22/12/2016 Look North (Yorkshire)

After months of silence, the bells ring out again at York Minister.

We'll speak exclusively to the Archbishop to see

what solution they've found after the bell-ringer row.

The MS patients travelling abroad for treatment.

I'm scared of not doing anything about it.

Now, love them or hate them, you can't have Christmas

dinner without sprouts, can you, Annie?

I'm going to show you how to spruce up your sprouts.

And a very disturbed spell of weather is on its way.

Tonight - the astonishing footage of a man just inches

from being killed by a train in West Yorkshire.

Rail bosses have released the video to warn of the risks

It's amazing this cyclist escaped uninjured as he failed

to see the train coming at a crossing near Pudsey.

He had barely seconds to spare as he tried

Our correspondent Spencer Stokes has the full story.

A train driver's view of what happens when a man pushing a bike

and decides to take his life in his hand.

A near miss captured from various angles at the level crossing

The cyclist stops for one train but then presumes he can cross,

unaware that another train is approaching.

This sort of crossing is quite unusual because there

aren't automatic barriers, so what people have to do is check

and if it is, start to make their way across the crossing.

Over the last 18 months though, there have been 18 separate

incidents where people have crossed the railway line

when they shouldn't have done, therefore putting their own lives

at risk from trains travelling rather quickly.

60 mph is the permitted speed on the crossing

But people have played a game of chicken on the tracks, wandered

across while using a phone and one driver towed his boat through

when he should have been firmly behind the gates.

The fear now is someone will be very seriously

You put this message out every year, why do we keep seeing

There's indications of complacency from people that just think they

know how to use the crossing and there are very impatient to

These gates are not closed for long, there are very

clear indications, very clear alarms, and we just need people

to be patient and use the crossing, take their time.

They won't be delayed unnecessarily and cross when

But patience seems to be in short supply.

Well, I've already confessed to crossing if it changes as I get

to the gate because you've got plenty of time.

So if it goes red, you still sort of making a dash for it?

Well, I've never count is less than 45 seconds

I have a very highly developed sense of

When I saw the video, I was shocked at just

how close a call this one was

and it does emphasise how tragic these incidents can be.

This gentleman in the video got lucky.

I have had the heartbreaking task of having to tell families that, you

know, their loved ones aren't coming home for the sake of what is

Level crossing misuse can land motorists

Pedestrians face a fine of ?1000 and a criminal record.

The cyclist escaped punishment but it's hoped he

learned his lesson from an incredibly near miss.

Absolutely astonishing pictures there.

Next tonight - feast your ears on this...

It's something we didn't think we'd hear this Christmas.

The bells of York Minster ringing out.

They were silenced following a row with volunteer bell ringers

and concerns about safeguarding procedures.

In a moment, we'll go live to York to speak to the Archbishop

but first Abi Jaiyeola looks back at the story.

For centuries, the bells of York Minster have

chimed out across the city but in October, they stopped.

The volunteer bell-ringers were dismissed over concerns about

It came after one of the ringers was accused

of indecent assault against young girls.

Since then, the Minster has struggled to find replacement

Some who'd offered to step in and said they'd

been subjected to intimidation on social media

The previous bell-ringing team denied that they've been

involved in any intimidation and said they had tried

But today, a resolution and at tonight's carol service, the

bells will ring again, albeit with a new team of ringers.

The Archbishop of York John Semtamu is at the Minster.

Archbishop, what does it mean to have those bells ringing again? It

is exciting. I said to you two days after the group stood down by the

Dean and chapter that we were hoping before long the bells would ring

again and were very grateful for the courageous and generous ringers from

within the city and across the country who have come forward to try

and help us move forward and are ringing for us over this period of

time. There they go again! Such a wonderful time. Singing to the

wonder of God. Mixed you is the Dean of Europe. Could I ask you, is this

a temporary solution to the problem? We are going to be recruiting a new

band in the New Year, so, yes, we have volunteers especially for the

Christmas season. So it is an interim to make sure that for the

benefit of all those coming to worship and the citizens of York

they know that there is a very special service for Christmas

happening tonight. Archbishop, everyone was upset. The bells had a

tradition of ringing in Europe since 1361. I've not been a long quite as

long as that, but it is very important for the people of York to

be able to enjoy these bells. It was important and of course, because

they are part of York Minster, they are being run for the glory of God.

Not just the enjoyment but it is nice that everyone can enjoy these

bells. When people say they have never stopped, well, they have been

stopped because of cleaning and the Second World War so it is not true

that have been ringing consistently through the 13th century, there have

been gaps but because of the way the processors have happened, we are

looking forward to recruiting a band who will abide by the church's

processes in terms of safeguarding. What happens next, Dean of York?

There are many services through Christmas and we hope very much

there will be more bell-ringing. We will have to listen out to discover

when that will be. Thank you very much indeed for sharing those bells

with us this evening. Thank you. Yorkshire takes in more

Syrian refugees than any We'll hear from some

of the new arrivals. Like, you're feeling sad

when you think about your family. A new report out today says last

year's Boxing Day floods cost Yorkshire's economy over

half a billion pounds. It says 4000 homes and 2000

businesses were affected. committed by government and councils

towards new flood defences. But another ?25 million

is needed to accelerate more flood defence schemes

with 90,000 homes Well, all week we've been back

to those places most badly affected. Today, we return to Tadcaster

where the town was split in two after its road bridge

over the River Wharfe Well, I think it's fair to say that

the people were hoping by this time this bridge would be open for

Christmas. Sadly, because of a series of delays, that is not going

to happen. We expected to happen towards the last week of January.

But I spent all day today talking to various people, businesses and

traders alike about the recovery and looking forward to 2017.

The reopening of Tadcaster's Road Bridge was described as a national

priority, but almost a year on, work to repair it remains unfinished. The

repercussions of what happened here last December I still being felt. At

the town's medical Centre, insurance costs have increased by almost

1000%. There is an annual premium this year of ?39,500 with a ?100,000

excess as compared to last year where our premium was ?3425.

So you can imagine, we feel we are being somewhat unfairly punished. In

the aftermath of the floods, the town hosted Prince Andrew 's friends

of the devastation. We have been hosting since about 1851. One

business affected was the iron mongers on Bridge Street. How high

the water come in last December? The water came up to this level here and

it was about three foot deep year and then about four feet deep down

in the bottom level. Saw the whole shop? It has been a tough year for

many traders. They hope the bridge reopening will get all businesses

back on track. They seem to be recovering pretty well but the

bridge will be the big thing. When it reopens, that will unite the town

and hopefully that will busy things back up again. Across the road, the

butcher estimates traders down by about 25% because of the bridge

closure, but they say they are optimistic the 2017. The bridge will

make a massive difference. We will have the traffic back, people

looking into the shops and thinking it's a nice place to visit, so it

will be a massive difference for us. It has been a turbulence 12 months

for Tadcaster, but there is a discernible sense of optimism here.

The floods may have divided the town physically, but its legacy has only

served to unite the community more permanently.

That's the thing, you are struck by the community endeavour and that

willingness and spirits to get things back and get that recovery

and turn it into optimism for the New Year ahead. But start to David

Barrell from the county council. You have responsibility for this bridge

here. Why wasn't it open for Christmas, what has been a problem?

There have been a number of issues but as you can see, it is an

incredibly difficult structure to rebuild. We are working to the

programme. It was not open to Christmas but to open for the end of

December so that we are working for one year after it unfortunately

collapsed. High river levels unethically talked about that

before, complexities with the national real bridge further

downstream causing water to back up to our bridge, unfortunately that

has sold our operation down a wee RER. Storms are coming over the next

few days. People have been a little nervous about that. Is it likely to

have an impact on what level here? No, we have been monitoring the

forecast and although there might be heavy rain, that rain will be fairly

transient. It certainly will not hit the wall so we have no concerns

about flooding. Give us a date then, when can we see will track across

this bridge? We are working to the programme we issued which is the

27th of January so that is when we expect to have road traffic crossing

the bridge again. A lot of companies work on the masonry particularly

over the arches which they're building at the moment, that we are

doing everything we can. The guys working on the bridge are throwing

everything at it. That either coming down and talking to us. You heard it

here, 27th of January. We will hold David to that and I'm sure that will

be quite an occasion. Thank you. Don't remember the meat forget, that

her to Yorkshire has a stage in Tadcaster.

And tomorrow night Lara and I will be live in Hebden Bridge

for a special floods anniversary edition of Look North.

On the day it's been announced a new drug could be a landmark

treatment for multiple sclerosis, BBC Look North can reveal increasing

numbers of people have been travelling overseas for a different

high-risk therapy because they don't qualify for UK trials.

The treatment - which has been undergoing

trials in Sheffield - has shown some extraordinary results

in a small number of carefully selected patients

Multiple sclerosis affects around 100,000 people

in the UK and can cause problems with mobility and fatigue.

Many are diagnosed with a relapsing form of MS

where symptoms flare up and then fade.

But others experience progressive forms of the disease,

where disability continues to build up over time.

Here's our health correspondent Jamie Coulson.

Six months ago, Angela Austwick was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

The 33-year-old is constantly exhausted

feels like she's wearing ankle weights.

She's been told her form of the disease is progressive,

so her condition will get worse and worse.

Everything just came to a standstill.

The hopes and plans that we'd hand and everything that

we'd always been excited about for the future, it just...

Multiple sclerosis is an incurable disease where the body's

own immune system attacks the protective layer on nerve cells

It causes messages to and from the brain to

become disrupted causing problems with vision, mobility,

Doctors in Sheffield say patients with multiple sclerosis

are showing remarkable improvements...

A treatment being trialled in Sheffield as part of an

international study that is normally used on cancer patients has given

many people hope but not everyone is suitable

and it comes with significant risks.

It involves harvesting bone marrow stem cells

before a patient undergoes chemotherapy to destroy

The stem cells are then returned to the body and within a month,

the immune system starts to work again or is rebooted.

The treatment has seen remarkable results in some people and is most

effective in those patients with the relapsing form of MS which is

characterised by flare ups followed by periods of remission,

but Angela has the progressive form of the disease

and so doesn't qualify for the trials here in the UK.

So, like others, she's looking abroad for the treatment.

This clinic in Mexico has offered to treat Angela in April,

The MS Society are unable to comment about

individual clinics, but say questions remain about how effective

this treatment can be for people with her type of MS.

In progressive MS, we haven't seen so many benefits

coming from this treatment in the research conducted so far.

So we'd like to see more research in this area.

But for people now who are considering HSCT,

we'd advise them to go and speak to their neurologist.

They can talk through all the details and go through the

Importantly, this is an aggressive treatment.

It comes with significant side effects and risks.

This is where my treatment started in Mexico...

Kate Dawson has progressive MS and was also turned

She travelled to Mexico in June and claims she seen a big improvement.

There are things that I literally couldn't do and that I would have

to walk round the kitchen holding onto the sides by seven o'clock

every day just because I couldn't stand up any longer.

I don't have that pain in my back any more.

The clinic in Mexico says they are able

to treat patients who have been turned down in the UK because they

They also say all patients are informed about the procedure

I'm scared of not doing anything about it.

But I'm not scared of HSCT.

Earlier I spoke to one of the men running the MS trial

that you've just heard about at Sheffield's Hallamshire hospital.

He told me why they were concerned about patients heading

It has to be delivered in a credited bone marrow transplant unit.

It has to be delivered by specialists with experience

both in haematology and transplantation and neurology

and the patients have to have the right sort of follow-up.

Some patients are returning to the UK just with a letter

to their GP and that is not satisfactory.

These patients need to be under the care of the right

expertise in the right hospitals if it's going

So it's the after-care that's the real problem then?

Hundreds of MPs have applied for enhanced security measures

for their homes and constituency offices since the murder of Jo Cox.

After the Batley and Spen MP was killed in June,

Two years ago, the bill for this work was ?7700 pounds.

The BBC understands it could now top half a million.

People who worked in Grimethorpe colliery have gathered

in the Barnsley village to pay tribute to miners who died at work.

More than 150 miners lost their lives at Grimethorpe

between 1894 and when it closed in 1993.

More men from the village died in Grimethorpe Colliery

A minute's silence was held at the memorial at St Luke's Church.

It were a filthy, dirty, horrible job but what made it was the men

True men that you could have a laugh with and you could say

any thing you wanted to them underground, but once you got

out of the pit, you showed total respect for one another and the

Yorkshire has taken in more Syrian refugees than any other area

in England, according to figures from the Home Office.

403 came here in the 12 months up to the end of September under

the "vulnerable persons resettlement scheme" - mainly to Leeds,

The government pays ?8500 per refugee towards housing,

health care and other costs for their first year in the UK.

Dave Edwards has been to meet some of the new arrivals in Bradford

For the children of Syria, there have been few causes

for celebration over the past five years.

But here in Bradford, a smile is never too far

away at this Christmas party for young refugees.

You feel here safety and the school is good.

Just in Syria, like, all your cousins,

Like, you're feeling sad just when you think

Most of these children wouldn't normally celebrate

Some have been through things you'd never want your

For them, this is a chance to enjoy themselves.

Call the baby Jesus. SHE TRANSLATES

The local vicar has been brought

Translating is Rosanna, a member of Syria's Christian minority.

She arrived in Bradford in September.

There is still no water, no electricity. Yet, but they are

trying to survive with the minimum. Although I am away from my home,

still I have the same Christmas spirit in me. I have this message of

peace and love to my community, new community. And this community has

given them a warm welcome, organising events like this one. A

chance for the children to meet someone new. When they come into the

centre, the children will be playing around in the hole. You can see the

smiles on their faces and their talking to each other and that's

quite hard for filling. You know, you think there's something that

I've done today that's been worthwhile. It's thought about 1700

Syrian refugees will be settled in Yorkshire by the end of 2018.

Hopefully bringing some much-needed joyed to their world.

That's lovely, isn't it? Good to see them smiling.

Love them or hate them, they're an essential

But has the price of your British sprouts shot up?

Farmers are warning there are fewer available this year

been out on the farm to get his pick of what's left.

Turkeys and sprouts adults like Christmas, but farmers like Chris

Stark do. But this year, has been tough with his crop attacked by a

pest. The diamondbacks moth. Plenty of sprouts here. One or two. As you

can see, Laver gets a lead in the crop and then makes holes in the

sprouts and that is what causes the damage and it means we can no longer

sell the sprouts. Sprouts that passed the quality control and up on

the shelves at this green grocers in Wakefield. Sales are always but this

time of year. We have the in going, on stalks? Yes, how do you think

they grow? What a beautiful, beautiful thing that is. You can

have them on different sizes as well. When you think about it, they

are very slimming as well. All the good things in them. Foods expert

Annie knows how to spruce up a sprout. I'd wait to see her at her

North Yorkshire home. I've got a few jazzy wasted pep them out. I have

part cooked the sprouts so they've been in boiling water for three to

five minutes and I have called them down. And then this is a spicy kind

of marinade. Some soy sauce, water, soft brown sugar, star unease,

cinnamon sticks -- star anise. I've been at the sherry already! But it's

allowed, it's Christmas. And some ginger. And then some spring onions.

Just look at that, the smell is gorgeous, isn't it? Really lovely.

And then in Boulder spring onions just to add a little bit of a kick

to them. Ie, you know, defy anybody to say that they do not like sprouts

when they have tasted those. The final one that I've got is a little

bit of granny Smith apple. Really? Yes, with bacon and sprouts. And

that's it. Who wouldn't like sprouts when they are cooked like that, Ian?

That looks gorgeous. Let's see the finished results. I couldn't say

anything else with you stood next to me, but they are absolutely

delicious. Who knew sprouts could be so delicious? You don't know what

you're missing, viewers, honestly. Thank you, Annie. Merry Christmas.

And Merry Christmas to you too. Delicious sprouts? Who'd have

thought we'd have been learning that.

The one in the office would know I have man flu, but lots of wind

tomorrow. There are warnings in place. It looks like a very windy

Christmas weekend but a short little thing because next week looks set to

be much,. Fine weather on offer. But there is the one in tomorrow.

Localised deal. Oakley 70 mph for a times bright start turning very wet

from the West courtesy of this very act of cold front that will come

through from during Friday afternoon. You can see the number of

isobars they're suggesting it's going to be extremely windy out

there. Christmas Day, well, still a number of isobars in there but the

other feature is how exceptionally mild it is going to be with

temperatures perhaps 13 or 14 Celsius. That is very mild for this

time of year. We have had one or two showers in the last few hours. We

have picked the story up on a mostly fine note. Still be isolated shower

possible pushing in from the West. Though shower was gradually fizzling

out from the north and west Georgia so where you have shelter from the

wind, there could be a ground frost. Temperatures perhaps down to two

Celsius or one Celsius across sheltered parts of north Yorkshire.

So the sun rises in the morning at 8:23am. Here are of the high water

tanks. A bright start in the East with some sunshine but it won't be

long before the clouds rattle in from the Atlantic bringing a bit of

rain to the gales. There is the cold front. Watch it coming in bringing

very heavy and squally winds and rain. It does go out of the way

fairly rapidly by tomorrow evening and we are back to clear spells and

scattered showers. But I suspect the main feature of the weather will be

the strength of the wind is so temperatures very academic and nine

or 10 Celsius but when you add in those 60 or 70 mph gusts, it will

not feel very mild out of doors. Friday night, clear spells and

scattered showers and Christmas Eve is not looking too bad. It is a day

of sunshine with a few showers. Most showers in the West. The best of the

fine weather further east. Look at these temperatures are Christmas

Day. Absolutely no chance of a white Christmas, he says! A strong wind

with gales in places and then boxing day onwards looks fine for next

week. That is the forecast. We will hold

you to that one! Here is a sight and sound to gladden

the heart. The bells of York Minster. Quality, good night.