:00:09. > :00:14.Time for East Midlands Today with Anne Davies and Dominic Heale.
:00:14. > :00:20.A police force is to be sued by 154 not officers.
:00:20. > :00:25.They were all forced to take early retirement, and claim it is age
:00:25. > :00:31.discrimination. Also tonight, the Prime Minister
:00:31. > :00:38.pledges a referendum on Europe. have not done very well out of it.
:00:38. > :00:44.We would be better off on our own. Why they are weighing it snow. As
:00:44. > :00:54.the big chill becomes the big fall. And a Funeral for Britain's oldest
:00:54. > :01:11.
:01:11. > :01:14.Good evening. East Midlands Today can reveal that more than 150
:01:14. > :01:19.former police officers are suing the Nottinghamshire force for
:01:19. > :01:23.unfair dismissal, claiming compensation after being forced to
:01:23. > :01:28.take early retirement. They say they are the victims of
:01:28. > :01:36.age discrimination, and several test cases are due to begin at at
:01:36. > :01:44.an employment tribunal next month. Jeremy Ball joins us now.
:01:44. > :01:48.What has prompted these cases? These officers all lost their jobs
:01:48. > :01:54.because Nottinghamshire Police had to make substantial savings, but
:01:54. > :02:01.officers cannot be made redundant, so that force is used to Regulation
:02:01. > :02:06.A19, which is a part but allows them to forcibly retired officers
:02:06. > :02:15.after completing 30 years' service. One of those was a former firearms
:02:15. > :02:20.officer called Greg Drozdowski. was almost like a slap in the face.
:02:20. > :02:25.My colleagues had all contributed to improving the performance of the
:02:25. > :02:31.force, and then you tell them that we are still going to improve
:02:31. > :02:36.performance, but not with all of you.
:02:37. > :02:45.As significant is the employment tribunal? This is going to be a
:02:45. > :02:50.very big case. 154 format officers are claiming unfair dismissal along
:02:50. > :02:54.with the more than 100 others from four different forces. These were
:02:54. > :02:59.Forces on good salaries, so compensation payments if they
:02:59. > :03:06.succeed, could run to millions of pounds. Some of them could get
:03:06. > :03:10.their jobs back. It boils down to age discrimination. The force is
:03:10. > :03:19.using this as a backdoor method of making officers redundant. We agree
:03:19. > :03:22.with the actual Regulation A19 itself, but it should be used on an
:03:22. > :03:27.individual case by case basis to get rid of people who are
:03:27. > :03:32.underperforming. The force is using it as a blanket method of balancing
:03:32. > :03:38.its budget sheet. Have we heard anything from Nottinghamshire
:03:38. > :03:44.Police? They have told me they will vigorously oppose this unfair
:03:44. > :03:48.dismissal case, and already forces across the country have stopped
:03:48. > :03:55.using Regulation A19 for the time being. This could only affect other
:03:55. > :04:00.forces like Leicestershire, where they are covered it considering
:04:00. > :04:04.early retirements. A court has ordered a psychiatric
:04:04. > :04:08.report on a great grandmother who relentlessly harassed and abused a
:04:08. > :04:15.young family at Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire.
:04:15. > :04:20.83-year-old before Watkins -- F- 4 Watkins was given a five-year
:04:20. > :04:23.restraining order. She was later found guilty of breaching the order.
:04:23. > :04:29.Today magistrates in Loughborough agreed that a report should be
:04:29. > :04:32.drawn up before she is sentenced. The pilot involved in last week's
:04:32. > :04:37.London helicopter crash had been warned about the bad weather before
:04:37. > :04:40.he started his flight. Peter Barnes, who flew with the Derbyshire,
:04:40. > :04:46.Leicestershire and Rutland Air Ambulance, died when his helicopter
:04:46. > :04:49.hit by a crane in the box Hall era of London. A report by the Air
:04:49. > :04:53.Accident Investigation Bureau reveals his client had told him
:04:53. > :04:58.twice not to fly because of the poor weather.
:04:58. > :05:03.Still to come, the funeral of a man who achieved much more than just a
:05:03. > :05:13.ripe old age. The many tributes to Derbyshire's
:05:13. > :05:18.
:05:18. > :05:22.Reg Dean, who died earlier this month aged 110.
:05:22. > :05:27.On the very day that prison inspectors told Glen Parva they
:05:27. > :05:32.were making good progress, an inquest has started into the death
:05:32. > :05:36.of an inmate who was fined fire -- hanged in his cell one day after
:05:36. > :05:39.his 21st birthday. There will be to walk
:05:39. > :05:45.investigations in the next two months.
:05:45. > :05:50.-- to more investigations. Riliwanu Balogan was found hanging
:05:50. > :05:56.from his cell window. He had to be cut down. Strenuous efforts were
:05:56. > :05:58.made to revive him, and he made -- spent eight days on the critical
:05:58. > :06:03.care unit at Leicester and Royal Infirmary.
:06:03. > :06:07.Here was brought over here from Nigeria when he was seven. He spent
:06:07. > :06:12.years in various foster homes and children's homes across the country.
:06:12. > :06:15.He suffered with mental illness, but was an illegal immigrant due to
:06:15. > :06:21.be deported back to Nigeria, and that was largely what was
:06:21. > :06:25.distressing him before he died. But, no's court heard about his
:06:25. > :06:33.criminal record. He was convicted of dangerous driving at the age of
:06:33. > :06:38.ten, and put on the sex offenders' register at the age of 13.
:06:38. > :06:43.Today's report into Glen Parva, which holds male prisoners aged 18
:06:43. > :06:47.to 21, follows a short inspection last summer after Riliwanu
:06:47. > :06:53.Balogan's death. It concludes that suicide and self-
:06:53. > :06:58.harm it now or generally well managed, but it now expresses
:06:58. > :07:02.concern that foreign national prisoners require further support
:07:02. > :07:10.from the UK border agency. The inquest into Riliwanu Balogan's
:07:10. > :07:14.death continues. The Prime Minister has fired the
:07:14. > :07:21.starting gun for a referendum on Europe, if the Conservatives win
:07:21. > :07:24.the next election we will get a vote been a round four years' time.
:07:24. > :07:29.Plenty of opportunity for both sides of the debate to have their
:07:29. > :07:39.say. A our Euro-MPs are split over how much this region benefits from
:07:39. > :07:45.
:07:45. > :07:50.EU membership. Just a short walk around the city
:07:50. > :07:58.centre, and you can see the impact of EU funding. The tram and
:07:58. > :08:02.regeneration, the Art Galleries, the cinema, and road improvements.
:08:03. > :08:06.Be clearly is in the flag. A conference in Nottingham brings
:08:06. > :08:13.together voluntary and business organisations wanting to tap into
:08:13. > :08:19.EU funding. For the East Midlands, that is worth �424 million for the
:08:19. > :08:24.economy. They are investing in creating a climate which allows for
:08:24. > :08:29.businesses to thrive, particularly in urban areas. Some of that money
:08:30. > :08:33.is focused on the city centres like Nottingham City, Derby, Leicester,
:08:33. > :08:37.and some of the deprived outlying areas.
:08:37. > :08:42.areas. In the current seven-year programme,
:08:42. > :08:48.17,000 businesses will get help from the Development Fund. 9,300
:08:48. > :08:53.have already benefit. That is on have already benefit. That is on
:08:53. > :08:59.course to create 11,000 jobs. It also looks at investing in farming
:08:59. > :09:05.and agriculture to improve resource efficiency, looking at how we can
:09:05. > :09:11.process primary products into maybe secondary higher-value products
:09:11. > :09:15.such as milk into cheese or grain products into pet food.
:09:15. > :09:21.Despite those benefits, the East Midlands is one of the inmost
:09:21. > :09:26.Eurosceptic of England's regions. That is reflected in the MEPs we
:09:26. > :09:32.elect to the parliament. Roger Helmer defected to Age UK up last
:09:32. > :09:36.year. When we Ziv, we will have a free
:09:36. > :09:40.trade agreement, but once we are outside the common external tariff
:09:40. > :09:45.we will be in a much better position to do more trade with the
:09:45. > :09:49.rest of the world. Here is a Lib Dem MEP who quit the Tories in
:09:49. > :09:54.protest against its hostility against Europe.
:09:54. > :10:00.The EU will let us import and export into and out of, which will
:10:00. > :10:04.create a lot of jobs, and we hope that big multinationals will say
:10:04. > :10:09.the East Midlands is the place to put my company.
:10:09. > :10:14.It's our membership of the EU was a marriage, we would be celebrating a
:10:14. > :10:24.ruby wedding. As things stand now, marriage counselling comes in the
:10:24. > :10:24.
:10:24. > :10:28.shape of a referendum. It is 40 years since the creation
:10:28. > :10:34.of the European Union. If you had the chance to vote,
:10:34. > :10:40.which we would you go? We asked some people in Derby. It feels like
:10:40. > :10:47.it is about right at the moment. We are not poled into everything, and
:10:47. > :10:54.we do get some say in things. have been in it too long. I think
:10:54. > :11:04.we would be better off standing on it our own two feet. Stay in Europe,
:11:04. > :11:04.
:11:04. > :11:09.they are our main trading partners. I would say come out just because
:11:09. > :11:14.of problems in other countries. I would say we are supporting them,
:11:14. > :11:18.when we have to take care of ourselves. It would save a lot of
:11:18. > :11:27.time and effort when we go on holiday, not having to swap our
:11:27. > :11:30.currency! I don't know! And Nottinghamshire MP has told the
:11:30. > :11:37.House of Commons he was once blacklisted and denied a job he
:11:37. > :11:43.wanted. John Mann made the claims during a claim on blacklisting, a
:11:43. > :11:50.practice which is illegal. Labour insists it is still going on. BMP
:11:50. > :11:55.says he suffered from it in the 1980s. -- the MP. I wanted to move
:11:55. > :12:01.back north, good money, and then a week later I get a phone call, a
:12:01. > :12:09.very embarrassed human resources person brings me up and says, you
:12:09. > :12:15.are on a blacklist. -- rings me up. It is our policy, there is nothing
:12:15. > :12:19.we can do it. You cannot have the job, the offer is withdrawn.
:12:19. > :12:26.The long and varied life of Britain's oldest man was celebrated
:12:26. > :12:30.today. At a packed funeral service in Wirksworth in Derbyshire.
:12:30. > :12:40.The Reverend Reg Dean died earlier this month at the astonishing age
:12:40. > :12:51.
:12:51. > :12:59.To the strains of his beloved male voice choir which he helped fat --
:12:59. > :13:04.to fund, Reg Dean was born into the church on the stroke of noon. He
:13:04. > :13:10.had become nationally known as Britain's old as man, still robust
:13:10. > :13:19.until over 109, but then becoming increasingly frail and finally
:13:19. > :13:28.succumbing 63 days after his 110 per birth date. 110 years, 63 days!
:13:28. > :13:33.63 days are important. Tributes to Reg poured out, from his church
:13:33. > :13:43.colleagues to his great friends, to his own son, a world-class
:13:43. > :13:43.
:13:43. > :13:49.trombonist. It was a splendid service. Reg
:13:49. > :13:54.would have loved it. He planned it himself for of five years ago, and
:13:54. > :14:04.it would have been exactly what he wanted. We have done him proud, I
:14:04. > :14:14.
:14:14. > :14:18.Wonderful celebration of a wonderful Life of. A question - did
:14:18. > :14:25.to know that the East Midlands pioneered Britain's or exploration
:14:25. > :14:34.programme not just onshore but offshore? We did not. In his second
:14:34. > :14:38.instalment of Historic Holmes, John is off in search of the black gold.
:14:38. > :14:46.Derbyshire can lay claim to the birth of the commercial world
:14:46. > :14:50.industry in Great Britain. In 1847, James Young heard that all was
:14:51. > :14:59.seeping in riddling stand. He patented his idea and made a
:14:59. > :15:09.fortune. Britain's first Orwell was discovered in 1919 in Derbyshire.
:15:09. > :15:11.
:15:11. > :15:15.But the results were disappointing and searches were moved east. Sadly
:15:15. > :15:19.we did not have the expertise so American oil men were drafted in
:15:19. > :15:26.and Duke's would be Korean became Churchill's secret weapon in our
:15:26. > :15:33.quest to defeat Germany. At its height there were 1,200 people
:15:33. > :15:39.employed. We used to bus them in in double-decker buses. We were wild
:15:39. > :15:45.captain. We would drill a well, capita and then move. By now we
:15:45. > :15:55.have the expertise and it was here that the first British all records
:15:55. > :16:01.
:16:01. > :16:05.constructed. Did it go down quickly? Role production continued
:16:05. > :16:15.on land and today as the UK struggles to find fuel, the East
:16:15. > :16:20.Midlands is still a valuable source of oil. It is worth about �64
:16:20. > :16:28.million a year. The us is all that is left of the original oil field.
:16:28. > :16:33.Half a mile away there is a modern installation. This and nodding
:16:33. > :16:37.donkey went into production for months ago. Seismic surveys tell us
:16:37. > :16:47.there are still millions of barrels of oil under ground here, we just
:16:47. > :16:48.
:16:48. > :16:57.have to find them. We like the nodding donkey! Still
:16:57. > :17:02.to come: why measuring snow it is such a weighty matter for the
:17:02. > :17:07.Environment Agency. The if you are feeling chilly, I have something
:17:07. > :17:16.that will warm you up, these silk and cashmere long johns back cost
:17:16. > :17:26.�400 a pair. Too expensive and too nice to wear
:17:26. > :17:26.
:17:26. > :17:31.under cloaks! I have been known to wear them to the football. We start
:17:31. > :17:37.with some breaking news. Nottingham Forest keeper Lee cabbie's to join
:17:37. > :17:42.Norwich. He played 180 games for Forest but was told by Alex McLeish
:17:42. > :17:50.that he was not wanted. Meanwhile, the club are none in up a number of
:17:50. > :18:00.tied its before the task it window ends. Among them is Darius
:18:00. > :18:01.
:18:01. > :18:04.Henderson. Meanwhile, Derby County manager at
:18:04. > :18:10.Nigel Clough says clubs are looking at his players but does he think
:18:10. > :18:15.any will be leaving all coming in? I think that is a possibility but
:18:15. > :18:21.it will depend on the Alps. Whether some of our players, we will look
:18:21. > :18:26.to bring some in. Staying in the championship and Leicester City are
:18:26. > :18:29.offering fans cut-price tickets to next Thursday his game with Wolves.
:18:29. > :18:36.The club was criticised after it refused to refund fans who fail to
:18:36. > :18:39.make last night's game to Middlesbrough because of the snow.
:18:39. > :18:44.Notts County had their first win in eight games last night but their
:18:44. > :18:49.victory over Oldham was watched by their lowest crowd of the season
:18:49. > :18:53.and owner Ray Trew is warning he is not prepared to invest more money
:18:53. > :18:58.if the clubs' attendances keep declining.
:18:58. > :19:01.Given the weather, it was a wonder the game was on. County hoped they
:19:01. > :19:06.might be rewarded with a decent crowd. But this cold night was
:19:06. > :19:10.another which failed to deliver. Running this club is not cheap and
:19:10. > :19:14.the amount of income that they are receiving is not as great as they
:19:14. > :19:19.had anticipated and that is why they are losing money and it is why
:19:19. > :19:25.they have admitted to having a cashflow problem. How severe that
:19:25. > :19:29.he is is one of the unanswered questions. Crowds are down by about
:19:29. > :19:35.1,000 a match. There were just 3,400 last night so ticket receipts
:19:35. > :19:41.have been hit. Over the course of bases and it is easy to see how the
:19:41. > :19:46.chairman's losses are mounting up. We have not been a very well
:19:46. > :19:51.supported side. He knew what he was taking on. Understand why people
:19:51. > :19:55.are not coming down. More than anything, a winning team attracts
:19:55. > :20:01.support and County finally did that last night. They also played
:20:01. > :20:06.attractive football, especially in the first half. The goal finally
:20:06. > :20:10.came from Enoch Shawnee, his first for the club. County needed to
:20:10. > :20:14.defend more in the second half and came close to conceding an
:20:14. > :20:21.equaliser. But they held on to have secured a much-needed win. Notts
:20:21. > :20:26.County's win -- manager -- owner this last night's win but he hopes
:20:26. > :20:29.the crowds will return. Rugby the Leicester Tigers say they
:20:30. > :20:35.have lost the battle to keep outstanding teenage fly-half George
:20:35. > :20:38.Ford. The club says he has decided to move to Bath where his father is
:20:38. > :20:42.deputy coach. In cricket, Nottinghamshire have
:20:42. > :20:48.seen a drop in profits. This time last year they had a record surplus
:20:48. > :20:53.of over half a million pounds but that is down by under 20,000. The
:20:53. > :20:57.club says it is facing significant challenges and Nottingham speed
:20:57. > :21:02.skater in least Christie is on her way back with two European gold
:21:02. > :21:06.medals. Elise made history by winning two gold medals at the
:21:06. > :21:10.European Championships in Sweden. She is hoping to become the first
:21:10. > :21:15.of a Briton to win an Olympic gold when the Games are held in Russia
:21:15. > :21:21.next winter. We think she will do it because we are great at speed
:21:21. > :21:25.skating in Nottingham. Two a firm that has been supplying
:21:25. > :21:29.royalty with high and knitwear for generations. The John Smedley in
:21:29. > :21:35.Derbyshire has now been given the official seal of approval with a
:21:35. > :21:40.Royal warrant. Although well known for luxury sweaters, there are also
:21:40. > :21:44.famous for the Long John. Just the line of business to be in in this
:21:44. > :21:48.cold weather. They had been made on these
:21:48. > :21:53.machines since the 1960s but the heritage of long johns and John
:21:53. > :22:02.Smedley goes back much further. East is a very old pair of long
:22:02. > :22:07.johns. It is one of our oldest pairs. It is from 1847 and it is
:22:07. > :22:10.the traditional way that we used to knit our long johns. There are
:22:10. > :22:15.several people who can claim the origins but the association with
:22:15. > :22:20.our name goes back so far that we have a right to be synonymous with
:22:20. > :22:27.long-johns. This man might know them better than most. He makes
:22:27. > :22:32.them. I have been working here for 40 years. When I started in of the
:22:32. > :22:39.1970s we made a lot more underwear. We are starting to get backing to
:22:39. > :22:43.the market. Their biggest sales are in China and Russia. Two very cold
:22:43. > :22:48.countries when it comes to the winter and it seems that culturally
:22:48. > :22:52.people there by long-johns to wear all the time, so they are looking
:22:52. > :22:58.for more basic versions of long johns but there is a market there
:22:58. > :23:02.for the high end. For the new styles are aimed at a younger
:23:02. > :23:08.customer, incorporate colour and bring back some of the heritage
:23:08. > :23:12.look of the brand. These are the Marino long-johns and they cost
:23:12. > :23:20.�100 but if you want the ultimate in luxury, how about these? They
:23:20. > :23:25.are made from silk and cashmere and will set you back �400 a pair. Even
:23:25. > :23:28.with that price tag, the orders still come in. They expect these
:23:28. > :23:36.machines to be turning out thousands of long johns for years
:23:36. > :23:44.to come. I am sure all of long johns are
:23:44. > :23:49.used to be grey in colour. They are beautiful. It is whether time with
:23:49. > :23:53.Rebecca but before that, some interesting information.
:23:53. > :23:57.Believe it or not the Environment Agency are monitoring the weight of
:23:57. > :24:02.the region's snow. They use this to work out how much water the snow
:24:02. > :24:06.will create when it melts, which is used to predict the likelihood of
:24:07. > :24:12.flooding. They also take account the temperature and amount of
:24:12. > :24:17.sunshine to work out the rate of melting. Normally when it rains we
:24:17. > :24:21.have rain gauges that measured the rain fall but when it snows the
:24:21. > :24:26.snow gets stored on the ground and so we need to know when it melts,
:24:26. > :24:31.how much the water equivalent is so we know how much water is finding
:24:31. > :24:37.its way into the rivers. That got us thinking of - how much water
:24:37. > :24:41.will be produced when all of that snow starts to melt? Respect to the
:24:41. > :24:47.Met Office who told us that roughly the East Midlands has been covered
:24:47. > :24:52.by about six centimetres of snow, but how much water is that? We
:24:52. > :24:58.thought we would have a bit of fun and convert that. Six centimetres
:24:58. > :25:04.of snow covering the hold region will put 69 million litres of water
:25:04. > :25:09.into aware region's rivers and streams when it melts, enough to
:25:09. > :25:15.fill 3,500 empty petrol tankers which it parked end to and will
:25:15. > :25:22.stretch all the way from the Derby to Leicester. It does give you an
:25:22. > :25:26.idea that the next problem heading our way could be flooding. Now the
:25:27. > :25:29.forecast. Tonight it will stay forecast. Tonight it will stay
:25:29. > :25:35.mainly dry. It will be quite cold as well, a little bit of light snow
:25:35. > :25:44.in places and staying very cloudy. This picture from Keith taken in
:25:44. > :25:49.the Peak District. To keep those pictures coming into us. Talking of
:25:49. > :25:56.ice, we do have a warning in place tonight. That is right across the
:25:56. > :26:01.region. Do take care if you are out and about. Tonight, you can see it
:26:01. > :26:07.stays mainly cloudy. A little bit of light snow under all that cloud,
:26:07. > :26:14.feeling cold with a low of minus 5 degrees. Tomorrow and this days
:26:14. > :26:18.quite cold but the good news is it looks very settled. A few bursts of
:26:18. > :26:24.sunshine and the higher of two degrees. Friday, some rain coming
:26:24. > :26:32.in, an early warning for that. A little bit of a break and then on