:00:10. > :00:14.Hello and welcome to Midlands Today, with Nick Owen and Mary Rhodes. A
:00:14. > :00:19.Our main headlines... Caught on camera, the gang who stole hundreds
:00:19. > :00:24.of thousands of pounds from cash machines are jailed for nearly 25
:00:24. > :00:29.years. I am relieved that some dangerous criminals are going to go
:00:29. > :00:34.to prison. Thousands and sign a petition forcing a Westminster
:00:34. > :00:39.debate this evening on the West Coast Main Line. As long as it is a
:00:39. > :00:44.good, efficient service, at the right price, I am happy. More than
:00:44. > :00:54.180,000 people in the region are on the waiting list for a house. And
:00:54. > :01:01.
:01:01. > :01:06.Prince Charles visits a factory in Good evening. Tonight, jailed for a
:01:06. > :01:10.total of nearly 25 years, a gang who stole hundreds of thousands of
:01:11. > :01:16.pounds by breaking into cash machines. They carried out 33
:01:16. > :01:21.separate raids across England. They stole almost �700,000 in total.
:01:21. > :01:26.They used cutting equipment to get into the machines before escaping
:01:26. > :01:30.in stolen, high-performance cars. An undercover operation by West
:01:30. > :01:33.Midlands Police caught them in the end. This report from Cath Mackie.
:01:34. > :01:38.They were expects at making their own hole in the wall. They wore
:01:38. > :01:42.face masks, and they used axes and hammers to smash through the doors
:01:42. > :01:47.of Co-op stores. Then they broke the back of the ATM, and with a
:01:47. > :01:53.petrol-driven circular saw, a sliced their way through the steel
:01:53. > :01:57.door to the cash inside. These are their faces uncovered - Noel Reilly
:01:57. > :02:01.and David Holmes were jailed for seven years each. Darren Buckley
:02:01. > :02:06.was given five years, seven months, and Simon Philips was given five
:02:06. > :02:12.years. There were smiles as the sentence was passed in court.
:02:12. > :02:16.showed disregard for the laws of the country. I think it shows the
:02:16. > :02:23.complete contempt that they had for the business premises that a
:02:23. > :02:26.targeted. The gang stole almost �700,000 from 32 Co-op stores and
:02:26. > :02:31.one garage during the course of the year. Once they had got the cash,
:02:31. > :02:35.they escaped in stolen, high- performance cars. Police tried to
:02:35. > :02:38.chase them on one occasion through Birmingham and Warwickshire at two
:02:38. > :02:44.o'clock in the morning, but the car was reaching speeds of 150 miles an
:02:44. > :02:47.hour. One eyewitness said all four brake discs were glowing red hot.
:02:47. > :02:51.The crime spree started in Kent and when to run the country. Police
:02:51. > :02:56.caught up with them last September, when they were arrested and bailed.
:02:56. > :03:02.But even on bail, Reilly and Holmes carried on thieving. On the 2nd
:03:02. > :03:07.November last year, police did a raid in Dorset, and found them
:03:07. > :03:12.bundling up this money, �83,000 worth, which they had stolen from a
:03:12. > :03:17.cashpoint earlier that morning. Holmes had been caught on a CCTV
:03:17. > :03:21.camera as he did the reconnaissance for the last hit. Anybody that goes
:03:21. > :03:25.out of their way to commit this type of crime will be targeted, and
:03:25. > :03:31.we will use whatever means are at our disposal, to make sure they are
:03:31. > :03:36.responsible. All four men, from the Midlands, pleaded guilty. Police
:03:36. > :03:39.are still trying to find �600,000 of the stolen cash.
:03:40. > :03:44.You can read more on that story on our website.
:03:44. > :03:54.Coming up later in the programme, hundreds of schoolchildren making a
:03:54. > :03:59.splash in Coventry, as they meet their heroes from the Olympic pool.
:03:59. > :04:02.A debate is currently under way in Parliament over who should run the
:04:02. > :04:08.main rail route linking the Midlands with London, the north of
:04:08. > :04:12.England and Scotland. More than 170,000 people signed an e-petition
:04:12. > :04:15.calling on the Government to reverse its decision to award the
:04:15. > :04:19.franchise to First Group, instead of the current operators, Virgin
:04:19. > :04:22.Rail. Virgin Rail are challenging the decision in the courts. In a
:04:22. > :04:28.moment we will be hearing from the chief executive of Virgin. But
:04:28. > :04:32.first, our transport correspondent, Peter Plisner, reports. Who should
:04:32. > :04:36.run the railway which links Britain's major cities? Virgin Rail
:04:36. > :04:41.has failed to secure the new contract, losing out to its rival,
:04:41. > :04:45.First Group, which bit more than �5 billion. But thousands want the
:04:45. > :04:50.Government to reconsider its decision, adding their name to an
:04:50. > :04:54.e-petition, which today resulted in a parliamentary debate. Taxpayers
:04:54. > :04:59.want to know that they will not be held to ransom by Dick Turpin train
:04:59. > :05:03.operators, asking them to stand and deliver, having secured the
:05:03. > :05:09.contract on a bogus premise, taking their profits and scuppering for
:05:09. > :05:14.stop I have looked at the managing director of First Group in the eye,
:05:14. > :05:18.and asked him if he was able to deliver, and I am confident that he
:05:18. > :05:23.understands the significance of this. First Group has promised a
:05:23. > :05:28.variety of benefits, including 11 new trains, 12,000 additional seats
:05:28. > :05:34.every day, and, by 2016, direct services to London from Shrewsbury
:05:34. > :05:39.and Telford. Virgin maintains that the figures in the bid simply do
:05:39. > :05:42.not add up, but not surprisingly, First Group disagrees. Virgin Rail
:05:42. > :05:46.is also concerned about the way the bids were assessed by the
:05:46. > :05:50.Department of Transport. But ultimately, passengers want a good,
:05:50. > :05:58.reliable service, whoever is in charge. I do not care, as long as
:05:58. > :06:03.it is a good, efficient service, at the right price. To get about the
:06:03. > :06:08.UK, I find Virgin Trains are the best. First Group is yet to sign a
:06:08. > :06:17.contract. That has been halted because Virgin wants a judicial
:06:17. > :06:21.review. The new franchise is due to begin on 9th December. Recently, we
:06:21. > :06:24.spoke to the bearded leader for First Group, who said they had
:06:24. > :06:28.house on the franchise fair and square. Earlier, I spoke to the
:06:28. > :06:34.chief executive of Virgin Rail, and asked if it was now time to accept
:06:34. > :06:38.the result. I think if they had beaten us on better ideas and more
:06:38. > :06:41.investment, and the department had done a risk assessment properly,
:06:41. > :06:47.and offered the right level of guarantees, we would have said,
:06:47. > :06:50.well done and good luck to them. First Group did put in a decent bid,
:06:50. > :06:55.because they won, and they have promised to increase capacity and
:06:55. > :06:59.improve the line to Shropshire. actually promised more investment.
:06:59. > :07:06.We were going to invest more than �800 million. I think they have
:07:06. > :07:10.said �350 million. They offered a big premium to the Government, and
:07:10. > :07:14.that is the essence of a one argument - had the Government done
:07:14. > :07:19.the risk assessment on that premium payment properly, and had they
:07:19. > :07:25.asked for the right guarantees from First Group, it might have been a
:07:25. > :07:29.different result. We have taken what both sides have said publicly,
:07:29. > :07:33.and we have applied those numbers to have aided the risk assessment
:07:33. > :07:41.on a bit, and we have come up with a different answer. -- to how they
:07:41. > :07:44.have done the risk assessment on our bid. We have lost two bids to
:07:44. > :07:50.very risky bids, and this is the third time. Both of the previous
:07:50. > :07:54.two failed. We felt, this has not been done properly. We have just
:07:54. > :07:58.been asking for transparency from the Department of Transport, to see
:07:58. > :08:01.the two bids side-by-side and see if we are right. Is this not just a
:08:01. > :08:04.stalling tactic, because they are due to take over the running of the
:08:04. > :08:09.line on 9th December? If this is not resolved by then, passengers
:08:09. > :08:14.will be suffering. We are conscious of that. The decision we have taken
:08:14. > :08:18.to go to court has not been easy, for that reason. We are helping
:08:18. > :08:22.First Group in the background, to get them ready for mobilisation, in
:08:22. > :08:25.case we are wrong, because we do not want passengers to suffer.
:08:25. > :08:29.Finally, passengers are telling us they do not care who runs the line,
:08:29. > :08:35.as long as it runs on time and they get a fair deal on what they are
:08:35. > :08:38.paying for a ticket. I think they are, because you look at the
:08:38. > :08:43.passenger satisfaction ratings that we get, compared to First Group,
:08:44. > :08:47.and we always get a lot higher rating. The fact that we have had
:08:47. > :08:53.this e-petition set up by members of the public, I think it shows
:08:53. > :08:57.that they do care. Generally, we do a decent job, and we can be an
:08:57. > :09:00.awful lot better. We would love to have the chance to do that for the
:09:00. > :09:03.next 14 years. Our correspondent Peter Plisner was listening to that
:09:03. > :09:08.interview, and he has also been following the debate in Parliament.
:09:08. > :09:12.He joins us now from Birmingham's New Street station. So, clearly,
:09:12. > :09:16.Virgin Rail are not going quietly - what will happen to the service and
:09:16. > :09:20.to the passengers if this is not resolved? It is most likely the
:09:20. > :09:24.trains will carry on as normal on 9th December. What might happen is
:09:24. > :09:27.that the Government may ask Virgin to carry on. Some say that is
:09:27. > :09:32.unlikely because of the war of words between the Government and
:09:32. > :09:35.Virgin. Amy bring in their own directly operated railway company,
:09:35. > :09:39.but that would mean a cost to the taxpayer, and the Government will
:09:39. > :09:43.be trying to avoid that. It is normally 100 days from the signing
:09:43. > :09:48.of a contract to the taking over of the trains. At the moment, only 90
:09:48. > :09:52.days of remaining. It is a bit worrying. Everything is now on hold
:09:52. > :09:56.while the legal action goes on. have also had this afternoon at
:09:56. > :10:00.another of our train companies, London Midlands, is to be closing
:10:01. > :10:05.three ticket office - what more can you tell us about that? There have
:10:05. > :10:09.been looking at ways of saving costs. Ticket buying habits have
:10:09. > :10:12.been changing, with machines, and with the Internet. They have asked
:10:13. > :10:19.the Government if they could close a number of stations and change
:10:19. > :10:25.hours. The Government has not accepted all of the proposals. A
:10:25. > :10:30.number of stations which were too close will now be staying open.
:10:30. > :10:35.Three will be closing, however. Scores more stations will be facing
:10:35. > :10:37.reduced ticket office hours. The best thing to do is to check with
:10:37. > :10:43.London Midland, and with your local station.
:10:43. > :10:49.So, the debate goes on, but who do you want to see running the West
:10:49. > :10:54.Coast Main Line? Get in touch with us via e-mail, on Facebook or via
:10:54. > :10:59.Twitter. We will read some of your comments later in the programme.
:10:59. > :11:02.Tens of thousands of Midlanders are stuck on housing lists, waiting for
:11:02. > :11:06.a home. A three-day conference began in Birmingham today to
:11:06. > :11:10.discuss what to do about it. In the discuss what to do about it. In the
:11:10. > :11:14.West Midlands alone, there are currently 183,000 people waiting
:11:14. > :11:19.for a house. That's up by 45% in the last five years. The average
:11:19. > :11:24.house price in the region has also climbed steeply, to �153,000.
:11:24. > :11:30.That's up by 78% in the last decade. But at a time of rising prices and
:11:30. > :11:35.rising demand, the number of homes being built is failing to keep pace
:11:35. > :11:41.- just 8,600 were built last year. - just 8,600 were built last year.
:11:41. > :11:44.This report from Joan Cummins. are, we have the living room.
:11:44. > :11:47.Wyke was on a waiting list for eight months before being
:11:47. > :11:53.successful in getting the keys to her �93-a-week, two-bedroom home in
:11:53. > :11:56.Darlaston. She had previously had to pay more than �120 a week for a
:11:56. > :12:01.damp-ridden, privately-rented flat, and she says this social housing
:12:01. > :12:07.development is good news for her. My asthma has calmed down since we
:12:07. > :12:11.have moved. It has made a great difference to my health. This house
:12:11. > :12:16.is timber-framed and insulated, so we're saving on the bills as well.
:12:16. > :12:19.I would not change it for the world. The current housing crisis has been
:12:20. > :12:25.described as a perfect storm. Those that would traditionally have
:12:25. > :12:28.bought their own homes now cannot get mortgages, and changes to the
:12:28. > :12:32.benefits system mean that more people are reliant on the social
:12:32. > :12:36.housing sector. It is said that unless something is done, the
:12:36. > :12:42.crisis is just going to get worse. Just 8,000 homes were built in the
:12:42. > :12:46.region last year. One housing association has planned to build
:12:46. > :12:51.800 affordable homes over the next thing the years, but they say more
:12:51. > :12:55.is needed. If we can build homes for market rent as well as
:12:55. > :13:01.affordable homes, that's fine. I think groups which cannot afford
:13:01. > :13:05.market rents, however, so we still need subsidised housing. More than
:13:05. > :13:11.1,000 delegates at this conference are hoping the new Housing Minister,
:13:11. > :13:14.Mark Prisk, may have some solutions. He will remind them of �10 billion
:13:14. > :13:20.worth of government finance which is available to provide the spark
:13:20. > :13:22.to get Britain building. But there are fears that this is not enough.
:13:22. > :13:27.Investing in house building is the quickest way to get the economy
:13:27. > :13:31.moving, but also to meet that basic human need for a decent home at a
:13:31. > :13:36.price you can afford, to rent or buy. How can you afford to save to
:13:36. > :13:39.buy a home when rent is so high? Social housing is very difficult to
:13:39. > :13:43.access at the moment, because we are not building enough. It does
:13:43. > :13:46.not matter where you turn, you have got a generation of people excluded
:13:46. > :13:49.from the housing market. There may be no quick fix for this housing
:13:49. > :13:56.market crisis, but there is a growing realisation that building
:13:56. > :14:02.has to be prioritised. You can see what our political
:14:02. > :14:09.editor has to say about the housing situation in his latest blog...
:14:09. > :14:15.Still to come - the charities which are benefiting from extra cash,
:14:15. > :14:25.thanks to a brainwave from Prince Charles. And signs that autumn is
:14:25. > :14:27.
:14:28. > :14:31.beginning to assert itself. Many of us take heating our homes
:14:31. > :14:35.with mains gas for granted, but it is not an option in many rural
:14:36. > :14:40.areas. The rising price of heating oil is hitting pockets hard, but
:14:40. > :14:46.one way to keep the cost down is to join other users, and buy in bulk.
:14:46. > :14:50.It is an idea which is growing in popularity. Rural bliss at Woore in
:14:50. > :14:56.Shropshire, but as autumn bikes, and temperatures plummet, it comes
:14:56. > :15:01.at a price. Like many country villages, Woore has no mains gas,
:15:02. > :15:05.and many people use oil-fired heating. That's why Brian Herbert
:15:05. > :15:11.and 21 neighbours have joined and bulk oil buying scheme to keep
:15:11. > :15:18.soaring costs down. When we first heard oil put in, it was at the
:15:18. > :15:23.cost of 16p per litre. It is now 60p per litre, or about that. So,
:15:23. > :15:30.it is quite an expensive item. According to the organisers, people
:15:30. > :15:34.are saving at least 4p a litre by buying as a group. That means a �40
:15:34. > :15:37.saving on an average 1000-litre refill. Many households do that two
:15:37. > :15:40.or three times a year. The scheme is being run by Shropshire
:15:40. > :15:47.Community Council, a charity which helps rural communities, and which
:15:47. > :15:53.has seen oil prices rising in recent years. We have got more than
:15:53. > :16:00.500 members in the Shropshire, so we are ordering between 70,000 and
:16:00. > :16:07.100,000 litres each month. So, we have more negotiating power. Just
:16:07. > :16:10.over the border, here in Staffordshire, another buy in bulk
:16:10. > :16:16.scheme is in its infancy, with just a handful of members. This one has
:16:16. > :16:21.been backed by a Staffordshire County council, which gave the
:16:21. > :16:25.community council �15,000 to help set it up. Following the success in
:16:25. > :16:29.other counties, we launched our scheme two weeks ago, and the
:16:29. > :16:34.response has been very positive. If the tanker can arrive and make 10
:16:34. > :16:42.deliveries in one day, it is better for the Environment. It has been so
:16:42. > :16:47.successful that organisers are now looking at buying electricity, coal
:16:47. > :16:51.and wood in bulk, too. For more on that story, take a look at the
:16:51. > :16:58.Staffordshire Community Council website. It has been a busy weekend
:16:58. > :17:02.of sport, particularly football. Here's Goosen off. -- here's Ian
:17:02. > :17:05.Winter. Dan Ashworth is not the most familiar face in the Premier
:17:05. > :17:10.League, but in five years at The Hawthorns, he has done a great job
:17:11. > :17:14.for West Bromwich Albion. But now, the director of football from West
:17:14. > :17:19.Brom is joining the FA at the end of the season. It is a double blow
:17:19. > :17:22.for fans, following their defeat at the weekend. After seven points out
:17:23. > :17:26.of nine, some Baggies fans were wondering whether Europe could be a
:17:26. > :17:31.possibility. But they came back down to work with a bang at Fulham
:17:31. > :17:35.on Saturday. Already a goal down to Dimitar Berbatov, any realistic
:17:36. > :17:42.chance of getting something from the game disappeared when Peter
:17:42. > :17:47.Odemwingie lost his head and saw red. I lost my temper of it. I am a
:17:47. > :17:51.professional, I have to keep my cool. It is not my habit. It is
:17:51. > :17:52.something to learn, and next time I will make sure it does not happen.
:17:53. > :17:56.will make sure it does not happen. The mood could not have been more
:17:56. > :18:01.different at Villa Park. They found the start of the season tough, but
:18:01. > :18:06.suddenly, things seem to be falling into place for Paul Lambert. He saw
:18:06. > :18:09.two of his summer signings score in their first victory in 14 games in
:18:09. > :18:14.the Premier League. Matthew Lowton got the first, and Christian
:18:14. > :18:18.Benteke got the second. Stoke City continued to frustrate Manchester
:18:18. > :18:23.City's millionaires. Five times they have met in the Premier League
:18:23. > :18:25.at the Britannia Stadium, and never have Stoke been beaten. There was
:18:25. > :18:29.further frustration for Manchester further frustration for Manchester
:18:29. > :18:34.City, with Peter Crouch using his hand as well as his foot to strike.
:18:34. > :18:38.It is incredible, this is basketball, not football.
:18:38. > :18:42.Manchester City got an equaliser through Javi Garcia. Not even the
:18:42. > :18:47.arrival of Michael Owen could get a winner. It was only the
:18:47. > :18:50.intervention of Ryan Shawcross which secured the point for Stoke.
:18:50. > :18:55.Coventry City could be revealing their new manager on Wednesday. And
:18:55. > :18:59.what a big job he will be taking on. Two sloppy goals conceded in the
:18:59. > :19:03.last 10 minutes against Tranmere mean that Coventry could be rock
:19:03. > :19:08.bottom of League One if they lose at Shrewsbury tomorrow evening. In
:19:08. > :19:13.contrast, Port Vale are flying in League Two. Ashley Vincent was on
:19:13. > :19:17.target in their victory at Plymouth. Two real crackers coming up, the
:19:17. > :19:21.first from Richard Stearman, to seal the victory for Wolves against
:19:21. > :19:31.Leicester at Molineux. But this is my pick of the bunch, an absolute
:19:31. > :19:36.
:19:36. > :19:38.scream or for Walsall, who beat Portsmouth. The City of Coventry
:19:38. > :19:43.has the only 50-metre pool in the Midlands, so it was the perfect
:19:43. > :19:46.venue for many of Britain's top swimmers today. 500 excited
:19:46. > :19:50.children took time off school to meet their Olympic and Paralympic
:19:50. > :19:55.heroes. Coventry sports centre has never seen anything like this
:19:55. > :20:00.before. It is the fifth and final leg of the British Swimming Heroes
:20:00. > :20:02.Tour. The locals call it Cov Baths, and inside there was a pool full of
:20:02. > :20:07.excited children to welcome our finest Olympic swimmers and divers,
:20:07. > :20:13.our water polo players and our Paralympians. Claire Cashmore, from
:20:13. > :20:18.Kidderminster, is still as high as a kite after winning more medals at
:20:18. > :20:22.her third and best Paralympic Games. I still have some nightmares about
:20:22. > :20:26.some of my races, coming fourth in one of them, and missing the gold
:20:26. > :20:32.by a short margin. You're going to have these disappointments. But I
:20:32. > :20:35.am really happy, it is the best Games I have ever heard. Three
:20:35. > :20:45.times Paralympian is very special. I do not have three Olympic Games
:20:45. > :20:50.in me, so I take my hat off to her. Congratulations to her. No sign of
:20:50. > :20:53.Tom Daley on the diving board. He is training for the World Junior
:20:53. > :20:59.Championships in Australia next month. But there was a lot more to
:20:59. > :21:02.whet the appetite of the kids for watersports, like Jake Vincent, one
:21:02. > :21:07.of our a limpid water polo players, and Yvette Baker, from Sutton
:21:07. > :21:13.Coldfield, a member of Team GB, who finished sixth. You make it look so
:21:13. > :21:18.easy. Thanks! It is very hot, but it is a lot of practice and
:21:18. > :21:24.training. We train up to 50 hours a week. It is really good to meet the
:21:24. > :21:31.Olympic swimmers. What have you learnt today? Had to save someone's
:21:31. > :21:36.life. 500 Coventry school children. This has been a huge success,
:21:36. > :21:44.hasn't it, Rebecca? Rebecca? Great to see so many swimmers in Coventry
:21:44. > :21:53.today. Dan Wheldon to Walsall Cricket Club, newly crowned
:21:53. > :21:57.champions of the Birmingham League. And in their bicentenary. Now, for
:21:57. > :22:01.the last 15 years, 6,000 charities have benefited from an extra �130
:22:02. > :22:05.million of income thanks to a brainwave from Prince Charles. He
:22:05. > :22:10.set up an organisation to distribute slightly defective goods
:22:10. > :22:13.to good causes, which would otherwise end up in landfill. This
:22:13. > :22:17.afternoon he was in Telford to see how his idea is being put into
:22:17. > :22:21.how his idea is being put into practice, as Bob Hockenhull reports.
:22:21. > :22:26.The Prince on a production line he helped to make happened. The
:22:26. > :22:29.pottery he was packing at this giant warehouse in Telford is not
:22:30. > :22:37.destined for a department store. Instead, thousands of goods with
:22:37. > :22:42.slight defects are sent here to this company. It is an organisation
:22:42. > :22:43.which Prince Charles founded in 1996. The products are posted out
:22:43. > :22:47.1996. The products are posted out to charities instead of being
:22:47. > :22:51.thrown away. It is things like toiletries,
:22:51. > :22:55.cleaning supplies, sports goods, small appliances, laptops, all
:22:55. > :23:01.really crucial, important things for charities and for their
:23:01. > :23:04.beneficiaries. This is a residential school for severely
:23:04. > :23:10.autistic children in Worcestershire. It is one of the charities which
:23:10. > :23:15.benefits. Projects like the school farm, which helps pupils like 17-
:23:15. > :23:22.year-old Michael to develop life schools -- life skills, have been
:23:22. > :23:26.able to grow, thanks to the money. We have saved �150,000, which means
:23:26. > :23:31.we have got more money to spend on the youngsters, things that they
:23:31. > :23:34.need, for example, for communication. All the orders from
:23:35. > :23:41.all over the country are processed here in Telford. The only thing
:23:41. > :23:46.that charities have to pay us a handling charge, which is 5%-10% of
:23:46. > :23:50.what the goods are worth. To keep the costs down, volunteers like
:23:50. > :23:53.these bank workers are helping to pack the goods. This is one of the
:23:53. > :23:58.companies which donates. More than �2 million worth of pottery has
:23:58. > :24:01.come here to date. In the past, the majority of that product would have
:24:01. > :24:06.been ground up and used to fill potholes in the roads of Stoke-on-
:24:06. > :24:10.Trent. In these days of reduced funding for many charities, this is
:24:10. > :24:15.an increasingly vital lifeline, and one which would not be there if it
:24:15. > :24:25.was not for the foresight of the future king. I have to say, there
:24:25. > :24:27.has been some very warm sunshine around today. Can it go on? What a
:24:27. > :24:30.around today. Can it go on? What a way to start a new week - a sun-
:24:30. > :24:33.drenched morning, hardly a cloud in the sky. But since then, as the
:24:33. > :24:39.cloud has thickened up this afternoon, the extent of the drop
:24:39. > :24:42.in temperatures since the weekend is probably more obvious now.
:24:42. > :24:45.Definitely an autumnal feel to the week, which can been seen quite
:24:45. > :24:49.clearly from the change in colours on the air mass - from the warming
:24:49. > :24:59.yellows last Friday and the weekend to the cooler blues washing over us
:24:59. > :24:59.
:24:59. > :25:05.now. And it's not just the days that are going to be cooler but
:25:05. > :25:11.also the nights. But generally speaking, a lot of dry and fine
:25:11. > :25:15.weather about. As for tonight - we're beginning to see some showers
:25:15. > :25:18.now spilling in from the west, and I think during the first half of
:25:18. > :25:21.the night, most places could catch the odd one. But they will
:25:21. > :25:27.gradually fade into the early hours, by which stage the skies are going
:25:27. > :25:30.to clear and temperatures will fall to lows of seven or eight. But by
:25:30. > :25:33.the morning, another batch of showers begins to topple in from
:25:33. > :25:43.the west - most of them affecting the western parts of the region,
:25:43. > :25:53.but a few could cross over to the east. Temperatures dropping to a
:25:53. > :25:55.
:25:55. > :26:05.minimum of 15 Celsius in brisk north-westerly winds. Tomorrow
:26:05. > :26:07.
:26:07. > :26:10.night is going to be the coldest of the week. A look at tonight's main
:26:10. > :26:12.headlines: The GCSE exam for 16- year-olds in England is to be
:26:12. > :26:15.replaced by an English Baccalaureate certificate. And
:26:15. > :26:18.caught on camera - the gang who stole hundreds of thousands of
:26:18. > :26:21.pounds from cash machines are jailed for nearly 25 years. Now,
:26:21. > :26:24.earlier we asked you for your views on who should run the West Coast
:26:24. > :26:27.Mainline. That's the main rail route linking the Midlands with
:26:27. > :26:29.London, the north of England and Scotland. First Group won the bid
:26:29. > :26:33.for the franchise but Virgin are challenging that decision in the
:26:33. > :26:34.courts. Andy Platt got in touch via Facebook. He's not keen on either
:26:34. > :26:38.company. His simple message - company. His simple message -
:26:38. > :26:41.nationalise it! Stephen Maiden says Branson lost, so spat his dummy out.
:26:41. > :26:46.If his claims are correct, that First overbid, then fair enough. He
:26:46. > :26:49.would be right and Virgin should keep it. Anne-Marie Lucas says that
:26:49. > :26:52.for disabled and pushchair access, Virgin is useless and it's way
:26:52. > :26:57.overpriced. "But I've never used First, I would imagine they're
:26:57. > :27:00.better than Virgin and if not then they must be atrocious!" Caroline
:27:00. > :27:02.Brammeld reflects the views of a number of people who've contacted
:27:02. > :27:05.us from Stoke-on-Trent. She says if First Trains are
:27:05. > :27:09.anything like First bus service in Stoke, then I think Virgin should
:27:09. > :27:12.keep the train services. Adam Dwyer says, after using both
:27:12. > :27:19.First and Virgin, the Government would be stupid to get rid of
:27:19. > :27:21.Virgin. First Group don't have the money or resources to carry on the
:27:21. > :27:25.upgrade and bring in the better, cleaner, faster trains. And finally,
:27:25. > :27:28.Eighties Doc says... To be honest, who cares, as long as the customer
:27:28. > :27:30.gets a fair price on their tickets and the trains aren't late all the
:27:30. > :27:33.time! That's all from us this evening,