:00:00. > :00:08.One, it's time for the news where you
:00:09. > :00:17.Good evening. North East Conservative MEP Martin
:00:18. > :00:19.Callanan has failed in his campaign to prevent the European Parliament
:00:20. > :00:22.banning refillable electronic cigarettes. Some physicians claim
:00:23. > :00:25.the cigarettes are as harmful as tobacco, but Mr Callanan says the
:00:26. > :00:29.move would just force many smokers back to traditional ways of smoking.
:00:30. > :00:31.However MEPs voted in favour of tighter restrictions this morning.
:00:32. > :00:38.Our Political Editor, Richard Moss, reports.
:00:39. > :00:42.Meet the Heseltines. Christena, Ron and Kirsteen are all what's known as
:00:43. > :00:46.vapers. They swapped tobacco for electronic cigarettes and think it's
:00:47. > :00:50.the best thing they've ever done. They get a nicotine hit but none of
:00:51. > :00:58.the toxins that kill. But many of these devices will now become
:00:59. > :01:02.illegal. Medical conditions are improved and everything is improved.
:01:03. > :01:06.Being a female, one of the best things that has improved is that do
:01:07. > :01:08.not have nicotine on the walls any more. The European parliament today
:01:09. > :01:11.decided to regulate the industry. Only low nicotine, unrefillable
:01:12. > :01:14.e`cigarettes will remain available. Adverts like this, which opponents
:01:15. > :01:20.say could make smoking sexy again will also be banned. We want to see
:01:21. > :01:23.that they are even better quality, that there are safety standards to
:01:24. > :01:27.them. At the moment, we are concerned about children getting
:01:28. > :01:32.their hands on them. Some have very high levels of nicotine. Some may
:01:33. > :01:36.not have any. You might be being totally ripped off. From a consumer
:01:37. > :01:42.perspective, this is a step in the right erections. But the growing
:01:43. > :01:45.community of e`cigarette vapers think the decision is disastrous,
:01:46. > :01:48.with many likely to take up smoking again. And one North East MEP
:01:49. > :01:53.agrees. They have the ability to convert thousands of people from
:01:54. > :01:56.smoking tobacco cigarettes to smoking electronic cigarettes. That
:01:57. > :02:00.is 1000 times safer than smoking tobacco. On a harm reduction
:02:01. > :02:04.measure, we should be encouraging people to take up these cigarettes,
:02:05. > :02:07.not making them more difficult to obtain. It is a bad day for public
:02:08. > :02:10.health in the region. The Heseltines, though, are determined
:02:11. > :02:13.to continue to vape. Ron has terminal cancer. Smoking may have
:02:14. > :02:25.caused it. The last thing they want to do is to go back to tobacco.
:02:26. > :02:29.He runs one of the leading tourist attractions in the North East but
:02:30. > :02:32.he's been threatened with closure by his County Council just as the
:02:33. > :02:35.tourist season is starting. Mark French, who runs Falconry Days in
:02:36. > :02:38.Northumberland, has been told he must pay a ?2,000 licence under the
:02:39. > :02:41.Zoo Licensing Act. He's refusing and says he'll see the County Council in
:02:42. > :02:44.court. Adrian Pitches reports. Rowland the Red Kite is the latest
:02:45. > :02:48.addition to Mark French's collection. He has 75 eagles, hawks,
:02:49. > :02:51.falcons and owls which he flies at country shows or which people can
:02:52. > :03:01.fly for themselves on 'experience days'. But he's having a bad
:03:02. > :03:07.experience with the County Council which says he must pay for a zoo
:03:08. > :03:11.licence or face closure. We're not a zoo because we're not involved in
:03:12. > :03:15.breeding and conservation. We do not keep animals in the closers
:03:16. > :03:22.continually. Birds are flown daily. Every bird that we buy, we buy at
:03:23. > :03:28.with the intention to train it to perform tricks and manoeuvres. The
:03:29. > :03:32.County Council said, we are working with this business to resolve the
:03:33. > :03:36.situation. But they have taken advice from DEFRA who have told them
:03:37. > :03:42.that in this case, the zoo licence is required. Falconry Days is rated
:03:43. > :03:44.highly by visitors. It's the number one tourist attraction in
:03:45. > :03:47.Northumberland on Trip Advisor, ahead of Cragside and the Farne
:03:48. > :03:51.Islands. But it could be closed by red tape. The correct answer to the
:03:52. > :04:00.question 'When is a zoo not a zoo?' now looks likely to be given by a
:04:01. > :04:03.judge. The alleged victim in the rape trial
:04:04. > :04:06.of former Newcastle United striker, Nile Ranger, has told the court she
:04:07. > :04:09.was too intoxicated to consent to anything. The jury at Newcastle
:04:10. > :04:12.Crown Court heard how she'd exchanged messages with the
:04:13. > :04:15.footballer the next day, describing how drunk she'd been. Nile Ranger
:04:16. > :04:21.denies the charge and the trial continues.
:04:22. > :04:24.A play park in Carlisle which was due to have its equipment removed
:04:25. > :04:30.because the City Council said it couldn't afford to maintain it, has
:04:31. > :04:33.been saved. More than a thousand people signed a petition to save
:04:34. > :04:37.Belah Park. And today the council said it would continue to inspect
:04:38. > :04:42.and insure it if the community raised funds to buy new kit and
:04:43. > :04:45.improve existing items. Whitby's once`great fishing fleet is
:04:46. > :04:48.down to its last trawler. Just one boat now puts out to sea from the
:04:49. > :04:55.North Yorkshire port, looking for white fish. The handful of other
:04:56. > :04:57.boats now trawl for crabs or prawns, a situation that's blamed on
:04:58. > :05:02.European fishing quotas. Our Business Correspondent Ian Reeve
:05:03. > :05:05.reports. It seems incredible, but this is
:05:06. > :05:13.Whitby's last boat that trawls for fish. The port's other boats have
:05:14. > :05:18.turned to crabs and prawns. Some trawlermen tried their hand at
:05:19. > :05:21.scholar dredging. `` scallop. Richard is Copious' skipper, the
:05:22. > :05:25.last of a line that goes back centuries. We have a vibrant fishing
:05:26. > :05:30.industry up and down the coast. Whitby was renowned for catching
:05:31. > :05:34.cod, haddock and waiting. The Fisher declined so much that we are the
:05:35. > :05:41.last fishing vessel working from Whitby. `` the fish industry
:05:42. > :05:44.declined. Richard blames tight fishing quotas imposed by Europe
:05:45. > :05:46.that have forced Whitby's fishermen out of business. Needed, says
:05:47. > :05:52.Europe, to protect dwindling stocks. The stocks have recovered. There are
:05:53. > :05:56.plenty of fish to be caught in the area we fish. But we are not allowed
:05:57. > :05:59.to touch them because the quotas are so low. Whatever the merits of the
:06:00. > :06:09.respective arguments, what's inarguable is that Whitby is down to
:06:10. > :06:13.its last fishing trawler. A far cry from the 50 or so that were here in
:06:14. > :06:16.the 1980s when European quotas were first imposed. For once, the cliche
:06:17. > :06:19.is probably true. This feels like the end of an era. Richard, the last
:06:20. > :06:28.guardian of a heritage forged by thousands of Whitby trawlermen
:06:29. > :06:32.before him who once put to sea. Before we catch up on the weather,
:06:33. > :06:38.let's find out what it has two throw at us locally. It is dry but that
:06:39. > :06:42.will not last long. There is a band of cloud and rain
:06:43. > :06:47.spreading in from the west. Heavy rain through the course of the
:06:48. > :06:51.night. By the end of the night, as the wind turns westerly, the rain
:06:52. > :06:56.will begin to become more intermittent. Temperatures no lower
:06:57. > :07:01.than four. First thing tomorrow morning, the rain continues to move
:07:02. > :07:04.eastwards. By nine o'clock, it is history and it will be a dry and
:07:05. > :07:08.bright picture for most. Just the odd shower through the middle part
:07:09. > :07:14.of the day. Temperatures will peak at eight or nine Celsius. Still a
:07:15. > :07:18.brisk wind moving in from a North West direction. Tomorrow wondered to
:07:19. > :07:22.Friday, low pressure running across the south of the country bringing
:07:23. > :07:29.the risk of hill snow. An early warning for that's tonight. And
:07:30. > :07:33.cool, showery conditions continue as we head into the weekend. I'll
:07:34. > :07:37.breeze blowing as well. Tricky into the weekend. And now we have the
:07:38. > :07:41.national forecast. the weekend. And now we have the
:07:42. > :07:45.Good evening. We know it has been a wet winter but it has also been mild
:07:46. > :07:51.and across England and Wales, lacking in snow. The last day of the
:07:52. > :07:52.season which we measure on