28/08/2014 Look East - West

Good evening. up to the hype.

We begin tonight with the lorry load of men and women discovered

It's the second time in less than two weeks that illegal

immigrants have been found on vehicles in this region.

This morning, police were called to Frank Perkins Parkway

This was the moment when police swooped on a lorry

in Peterborough, after reports that 16 people were hidden inside.

It has now been confirmed that all 16 were from the North African

and it is thought they were trying to enter the UK illegally.

The lorry had just arrived here in Peterborough to deliver parts

The people inside were discovered at around 9:30am

The security team at the site called police after the driver said he

Cambridge police arrested the ten men and six women

and alerted the Home Office immigration enforcement team.

The suspected illegal immigrants were to be interviewed

by enforcement officers before going into police custody.

A Home Office spokesperson said, we work closely with the police to

Where someone is found to have no legal right to remain in the UK,

Thousands of lorries make their way through our region every single day.

Many of them begin their journeys on the continent, arriving at

They then make their way along the A14 across Northamptonshire,

It is the responsibility of the lorry drivers and

their companies to make sure no`one is hidden inside the vehicle.

If that happens and they haven't taken adequate

steps to prevent it, they can be fined ?2000 for each person entering

Yet less than two weeks ago in the south of our region, 35 people,

including some children, were rescued from a container in Essex.

They were Sikhs from Afghanistan and one man died during the crossing.

The others were found after being heard shouting for help and banging

A reminder of how dangerous such journeys can be and equally how

The concern over stowaways could be one of the issues contributing to a

Haulage firms across the East say they're struggling to

recruit and they'll soon lose some of the drivers they currently have.

99% of drivers are over the age of 25 and many reaching retirement

age are refusing to study for a new qualification,

meaning after September 10th they'll be unable to drive.

But it's not an attractive profession for many younger people.

They'd have to pay thousands of pounds to train and they don't

I asked the Road Haulage Association whether companies could cover

But the problem you have with companies, they say,

I'll train you up, how long are you going to stay with me for?

Are you going to move down the road for an extra 5p an hour?

If lifestyle is a factor, surely better pay might make them

Wouldn't it be better if, like on the continent,

they have better roadside facilities, supplied by government?

We have better roadside facilities, truck parts,

They are secure and it keeps everybody in one place.

That will cut down on what people call the lifestyle,

but in fact some people like living in a truck from Monday to

If it is an ageing industry and all the drivers are not going to

take this qualification, what kind of situation will we be

A lot of the drivers, who drive your farmers, are temporary drivers.

They may be retired and the farmers were calling them during harvest

If they haven't done the driving licence,

When the Christmas rush starts in October,

the drivers aren't going to be there to be called in for holiday relief.

Eventually, when we haven't got enough drivers, goods in the

When you go to do your weekly shopping at the major

97% of everything we use in this country goes by road.

Obviously the country needs to keep on functioning and we need

We have got to be able to recruit younger people in the industry.

It is not just the fact that you start

in the industry at 18 as a driver and that is that until you are 65.

There is a career path, a progression if they want to do it.

They go from driving to office staff, to management,

I want to ask you about our main story tonight,

the fact that 16 people have been found in a lorry in Peterborough.

How much of an issue is that for lorry drivers?

They don't have monitors to check for CO2 emissions.

All they have is their eyes and their ears.

If the vehicle is secure, all the flaps down and secured, if it is a

box van, if the rear door is locked and secured, as far as they are

If they carry out these checks that is the best they can do.

It could be but security at the ports

Police are searching for an attacker who sexually

It happened in the early hours of Tuesday morning in this alleyway

The 20`year`old described his attacker as Mediterranean

Police in Northamptonshire are failing to record every

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabularies found that out

of 82 crimes they reviewed only 65 were properly recorded.

It's led to concern that some victims aren't getting

But the inspectors also noted that while some data recording had

improved, staff were struggling because of a lack of resources.

Football, and with the transfer window closing on Monday,

the MK Dons manager says he may struggle to hold onto his players.

Karl Robinson says he doesn't want to sell but interest

in his team has grown since the club beat Man United.

The Dons have drawn League One side Bradford in the next round

I'll leave you with Claire and the weather forecast.

The next few days looking cloudy but some good news for Sunday.

In the time being we are seeing a lot of cloud travelling

across the country as well as the odd spot or two of rain,

A rather cloudy and breezy night, but it will mean temperatures

holding around 12 or 13 degrees so a mild night.

Tomorrow morning starts on a breezy note.

It will be bright in places, that cloud rattling across East Anglia.

The odd spot of rain can't be ruled out and temperatures holding

This is the picture for the next few days, low`pressure

moving on with high`pressure moving in from the south.

In a moment your national forecast, but right now let me leave you with

Hello! We had a touch of autumn in August, now we are hoping for a bit

of summer in September, both as a result of former Hurricanes. It was

Hurricane Bertha that brought cold air a week or two ago, now we have

another later in the week