey are doing so many things. They are

trying to inspire the nation to pick up the sticks and go out and

play hockey. We are aiming to try to get 30,000 new participants in

The Germans already very quick. We were about 10 or 15 seconds late

for the start. The ball get so fast in hockey. A very finely taken goal.

People cheered us on all the way through the game. 1-0 Great Britain.

Richardson again. Finally! Playing the Olympics is the pinnacle of our

sport and to see those the screaming children in the stadium,

it will be fantastic. How fantastic to those pictures Look? If you

fancy getting out there again? Playing hockey? Let's move on. A

unique photograph of Leicester has gone on show. You cannot call it a

snapshot because it is 50 ft long. The street view of the city centre

is probably the stand-out feature of the show at a newly opened

gallery. It is the work of Keith Cooper who explained just how he

produced the image from loads of different angles. It is actually a

collection of smaller images assembled together taken over three

successive nights. It is at the same time on each night so the

lighting level is the same. The production of it is such that the

picture is you could not stand in one place and see all of what to

see in the picture, but the idea is as you walk along the picture you

get the presence of moving through First time I saw the picture

complete his when it was up on the wall and up until that time, I was

not sure it would actually work. I love it! Even though I spent

several weeks working on it, it is great. I love things like you can

see the moon and the nurse. It is so different. You walk round

Leicester, you don't really see it. You - from one shop to the other,

you don't get time to take it in. It is the sheer detail in it and I

liked the way when people look at it, they see things they had never

seen before. I want people to realise Leicester is quite a pretty

place. I like it, I like living here.

Amazing. You love that, don't you? Yes. Keith's photos along with the

other works of other contributors can be seen at the Leicester

People's Photographic Gallery on Wellington Street. Now the weather.

A nice picture on the weather as well when we had the brighter skies

earlier on in the week. I think it was Monday. Thank you for that

Keep them coming in. We are quite cloudy and damp at the moment. A

band of rain that has been working its way northwards. It is starting

to produce heavy bursts across parts of the region and it will sit

there for quite a while in the evening before plodding northwards

and it weakens slightly as we go into the morning. It will keep a

sweat overnight with a minimum temperature of six Celsius. That

rain band working its way southwards through tomorrow. More

of a showery theme to the day and a lot of cloud remaining with us and

a cold wind starting to come in. Temperatures around nine, maybe ten

Celsius. Making it feel that colder if you are outside. The band of

rain sitting across the south for the weekend, that will keep us

cloudy through the early part of Saturday but each skies should

brighten and we have that cold when continuing but it is Saturday night

into Sunday we start to see the skies clearing and the temperatures

really will drop. Minus two Celsius, so a widespread frost developing

and a cold and frosty start to the day on Sunday but light winds

remaining on Sunday. Feeding chilly but a many bright day and then for

the Bank Holiday Monday, cloud developing as we get closer to Bank

Holiday Monday. It will keep us quite cool and temperatures just

quite cool and temperatures just recovering a little bit more at

night time. Before we go, don't forget there is full coverage of

the local elections and the referendum on Nottingham's the