12/04/2012

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:00:09. > :00:13.I felt that I had to do something to make things better for other

:00:13. > :00:23.people and for some kind of sense or purpose to come out of Olivia's

:00:23. > :00:23.

:00:23. > :00:27.death. In the programme tonight, fighting to improve our level

:00:27. > :00:31.crossings. The mother who does not want her daughter's death to be in

:00:31. > :00:35.vain. Also tonight, should patients be

:00:35. > :00:38.sent home in the middle of the night? Milton Keynes Hospital in

:00:38. > :00:46.the spotlight. A lucky escape as a mudslide causes

:00:46. > :00:53.this wall to collapse. And the best of Brazil at a Lincoln

:00:54. > :00:57.training cat in Lincolnshire. -- a Lincoln training camp.

:00:57. > :01:01.First tonight, "I will fight for change so others do not suffer like

:01:01. > :01:05.us". The words of Tina Hughes, who lost her daughter when she was hit

:01:05. > :01:09.by a train in Essex. Tina Hughes is now working with Network Rail to

:01:09. > :01:11.improve safety at level crossings. Olivia Bazlinton and her friend

:01:11. > :01:17.Charlotte Thompson were killed crossing the line at Elsenham

:01:17. > :01:23.station six years ago. Last month Network Rail was fined �1 million

:01:23. > :01:25.after admitting it had breached health and safety regulations. The

:01:25. > :01:35.company is now spending �130 million assessing and improving

:01:35. > :01:39.hundreds of crossings across the UK with Tina's help.

:01:40. > :01:44.Level crossings are the biggest risk on the railway. There oz six

:01:44. > :01:50.deaths and almost 300 near-misses between pedestrians and trains last

:01:50. > :01:58.year. This man loses his shoe and narrowly escapes losing his life.

:01:58. > :02:03.And as near misses go, this is as close as it gets. More than six

:02:03. > :02:08.years after losing her daughter, Olivia, on the crossing here, Tina

:02:08. > :02:13.Hughes, a project manager with an engineering company, is now working

:02:13. > :02:17.with Network Rail to make crossings savour. I felt I had to do

:02:17. > :02:23.something to make things better for other people. And to give some

:02:23. > :02:29.sense of reason of purpose for Bolivia's death. But whilst she was

:02:29. > :02:33.examining plans for this footbridge, this is what happened. While we

:02:33. > :02:40.have been here, several have gone through while the barriers of going

:02:40. > :02:46.down. It makes my stomach turnover. At this Centre in Colchester, Tina

:02:46. > :02:50.is meeting Martin Gallagher, the head of Network Rail's Department

:02:50. > :02:56.for crossings. Level-crossing safety has become a key priority

:02:56. > :03:01.for Network Rail. �130 million will be spent over the next two years.

:03:02. > :03:08.Hundreds of crossings will be cruising -- closing and many

:03:08. > :03:12.footbridges are being built. She is helping to check decisions we are

:03:12. > :03:18.making, things we do. Tina is a professional herself and has

:03:19. > :03:23.managed project herself. She understand risk. So she can head up

:03:23. > :03:28.the team we have got with this big and exciting challenge. A damning

:03:28. > :03:32.assessment carried out four years ago said there was a real risk of

:03:32. > :03:37.disaster. There is now a pedestrian footbridge and gates locked

:03:37. > :03:40.automatically when a train is coming. Tina Hughes also proved

:03:40. > :03:46.that Network Rail has changed as well.

:03:46. > :03:51.Tina Hughes is at her home in Elsenham and joins me now. Can you

:03:51. > :03:55.tell us more about what your role wind with Network Rail, because as

:03:55. > :04:02.we heard, you come from a civil engineering background and

:04:02. > :04:05.management so you can bring a lot to the table? Yes. I guess I can.

:04:05. > :04:10.The reason I got involved was because as the accident reports

:04:10. > :04:14.were coming out in the first year, I started to become more and more

:04:14. > :04:20.concerned about what her was seen in terms of risk assessment. So for

:04:20. > :04:24.a period I learned a lot about managing risk at level-crossing. I

:04:24. > :04:29.manage risk in projects normally but nothing as serious as the

:04:29. > :04:35.interface between a train and a person. That is obviously much more

:04:35. > :04:40.critical. Martin Gallagher refers to you as the conscience of Network

:04:40. > :04:45.Rail. Is that something you would like to be seen as? I am not sure I

:04:45. > :04:49.am their conscience. I am probably more like a pricked to their

:04:49. > :04:54.conscience. Certainly in the last year, since the investigation has

:04:54. > :05:04.been going on, there has been much more acceptance about what has got

:05:04. > :05:08.

:05:08. > :05:13.to change in Network Rail. Martin has a good history and heritage

:05:13. > :05:17.from the Olympic delivery for the Olympic Park so he wants to bring

:05:17. > :05:25.that safety culture into Network Rail. How bars are divided about

:05:25. > :05:35.the work being done? Because you said you had spent so long

:05:35. > :05:40.

:05:40. > :05:44.attacking Network Rail that it was time for some good news? soon after

:05:44. > :05:49.Olivia's death, about nine months later, the school started going

:05:49. > :05:53.back after the summer holiday and nothing had changed at Elsenham.

:05:53. > :05:57.So I became involved with the community safety team. It built up

:05:57. > :06:00.from there. Thank you. Now more on that story about

:06:00. > :06:03.hospitals sending patients home in the middle of the night. Of all the

:06:03. > :06:07.hospitals involved, Milton Keynes is in the top six. It's claimed

:06:07. > :06:11.that more than 6% of their patients are sent home between 11pm and 6am.

:06:11. > :06:19.The hospital says figures are misleading. Earlier I spoke to

:06:19. > :06:24.their medical director, Martin Wetherill. They believe the figure

:06:24. > :06:30.should be more like 2%. I started asking him why for two figures are

:06:30. > :06:35.so different. If you take the patients who come into our A&E

:06:35. > :06:40.department, it probably is 6% but they are not admitted patients.

:06:40. > :06:44.They are those who come here who go to the assessment unit, waiting for

:06:45. > :06:50.the results of tests or awaiting observations. So they are not

:06:50. > :06:55.really admitted patients. If you look at those from our in-patient

:06:55. > :07:00.beds, those are the people that we think are 2% and, as I have said,

:07:00. > :07:07.the majority are patients who are mostly young people who want to

:07:07. > :07:13.leave hospital after a period of time, for example, after a general

:07:13. > :07:18.anaesthetic. So no elderly patients are asked to leave hospital during

:07:18. > :07:22.the middle of the night? To my knowledge, nobody has been asked to

:07:22. > :07:28.leave in the middle of the night. So it is not because of a shortage

:07:28. > :07:31.of beds? No, that is not the case. It is really important for

:07:31. > :07:36.patients' safety, for people to understand that no patient will be

:07:36. > :07:42.pushed out, as has been implied, pushed out of hospital for the sake

:07:42. > :07:48.of creating a bed at 2am. That is not the case. The vast majority

:07:48. > :07:55.leaving a hospital are doing voluntarily -- are doing so. It

:07:55. > :07:58.would be expected they would leave in any event. We have heard stories

:07:58. > :08:02.of an elderly people being forced to get a taxi home in the middle of

:08:02. > :08:06.the night from other hospitals and stopping at a cash machine to get

:08:06. > :08:10.money for the taxi. You can assure us that nothing like that would

:08:10. > :08:17.happen at your hospital? I would be appalled if it did. I would love to

:08:17. > :08:21.give you a categorical "no" that it had not happened here and I have

:08:21. > :08:24.been assured by my clinical colleagues that it has not, but

:08:24. > :08:29.without analysing every single discharge I cannot give you that

:08:29. > :08:33.assurance. What we can tell you is that from time to time, we do stop

:08:33. > :08:37.patients from going home because we do not feel it is safe and we do

:08:37. > :08:40.not feel they have the facilities appropriate at home for discharge

:08:40. > :08:44.late in the evening. Thank you very much for being with us.

:08:44. > :08:48.Later in the programme, the Polish newspaper making headlines.

:08:48. > :08:57.And Mike Liggins on the trail of an old track in the Suffolk town of

:08:57. > :09:02.Leiston. We are in the middle of Leiston and once upon a time, this

:09:02. > :09:07.used to be a railway line. If enthusiasts get their way, it will

:09:07. > :09:17.be a railway line again one day. That story after more news from

:09:17. > :09:20.The funeral of Tony Newton, who was MP for Braintree for more than 20

:09:20. > :09:24.years, was held at Coggeshall in Essex today. 650 mourners packed

:09:24. > :09:33.the village church. They included former Prime Minister John Major

:09:33. > :09:38.and Cabinet ministers past and present.

:09:38. > :09:43.John Major arriving at the parish church with bodyguards in tow. The

:09:43. > :09:48.presence of a former Prime Minister underlined the importance of Tony

:09:48. > :09:54.Newton's contribution to politics. Many came to give thanks for the

:09:54. > :09:57.work Tony Newton did for local charities and organisations.

:09:57. > :10:06.think this service will bring together a huge amount of respect

:10:06. > :10:10.for Tony from both national public and community local life. He has

:10:11. > :10:15.made a huge contribution in a number of ways. He was the MP for

:10:15. > :10:21.Braintree for 20 years and a minister in the governments for

:10:21. > :10:26.Margaret Thatcher and John Major. He was also a leader in the Commons.

:10:26. > :10:30.More than 600 filled the church. Others listen to the service

:10:30. > :10:34.outside on loudspeakers, and as mourners left the church, John

:10:35. > :10:39.Major paid this tribute to an old friend. I don't think there's

:10:39. > :10:43.anywhere else I would have wished to be today and many others in the

:10:43. > :10:48.church. Tony was a very special person so were very much wish to be

:10:48. > :10:52.there. And how will you remember him? With very great affection. We

:10:52. > :10:56.worked together for a long time and we had a lot of fun together.

:10:56. > :11:00.People forget that. In politics, you form a very close alliances

:11:00. > :11:05.with people. We work together across departments and I have so

:11:05. > :11:12.many memories of working with him. He was loved and respected on all

:11:12. > :11:18.sides of both Houses of Parliament. He dedicated his life to public

:11:18. > :11:21.service. A Life described today as so well and fully lived.

:11:21. > :11:25.The police say they are becoming increasingly concerned about a man

:11:25. > :11:29.who went missing after a stag night. Sam Watson was out with friends in

:11:29. > :11:38.Great Yarmouth on Sunday night but they split up in the early hours of

:11:38. > :11:43.the morning. As I said, we are really not clear where Sam is or

:11:43. > :11:47.his vehicle. We have searched in the Great Yarmouth area, which is

:11:47. > :11:52.where we believe he possibly could still be, but at the moment we are

:11:52. > :11:55.unable to locate him or his vehicle. A 12-year-old boy has had a lucky

:11:55. > :11:58.escape after a mudslide and a wall collapsed in Gorleston near Great

:11:58. > :12:01.Yarmouth. Rhys Chaplin was on a flight of steps just moments before

:12:01. > :12:07.they were covered with a torrent of mud and sludge. An investigation is

:12:07. > :12:13.now underway. It was just after a short

:12:13. > :12:19.thunderstorm that the wall of this series of steps collapsed, creating

:12:19. > :12:25.a mudslide in the road. Rees was on his way to his grandmother's house.

:12:25. > :12:30.He had got to the top of the steps when it happened. The rain was

:12:30. > :12:36.mixing with the mud. It came down and flooded the road so I went up

:12:36. > :12:40.and then I heard cracking. So I ran up and then I got across the road

:12:40. > :12:45.and it collapsed. He went and it must have been 10 seconds or stop

:12:45. > :12:50.he spun around on the spot to see it happening. He was pretty close.

:12:50. > :12:53.I would never have wanted to be that close! His mother knew he had

:12:53. > :12:57.seen the mudslide but had not realised until this morning just

:12:58. > :13:01.how close he had been. It could have been very different.

:13:01. > :13:09.Especially with the height of the wall with the concrete and how

:13:09. > :13:15.thicket was as well. But... No, mud everywhere. He was the last one up.

:13:15. > :13:19.We heard it. It was like thunder yesterday. It thundered down and I

:13:19. > :13:24.did not realise it was him. So scary. Many who live here spend

:13:24. > :13:27.hours cleaning the mud off of the road. The council says the house is

:13:27. > :13:31.structurally sound but it is liaising with the developer to

:13:31. > :13:34.clear the steps and repair the damage as soon as possible.

:13:34. > :13:38.An elderly woman seriously burned in a gas explosion in Clacton has

:13:38. > :13:43.died in hospital. Five others were hurt in the blast which destroyed a

:13:43. > :13:52.three-storey building a week and a half ago. The woman died at the

:13:52. > :13:54.specialist burns unit at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford.

:13:54. > :13:57.While most regional newspapers across the country are having a

:13:57. > :14:00.tough time, news tonight of one that is planning expand to meet

:14:00. > :14:05.increasing demand. It's published in Peterborough and carries stories

:14:05. > :14:10.from across the region and is written in Polish.

:14:10. > :14:15.The latest edition of this paper after a multi-million pound

:14:15. > :14:20.Cambridge printing press. It gets up to 10,000 readers a month. At a

:14:20. > :14:24.cost of 30p, it is the only paid for Polish title in the country.

:14:24. > :14:30.The editors said starting it here was easier than in his native

:14:31. > :14:36.Poland. There is so much competition. Every city, every town

:14:36. > :14:42.has its local newspaper. So to open a newspaper is quite expensive in

:14:42. > :14:47.Poland. Really expensive. Figures suggest there are 25,000 Polish

:14:47. > :14:57.people living in Peterborough alone. Mike Webb created Peter. He says

:14:57. > :15:01.

:15:01. > :15:06.the paper tells of life here, unlike internet sites. -- like

:15:06. > :15:14.website creator Peter. It is much easier here and who doesn't speak

:15:14. > :15:18.English? You can read it in Polish! Contracts like this are helping an

:15:18. > :15:22.ever-shrinking industry. More and more people are coming to worse for

:15:22. > :15:29.bespoke printing like this. So we are creating Arabic titles,

:15:29. > :15:34.Filipino titles. All sorts. We pretty much do everything from he -

:15:34. > :15:44.- 300 copies to 200,000. The plan now is to set up more regional

:15:44. > :15:48.

:15:48. > :15:53.titles as more people choose to It looks like banks could be

:15:53. > :15:56.trouble again. A number of small businesses in the region say

:15:56. > :15:59.they're struggling to stay afloat after being sold complex financial

:15:59. > :16:02.deals. They were meant to protect them from rising interest rates but

:16:02. > :16:05.with rates at a historic low, many firms are paying through the nose.

:16:05. > :16:08.Lots of us are feeling the benefits of low interest rates up hundreds

:16:08. > :16:12.of small companies say they are stuck in high-cost agreements and

:16:12. > :16:17.are struggling to survive. Colin Aldous runs a hotel and golf

:16:17. > :16:21.course in Suffolk. Six years ago, he doubled the size of Ufford Park

:16:21. > :16:27.with a �5 million loan. But in doing so, he made what he describes

:16:27. > :16:32.the worst decision of his life. He took out interest rates with his

:16:32. > :16:38.bank in a product made to protect him from future rises. When the

:16:38. > :16:46.rates dropped, Colin was stuck, paying a rate of 8%. Up until now,

:16:46. > :16:50.we have paid out �620,000. It has been about 15,000 a month. What

:16:50. > :16:54.sort of strain has that put on the Business? It has been very

:16:54. > :17:02.challenging. We have not been able to pay out increases in wages and

:17:02. > :17:06.have had to be very careful to survive this time. Colin has

:17:06. > :17:10.protected his 150 staff from the full impact of the crisis by not

:17:10. > :17:16.giving them pay increases. And he will have to forgo these for the

:17:16. > :17:20.next six years. So many jobs are attached to it. We're desperate. We

:17:20. > :17:25.would not want to lose the staff or the building so we are doing

:17:25. > :17:28.whatever we have to to see us through this difficult time. Up to

:17:28. > :17:33.2000 firms are thought to have bought this sort of agreement in

:17:33. > :17:39.this region. Some are understood what they were getting into. Others

:17:39. > :17:44.didn't and say they were mis-sold products by their banks. This

:17:44. > :17:50.electric retailer is paying 9% interest on a commercial loan of

:17:50. > :17:54.�900,000 from Barclays. I would not have believed that a bank that has

:17:54. > :17:59.supported our business for the last 100 years could potentially ever

:17:59. > :18:03.dream of selling us a product that has done such irreparable damage to

:18:03. > :18:08.our business. Barclays Bank says it gave customers enough information

:18:08. > :18:12.to make their own decisions about which product to choose. But at

:18:12. > :18:19.Ufford Park, Colin is in talks with his bank, which he declined to name

:18:19. > :18:25.in hope of finding a compromise. And if your business has been

:18:25. > :18:29.affected by those sorts of deals, we would love to hear from you. The

:18:29. > :18:33.details are below. Over the next few months a number

:18:33. > :18:36.of foreign teams will be moving to the region in preparation for the

:18:36. > :18:39.London Olympics. At Waresley in Cambridgeshire, you'll find the

:18:39. > :18:41.Brazilian three-day eventers. The eight-strong team includes a doctor

:18:41. > :18:51.and an aeronautical engineer, and they've been telling James Burridge

:18:51. > :19:10.

:19:10. > :19:18.This is my horse. She has been with me for eight years so far. Who is

:19:18. > :19:24.the better sportsmen? You or the horse? That is a good question!

:19:24. > :19:30.This is home? This is where we spend the most time as horse-riders.

:19:30. > :19:39.We have got competitions and we live here. This is a small home. It

:19:39. > :19:46.is a home from home. Hopefully this is my Olympic horse for London.

:19:46. > :19:50.This is Tommy. He has been one of my top horses. He is the kind of

:19:50. > :19:57.animal that is there for me. You really connect with him and he

:19:57. > :20:04.makes things easy. What have you had to give up to make your Olympic

:20:04. > :20:12.dream come true? It has been hard for me with the weather. Brazil has

:20:12. > :20:17.the hot weather. But family and friends as well. But if you want to

:20:17. > :20:22.succeed in this event, eventing, you have to be where the top teams

:20:22. > :20:27.are, and that is here. How did you get them to come from Brazil?

:20:27. > :20:32.a lot of persuasion. They have do this -- the desire to want to

:20:32. > :20:36.succeed. A few have given up a lot to be here. They realise that to

:20:36. > :20:41.gain a potential medal placing, they need to apply themselves to

:20:41. > :20:47.the sport. They need to give things up. Are you a hard taskmaster?

:20:47. > :20:52.would say I can be! I am boss. England has been home for me and

:20:52. > :20:57.London is my home for the Olympics. Even though rear is the next

:20:57. > :21:07.Olympics, it is important, I cannot wait to go to London. -- even

:21:07. > :21:13.

:21:13. > :21:16.Now, when it comes train news, it's often bad news, isn't it? But

:21:16. > :21:21.here's a positive story. A group of railway enthusiasts in Suffolk are

:21:21. > :21:25.restoring an old line. The line was bought recently for �17,000 and

:21:25. > :21:29.runs right through the town of Leiston. One day it's hoped it

:21:29. > :21:39.might even link the Long Shop Museum with the branch line, as it

:21:39. > :21:45.

:21:45. > :21:50.once did. They already have an She is not particularly posh and

:21:50. > :21:56.she is not particularly pretty, but there is something a bit special

:21:56. > :22:04.about Sirapite. She looks well enough. How was she? She is fine...

:22:04. > :22:07.Trevor Wrench was the man largely responsible for restoring her.

:22:08. > :22:12.are looking forward to getting her out fairly soon. They look better

:22:12. > :22:19.with steam coming out of them, don't you think? She was a little

:22:19. > :22:24.shunting engine and worked at the engineering works at Leiston. They

:22:24. > :22:28.employed 2,500 people. Sirapite ran on a line which ran right through

:22:28. > :22:34.Leiston, linking factories at the top and bottom of the pound. What

:22:34. > :22:38.was she pulling, Trevor? Materials. That was on the Great Eastern

:22:38. > :22:44.Railway. She brought them down to the works and distributed them

:22:44. > :22:48.around the site. When she stopped working, she fell into disrepair,

:22:48. > :22:53.but with �100,000 and a lot of elbow grease, she was restored. And

:22:53. > :23:01.in 2010, we were there to see Sirapite chug up and down a very

:23:01. > :23:07.short piece of track in part of the car park of the Long Shop Museum.

:23:07. > :23:14.But now, enthusiasts want to restore the 250-yard stretch of

:23:14. > :23:18.line she once ran up and down. The Leiston works railway was formed.

:23:18. > :23:24.It was completely overgrown but has now been cleared. What was it like

:23:24. > :23:30.a couple of months ago? Totally fly-tipping, debris, branches,

:23:30. > :23:34.trees. Rubbish and a terrible mess. Another plan is to lay a track and

:23:34. > :23:38.perhaps a year or two's time, Sirapite will get to run on the

:23:38. > :23:44.line again. It might even cross the road in the centre of town, as it

:23:44. > :23:50.once did. And that's not all. The dream for this brilliantly

:23:50. > :24:00.eccentric project is to, one day, link up with the branch line. It is

:24:00. > :24:00.

:24:00. > :24:10.just up there. But that could never happen... Could it?

:24:10. > :24:11.

:24:11. > :24:16.Thursday night. Barometer night! It has been a day of "dodge the

:24:16. > :24:21.showers". There are still some out there and they really got going in

:24:21. > :24:26.the day. Some were thundery. This is about an hour ago, so still a

:24:26. > :24:30.few lingering, and elsewhere as well. A few more showers this

:24:30. > :24:34.evening but they will fade gradually overnight to leave much

:24:34. > :24:39.of the night dry. A few temperatures will tip away and we

:24:39. > :24:45.could also get the odd mist patch as well. We are expecting an

:24:45. > :24:49.overall low of one degree. Light northerly winds as well. A similar

:24:49. > :24:52.sort of day tomorrow with some sunshine and some showers. The

:24:52. > :25:00.change will be that the showers will not be as widespread and not

:25:00. > :25:05.as heavy. You can see a dark spot there where the computer thinks it

:25:05. > :25:11.might be heavier. So don't be surprised if you get stuck and do

:25:11. > :25:15.that. Temperatures will be typically between 10 and 12 degrees.

:25:15. > :25:19.The showers will take a time to clear and still no further chance

:25:19. > :25:24.of showers through the afternoon, but in between, still some sunny

:25:24. > :25:29.spells. Looking ahead to Sunday, we have a ridge of high pressure which

:25:29. > :25:33.starts to build on Saturday into Sunday. So a dry bay for most of us

:25:33. > :25:38.on Sunday but not far behind, this weather front is waiting to bring

:25:38. > :25:45.in some wet weather later on Monday and into Tuesday, and introducing

:25:45. > :25:51.some cooler air with it. So the weekend, fewer showers, feeling

:25:51. > :25:56.cooler and it will also be a bit breezier. So, for the next five

:25:56. > :26:02.days, showers on Saturday, but mainly isolated and lighter. Many

:26:02. > :26:08.places getting a dry based on Sunday and cooler as well. The

:26:08. > :26:13.northerly wind will drag in some cooler air. The rain will be backed