:00:20. > :00:23.Hello and welcome to Midlands Today. The headlines tonight.
:00:24. > :00:27.A Chief Constable admits some officers have been removed from the
:00:27. > :00:30.front line to work in the back offices. It is a temporary measure
:00:30. > :00:33.and it is all about, ultimately, serving the public better.
:00:33. > :00:36.Copper thefts costing �800 million a year but rail chiefs say they're
:00:36. > :00:40.starting to beat the thieves. High Street in crisis - how more
:00:40. > :00:43.and more retailers are going online to boost sales. People are finding
:00:43. > :00:47.me online because they are looking for something specific, so I may as
:00:47. > :00:49.well not be on the high street. And, made in the Midlands -
:00:49. > :00:56.hundreds of thousands of special medals are struck for the Queen's
:00:56. > :00:59.Diamond Jubilee. Good evening and welcome to
:00:59. > :01:02.Wednesday's Midlands Today from the BBC. Tonight, the Chief Constable
:01:02. > :01:06.of West Midlands Police admits some officers have been withdrawn from
:01:06. > :01:09.front-line duties to work in back office jobs.
:01:09. > :01:12.A Birmingham MP claims the figure is 32, but the Federation
:01:12. > :01:15.representing rank and file officers claims the true number is much
:01:15. > :01:17.higher. Labour say it's proof that budget savings are cutting into the
:01:17. > :01:20.thin blue line. But the Chief Constable says the
:01:20. > :01:26.changes are a temporary measure needed to help the force through a
:01:26. > :01:30.time of huge upheaval. Giles Latcham reports.
:01:30. > :01:33.Policing the West Midlands - was ever the job more difficult? On the
:01:33. > :01:36.frontline or back at base handling calls and data, in the midst of
:01:36. > :01:46.�120 million worth of budget cuts, this is a political battleground
:01:46. > :01:46.
:01:46. > :01:50.and Labour are on the offensive. Some of the best officers have been
:01:50. > :01:54.taken out of the front line into the back room.
:01:54. > :02:04.At least 30 highly trained officers are said to be doing civilian jobs,
:02:04. > :02:04.
:02:04. > :02:10.the real figure could be nearer 100. According to the Police Federation,
:02:10. > :02:17.the front line officers had been removed from duty to work in the
:02:17. > :02:26.backroom. In Dudley, eight officers had been put who work in a contact
:02:26. > :02:28.centre. One officer has said he has gone into a controlled am...
:02:28. > :02:31.Federation representatives have a sheaf of emails from front-line
:02:31. > :02:34.officers unhappy at filling in for civilians who have taken redundancy.
:02:34. > :02:39.Those still on the streets claim they are struggling to cope.
:02:39. > :02:43.still perform as best we can. We still try and offer the best
:02:43. > :02:50.service we can. But as time goes on, officers become more and more
:02:50. > :02:53.stressed with the workload. Taking calls on BBC WM, the man at
:02:53. > :02:56.the top agreed some of his 7,000 officers had been moved into
:02:56. > :03:00.backroom roles, but it was a temporary measure, he said, to tide
:03:00. > :03:04.the force over. I do not like this front line
:03:04. > :03:08.distinction. We are cutting crime and faster than we have cut Prime
:03:08. > :03:13.before. We are delivering it frontline service in a different
:03:13. > :03:16.way. That is my priority. And the minister rejected calls to
:03:16. > :03:20.rethink the level of funding cuts. Labour's story, he said, was an old
:03:20. > :03:23.one. They are calling on us to spend more money and that is what
:03:23. > :03:26.got this country into the mess in the first place.
:03:26. > :03:29.Next week, the Chief Constable will outline his vision of policing
:03:29. > :03:37.after the cuts, and that will involve recruiting a private
:03:37. > :03:45.partner. And Jack Dromey joins us now from
:03:45. > :03:54.Westminster. You one the Government to rethink the cuts, but they are
:03:54. > :03:59.adamant that cuts will not affect frontline policing. They are wrong.
:04:00. > :04:05.16,000 police officers are going nationally, 1200 in the West
:04:05. > :04:09.Midlands. That is creating impossible problems for our country.
:04:09. > :04:13.Theresa May promised that the front line would be protected, but it is
:04:13. > :04:17.not. I'm no officers have been taken out of the front line and
:04:17. > :04:22.into the back room. The Police Federation is right that there
:04:22. > :04:27.might be any more. That is not the fault of the chief constable. The
:04:27. > :04:36.fault is with government. average, police officers, according
:04:36. > :04:41.to the government, spend more than 85% of their time in office than
:04:41. > :04:46.out in patrol. It is misleading propaganda. We have a police
:04:46. > :04:51.service which is the best in Birmingham and Britain in the
:04:51. > :04:55.Midlands. It gives an outstanding service to the people of Birmingham
:04:55. > :05:02.and the Midlands. It is facing unprecedented cuts at breakneck
:05:02. > :05:06.speed. That is creating impossible problems. The Government has got to
:05:06. > :05:10.remember the first duty of any government is the safety and
:05:10. > :05:16.security of its citizens. There is the argument that your government
:05:16. > :05:25.left a legacy of debt. If you had not, the cuts would not have had to
:05:25. > :05:31.happen. Before the election, her Majesty's inspection get --
:05:31. > :05:36.Inspectorate of Constabulary said you could cut 12% of any impact --
:05:36. > :05:42.without any impact on the front line. The government has gone for
:05:42. > :05:51.20% cuts. That is creating major problems. The Government must think
:05:51. > :05:52.again. Thank you very much. Still to come on tonight's
:05:52. > :05:57.programme. Reaction to new plans aiming to
:05:57. > :05:59.transform one of our major cities. It has been described as the second
:05:59. > :06:02.biggest threat to the Olympics after terrorism and costs the
:06:02. > :06:05.country an estimated �800million a year. The problem of copper theft
:06:05. > :06:08.has become so big that a national conference was held today to tackle
:06:08. > :06:11.it. There have been particular problems in the West Midlands with
:06:11. > :06:14.copper cabling stolen from railway lines, causing commuter chaos, but
:06:14. > :06:24.Network Rail revealed today that they might be winning the battle to
:06:24. > :06:26.
:06:26. > :06:31.beat the thieves. Andy Newman reports.
:06:31. > :06:38.Last weekend, there was an attempt here to steal precious metal from
:06:38. > :06:43.our rail network. The target was copper cable. But this robbery was
:06:43. > :06:52.foiled. When officers were called here, they discovered that the
:06:52. > :07:01.concrete covering the cable had been disturbed. The sort two
:07:01. > :07:06.figures are running away. They were able to make two arrests. Another
:07:06. > :07:10.success in the battle against metal thieves. Hidden cameras caught them
:07:10. > :07:16.in the act. Statistics show a dramatic fall in the number of
:07:16. > :07:22.trackside thefts. Only 16 this financial year compared to 58 in
:07:22. > :07:30.the previous 12 months. I we have introduced a lot of new measures.
:07:30. > :07:39.We are using smart water where we speak the equipment and the cable
:07:39. > :07:44.him. We have CCTV and we have patrols. They Industry still wants
:07:44. > :07:54.a change in the law forcing scrap metal transactions to beat
:07:54. > :08:00.
:08:00. > :08:02.paperless. That would create a paper trail. It delays dreams, --
:08:02. > :08:09.trains and causes to run destruction to people travelling to
:08:09. > :08:16.and from work. As police step up patrols, it seems that the
:08:16. > :08:21.criminals are facing increasing disruption to their working the --
:08:21. > :08:24.are working routine. Homeserve is to cut 200 jobs at its
:08:24. > :08:26.head office in Walsall after admitting it was taking longer than
:08:26. > :08:29.expected to recover from accusations that it mis-sold
:08:29. > :08:32.policies. The firm, which last year insured three million people in the
:08:32. > :08:34.UK against burst pipes, broken down boilers and electrical problems,
:08:34. > :08:37.stopped making sales calls in October and retrained staff after a
:08:37. > :08:40.review into whether its pricing policies were clear.
:08:40. > :08:43.Brintons Carpets could axe 150 jobs as part of a cost-cutting programme.
:08:43. > :08:46.The firm, which has its main base in Kidderminster, said the cuts
:08:46. > :08:49.could affect its sites in the UK and China. It employs around 1,700
:08:49. > :08:52.people globally, with 630 in the UK including sites in Kidderminster
:08:52. > :09:02.and Shropshire. Brintons was bought out last September in a �40 million
:09:02. > :09:03.
:09:03. > :09:06.deal. Birmingham City Council says it
:09:06. > :09:09.needs to save almost �62 million from next year's budget. More than
:09:09. > :09:18.1,000 jobs are now at risk, although the council is proposing
:09:18. > :09:22.to freeze council tax. Our political reporter Susana Mendonca
:09:22. > :09:27.is at the council's office in Aston for us now. Susana, what more can
:09:27. > :09:30.you tell us? Well, it's a less painful budget
:09:30. > :09:33.than last year's when we saw cuts of �213 million in Birmingham but,
:09:33. > :09:37.none the less, �62 million of savings in the coming year is a lot
:09:37. > :09:39.of money and some areas will feel the pinch again. The worst hit
:09:39. > :09:42.department will be Adults and Communities. It has to save almost
:09:42. > :09:48.�30 million in the next financial year. Children, Young Peoples and
:09:49. > :09:52.Families will have to save �22 million from its budget. In terms
:09:52. > :09:54.of jobs, the council confirmed here today that 1,144 posts could go at
:09:55. > :09:57.the council over the next financial year. That does not necessarily
:09:57. > :10:00.mean job losses as the council would look to redeploy people
:10:00. > :10:03.elsewhere. On the whole, the council thinks they have come up
:10:03. > :10:13.with a good budget, not least because they'll be freezing council
:10:13. > :10:13.
:10:13. > :10:17.tax for another year. For those people that have to pay council tax,
:10:17. > :10:21.89 % have said they do not want an increase in council tax. We are not
:10:21. > :10:24.going to put up the rents on the homes we own. This is not a budget
:10:24. > :10:30.about closure. We are opening swimming pools, we are not going to
:10:30. > :10:40.close libraries, we are not going to close down children's centres.
:10:40. > :10:41.
:10:41. > :10:44.What are the unions saying tonight? Well, the sting has been taken out
:10:44. > :10:47.of the tail a bit for the unions. They had been telling me this
:10:47. > :10:49.morning that they were worried at the prospect of children's homes
:10:49. > :10:53.closing and people with disabilities at the council
:10:53. > :10:56.potentially losing their posts. The council made it clear today that
:10:56. > :10:58.neither of these things will happen. None the less, the unions say
:10:58. > :11:03.Birmingham City council leaders have not been doing enough to
:11:03. > :11:13.reduce the scale of cuts. People are going to lose their jobs, they
:11:13. > :11:16.
:11:16. > :11:19.will be thrown onto the scrap heap. The vulnerable will be hit again.
:11:19. > :11:25.It's a balancing act, isn't it, for the ruling coalition with an
:11:25. > :11:28.election in May? Yes, and the Tory- Lib Dem coalition is on shaky
:11:28. > :11:31.ground politically in Birmingham. This could be their last budget if
:11:31. > :11:34.Labour win enough seats in the local election. Last year, their
:11:34. > :11:37.cuts were top loaded so we had that 213 million figure, but the council
:11:37. > :11:47.has to save 400 million over four years. And what's quite interesting
:11:47. > :11:50.is that. This year, the cuts are far lower - 62 million
:11:50. > :11:54.Plans for a major revamp of Coventry have been scaled back to
:11:54. > :11:56.save money. In 2008, a �1 billion redevelopment was announced to
:11:56. > :12:00.include rooftop gardens and an artificial river. But those plans
:12:00. > :12:04.have now been changed. Kevin Reide has more.
:12:04. > :12:06.This was the vision in 2008 - the so-called jerde plan, a �1 billion
:12:06. > :12:09.vision complete with an artificial river and rooftop gardens, but now
:12:09. > :12:19.deemed as unnecessary. Instead, Coventry Council has decided to
:12:19. > :12:22.
:12:22. > :12:29.make the best of what's already here.
:12:29. > :12:33.Need to address the situation. The in their aim is to knock down
:12:33. > :12:40.the many buildings which have led to a disjointed and cluttered city
:12:40. > :12:47.centre. They have blocked off the most obvious route through the city.
:12:47. > :12:50.We are trying to introduce it began. Coventry's own - the Specials -
:12:50. > :12:53.alluded to the city in the late '80s with their song Concrete
:12:53. > :13:00.Jungle. But the new plans aim to change that image by sweeping away
:13:00. > :13:07.dark forbidding alleys and dead ends and opening new vistas.
:13:07. > :13:16.market and furniture store is only connected to the city with a dingy
:13:16. > :13:23.alleyway. The new scheme emphasises and brings out the market, making
:13:23. > :13:32.it share the most prominent space. There will be some new buildings,
:13:33. > :13:36.some of that residential. But there will also be a new cinema.
:13:36. > :13:39.But not everybody is happy with the plans. For example, this row of
:13:39. > :13:42.shops behind me, known as the City Arcade, will be demolished. There
:13:42. > :13:45.is a large number of independent traders here and some are concerned
:13:45. > :13:48.for their future. The City Arcade is one of the harbours in the city
:13:48. > :13:53.centre. If the plans are to move us, they will increase the rent and the
:13:53. > :13:58.rates and that will be a problem for us. I will worry if there is
:13:58. > :14:06.something to worry about. Planning permission has yet to be applied
:14:06. > :14:09.for and then the developer will lead to be sought.
:14:09. > :14:13.Still ahead tonight, we begin the countdown to Wolves v West Brom in
:14:13. > :14:19.the Premier League on Sunday, but surely the ball skills on show will
:14:19. > :14:23.be better than this? And it's now no longer a case of no
:14:23. > :14:26.snow, but just how bad is it going to be? The West Midlands is in the
:14:26. > :14:36.firing line and it all starts from tomorrow night onwards. Join me
:14:36. > :14:38.With retail sales falling and the cost of running shops in the high
:14:38. > :14:42.street still rising more and more, small retailers are deciding to
:14:42. > :14:45.give up and move online. The volume of goods being sold over the
:14:45. > :14:49.internet is continuing to rise and sales could top �70 billion this
:14:49. > :14:51.year. In the latest in our Crisis in the
:14:52. > :15:01.High Street series, our Business Correspondent, Peter Plisner talks
:15:02. > :15:06.to those setting up on the internet Hats off to the high street. Well,
:15:06. > :15:09.not quite. Adelle Partridge runs her hand-made hats business from a
:15:09. > :15:12.shop in the centre of Shrewsbury. But not for much longer. The
:15:12. > :15:21.increasing costs of running a shop have force her to rethink sales
:15:22. > :15:30.strategy. My outgoings every month for keeping this shop open have a
:15:30. > :15:35.shot up. And I have the cost of petrol to get here and parking. You
:15:35. > :15:45.have got to cover that before you make any profit.
:15:45. > :15:46.
:15:46. > :15:49.Instead she decided to abandon the shop and use the internet instead.
:15:49. > :15:51.Twitter is great. It is pushing up the number of people who look at my
:15:51. > :15:56.website. Operating an online spiritual
:15:56. > :16:04.healing business from her bedroom. Jane Bremer from Pershore wants a
:16:04. > :16:08.shop, but like Adele it just too expensive. I did what a high-street
:16:09. > :16:12.store and I spent a long time looking at premises and stores.
:16:12. > :16:22.Again, there was no way I could get the financial support to have a
:16:22. > :16:23.
:16:23. > :16:33.shop. The that so many shops in the High Street now empty, there is no
:16:33. > :16:33.
:16:33. > :16:38.surprise in the growth of online retailing. But retail experts
:16:38. > :16:43.maintain that even with that growth, the High Street is not dead yet.
:16:43. > :16:48.You do not walk into an online shop randomly. You have to be found. You
:16:48. > :16:53.have to promote yourself. Life can be difficult for them and there is
:16:53. > :16:59.quite a high drop-out rate of those shops leaving their real world to
:16:59. > :17:02.go online. The good news is that, even with
:17:02. > :17:04.some retailers preferring to be online, high streets all over the
:17:04. > :17:07.region still have a bright future. Peter Plisner, BBC Midlands Today
:17:07. > :17:09.in Shrewsbury. And you can see more on this with
:17:09. > :17:12.our Political Editor Patrick Burns on the Sunday Politics programme,
:17:12. > :17:20.this Sunday at 12 o'clock. Ian's here now with this evening's
:17:20. > :17:22.sport. Birmingham City fans will certainly
:17:23. > :17:26.be enjoying looking at the Championship table tonight. Chris
:17:26. > :17:28.Hughton's men are up to third and only two points off an automatic
:17:28. > :17:30.promotion slot after victory over Portsmouth at St Andrew's last
:17:30. > :17:40.night. And, as Nick Clitheroe explains, it
:17:40. > :17:45.
:17:45. > :17:47.No-one leaves St Andrews early this season because Birmingham City's
:17:47. > :17:53.impressive rise to promotion contention in the Championship has
:17:53. > :17:57.been built on last-minute heroics. No wonder the fans' anthem is Keep
:17:57. > :17:59.Right On Till The End of the Road. And they were at it again last
:17:59. > :18:01.night. Denied by Portsmouth's rearguard action until just four
:18:02. > :18:06.minutes from the end when substitute Nathan Redmond smashed
:18:06. > :18:09.home the winner. It means Birmingham have now scored almost a
:18:09. > :18:13.third of their goals in the final ten minutes of matches, are
:18:13. > :18:23.unbeaten in 12 games and have not conceded a goal in 8 of their last
:18:23. > :18:27.
:18:27. > :18:32.11 matches. I do not think it is a coincidence. Chris Hughton is
:18:32. > :18:35.meticulous about the way he gets his team together. We do finish
:18:35. > :18:38.games strongly. Cheltenham Town were knocked off
:18:38. > :18:42.the top of league two last night at the new leaders Crawley. It looked
:18:42. > :18:45.like it would be another victory on the road for the Robins when Luke
:18:45. > :18:51.Garbutt's stunning goal put them in front. But they were 3-1 down by
:18:51. > :18:54.half-time as Crawley took control and that quickly became 4-1. As
:18:54. > :18:57.tempers flared, the Cheltenham manager Mark Yates and his opposite
:18:57. > :18:59.number were sent to the stands. Daryl Duffy's late goal was little
:18:59. > :19:05.consolation, but Cheltenham stay second and very much in the chase
:19:05. > :19:07.for automatic promotion. Nick Clitheroe, BBC Midlands Today.
:19:07. > :19:12.The clock is ticking towards Sunday's Black Country derby at
:19:12. > :19:15.Molineux. And with so much at stake near the foot of the Premier League,
:19:15. > :19:18.the fans of Wolves and West Brom are feeling rather tense. So this
:19:18. > :19:28.morning, I went to meet four funny ladies to find out if laughter is
:19:28. > :19:29.
:19:29. > :19:33.the best medicine to cure those pre-match nerves.
:19:33. > :19:37.I hear it is a big game on Sunday. I am ready.
:19:37. > :19:43.Something funny is going on in Quarry Bank. Or, as they say around
:19:43. > :19:52.here Quarry Bonk. The most important game of the season.
:19:52. > :19:58.paid for it off. -- I hate football. At Thorns Community College, Black
:19:58. > :20:04.Country humour is very much alive and well. And that's all down to
:20:04. > :20:10.Fizzog, a group of comedy actors. They all met at Dudley College and
:20:10. > :20:17.now, ten years later, they're still making the Midlands laugh out loud.
:20:17. > :20:21.It is just a blip. Tomorrow evening, Fizzog start their new comedy tour
:20:21. > :20:28.in Bridgnorth. Apparently, it's 50% funnier than their last comedy tour.
:20:28. > :20:34.And they've even attracted a TV crew from Denmark. How big is
:20:34. > :20:40.Sunday's game in Denmark? English game is very big in Denmark.
:20:40. > :20:48.Sunday's game is no exception. There is on a one road to settle
:20:48. > :20:54.this. On the pitch. Bring it on. What more people in Denmark make of
:20:54. > :21:03.this? They will have a hard time to understand the dialect. We will
:21:03. > :21:13.have subtitles. We have had a couple of comments that today.
:21:13. > :21:16.
:21:16. > :21:19.we cannot repeat them. It is all friendly banter. Today's tussle
:21:19. > :21:25.between Jacky and Sue was a feisty affair. No quarter asked, no
:21:25. > :21:28.quarter given. Just like the big match at Molineux. The girls from
:21:28. > :21:38.Fizzog are tipping a 1-all draw. And when the dust settles on Sunday,
:21:38. > :21:42.
:21:42. > :21:45.they'll head off for a bostin cuppa The children's TV presenter Andy
:21:45. > :21:50.Akinwolere returned to his old school in Birmingham today to help
:21:50. > :21:54.the pupils train for this year's Sport Relief. The charity is
:21:54. > :21:57.holding dozens of running events across the West Midlands next month.
:21:57. > :22:02.Staff and pupils at St Mary's Catholic Primary in Harborne will
:22:02. > :22:08.be taking part. While he was at the school today, Andy came across one
:22:08. > :22:18.of his old teachers, Miss Callaghan, who remembers him well. You were
:22:18. > :22:24.really popular. Was I? You were very popular. You used to talk too
:22:24. > :22:29.much and so did your brother. Brilliant. That stood me in good
:22:29. > :22:35.stead for the future. Good luck to Andy. And of course, the girls from
:22:35. > :22:45.Fizzog. They were all good sports on a chilly morning in Quarry Bonk.
:22:45. > :22:46.
:22:47. > :22:48.You can see that the sketch in full on the Midlands Today Facebook page.
:22:49. > :22:51.Companies in Birmingham's world famous Jewellery Quarter have
:22:51. > :22:53.started shipping the first of thousands of special medals being
:22:54. > :22:56.produced to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. 450,000 medals are
:22:56. > :22:58.being produced, and the recipients will include members of the Armed
:22:59. > :23:01.Forces, emergency services and prison service. Three factories are
:23:02. > :23:08.involved in making the medals and they've taken on more staff to
:23:08. > :23:14.complete the order. Ben Godfrey reports.
:23:14. > :23:19.If there's the slightest scratch, Each Diamond Jubilee Medal is
:23:19. > :23:22.meticulously crafted. Commemorative medals are usually the domain of
:23:22. > :23:28.the Royal Mint, but Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter has stolen this
:23:28. > :23:31.particular crown. Worcestershire Medal Service won a
:23:31. > :23:38.�7 million contract, an order for almost half a million pieces, the
:23:38. > :23:43.largest production since the First World War.
:23:43. > :23:52.We have to deliver 30,000 Beddoes a week. We have our lot of schools we
:23:52. > :23:55.can draw on. -- we have a lot of skilleds we can draw on.
:23:55. > :23:59.Gladman and Norman is one of three companies in the Jewellery Quarter
:23:59. > :24:05.to benefit. They've taken on 11 more staff. It is fantastic to see
:24:05. > :24:13.this company getting this mass of order. It will keep us going. It
:24:13. > :24:19.gives us a good feeling. It will help us for the next three or four
:24:19. > :24:22.years. It was sustain the business. The first medals have been
:24:22. > :24:26.despatched and will be presented to those performing a front-line
:24:27. > :24:33.public duty. There is no distinction in rank
:24:33. > :24:40.when awarding these medals. They will be worn by members of the
:24:40. > :24:43.royal household, front line police and ambulance staff. 20 tonnes of
:24:43. > :24:46.nickel-silver and 40 kilometres of ribbon are needed for these medals.
:24:46. > :24:49.It is an historic order, not least in that the first commemorative
:24:49. > :24:57.medal awarded to Princess Catherine is this one and it's made in
:24:57. > :25:00.Birmingham. Ben Godfrey, BBC Midlands Today.
:25:00. > :25:02.Meanwhile, it has been announced that the Queen and Prince Philip
:25:02. > :25:06.will visit Hereford, Worcester, Birmingham and Shropshire during
:25:06. > :25:08.their Diamond Jubilee tour on July 11th and 12th. And if you have any
:25:08. > :25:12.special plans for celebrating the Diamond Jubilee in the summer, or
:25:12. > :25:15.any memories of meeting the Queen, we'd love to hear from you. The
:25:15. > :25:23.best way to get in touch is by email, and the address is on the
:25:23. > :25:26.screen now - midlandstoday@bbc.co.uk.
:25:26. > :25:36.Meanwhile, it seems to be getting colder and colder out there. Here's
:25:36. > :25:37.
:25:37. > :25:40.Shefali with the forecast. Well, Shefali with the forecast. Well,
:25:40. > :25:42.talk about changing weather. The outlook has altered quite
:25:42. > :25:46.dramatically since yesterday which now brings not only a little snow
:25:46. > :25:50.our way but perhaps more than we had over the weekend. In fact, it's
:25:50. > :25:53.the West Midlands now, not the East, that is going to bear the brunt of
:25:53. > :25:57.it and it's all down to our classic battle of cold air versus mild. The
:25:57. > :26:00.cold is now pushing further West and when it bumps into this rain
:26:00. > :26:03.heading South, we get snow. The Met Office has issued an early warning
:26:03. > :26:05.of up to 10cm of snow, that's 4 inches, almost anywhere across the
:26:05. > :26:08.Midlands from tomorrow night into Friday morning. That's definitely
:26:08. > :26:12.one to watch. Back to tonight though, and it'll eventually turn
:26:12. > :26:14.out to be a cloudier one than last night, so although still very cold
:26:14. > :26:24.with temperatures falling to a minimum of minus six, the frost
:26:24. > :26:30.won't be as severe and we're still running the risk of some ice. And
:26:30. > :26:33.so we come to tomorrow. It's going to be a cloudy day with an area of
:26:33. > :26:43.rain spilling down from the North, turning to freezing rain to begin
:26:43. > :26:45.
:26:45. > :26:48.with, creating an ice risk. There'll be the odd flurry of snow
:26:48. > :26:51.as well to begin with, but the real snow risk is tomorrow night into
:26:51. > :26:54.Friday morning with between 5-10 cm of snow possible anywhere and at
:26:54. > :27:04.any level. Things begin to dry up from Friday afternoon onwards
:27:04. > :27:16.
:27:16. > :27:19.through the weekend. Looking largely dry over the weekend. But
:27:19. > :27:23.freezing fog then becomes the problem over the weekend from any
:27:23. > :27:26.melting snow with frost and ice. A look at tonight's main headlines.
:27:26. > :27:28.A victory to remember for football manager Harry Redknapp as he is
:27:29. > :27:32.cleared of tax evasion. And a Chief Constable admits some