23/02/2017 Look East

In the programme tonight: Damage and delays as Storm Doris

Roads and trains are disrupted and tens of thousands face

I've been on the Orwell Bridge, which has been closed since 11.00am

Why 500 people in the region have more than 12 points

on their licence, but are still legally allowed to drive.

Once you hit 12, I'd say you have your license taken off you.

And we are out Glemham Hall in Suffolk for a valuation day.

All these people here have come to...

36,000 homes are without power tonight across Essex,

Suffolk and Norfolk as the region is battered by Storm Doris.

People are struggling to get home tonight.

Part of the M11 in Essex is still closed and there

are delays on train services in and out of London.

In Colchester, 64 homes have been evacuated because of fears

the building could collapse after high winds damaged the roof.

In a moment we'll hear from Alex about whether we've seen

the worst of the storm, but first, this from Katherine Nash.

Preparations underway to close the Orwell Bridge in Ipswich.

The decision was made at 11 o'clock this morning as Storm Doris started

to sweep across the region, bringing with it strong winds,

Highways England made the decision to close this bridge when wind

On an average day, 60,000 vehicles cross over this bridge,

On the M11 in Essex near Stansted Airport,

queueing traffic as a lorry overturned on the wind.

In Colchester, the evacuation of 64 homes.

Residents of Greenstead Road told to leave this lunchtime as buildings

It was as if a lorry had gone into the side of the building.

When I looked out the window I just noticed all the bricks had fallen

Then we looked out the front door and the whole roof

The roof ripped off this job centre and staff relocated to another of

those nearby. As wind scattered speed and strength power cables were

brought down, leaving more than 40,000 people without electricity.

UK power networks drafted an extra staff to deal with 5,000 calls this

morning alone, five times more than on the usual date. All of our normal

work has been suspended. The whole organisation comes together in storm

bowed to stop we have over 400 engineers ready to go to make sure

we can respond as quickly as possible. In Ipswich, an empty space

where the market should be. Traders told to pack up their staff as high

winds set in. Local people told to avoid open spaces for fear of

falling trees. It is unusual for us to close the market. The market is

normally resilient. It is been a couple of years since we have had to

close it. In terms of the parks, we will make the decision on a

case-by-case basis. As Storm Doris moves across the region tonight,

work is underway to clear up the mess. Highways England says the

Orwell Bridge will only reopen when wind speeds have dropped to safe

wind speeds have dropped to safe levels.

Mike Liggins is at Cromer on the North Norfolk coast for us now.

The latest is that the weather here has been ferocious for a couple of

hours. At this camp down a little bit but you can still see it is

pretty unpleasant and still blowing pretty hard. Disruption around the

region on trains and on the roads. We understand that five people have

been taken to hospital after a bus overturns at Walton Highway in

Norfolk. On the roads, severe delays on the M11 because of an overturned

lorry. The Orwell Bridge and the Dartford Crossing are both closed

because of the high winds. As far as the power is concerned, we

understand that as you said earlier, 36,000 customers are without power

this evening. I will have more from here later on the programme.

We have experienced gale force winds right across the region. This map

shows the highest recorded gusts. Many areas had gusts above 60 miles

an hour, but it was way born that recorded gusts of 81 macro tonight

this evening. The low-pressure weather system that is Storm Doris

has moved out into the North Sea, so it will still stay very windy across

parts of Norfolk and Suffolk, but those winds will continue to use

this evening, but I should add that the Met office Amber weather warning

is still in force until eight o'clock tonight.

BBC Look East has learned that more than 500 motorists in Norfolk,

Suffolk and Essex are still driving despite having too many penalty

Usually, drivers are banned when they exceed 12 points, but it's

One driver from Essex currently has 42 points and is still on the road.

From causing a road collision to failing to have insurance,

when you break traffic laws you are penalised.

12 points on your licence usually means a driving ban for six months,

but figures obtained by the BBC show that, in this region,

502 drivers are still on the road despite having 12 or more points.

Essex has the highest count at 313, where one person is still driving

despite having 42 points on his licence.

Alex McFarlane was caught speeding six times in three months.

He would have lost his job had he been banned.

Motorists in this Norwich car park had mixed views.

You've broke it, you face the punishment for it.

Even if it could wreck your job, your career?

You should have thought about that once you committed the crime.

There are plenty of other laws that if you cross the line

There are some circumstances where it's acceptable,

but when it gets a lot more than that, I think it's

We've got people obviously being caught and going

through the justice system, but actually this whole

point system seems to be making a mockery of that.

Drivers are getting away with repeatedly breaking the law.

Drivers can appeal if they claim that the ban can cause them

For example, they could lose their job.

There is no definition in law, though, as to

Every person, every case is looked at on its own merit.

Magistrates have to consider the impact of a ban not

just on the motorist, but also the effect on his or her

There are drivers out there on the road with

As I say, it's a matter for the courts that they've

All I would hope is that people with an excessive amount of points

do begin to learn the lesson and not commit offences in the future.

The vast majority of drivers with 12 points are banned,

but the fact remains there are a handful who have

continually broken the law who are still on our roads.

Simon Nicholls is from Belmores Solicitors.

What is your definition of exceptional hardship west there is

not a definition of exceptional hardship. It is what those mean to

stop what might be exceptional hardship for one person might not be

per another and that is what magistrates determine. This is

something that you deal with a lot in your work. 42 points we had

there, what is the worst case you come across? 36 points is the best I

can manage. I have looked at some of the points scorers today and I can't

work that had managed to get to that work that had managed to get to that

many points because it is almost physically impossible when you think

the maximum number of points for any offences ten. There was a cloud of

mine who left his home and went to another address and in the meantime

got six requests for who the driver of his car was. He was completely

unaware, he should have told the DVLA that he changed his address but

he got six lots of six points, some 36 points. The consequence of that

was he got 36 points. You see a lot of variety in highly me in a

magistrate might be? What IDC appearing before magistrates is it

is a tough job being in front of them because they know that they can

only grant it if it is exceptional, so the fact that summary will have

to get a bus or train or bicycle to work, that in itself isn't enough.

The fact that someone might even lose their job isn't enough. What

matters is the ripple effect and that is that affect that really

matters. Will it affect the family, the children, relatives, employees

of a small company perhaps where the boss of the company needs his

driving licence to bring the business in. A lot of people

listening to this will say that if you know you already have points on

your licence, surely you should drive super safely. Of course you

should. But it is a three-year period. Someone is clear for an

appointment, they are doing 45 when they should be doing 40, because

they are thinking short-term need to be somewhere. Then of course the

consequence of what they have done turn dry to bite them. Thank you

The police in Essex have "significantly improved" the way

Two years ago, the force apologized for failings in 30 child

The Inspectorate of Constabulary says progress has been made,

but it says improvement is needed in the way the force monitors

sex offenders and deals with missing children.

A mental health trust criticised over a high level of unexpected

deaths has just launched a new strategy to cut suicides.

The Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust says the action plan

will have a real impact, but the idea's been

Philippa Travis-Williams from Ipswich lost her

He was 21, studying fashion photography.

She knew he was struggling emotionally.

What she wasn't told until too late was that he had

been detained by police, then assessed and discharged

What does she make of this new strategy?

To be quite honest with you, I'm fed up with listening

It feels like another promise that is probably just going to fail.

The whole service needs a complete overhaul, in my opinion.

That overhaul, she says, means huge investment,

more crisis teams, more hospital beds for acute cases.

For its part, the health trust says it is confident this new plan

The first priority will always be the people that we see,

but also we are part of a wider suicide prevention strategy

That aims to prevent suicide at the point where people start

to feel desperate and unwell, so it's about prevention

at its earliest stages as well as when people

It wants a better level of care, training and response.

Critically, it wants to listen more to the families left

behind, often isolated - so much grief, summoning questions.

behind, often isolated - so much grief, so many questions.

I light candles every night and say prayers for him every night...

We know that suicide is absolutely devastating for families

and for everybody that is involved with somebody, and even

Suicide takes a real impact on our staff, as well.

So anything we can do to prevent suicide is absolutely vital.

So this is Henry's bedroom, where he used to stay when he came

home for long weekends while he was at

I do still find it very difficult to spend time in this room.

Henry was a special talent - a gifted artist.

Philippa is planning a special exhibition of his work to help raise

You are watching Look East with Stewart and me.

Coming up: Alex will have the very latest on Storm Doris

Find out what happens behind the scenes as the TV show

During last year's EU referendum there was a lot of talk about how

much we receive in grants from the European Union.

Farmers, businesses, local communities are all eligible,

But they won't be for much longer, which is why today we got one

of the most detailed breakdowns for many years.

It shows how much money has actually come to this region

Let's get some details from Andrew Sinclair.

This list was compiled by the East of England office in Brussels and it

reckons that our region has received ?4 billion of EU investment

over the last ten years, which has helped fund ?12 billion

?2.3 billion of that came from the European Investment Bank,

which loaned money to windfarms and road schemes.

?800 million went on research and development.

?660 million in grants to businesses.

There were also dozens of other much smaller funds giving out grants

No, not the slopes of Bordeaux, but are shown on the Norfolk Suffolk

border. Though which chills have entered their own vineyard and "In

array, helped in part by ?42,000 from an EU front set up to encourage

rural economic development. The banks wouldn't front us because we

are a new business and have no trading history. We fitted the bill

for EU funding very well because we are going to be boosting tourism in

the area and employing local people here. Improvements to several other

nature reserves, and you freightliner three Ipswich, space

research in Stevenage, the regeneration of Lowestoft seafront.

Hundreds of projects in the east have benefited from EU money, but

they are not going to for much longer which is why one of our

business organisations commissioned this report, to find out just how

reliant we are on EU money. Currently, millions of pounds of

European funding comes to support economic growth and we know that is

coming to an end. But we are doing is to make the case to government to

say that here is a whole that has to be plugged. Those who lead the Leave

campaign point out that we sent more to Brussels than

we get back, so the government should be able to keep funding all

the schemes, but with Brexit just two years away, business groups say

they need firm promises. Quickly. Hasn't the Government given

guarantees about future funding? Only to an extent. The government

has said it will continue that funding until the beginning of 2021.

After that I can dig any promises because the Chancellor doesn't know

how much money he will have to play with as he doesn't know how much it

is going to cost to leave the European Union. It will be up to

whatever party in power to decide on funding and that could change. The

feeling is we can't expect to get as much money in future from the UK

Government has from the EU. They say things like science and technology

and transport schemes will probably be OK, but smaller things like

wineries are nature reserves might not be so lucky in future. As is so

often the case with Brexit, we simply don't know what the minute.

There is a lot of uncertainty and businesses them like uncertainty,

but we will talk more about this on Sunday Politics this week.

Now what do you think is the best way to stay young?

A glass of wine a day, plenty of fresh air and exercise perhaps?

Well, according to one woman from Kettering, it's indoor bowls.

Today, Marjorie Wright has been celebrating her 100th birthday.

She had her telegram from the Queen and, of course,

she is officially the oldest female bowls player in Northamptonshire.

Stuart Ratcliffe has been to meet her.

Happy birthday to you. Cheers! 100 years young. As you

might expect, it is taking a bit of getting used to. You just can't take

it all in. It is funny, really. I can't realise that I am 100. When

people ask me my age and I have to say 100, I can't believe it. But

reaching three figures does provide the perfect excuse to invite a few

friends round. It is a wonderful achievement for her. I have no and

Marge since I was 15 and worked opposite her little shop with their

husbands. You can believe it. When you look at her, she doesn't look

100. She is very active. She is absolutely full of it. She is an

inspiration to us all. Shi'ite to be in beginners book of records.

Reaching three figures also means a certain special delivery. The

switches for you and such a special occasion, Elizabeth R. How does that

feel? I think that's lovely. Born and bred in Kettering, Marjorie has

seen many changes in our own time and the wider world. This cine

footage captures the day her husband, Len, returned from the

Second World War, and this is the first Christmas back together as a

family. Back to 2017, and with the party over, it is a quick trip into

town to visit a place which Marjorie credits with her youthful appearance

and Outlook. I love my balls. If everybody did that when they

retired, it is such a lovely pass time and it stops buying in a chair!

If everybody did that, they would be much better. The polls, that is your

secret to a long life? Oh, yeah. It's been a day of lights,

cameras and action at BBC television crews moved

in for a valuation day Hundreds of people gathered

at Glemham Hall, near Woodbridge, to find out if items they had

brought from home might make Kim Riley was given a look behind

the scenes as the cameras rolled. They started arriving

at the Elizabethan mansion early this morning, armed with family

treasures or items they would, If you found out they were worth

quite a bit, would you sell them? Because they are not something

we particularly want, but we've had them on the shelf

for a long time. On-screen expert James Lewis

was working the crowd. We've already found some

interesting bits and pieces. I found a little bit of an 18th

century scientific instrument, some silver, some porcelain,

a bit of Moorcroft, So already the things

that are coming out The last sort of ten,

15 people to come through the doors are often the people with the real

treasures, so we'll see. Rooms in the hall were then taken

over by hundreds of Flog It fans - the invasion welcomed by the man

who lives here. Well, I'm sort of

getting used to it. Over the years as we've

developed events here, These houses are what they are

and I think to share them with as many people as you can

is a good thing. Eventually, everyone

who came through the doors Cameras everywhere,

but only a relative few will have their stories told

on the final programmes. Even though we might get 500

or 600 people turning up, everybody will receive a free

valuation, but to make the four editions of Flog It that we will be

producing from Glemham, we only actually need to film 35

people with their items and take Sisters Linda and Sally

may well be among them. They brought along a Chinese

teapot reportedly given to their grandmother

by a Romany Gypsy in the 1930s. It won't be very

valuable, I know that. It's just interesting,

the history behind it. We've never seen anything

like it anywhere else. Presenter Paul Martin is on his 16th

series of the programme. It gives you a connection

to the past. We've all got these wonderful items,

little documents of social history, treasures, you know,

examples of Great Each region has a different

identity so we are looking That's why everybody is into this

kind of thing because it gives you a connection to the past,

but inspiration for the future. Selected items will go under

the hammer in Suffolk in March. The programmes will air

in the next 18 months. Before the weather, let's just catch

up with Storm Doris. As we have already told you,

roads have been closed, trains cancelled and thousands

of homes left without power. Mike Liggins is in Cromer

on the North Norfolk coast now It doesn't look very nice there. No,

it isn't. You might just be able to make out the lights of Cromer Pier

behind me. I was on the pier at 5:30pm this afternoon when the

weather was quite corrosion is. We were all struggling to stand up. As

you were saying, there has been a considerable amount of disruption on

the roads and the trains. We are hearing that the Greater Anglia line

between Norwich and London is blocked due to a tree on the line. I

have just seen the photograph somebody Tweeted of Liverpool Street

station that is completely packed, presumably with people struggling to

get home. Severe delays on the M11 tonight due to an overturned lorry.

The Orwell Bridge End Dartford Crossing are both closed. UK power

networks are telling us that 40,000 customers across East Anglia are

without power tonight, so that will be pretty miserable for those

customers. 22,000 of those customers in Norfolk, 4,000 in Cambridge,

7,000 in Essex and 7,000 in Suffolk. It is still very cold and very

miserable and my advice would be to stay indoors if you possibly can.

Our advice to you is get indoors if you possibly can!

Nowhere escaped the Winsock Storm Doris today. This map shows quite

neatly where the highest gusts were. Across the region cost between 60

and 70 mph. The strongest gusts were at 81 macro sonata at way born. This

weather system that is Storm Doris has moved the into the North Sea,

but it will stay very windy, particularly on the North Norfolk

coast. You can see a tree down here in Cromer. Also in Cambridgeshire,

trees are down. Many foot graphs of comments showing the effects of the

storm. Here is the pressure pattern to show where the low has gone. The

winds will turn to a north-westerly direction and that is only really

whipped up this afternoon. The winds will continue to ease. Norfolk and

Suffolk will stay very windy. The Met office Amber weather warning is

in force until eight o'clock this evening. The trend will be for those

winds to ease as we go to the evening and night. There is also

some patchy rain around as well. We have another problem to contend

with, which is clear skies developing and much colder air

coming our way. That will mean a much colder night than we have

experienced recently and we could be down as low as two Celsius, locally

down to freezing, so it brings with it the risk of frost and icy patches

where we have the earlier rain. So tomorrow, I completely different

picture, a much more calm picture. High pressure building in from the

south-west. It will be a cold start to the day and the day as a whole

will feel much colder. It will be largely dry, maybe just the isolated

shower first thing. Good spells of sunshine. It will be significantly

cooler, just six Celsius for some of us through tomorrow, but it will be

a welcome change to to moderate north-westerly

wind and a much more calm picture. For the afternoon, it will turn

cloudy from the West and eventually the chants of some rain arriving in

Western counties by the end of the night. Looking beyond, there is some

changeable weather on the way, milder air coming back for the

weekend but with the chants of some rain for Saturday. It could be

patchy rain first thing before more rain pushes in later. Both Saturday

and Sunday will be blustery. Sunday looks like the dryer of the two

days. It looks like an unsettled start to next week, but not as

windy. Just before we go,

huge congratulations He received his MBE from the Queen

today for services to gymnastics. The 24-year-old, who trains

in Basildon, said he's so proud to add those three letters

to his name. He just started to hold his hand out

to shake her hand, didn't the? Good evening. Goodbye.