01/03/2017 Look East (West)

In Look East tonight: The mother of a young boy who was killed

by a driver using a mobile phone says new penalties

Councils struggle to offer all pupils their first choice

of secondary school with a backdrop of rising pupil numbers

And the Hatters have failed to secure a Wembley final,

after losing against Oxford in the semi-finals of

First tonight, the crackdown on drivers using mobile phones that

From today, penalties and fines for offenders have doubled.

But the change in the law is still not enough according

to relatives of those killed by motorists who were

Nicknamed Smiler, seven-year-old Seth Dixon was a happy boy,

he loved singing and dancing and his mum Alice.

In December 2014 she asked him to post a letter across the road.

He was hit by a car and died two weeks later.

You just can't believe it's happening.

You just want to scoop him up and shake him and say

The driver of the car that hit Seth was talking hands-free

Since then, Alice has campaigned for a total ban

Today saw the launch of tougher new laws,

six points instead of three and a ?200 fine.

New drivers caught within two years of passing their test

would have their licence revoked, but Alice says that's not enough

The message most people are taking from this is, if I am distracted

and have an accident, I will get fined.

A lot of people are saying to me, that means that if I am not a person

who gets distracted by making a phone call, I will not have

Adam Pearson from Milton Keynes was seriously injured when a lorry

smashed into the back of his stationary car at 50 mph,

a mother and three children in another car where all killed.

Dash cam footage showed the lorry driver changing music on his phone

for at least eight seconds before the crash.

There is very strong evidence to suggest the destruction caused

by a phone is at least equal to or more than the impairment

I see no reason why the punishment should not be on par as well.

This new HGV cabin will give officers a better vantage point

in catching offenders at the wheel of larger vehicles.

They say mobile phone use is the modern problem

Back in the 70s, people were not wearing seat belts,

so we made it unsociable for people not to wear them.

Then we moved on to drink-driving, now we are in the era of social

People are using their mobile phones more.

Seth's mum Alice says she will continue her campaign.

Earlier I spoke to Mark Turner, the Chief Executive

It's a charity based in Bedford which supports

I asked him how much of a deterrent these new penalties

I don't think it will stop people completely.

Unfortunately what we have is a culture that people

think it is OK to be on the phone while driving.

The answer to this ultimately will be a holistic approach, that's

It's about awareness and culture, people thinking they should not be

on their phones when they're doing something as complex as driving

and recognising the true danger that it causes.

How do you make something like using your phone behind

It is socially unacceptable, entirely inappropriate

I think what happens around education and awareness

and enforcement is that the message does get through.

It does not get there overnight, you only have to look

at other changes that have occurred around legislation.

Think of drink-driving compared to a few years' ago

The actual legislation, increased deterrence and penalties

will get through to people, and hopefully that will start

This is all about catching people using their phones

How confident are you that the police have

I do not think the legislation change is all about catching people,

You would have to ask the police about that.

They have lots of priorities, they do a very difficult job

That's the enforcement part, this is also about education.

It is also about promoting the issues of dangers of mobile phone,

and that will ultimately leak through to the public who should

take that message on board. Parents across the region have

been finding out today whether or not their child has

got their preferred secondary school Rising populations and in places

a shortage of school place means some councils are struggling

to offer children their If you're a parent of a Year Six

child, the chances are today has I know I'm not getting my results

for another couple of hours, My daughter who started at secondary

school last year went We applied for four schools

and we were given an unranked school, which means a school

that we hadn't chosen. It was upsetting,

and quite daunting. The demand for school places

has never been higher. This is Wootton Park free school,

it opened in September last year in an attempt to reduce

the scramble for places. We've had a huge amount of interest,

we are oversubscribed now There is a demand from the people

to have a local school that is We will grow year-on-year

until we are 1260 in total, making sure we offer that quality

education that young people As the county council knows,

it needs many more schools They weren't able to speak to us

today, but in the past they have told us that the County's booming

population is creating unprecedented By 2020, Northamptonshire will need

an extra 25 primary schools Such is the pressure to find

out if school choices have been successful,

the county council's website Thousands of parents logged on,

prompting this apology: But that still leaves

Northamptonshire lagging behind. Perhaps this year's school report

for the county and several other of our councils could well be

"improving, but could do better". In the last hour Luton Town

have lost their match against Oxford United,

missing out at a final a Wembley. The Hatters lost 3-2 in the semi

finals of the Checkatrade Trophy. Our Sports Reporter James Burridge

has been watching the match at Kennilworth Road tonight

and sent this report. An entertaining and enthralling

match here at Kenilworth Road, Luton in the end just didn't quite

have enough over Oxford, But being down two

seemed to inspire them. Within two minutes,

Isaac Vassell smashed the ball Suddenly the crowd here began

to believe, and they believed even more when Danny Hylton popped up

against his former club, 2-2. Kenilworth Road really did feel

they were on their way The cruelty of that was

that Marvin Johnson, who had scored earlier,

had an absolute ripper outside By far and away the best

shot of the game. In the end, that goal

was decisive and definitive. Consider how much they've been

through, they've been fined ?15,000 They miss out on Wembley

but they can take a lot of credit And you can hear reaction to that

loss on the Breakfast Show on BBC Three Counties Radio tomorrow

morning from 6am. And of course, full analysis

on the BBC News website. A team which helps to test

the hearing of babies who are just a few hours old has been named

as best in the region and second Staff at Peterborough City Hospital

have made it their mission to diagnose as many newborns

as possible and minimise Mums say it makes a real difference

by offering reassurance and enabling children who need them to get

hearing aids as early as possible. That's how the region

is looking tonight. Some outbreaks of rain

to start the night, some of that on the heavy side,

but eventually many southern parts will become largely dry with some

clear spells developing. Further north, it will

probably hold onto the wet The winds are going to pick up

as the night goes on, we are looking at a fresh to strong

west and south by Those winds should gradually ease

through the day as this pulls away to the continent,

but it does look like a very But eventually the rain

and showers should clear, and we should see some long sunny

spells developing everywhere. Temperatures tomorrow

at best around 9 degrees, by the afternoon and those winds

should be down to a moderate We finished the day largely fine

and dry, with a lot of clear sky. In a moment, John will have the

National forecast, but I will leave On Friday, more rain

pushing up from the south, Rain giving way to showers, some of

those on the heavy side on Saturday. Showers or longer spells

of rain on Sunday. outlook. A whole load of 11 is. What

does that mean? Maybe John Hammond will tell you.

We're in for a bumpy ride. The weather chopping and changing

keeping us on our toes. Rain never too far away from our crystal ball.

There has been rain around today across southern areas. This band of

wet weather pushing through Wales and the Midlands. A little bit of

the white stuff