13/01/2017 Points West

Good evening. for the news where you are.

More than a hundred extra beds have been set up tonight for rough

Councils are worried that prolonged cold weather has left

many of the homeless in poor health and is putting lives at risk.

It's a tent pitched at the back of a city centre car park.

He says he tried to get into a hostel last night.

There were 32 people last night, waiting for 16 beds?

There were 32 people last night, waiting for 16 beds.

Tonight, he should have somewhere else to go with 100 extra beds

being set up in Bristol and another 30 in Bath.

Charities hope it'll tempt in entrenched

rough sleepers like Dan, who normally avoids hostels.

They are full of drunken idiots and they kick you out

I don't like being woken up by people kicking off.

We say, let's get you in to the warm. We try to build up trust.

It's been shown in the past that when we have had these cold snaps,

we can engage with people who usually avoid us.

Another night in a car park's getting to John.

But he has Bill to cheer him up, a passer-by who's become a friend.

Hungry and cold the last couple of months, so we've got a cup

of tea for John, with his usual five or six sugars.

Homeless charities want more volunteers especially to help

In the last five years, the number of rough sleepers in North Somerset

and South Gloucestershire has remained low.

In the Bath area, a recent rise has eased.

But look at Bristol where rough sleeping's gone up

The demand for the beds has been way in excess of what we can provide. We

are not tried to provide a service, we will give them a bed, a mail and

make sure they are comfortable for the night, but to get out of that

situation, they need to go to other services.

The Government's given the city more than ?2 million this year

to tackle homelessness, a problem made worse

And rising rents in the private sector leading to more evictions.

There's been a big increase in the number of Asian

families in the West, being targeted for their gold jewellery.

In the last 6 months Avon Somerset Police say 137

Wiltshire had 21, Dorset 20 and in Gloucestershire there were 5.

In some cases more than 100 thousand pounds worth

The cost of crossing the Severn bridges is to be cut

It's expected the new tolls will come into force next year -

It's expected the new tolls will come into force next year

and the amount drivers pay will be more than halved.

The day is fast approaching when both bridges will pass back into

public ownership, soap what if anything should drivers be paying?

Opened with a price tag of ?8 million back in 1966. It was a

national occasion. The Queen and Prince Philip were the first

officially to drive across. They were spared the toll charge which

back in the day stood at two shillings and sixpence.

30 years later, a new bridge was opened.

The second severn crossing, coming with a cost of ?330 million

By then a crossing by car costing ?3.80 charged just in one direction

to stop traffic backing up onto the bridge itself.

The Government say they want to see the cost reduced by half.

I've got some people arguing that they should

be no tolls at all, even

But there are others saying it should be

I think we've struck the right balance.

?13.40 for a minibus ?20 for anything larger.

New plans are for charging in both directions.

?1.50 each way for a car or minibus and a fiver each way

50 years since Her Majesty oversaw its opening,

the Severn Bridge and its younger brother have almost been paid

off and will pass back into public hands next year.

They generate around ?80 million a year.

Many now feel that they've been thoroughly paid for,

Plant, BBC Point West, the Severn Bridge.

A toddler from Wiltshire who has cystic fibrosis is to be one

of the first in England to get a life extending drug.

William Foord is nearly two years old.

The treatment called Kalydeco was only available to children over

6 years old but that's now been reduced to two.

William's mum says it will change his life.

To find out that news, it was splendid.

I am under no illusion that it's a cure, that it's going to get rid

of his cystic fibrosis, but I know it will help him

lead a normal, healthy life, and hopefully,

Onto rugby and it was Bath's night as they beat Bristol. They all but

guaranteed their place in the competition. A crowd of only -- of

over 13,000 watched. And that's where I must

wish you a goodnight. Hope you have a lovely

weekend planned. We're back again tomorrow teatime,

but I'll leave you with Ian We are expecting a weekend which

will be mostly dry but cold. Some wintry showers, but towards the tail

end of the day it will start to get milder and anything else will be

rain. Actually rain, and a good deal mild by then. Tonight, getting down

to freezing, minus two Max, minus three. Phases of dry, bright weather

throughout the course of Saturday. By this stage, later on Saturday,

we've lost the cold and it will just be rain. As we head in to Sunday,

temperatures reaching 5-6 C. 5-6 is the best we will have. It

stays cold into the beginning of next week as well

stop Good evening, a cold, icy night, but some others have other

concerns. This was the scene earlier today, huge waves crashing on to the

shoreline at Whitley Bay. We still have the peak of the high tide to

come in other parts. This is the flood line number. It's if you have

any concerns. The worst of the wind slowly comes -- subsiding. Wintry

showers across the North of Scotland and some filtering well inland

across the Midlands, giving a light dusting in some places. An icy

night, temperatures widely close to or below freezing, particularly

where you have snow cover. Tomorrow starts cold. A large chunk of the UK

will have a fine, crisp,