22/12/2016 South East Today

They helped out during the fire dispute.

Tonight we exclusively reveal the British Army has

contingency plans in place if the Southern Rail

If it helps get people to work and says a lot of grief, Soviet. Why

can't they solve it? -- so be it. The drug smuggling plot that was

grounded at Rochester Airport. Also in tonight's programme:

A former Charlton Athletic Youth footballer on struggling to come

to terms with abuse he says Why is Dickens' A Christmas Carol

still so popular more The reindeer being raised in Kent

at England's largest reindeer farm. BBC South East Today understands

that the British Army has been asked to put contingency plans in place

to step in and ensure commuters get to work if the chaos

on Southern Rail continues. This programme has learned that

military leave could be cancelled and soldiers instructed to drive

buses to help deal with It has echoes of the way

"Green Goddess" fire engines were deployed during the fire

brigades' dispute 14 years ago and is likely to be welcomed

by the MP for Lewes and Newhaven, who told us that without this

action her constituents would be Juliette Parkin has

this exclusive report. They have seen packed platforms.

They have seen empty platforms. Trains cancelled, delayed and days

of no trains at all. This crisis has seen it all. So passengers thought.

Now the Army could be drafted in. This programme understands enquiries

have been made about numbers and how many could be released if needed to

transport passengers on buses. Should the Army be drafted in in

these situations? Seems a bit drastic, really. Seems a bit

extreme. Good idea to me. If it helps get people to work and says a

lot of grief, so be it. That is awful. Why can't they solve it? Why

is nobody talking about it? I do not know. I give up. If it does go

ahead, the move is reminiscent of the firefighter strike 14 years ago

when Army personnel were drafted in using green goddess appliances from

the 1950s. The Lewes MP says the current crisis is it an equally

drastic low. With no trains at all on strike days for those on the

Seaford- Lewes line. When I called for this weeks ago, some people

laughed and said it was ridiculous. It was not: the Army to drive the

trains, some people thought I asked for that but it is literally to ask

for help because on strike days there is no bus replacement at all,

nothing. The ongoing dispute between the RMT union and Southern over

changes to the role of the guards started in April. The strikes are

pledged to the worst rail disruption in 20 years. The dispute affects up

to 500,000 commuters and further strikes are planned at the end of

this month and in the New Year. Music is for recent weeks show only

56% of Southern trains arriving on time. -- new figures. Southern is a

disastrous service. The figures show they have been in steady decline for

five years. It is not just about what is happening at the immediate

moment. The Ministry of Defence said it does not have any plans to deploy

military personnel in response to the strikes. We have learned leave

may be cancelled and Army drivers could be called upon in the worst

hit areas. I'd you have spoken to the local MP.

Why is she calling for what most people think are pretty drastic

measures? -- you have spoken. Even when it is not a strike we have seen

services disrupted and cancelled, replacement buses coming and going

all day and when it is a strike date, with no trains at all between

here and Seaford there are no buses either. That is why the MP is

calling for the Army to be drafted in. But despite what we now know,

despite what we have discovered the day about Army personnel being

counted and assessed for the role, we know, we understand Maria

Caulfield has had nobody from the government to confirm or deny this.

You could argue the government acknowledged the Army needed to be

drafted in and it is for the government to acknowledge a crisis,

and the government says their priority is to tackle the misery

that unions are forcing on the commuters, and the unions themselves

blames Southern for forging ahead with a system which they say is not

safe. Thank you. If you have strong feelings about

the strike and its consequences we'd like to invite you to take part

in a special Question Time-style It's being held on Sunday

the 8th of January. If you live or work

in the South East and want to be in the audience, send an email

to [email protected] with your name, address,

daytime phone number and tell us how The man whose

organs saved four lives His family appeal for more young

people to go on the organ register. Two men who smuggled ?2.4 million

worth of cocaine into the UK have been found guilty of taking part

in an elaborate drug smuggling plot. A light aircraft carrying millions

of pounds worth of the Class A drug Things unravelled for the criminals,

though, when the pilot was seen by officers

from the National Crime Agency and Met Police leaving the aircraft

and walking into the hotel carrying Sara Smith reports

from the Old Bailey. This is what cocaine with a street

value of almost ?2.5 million looks like. Here it is packed by officers

after a man supposed to whisk it away from Rochester was arrested. He

claimed he had no idea they were drugs in the shopping bags he picked

up will stop the jury at the Old Bailey did not believe him. --. The

jury at the Old Bailey did not believe him. They were picked up

from a small airport in northern Holland arriving in Rochester at

quarter past 12. At the controls a Dutch national who told police he

was here on business. The prosecution said that was just a

useful camouflage for smuggling activities. Left, left, left! Three

men were jailed earlier this year, one of three dramatic chase on the

other macro 26 of the smuggling cocaine from Anna -- from a

helicopter from Holland into yielding. Small airports are being

targeted by those hoping to slip into the country on notice. Normally

they will have law enforcement present and -- minimal law

enforcement present and it is possible then to land without any

real difficulty, without encountering somebody from the

border force or the police. John had taken the cocaine in a suitcase and

booked into the neighbouring holiday Inn hotel. Then the drugs were

transferred to two shopping bags. His van was parked in the adjacent

retail park and had a hidden compartments designed into the

seats. But both men were arrested within minutes. At the drugs been

sold on, said the organised crime partnership, which oversaw the

operation, they would have generated money to fund further criminality.

The two men have not yet been sentenced. The judge said he would

not sentenced today but he would in three months and a provisional date

was set of the 3rd of February. He told the men they should both be

prepared for very long sentences. The maximum tariff for a crime like

this is 20 years in prison. The border force today said they used a

mix of radar and surveillance to track light aircraft coming into the

country to stop other people trying to use a similar route to the one we

heard about today, to bring drugs into the country. STUDIO: Thank you.

Five Sussex police officers put under investigation over the death

of a 32 year-old man in Haywards Heath will not

Duncan Tomlin died after being put into a van after he was

The Independent Police Complaints Commission passed the files

on the sergeant and four constables to the Crown Prosecution

Today the Sussex police federation said it was "pleased"

and "delighted" the officers would not face prosecution.

Payments have been made to former residents of a Church of England

children's home in Kent where girls were drugged and abused

An independent review into events at Kendall House near Gravesend

was launched last year and revealed ill treatment and sexual

It concluded that the women should receive payments.

However one former resident who received ?1,000 described

Court cases in France have revealed that attempts have been made

to smuggle children as young as two on ferries between

In one case seven migrants, including four children,

were driven from Calais to Dieppe to board a ferry.

They were found when French customs officials heard noises coming

from secret compartments inside the vehicle.

A former Charlton Athletic youth footballer who says he was abused

as a teenager while at the club has spoken to this programme about how

he's still struggling to come to terms with what happened to him.

Over the past few weeks, club after club has announced

it is investigating claims of abuse within the sport.

Last month the Football Association formally announced an internal

inquiry into historical sexual abuse in the game.

As of yesterday the National Police Chief's Council said

And 148 clubs spanning all tiers of the game are now involved.

Our reporter Lauren Moss has been to meet Paul Collins at his home.

Playing football was his dream. A dream he said was shattered by the

abuse he suffered at the hands of talent scout Eddie Heath while he

was a teenager at Charlton Athletic. He always said, how are you? Slap

your leg and he would move his hand up to the top of my thigh and

squeeze me. But his hand would go deeper than what he should have

done. I would normally go, just quiet, look to my left and look and

see if the play was looking and nine out of ten times it was as if they

knew and they were looking like it was all quiet and I would go quiet

and it would carry on as normal like nothing had happened. Pohl said the

abuse went on for years. I would have cramp and he would, we would go

on to a little room and rub you down. He would make sure he rubbed

you down quite high. He would get aroused by things, you could tell he

was very aroused and at times I lay there and thought, I hope somebody

is going to know, door. When he walked away from football he locked

his medals in the garage. Three days later, he wants to look at them at

-- again and show his wife for the first time. I feel proud. You should

be proud. It is such a long time. I feel hurt, I feel very hurt. A lot

of effort... Feels good to see them again. It has been a long time. Yes.

Since last month when other former players came forward saying how they

were abused when children, the NSPCC has received more than 1700 calls.

Paul has kept the memories of what happened to him locked up in a

garage where he grew up more than 30 years ago. He believes his story,

like many others may only be the tip of the iceberg. It is not just a

football problem. These paedophiles will always gravitate towards

situations where they can get access to young people. I would not be

surprised if we do see as the story evolves over the weeks and months to

come other sports and other areas of society similar problems coming to

light. In a statement, Charlton Athletic said there is an internal

investigation under way in the club and they are taking the matter

seriously, working alongside the police. Everything comes out in the

end. Somebody like me and all the hundreds of people out there Tom he

could have been stopped on the spot and penalised and put in prison for

what he had done and other people would not have been hurt. The

investigation is thought to be the biggest in history and continues.

Lauren, what does Paul Collins want to see happen now?

We saw how upsetting it was for him to talk about this. Finally speaking

out about this has been incredibly traumatic. Eddie Heath died in the

1980s. But it was clear meeting him today how much he carries around

with him every day. He said it has had a big impact on him and the life

of his family. He said he will need to talk to somebody and probably

will need counselling at some point but getting those medals at today

and going through them was a big step forward. He said he would even

like to start playing again. The main thing for him now is he wants

more checks carried out by parents and clubs on people who leave their

children with people and who the clubs employ. Grass roots football

clubs have renewed their commitments to safeguarding children and the

football league is meeting people to work out how this could ever have

happened. Lauren, thanks very much. This is our top story tonight: This

programme understands that the British Army has been asked

to put contingency plans in place to step in and ensure commuters get

to work if the chaos We've been told military leave

could be cancelled with officers but you'll find red noses aplenty

at England's biggest reindeer farm At the moment Christmas Day looks

mostly dry and very windy and mild. The details coming up in the weather

forecast a little later in the programme.

If you have a story you think we should be covering

on South East Today, we'd like to hear from you.

You can call us on 0345 300 37 47, or send us an e-mail to south

We are also on Facebook, or you can tweet us -

The family of a man who died in a freak accident in Crawley just

before his 22nd birthday are appealing for more young people

Jack Berger after slipping on the pavement and hitting his

head died, but speaking for the first time on TV, his girlfriend

and mother have told us how knowing that his organs have been used

to save four people's lives is the only thing that has

At the moment 146 people across Sussex are on the transplant

waiting list and in Kent there are 129 people.

people across both counties have died while waiting

Here is a cast that I have made Jack for his birthday. -- card. Sadly he

never got to see it and he never had the day out I had planned for us to

go to Brighton. Jack with just 21 when he died after he slipped on the

pavement while walking his girlfriend home. He signed up to the

organ donor register a couple of years earlier. Now his friends and

family have been told he has saved the lives of four people. He slipped

off the curb and fell backwards and hit his head. I felt scared and

helpless because I could not do anything and I did not want to touch

him and cause any more damage. Today I feel happy that he has saved so

many people. Even though his life could not be saved. When Jack

slipped and fell six weeks ago he was quickly airlifted to hospital in

London, meaning his lungs, liver and both kidneys could successfully be

transplanted, saving the lives of four people. It is everybody's worst

nightmare to lose a son or a daughter. It is not sometimes a

thing people would want to think about. They feel like they would not

want a part of them taken. It affects so many people. All those

people he has saved and their families now, and all of us knowing

that he did that, that is our greatest comfort. We are so proud of

him. He is our hero. It is a myth that young or old people should not

be on the register and are not able to join the register... That is not

the case. We need everybody to join, no matter what your age. Jack

potter-macro family said they are determined to share his story in the

hope others will sign up and save lives like he did. -- Jack's family.

Now for many of us Christmas isn't quite Christmas without a dose

of Charles Dickens alongside the mince pies and this year

a version of his tale, "A Christmas Carol",

is being performed at the Dickens Museum.

It's said that the story of Scrooge helped popularise some

of our own traditions, like eating turkey instead of goose.

So we sent our reporter Ian Palmer to Rochester to find out why

the Medway storyteller's tale is still so popular more than 170

Christmas would not be the same without the tale known to millions

around the world as a Christmas Carol. I have the ghost of Christmas

past. Long past? No, your past. 48 Doughty Street in Bloomsbury

is where the author and his family once lived and enjoyd

the festive season for themselves. Charles Dickens himself enjoyed

Christmas immensely. He grew up in a family

that celebrated it. Even if they were going

through one of the harder times, they really enjoyed

celebrating Christmas. So he drew that into his

own life as an adult in his own family with his wife

Catherine and their growing family This was a very special day

in the calendar for him. In the lead up to Christmas

the house is being decorated as it would've been

in Victorian times and his most famous festive work,

A Christmas Carol, is being performed

in each of the rooms. I'm here to warn you there is yet

a hope and a chance for you to There was a Victorian

tradition of reading ghost stories at Christmas but the real

darkness was inspired by a report into child labour

and exploitation. He wrote A Christmas

Carol in order to raise awareness of the

destitution around him. When he was not in his London

residency would often be found in his country house in high near

Rochester. He bought the house for a princely sum of ?1987 and 56 and he

died of a stroke in 1870. I am mortal and liable to fall. His take

on Christmas will be told as long as there are tongues to tell it and

ears to listen. Think of reindeer, and you probably

picture a rural scene in Lapland, deep within the Arctic Circle

surrounded by snow. You probably don't

picture them in Kent - but there is in fact a reindeer

farm, the largest in England, On average, reindeer live

between 15 to 18 years old. Each winter, male reindeer

shed their antlers - and yes, many of them do have red

noses, just like Rudolph! That's thanks to the large number

of red blood vessels there. We sent our reporter

Bryony MacKenzie to Betherden Dashing, dancing, prancer, Comet,

Cupid, Donna, Blitzen and Rudolf! Pulling Santa's sleigh with 100 more

to help. Why have reindeers captured our imagination? I like stroking and

petting them. They are lovely and cute. They are so fluffy. They fly

high. And they have magic things. What makes them fly. Mike is one of

the only UK breeders but they are animals built for colder climates.

They make a cracking noise as they are walking and it is all about when

you are in the natural, winter blizzards you cannot see through,

you can hear the ones in front going click, click, click. He has mud on

his nose. They are social. This seven-month-old, Wobbles, has taken

it to the extreme. It is not know he is a reindeer. His mother rejected

him as soon as he was born. He has been hand fed on a bottle every two

hours and when I try and bring him back to mum, she says I do not want

to know. He came into the house like you had to do and grew up with the

dogs. We have eight dogs and he has shared the beds and biscuits.

Tomorrow is the last day to see the reindeer. They close on Christmas

Eve, so Rudolf and friends can get a bit of chat site before sleigh

pulling on the busiest night of the reindeer calendar. -- shut eye.

They need their rest, don't they? It is for life, not just for Christmas,

reindeers. Football and Charlton

are still looking for a win under The Addicks lost 3-1

against Millwall last night in League One,

meaning six games in Robinson has yet to taste victory

since he took over in November. This programme understands

that the British Army has been asked to put contingency plans in place

to step in and ensure commuters get to work if the chaos

on Southern Rail continues. Let's cross back live

to reporter Juliette Parkin If the army are brought

in could this be a turning It is unlikely to be any more than a

sticking plaster in this crisis, which has gone on for months, with

the unions, Southern and the government blaming each other and

numerous talks have broken down with ACAS. No locations have been

discussed, but Maria Caulfield says she would like the army to help in

the worst hit areas such as here and seafood. We have often seen no real

services here at all. Passengers say they are desperate and want a

long-term solution, but it seems that is not going to come in the

near future. OK, thanks. Now the weather. What is the chance

of a white Christmas? I guess that is a no, Rachel. At the moment as we

look to Christmas for us in the south-east it should be drier. We

will get to that in a moment. Today was a lovely day. A small ridge of

high pressure with top temperatures of eight or nine. Down on the

valleys from yesterday, but feeling lovely. They were not denied, clear

skies for the most part, and again, quite chilly. Two or three degrees

in rural spots. It is going to be a dry and cold start tomorrow. You can

tell from the tightly spaced isobars as we had through the day that it is

increasingly blustery and eventually you can see rain to the West, we

will start to see that as we go through Friday evening. Top

temperatures on Friday again reaching highs of single figures,

eight, 9 degrees. Feeling different to today. Wind is picking up as we

get into Christmas Eve. Storm Barbara mostly affecting North of

Scotland. Take care of your travelling north. For us a blustery

night. The strength of the wind, pushing the rain through and behind

that, clearing skies and temperatures not quite as cold as

tonight, maybe dropping to three or four degrees, six or seven on the

coast. Looking to the Christmas weekend, this is Christmas Eve. For

the most part we should stay dry and very mild as we go over into

Christmas Day itself. Temperatures could reach highs of 15 or even 16

degrees. Mostly dry with heavy rain over into Boxing Day. 16 degrees?! I

know! No white Christmas. Throughout the year we've been

speaking to celebrities who live in the South East and those who've

been passing through. We always like to hear a Christmas

message and tonight we kick off with Nigel Kennedy.

Happy Christmas, South East Today and all of you cats

Hello, I'm Jane Beedle from the Great British Bake Off.

I'd like to wish all the viewers of BBC South East Today

Hello, my name is CeeLo Green and I'd like to wish you all a very

merry Christmas from South East Today.

An eclectic bunch. Indeed. A couple more tomorrow. That is it from me

for tonight. I will be back at half past ten. I will see you then.

Goodbye.