19/04/2017 Look North (North East and Cumbria)

One person has died in a fire at a tower block

The top three floors of the 12-storey building

were evacuated after the fire broke out shortly before two

Ten fire engines were needed to bring the blaze under control.

The pictures tell the bare facts, but details of this

Anson House is one of two 12-storey tower blocks that dominate

Last night at just after 1:30, five fire crews from the surrounding

Fires in blocks of flats are complex by nature,

and if they do spread, they can cause obviously mass

You can see from the outside of the building that the flames have

Fortunately with it being the top floor, it didn't get

The windows came out, and there were a couple more

as the fire was going on, things obviously exploding

It must have been a heck of a shock for you.

When you see it on TV and things like that,

but seeing in front of your eyes, you know, where you live,

Dozens of residents from the top three floors were evacuated and sent

to the Thornaby Pavilion leisure centre in the early hours,

although most now have been allowed to return.

A joint Police and Fire Brigade investigation has continued

The top floor of the building still sealed off.

So far, there's been no indication that the death here this morning

Gerry Jackson, BBC Look North, Thornaby-on-Tees.

Meanwhile, firefighters on Wearside have been tackling a blaze

at a former soft play centre in Washington.

It broke out at Junglerama on Victoria Road this afternoon.

Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue said the roof of the building collapsed.

Go North East said the nearby Concord bus station was closed due

to the number of people in the road watching.

A second Labour politician in our region has announced

he won't be standing in the general election on June the 8th.

The decision by Iain Wright not to fight the Hartlepool seat comes

after Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP

Tom Blenkinsop revealed yesterday he was leaving Parliament.

Here's our news correspondent, Mark Denten.

Iain Wright, born and bred in Hartlepool, still in his early

30s and with only a couple of years as a local councillor,

suddenly found himself in the political deep end.

Peter Mandelson had stepped down as the local Labour MP.

Iain Wright held the seat for Labour at a by-election.

A key issue in that contest was the future

Labour had said it was safe in their hands, but their critics

Because despite the campaign pledges, a Labour government review

soon threatened maternity services there.

Iain Wright resigned as a ministerial aide.

He came back as a junior minister under Gordon Brown,

but really found his niche in the cut and thrust

Last summer, perhaps his finest moment, the star witness

The docking of 15 minutes' pay if you were a minute late.

It definitely wasn't a policy that I put in.

But since 2005, Ukip have been closing in on his seat,

In 2015, buoyed by rallies with Nigel Farage, they came

The man who did that says Iain Wright's departure means Ukip

I got the best result against the Labour Party

If the people want change in the table, they've

got to vote for Ukip, because we are the only ones who can

So what do Hartlepool voters make of the departure of their MP?

I think it's sad, because I don't know whether they'll get anybody

So, I mean, it depends who comes in to replace him.

Well, I didn't know why he's not standing the next election,

As Labour's man in Hartlepool for 13 years heads for other projects,

his successor will now be plunged straight into the middle

A soldier who's denied murdering his ex-girlfriend has told

a court she was insecure and had accused him of looking

Alice Ruggles, who was 24, was found dead in her flat

in Rawlings Road in Gateshead in October 2015.

Lance Corporal Trimaan Dhillon, who's 26, is accused

of breaking into her home to kill her after she

Today the defendant told the court he'd been behaving immaturely

when he received a restraining order against another former partner

after she accused him of spitting in her face.

It seems the experience of a 95-year-old war veteran

could have forced a change to parking policy at

There was an outcry when former World War II airman Douglas Newham

was charged ?130 by a firm which manages car parks at the

Douglas had been attending a routine appointment which overran.

Douglas Newham had been at the hospital for an appointment

that was usually over within the hour.

Instead, it was late, and outside, on the windscreen of the 95 year

I just think it is totally unjust, not just for me, but I mean,

For Douglas, it was less an inconvenience than a show

of heartless inflexibility, and he was determined

It got to the point that never mind the money,

let's just try and get the company to have some feeling

All I can do is to stir public opinion.

It's not a supermarket car park, it's a hospital car park,

and I think they should have appropriate procedures.

Douglas Newham has now coughed up the ?130 he was charged,

but his refusal to accept what he believes is the injustice

of that levy seems to have forced the hand of the trust here.

It told us in a statement today that by the end of the year,

pay-as-you-leave gates will be installed here.

If they have a lifting barrier system and you go in and you only

pay for the period that you are there, that would be

an infinitely fairer system than what they have got

Mark McAlindon, BBC Look North, Carlisle.

Sport now, and Matt Wylie, from Washington received

his MBE in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace today.

The 20-year-old City of Sunderland para-swimmer

was presented with his honour by the Duke of Cambridge.

He's been recognised for services to swimming.

This year's Great North 10K in Gateshead will take

It's one of the region's biggest road races, attracting

Today's launch at the International Stadium involved a group

of toddlers, and as Andrew Hartley reports, all didn't quite

An impromptu run for toddlers to launch one

They say don't work with animals and children.

We are here to all have a really great time, and I think it's

going to be a fantastic atmosphere of the day.

The toddler dash over 70 metres is part of a series of events

on the day of the grown-ups' version of the Great North 10K.

He actually broke his leg when he was about 18 months old,

so he was in a cast for about six weeks also.

Ironically, he broke it while he was running.

But since he had his cast off, he just never stops running.

He was born with a condition called a trachaeoesophageal fistula,

which means his oesophagus wasn't connected all the way down,

So he spent the first month of his life in the special

care unit at the RVI, which is why we are

Andrew Hartley, BBC Look North, Gateshead.

Time for the weather now with Paul, and it looked a bit grey

It was a bit grade, and there is a lot of cloud around. It is thick

enough for the spot of rain, generally speaking cloudy but dry

covers the night-time period. That cloud does stop the temperatures

dropping below about seven Celsius. Tomorrow again the cloud could be

thick enough to cause a few spots of rain. We could see a few breaks in

the cloud, a glimpse of blue sky and a little bit of sunshine.

Temperatures should be a bit better than today, 15 Celsius at best. A

light to moderate west or north westerly breeze is the order of the

day from tomorrow. High pressure in charge of the weather situation

again at the minute. These weather fronts come around the hive,

thickening the cloud up, bringing some patchy rain again. But

generally speaking, not a great deal changes as we head towards the

weekend. Friday looks like another mostly cloudy but mostly dry day,

temperatures peaking at around 15 Celsius. For the weekend, a subtle

change, temperatures are little cooler, only just into double

figures, and it will be most notable overnight. We could see temperatures

cold enough I touch of frost. I leave you know with the summary for

going into the weekend as well. A similar story across the UK. Thomas

matter has that story. Good evening, before we get to the

forecast, I want to show you a map which depicts how dry it has been

during the course of April. Brown is below average rainfall, blue is

above average. You can see how Brown the map is. Some areas in the south,

some counties have only seen a few percent so far in April. Not

necessarily a good thing at all. The rest of the week, not