:00:14. > :00:17.And now the news for the East Midlands, I'm Anne Davies.
:00:18. > :00:20.First tonight, one of our region's hospitals has announced it's
:00:21. > :00:22.under such severe strain, it's raised its status
:00:23. > :00:25.to the highest level by declaring "a critical situation".
:00:26. > :00:29.It's a rare move by senior managers at the Leicester Royal Infirmary
:00:30. > :00:32.but shows how much pressure its services are facing.
:00:33. > :00:38.Only yesterday, we reported how the Red Cross had to be called
:00:39. > :00:40.in to help our emergency services cope over the New Year.
:00:41. > :00:52.It's been an incredibly busy day here at the Leicester Royal
:00:53. > :00:57.Infirmary. Extra nurses and doctors have been drafted in to cope with
:00:58. > :01:00.the demand. One of the patients is Elaine Paige's 89-year-old father
:01:01. > :01:07.who spent hours waiting on a trolley to be admitted to a ward. She
:01:08. > :01:12.described the situation. It was so busy, rushed off their feet. There
:01:13. > :01:17.have been times where they've been queueing up and waiting in the
:01:18. > :01:22.corridor. It has been hectic, in and out, all the time. They are just
:01:23. > :01:23.waiting all the time, the doctors. You can't fault the stuff. They are
:01:24. > :01:30.brilliant. It's the second time in brilliant. It's the second time in
:01:31. > :01:34.six months this hospital has reached a critical situation. Nonemergency
:01:35. > :01:36.operations have been cancelled as the Leicester Royal Infirmary deals
:01:37. > :01:42.with increased pressure on its services. It's often very busy after
:01:43. > :01:49.Christmas and New Year. A second issue is the change in temperature.
:01:50. > :01:53.More patients than expected are looking for emergency services.
:01:54. > :01:56.We've had e-mails saying that it is down to cutbacks and poor services.
:01:57. > :02:00.I think we have very good plans in I think we have very good plans in
:02:01. > :02:02.place across our health system that have been working well this winter.
:02:03. > :02:05.The problem we have experienced the The problem we have experienced the
:02:06. > :02:11.past 48 hours is a surge in demand and we are responding in an
:02:12. > :02:15.appropriate manner. Tonight, hospital and ambulance staff across
:02:16. > :02:19.our region face another busy start -- busy shift. The managers here at
:02:20. > :02:23.Leicester Royal Infirmary say they hope to be on top of the situation
:02:24. > :02:27.by tomorrow but the advice tonight is to use emergency services
:02:28. > :02:29.appropriately and only come to accident and emergency with serious
:02:30. > :02:33.or life-threatening conditions. A man's appeared before
:02:34. > :02:35.magistrates in Derby, charged with attempting
:02:36. > :02:37.to murder his wife. Paul Sherratt, who's 56,
:02:38. > :02:39.has been remanded in custody - after his partner was found
:02:40. > :02:41.with a serious head injury at their home
:02:42. > :02:44.on Avondale Road in Spondon. He will appear before
:02:45. > :02:46.Nottingham Crown Court next month. His wife, who is 59,
:02:47. > :02:52.is still in a serious condition. Police have released CCTV footage
:02:53. > :02:54.of a man they want to speak to in connection with a series
:02:55. > :02:59.of sexual assaults in Derby. The first incident took place
:03:00. > :03:02.on December 21st last year and officers say they have grown
:03:03. > :03:05.in frequency over the past week. A further six were reported
:03:06. > :03:10.on January 6th alone. All the incidents involve
:03:11. > :03:13.the offender touching a woman The front of a village post office
:03:14. > :03:21.in Leicestershire has been demolished after thieves rammed
:03:22. > :03:23.the building with a construction vehicle and stole a cash
:03:24. > :03:28.machine containing around They left a scene of devastation
:03:29. > :03:46.in Rothley as Amy Harris reports. The aftermath of a smash and grab in
:03:47. > :03:52.a quiet Leicestershire village. Just after 3:30am, this runway did this
:03:53. > :03:57.golden trigger -- this stolen digger into Rothley post office, removing
:03:58. > :04:05.the cash machine and the entire front. I heard a big noise, so we
:04:06. > :04:10.looked through the window and saw a tractor trying to hit a building.
:04:11. > :04:16.It's horrendous. I've never seen anything like it. You don't expect
:04:17. > :04:21.it in a quiet, rural village, even though we are a busy place. It's
:04:22. > :04:28.quite alarming. The thieves fled from the scene with about ?30,000 in
:04:29. > :04:32.a white pick-up truck, later found burned in a field in Melton. Though
:04:33. > :04:35.this kind of raids are becoming more common, Leicestershire police think
:04:36. > :04:39.this is a one-off. We have not linked this to any particular spade
:04:40. > :04:42.or series at this time. The method in this case was messy. The
:04:43. > :04:57.occupants and staff were not in the building at the time, the
:04:58. > :04:59.post office was closed, but this method has caused significant damage
:05:00. > :05:02.to neighbours as well. The post to neighbours as well. The post
:05:03. > :05:06.office has been at the heart of this community for more than 30 years but
:05:07. > :05:11.coincidentally, this attack comes days before the post office
:05:12. > :05:15.relocates to a new building. The post office was due to close for
:05:16. > :05:21.good on Saturday despite a campaign by locals. The owner didn't want to
:05:22. > :05:26.talk on camera but told me, quite simply, he is devastated. As the
:05:27. > :05:28.clear up continues, so do police investigations. Anyone with
:05:29. > :05:32.information is asked to contact them.
:05:33. > :05:34.Almost 500 parents have signed a petition opposing
:05:35. > :05:36.changes to the uniform at a Nottingham secondary school.
:05:37. > :05:38.Redhill Academy in Arnold is introducing new skirts
:05:39. > :05:41.They're branded with the school's logo and will only be available
:05:42. > :05:46.The school says the changes are to improve consistency among students.
:05:47. > :05:47.But, starting at around ?16, many parents say
:05:48. > :06:00.That's more than double what we are currently paying for one pair. You
:06:01. > :06:04.don't buy just one pair of school trousers. You always have two or
:06:05. > :06:10.three pairs in case of doubt, damage etc. It is going to cost a fortune
:06:11. > :06:13.have just been told that from have just been told that from
:06:14. > :06:16.September, they have got to wear these trousers.
:06:17. > :06:18.There are fears of increased fly-tipping in Derbyshire
:06:19. > :06:20.after the Council approved plans to charge for taking building
:06:21. > :06:22.waste to the authority's recycling centres.
:06:23. > :06:24.People will have to pay ?3 for each 25 kilogram bag.
:06:25. > :06:36.Christmas is well and truly over and some feel that Derbyshire County
:06:37. > :06:41.Council is acting rather like Scrooge when it comes to recycling.
:06:42. > :06:44.At the moment, there is no charge for bringing building rubble to this
:06:45. > :06:51.recycling centre but all of that is set to change. This morning, the
:06:52. > :06:57.council approved a ?3 charge for every 25 kilograms bag taken to its
:06:58. > :07:03.nine recycling centres. That includes bricks, rubble, soil and
:07:04. > :07:07.ceramics. As you can imagine, people here were not happy about paying for
:07:08. > :07:12.something that has been free until now. That's a bit expensive, really.
:07:13. > :07:18.You may as well get a skip. I think that's excessive. I live on a lane
:07:19. > :07:23.and debate has already been fly-tipping. This will create more.
:07:24. > :07:24.The authority says it will help to protect front line services which
:07:25. > :07:30.are under threat because of cutbacks are under threat because of cutbacks
:07:31. > :07:33.by the government. It is not that we want to introduce it. We are
:07:34. > :07:39.protecting front-line services which we offer and if we didn't introduce
:07:40. > :07:44.the charge, we would have to stop collecting it. Concerns have been
:07:45. > :07:48.raised that it will mean more fly-tipping as people try to avoid
:07:49. > :07:51.the charge. I think it will lead to an increase in fly-tipping across
:07:52. > :07:57.the county which is of a concern to everybody. We have looked at other
:07:58. > :08:00.authorities that have introduced these charges previously and the
:08:01. > :08:04.evidence they gave us is that their fly-tipping has not increased in
:08:05. > :08:09.their counties. I cannot stand here and say that it will not increase.
:08:10. > :08:13.We can't look into the future. The charges will be introduced in April.
:08:14. > :08:15.Leicester's Clare Hollingworth, who broke the news that
:08:16. > :08:18.World War II had started, has died aged 105.
:08:19. > :08:20.After growing up on a farm in Loughborough, she became a war
:08:21. > :08:28.correspondent and went on to report on conflicts across the world.
:08:29. > :08:29.Tourism in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire
:08:30. > :08:31.is to get a ?150,000 investment.
:08:32. > :08:34.The money is for the development of more Grand Tour projects to help
:08:35. > :08:38.people discover hidden cultural treasures alongside
:08:39. > :08:42.The Arts Council says they hope it will encourage more
:08:43. > :08:50.Finally, for almost half a century, its been a centre
:08:51. > :08:53.But now a family business in Nottingham's hanging
:08:54. > :08:57.Despite popularity growing again in fancy dress,
:08:58. > :09:00.the Golden Cage on Canning Circus says it can't compete with more
:09:01. > :09:03.modern ways of selling it - either online or in supermarkets.
:09:04. > :09:06.It means it has to clear thousands of original and unusual
:09:07. > :09:26.There are a lot of things here that really are collectors items. So, I
:09:27. > :09:30.hope I sell a lot of them. I will be sad to see it go but I hope it will
:09:31. > :09:33.go to good families and people will continue to get the enjoyment out of
:09:34. > :09:38.the costumes that we have. That's the whole enjoyment of costume, it
:09:39. > :09:44.is fun, isn't it? It sure is. Now for the weather. It has been quite a
:09:45. > :09:49.quiet day weather-wise in what is going to be quite a busy week
:09:50. > :09:53.weather-wise. Today has been quite dry, a lot of cloud out and about.
:09:54. > :09:57.Thank you for this picture this afternoon. Things will start to get
:09:58. > :10:04.a little bit more tricky, especially with the strength of the wind. Then
:10:05. > :10:11.it will start to get colder as well. Overnight tonight, temperatures
:10:12. > :10:15.aren't going to increase, but as this front moves across, the colder
:10:16. > :10:19.air starts to filter in. Strong winds in the early hours of the
:10:20. > :10:23.morning and because of that, we have a yellow warning in force from the
:10:24. > :10:27.Met office for Nottinghamshire. We are talking about winds of around
:10:28. > :10:32.about 60 or 70 mph for the early hours of the morning. Strong winds,
:10:33. > :10:37.outbreaks of free as well and noticed there's temperatures, they
:10:38. > :10:41.are rising in the early hours. Milder at first, very windy, one or
:10:42. > :10:45.two showers out and about. Brightening up with its boughs of
:10:46. > :10:50.sunshine. Many of us will stay dry into the afternoon. Although those
:10:51. > :10:54.strong gusts may easily little, it will still be an exceptionally windy
:10:55. > :10:58.afternoon and much colder by the end of the day. Temperatures are about 6
:10:59. > :11:02.degrees and then we are looking out for this on Thursday. The risk of
:11:03. > :11:02.some rain but at the minute a glimpse
:11:03. > :11:06.of the week, and to start the weekend as well. For more on that
:11:07. > :11:07.snow situation, over to Jay