12/04/2017 Look North (Yorkshire)

Good evening and welcome to the late Look North.

Tornado, the Doncaster-designed locomotive, becomes the first steam

engine to hit 100 miles an hour for half a century.

Quite rocky, so swinging about a bit and standing guard groaned but it's

good fun. And North Yorkshire Police

mobilise their latest weapon And I'll bring you details of the

weather over the next few days. Join me for the live updated forecast.

First tonight, 27 men have appeared in court in Huddersfield today

charged with dozens of historical sexual offences against 18 women.

The offences include rape and trafficking of the women

Our home affairs correspondent Spencer Stokes sent

This was the first court appearance following a major

three-and-a-half-year-long police investigation in Huddersfield.

Last month 27 men were charged with historic sexual offences

and two women were charged with child neglect, all relating

to the abuse of 18 girls aged between 11 and 17 dating

The defendants arrived at Huddersfield Magistrates this

morning individually or in small groups and many faced

abuse from protesters as they entered the court building.

There was a large police presence, around 25 officers, and a couple

of hours later when they left court, more abuse was shouted at them,

so a tense atmosphere outside court as this legal process got under way.

Each of the defendants faces numerous charges including rape,

trafficking of girls, moving girls around for sexual

purposes, sexual abuse of girls and supplying

One defendant, Amere Singh Dhaliwal from Holly Road in Huddersfield, 34,

has 54 offences to answer, 21 of rape and 14 of trafficking.

29 defendants had their cases referred from this court

to Leeds Crown Court for trial and they're next scheduled

to appear in court in Leeds next month on May 11th.

Rail history has been made in Yorkshire early today with

one of Doncaster's finest designs, the Tornado, becoming the first

steam engine to hit 100 miles an hour for half a century.

In a moment we'll find out why this matters to the region's economy.

Tornado and her crew prepared for an extraordinary adventure.

since steam was last pushed to the ton on the mainline.

Under a cover of secrecy and darkness,

It had taken months to plan the experimental run.

What we want now is to assess the locomotive dynamically.

We've proven it's got the horsepower

to run at 90 miles an hour, as we've seen.

But we now want to be able to go beyond that and just give ourselves

that extra margin of safety and performance.

And that extra margin meant something very special.

Tornado is usually limited to 75 miles an hour,

like other steam engines on the mainline.

They want to be able to regularly run at 90

and, as part of the test, they had official permission

The power that you need to do this

is quite astonishing, really, I think.

If there was any problem on the footplate,

they would have backed off as soon as they had done the ton,

and they're just cruising at the high 90s.

But with the needle all the way over, anything but quiet.

It took two men sharing the shovel to provide tonnes of coal

to satisfy Tornado's voracious appetite.

As they returned to York, the driver and fireman were cheered.

So, you know, sort of swinging about a bit

and trying to stand our ground, but it was good fun!

We've got everything from 99.9 and who knows what to 101.6.

That's the problem with doing these things

In 1968, they said the steam age was done.

Last night proved legends are still being written.

Earlier I spoke to railway historian Tim Dunn.

He said the test had three main significances.

It showed there is an appetite for this stuff, I think it shows

people up and down the country want to know what's been

going on and it's remarkable they can go that fast and it proves

this can be done, a new-build locomotive on a high-speed main line

and it shows people can come together, Network Rail

and the volunteers going above and beyond, coming together

and making something remarkable happen.

Heritage rail is a big part of tourism in our region.

What will this test mean for tourism here?

These things have an application affect so I'm expecting to see

people this weekend turning up at local railways all over the North

and in the South over Easter and visiting because this

You see one of these things rocket through,

you've got to see it for yourself, perhaps at a slightly lower pace

at a local steam railway, so everywhere from North Yorkshire

moors to Keighley, I'm sure we'll see an upturn in visitors.

Do you think steam could ever become part of the integral

I don't think they are integral to the day-in day-out working

but you saw recently a viaduct was reopened, the Flying Scotsman

has been a huge part, an icon of the railway in the past

year or so and this shows they are a wonderful thing to bring

people together and unite people around the network and show what can

be done and take joy in what can be seen as quite a mundane operational

thing, this brings a bit of joy to people.

Your enthusiasm for trains has made me want to go

Despite tougher new penalties, it seems drivers are still risking

lives by using phones and other electronic gadgets at the wheel.

Now police in North Yorkshire are taking steps to spot

Phil Bodmer was given exclusive access to the operation.

Texting, phone in the left hand, looking down.

He's looking down, he's been looking down for an age,

We are looking for you, we do want to catch you,

Uncompromising words of advice from traffic constable Dave Sievers

It's just after 10am, and Operation Tramline is under way.

On-board this unmarked truck are two police officers.

Within five minutes, a driver is seen using a phone.

Yeah, he's on the phone there, isn't he?

The vehicle is stopped by a marked police car

He said he was operating the screen of his iPhone,

He actually denied that he was texting or making a telephone call.

But the fact is he's still got his phone in his hand, he's using it.

That's going to be a distraction to him while he is driving,

So he will be dealt with for that offence.

It's just over a month since the penalty for using a mobile phone

at the wheel was increased to six point and a ?200 fine.

But, despite extensive publicity, some drivers, it seems,

People are ignoring it, and they don't realise

the consequences of what they are doing.

We are on day four now, and we are catching people

Yesterday, we had four on a mobile phone

One of the problems the police face is actually spotting drivers

or using electronic devices behind the wheel.

What the truck does is give them the elevation

to see exactly what the motorists are up to.

A short time later, the truck spots another motorist flouting the law.

A white transporter, to the near side of us.

None of the drivers stopped while we filmed

Police say six points and the ?200 fine reflects

If it saves a life, that's a small price to pay.

And we have one Super League result for you tonight -

Huddersfield Giants lost to Catalans Dragons 22-29.

That's it from me. Paul is here now with the weather. How is looking

on Sunday. Here is Tomasz. Good evening.

The weather in the run-up to Christmas... Easter! I got ahead of

myself there! It isn't looking especially great, nor is it looking

all that sunny. It will be changeable, it's been changeable

today. You can see cloud streaming out of the north-west of the

country. You can see some showers getting into north western parts of

the UK, but eastern areas will remain pretty clear tonight, so here

we have some frost on the way first thing, ground frost, nothing more,

and it will be gone by the time the sun is up. First thing in the

morning, some sunshine around across one or two parts of the east here.

Western areas probably a little bit more cloudy, maybe showers getting

into north western areas of England, maybe