:00:00. > :00:00.Hello and welcome to the Look East late news.
:00:00. > :00:00.Warnings over the dangers of customising cars
:00:00. > :00:09.after two people are killed by carbon monoxide poisoning.
:00:10. > :00:13.Rescuing children from the trauma of bullying.
:00:14. > :00:23.A local charity gets a national award.
:00:24. > :00:26.a cold night expected for tonight. Join me later for a full weather
:00:27. > :00:29.forecast. First tonight, a warning
:00:30. > :00:32.about the dangers of customising cars, after an apprentice engineer
:00:33. > :00:35.and his friend died from carbon Thomas Putt worked
:00:36. > :00:42.for Ford in Essex. In his spare time he had
:00:43. > :00:47.customised his own Ford Fiesta, and today an inquest was told
:00:48. > :00:49.that he died in the driving seat with his friend, Nikki Willis,
:00:50. > :00:52.sitting next to him. Both had been overcome
:00:53. > :00:57.by exhaust fumes. Police were mystified when two young
:00:58. > :01:03.friends were found dead in a car The Ford Fiesta ST
:01:04. > :01:10.was Thomas Putt's. Police discovered he had turned
:01:11. > :01:12.the car into a deathtrap He'd removed the car's catalytic
:01:13. > :01:16.converter which is a device which makes exhaust fumes less toxic
:01:17. > :01:21.and that left a small gap between the exhaust system
:01:22. > :01:26.and engine and exhaust fumes were leaking through that gap
:01:27. > :01:30.and they were coming Now, what he'd also done was,
:01:31. > :01:35.in his bonnet, he'd put two vents, vents designed to improve
:01:36. > :01:38.the engine's performance by keeping it cooler but those exhaust fumes,
:01:39. > :01:42.leaking up through the bonnet, He had the car's heater
:01:43. > :01:48.on because it was December. The heater's intake is just below
:01:49. > :01:54.the windscreen wipers, but instead of sucking in fresh air,
:01:55. > :01:57.the heater was sucking in the exhaust fumes,
:01:58. > :02:00.leaking through the vents. Postmortem examinations found Tom
:02:01. > :02:04.and his passenger, Nikki Willis, died from inhaling fumes,
:02:05. > :02:07.including carbon monoxide. Miss Willis' parents
:02:08. > :02:09.were among the family members at this morning's inquest,
:02:10. > :02:11.where a coroner concluded that the young friends both died
:02:12. > :02:14.as the result of an accident. After the hearing, police said
:02:15. > :02:20.modifying cars has inherent dangers. He was an apprentice
:02:21. > :02:28.at Ford and had carried out The message today is -
:02:29. > :02:33.even if you think you know what you are doing,
:02:34. > :02:37.have your vehicle checked. There can be unintended consequences
:02:38. > :02:40.of modifying your vehicle. I urge anybody who's carried out
:02:41. > :02:43.modifications on their vehicle, to have your work checked
:02:44. > :02:46.by a qualified mechanic The coroner said they both had
:02:47. > :02:53.bright futures and she expressed her sympathy to their families
:02:54. > :02:56.in what she described Customising cars has become a huge
:02:57. > :03:06.craze in recent years. Thousands of people enjoy
:03:07. > :03:08.tweaking their cars to make them look good, sound loud,
:03:09. > :03:11.and go faster, but how do Kevin Burch has been
:03:12. > :03:15.talking to the experts. Few people know more
:03:16. > :03:18.about the complex inner workings of an exhaust, than the team
:03:19. > :03:20.at Demand Engineering. Based at Stonham Aspel in Suffolk,
:03:21. > :03:23.what they design and produce Made for performance cars,
:03:24. > :03:29.classic cars, even aircraft. But what happens at the other end
:03:30. > :03:33.of the scale worries them deeply. We see some very interesting
:03:34. > :03:37.repairs, sort of home modifications Relatives, for instance,
:03:38. > :03:44.have suggested they can do it Quite often the perception
:03:45. > :03:48.of what the customer has is that it is very expensive
:03:49. > :03:50.to have a custom exhaust made so they want to modify it themselves
:03:51. > :03:54.and they don't necessarily do that Car modification, as this rally
:03:55. > :03:58.in Southend at the weekend proved, Thousands of them spending thousands
:03:59. > :04:02.on distinctive touches and a distinctive tone,
:04:03. > :04:05.but on the exhaust matching old and new, especially,
:04:06. > :04:09.if the fittings are cheaper, Now you've got to try to get those
:04:10. > :04:14.to marry up, crawling around underneath your car
:04:15. > :04:17.on your driveway. Now if that isn't a good seal,
:04:18. > :04:20.that's where you will get exhaust gas leak out and that's
:04:21. > :04:23.where you will have problems. And then drivers will often
:04:24. > :04:28.use a paste or wrapping Asking for trouble, when asking
:04:29. > :04:33.for advice is all it takes. Designed by engineers on a budget
:04:34. > :04:36.of millions, modified by you. If you are going to work
:04:37. > :04:39.on your own vehicle to modify it, You should never work with changing
:04:40. > :04:45.the exhaust or the emissions. It is actually illegal anyway,
:04:46. > :04:50.because by changing it to enhance performance,
:04:51. > :04:54.you are actually changing Well, that's an old clamp
:04:55. > :05:00.someone has grafted on. The phrase they hate it hear
:05:01. > :05:04.is "It's only a piece of pipe". It isn't and they want every
:05:05. > :05:06.driver, for their own NICE has published guidance
:05:07. > :05:16.which says people diagnosed with a mental health problem
:05:17. > :05:21.within the criminal justice system should receive annual checks
:05:22. > :05:24.and staff should be better trained 25-year-old Dean Saunders
:05:25. > :05:29.was suffering mental health problems when he killed himself
:05:30. > :05:31.at Chelmsford Prison Abellio has completed the sale
:05:32. > :05:39.of 40% of its Greater Anglia rail franchise to the Japanese giant
:05:40. > :05:40.Mitsui. News of the sale first
:05:41. > :05:44.emerged in January. It's the first time any Japanese
:05:45. > :05:47.business has had a stake The RMT union has criticised
:05:48. > :05:52.the sale, but the Department for Transport believes
:05:53. > :06:00.passengers will benefit. A charity from the region
:06:01. > :06:03.which works to turn around the lives of severely bullied children has won
:06:04. > :06:06.an award at Westminster tonight. Red Balloon, which has centres
:06:07. > :06:08.in Norwich and Cambridge, was praised for its work helping
:06:09. > :06:12.bullied children recover In a moment we'll hear
:06:13. > :06:16.from the charity's founder, Founded more than 20 years ago
:06:17. > :06:21.the charity's Learner Centres provide alternative education,
:06:22. > :06:26.therapy and support to children bullied so badly that mainstream
:06:27. > :06:29.school becomes unbearable. Red Balloon's teachers,
:06:30. > :06:33.therapies and volunteers work to build self-confidence and help
:06:34. > :06:35.students self-excluded from school to get back
:06:36. > :06:37.into education or training. The Centre For Social Justice
:06:38. > :06:42.founded by the former Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith
:06:43. > :06:47.this evening awarded Red Balloon its Education,
:06:48. > :06:51.Employment And Skills Award. Prior to joining Red Balloon
:06:52. > :06:54.more than 80% of parents described their child's mental
:06:55. > :06:56.health is very poor. After enrolment in its programme
:06:57. > :06:59.that figure fell to just 6%. At least 90% of children enrolled
:07:00. > :07:02.in its recovery programme for six weeks or more return to mainstream
:07:03. > :07:06.education or take up Locally the charity sees high
:07:07. > :07:13.demand for its centres. Across the country thousands
:07:14. > :07:15.of children between the ages of 11 and 15 are absent from school
:07:16. > :07:21.primarily because of bullying. Tonight the Centre for
:07:22. > :07:27.Social Justice described Red Balloon's work as unique
:07:28. > :07:32.and truly transformative. Carrie Herbert is the founder
:07:33. > :07:35.and president of Red Balloon. Earlier this evening
:07:36. > :07:37.she was given the award Afterwards she went into our
:07:38. > :07:42.Westminster studios. I mean, it sort of really gives us
:07:43. > :07:54.the credibility to continue. We know what we are doing,
:07:55. > :07:57.we know we do well, and suddenly This is 20 years of hard work to get
:07:58. > :08:04.to this point, isn't it? Yes, we started around my kitchen
:08:05. > :08:07.table in 1996 in Cambridge, and 20 years on we have four
:08:08. > :08:10.centres, one here in Norwich, one in London, one in Cambridge
:08:11. > :08:17.and one in Reading, as well as our Red Balloon Of The Air,
:08:18. > :08:19.which is our virtual Red Balloon, which can reach children
:08:20. > :08:26.anywhere in the country. Is there any way you could put
:08:27. > :08:30.a number on how many children have We started, of course,
:08:31. > :08:37.with ten in my house, but now we are dealing
:08:38. > :08:40.with about 140 a year, so the numbers will suddenly start
:08:41. > :08:42.to pick up but, yes, it is well over 400 now,
:08:43. > :08:48.and these children were young people who were so badly damaged
:08:49. > :08:52.by bullying that over 50% of them were seriously contemplating
:08:53. > :08:59.taking their own life. Has demand for what you do
:09:00. > :09:03.and what you offer increased We now are clear that we take
:09:04. > :09:14.children who have been both severely bullied and those who are school
:09:15. > :09:18.phobic or suffering a great trauma. With the programme we have it's
:09:19. > :09:22.about 50% academic work - maths, science, English,
:09:23. > :09:26.that kind of thing - and about 50% well-being and therapy,
:09:27. > :09:31.set in a community. Our children need to belong,
:09:32. > :09:36.and with that kind of magic, I suppose, over 94% of our children
:09:37. > :09:40.go on to lead fulfilling lives back in the community
:09:41. > :09:46.from which they came. Carrie Herbert, thank you very much,
:09:47. > :09:48.and congratulations Coming up now, the weather
:09:49. > :10:07.with Alex, but from the rest A cold night expected for tonight,
:10:08. > :10:11.under clear skies across the region. Temperatures will drop close to
:10:12. > :10:14.freezing so quite widely down to three or 4 degrees and back apps
:10:15. > :10:19.locally a bit lower, bringing the risk of a touch of Frost. Start the
:10:20. > :10:23.day tomorrow on a chilly note. There will be wet weather through tomorrow
:10:24. > :10:27.but not first thing. This is the pressure pattern. Low pressure
:10:28. > :10:32.across much of the country means some outbreaks of rain. A chilly
:10:33. > :10:45.start then fine weather and a chilly start the
:10:46. > :10:48.morning. Showers follow with brighter spells and temperatures
:10:49. > :10:53.around nine or ten. The rain were clear and the winds continue to ease
:10:54. > :10:57.by the end of the day. Here is the outlook. A largely dry but cloudy
:10:58. > :10:58.picture for Thursday and high pressure builds on Friday for the
:10:59. > :10:59.weekend. It looks gradually improve through Friday and
:11:00. > :11:11.the weekend isn't looking bad. Heavy rain, snow and ice are all in
:11:12. > :11:15.the forecast once again. It was quite a wintry scene today,
:11:16. > :11:20.especially in Scotland. Some very cold looking winter skies here, and
:11:21. > :11:22.we had some snow falling at times in West Lothian. For a while earlier
:11:23. > :11:26.today, there were quite a few showers running through central
:11:27. > :11:35.Scotland, all in that cold air. Right now, we have two areas of
:11:36. > :11:36.cloud, one in northern Scotland and this deepening area bringing heavy