05/01/2017 South East Today

Welcome to South East Today, I'm Rob Smith.

Tonight's top stories: Southern talks are to take place

between the RMT Union and the Government -

as a report says driver only operation is safe.

That is what the unions ask for and if they are not willing to accept

that is the end of the matter I think we will need to look at

legislation. We'll speak to the RMT Union

about the latest developments. As debts at Dreamland mount -

the Kent attraction gets a controversial ?10 million loan

from an offshore hedge fund. Also in tonight's programme: No fire

drill in three years - the Kent hospital criticised

for failures in its basic Back to school - the unique scheme

being pioneered in Kent to persuade students to become teachers

at their own school. And 100 miles for 100 years -

the history trails being created to let everyone discover our links

to the First World War. It's been a day of rapid

developments in the bitter dispute between Southern rail and the rail

unions with just days to go before At 11 o'clock the Office

of Road and Rail issued a report confirming,

for a second time, that Southern's driver-only operated

trains do meet legal requirements At midday Sussex MP Huw Merriman

called for new laws to be introduced, to prevent the RMT

and Aslef from calling And at just before 2pm

this afternoon, the RMT agreed to direct talks with the

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling. Our reporter Charlie Rose has

the latest on the days developments. Could this soon be back? -- band.

Industrial action by real opinions on issue of safety causing a month

after month of misery for commuters. One Sussex MP has plans in place to

make it illegal and he says he will set the wheels in motion next month

if they reportedly on the issue of driver only operated trains fails to

bring an end to the dispute. If the unions do not come to their senses

on the back of this detailed report that shows the driver only operated

technology is safe on Southern. If they are not willing to look at

legislation. The driver only operated trains are where the driver

rather than conductor opens and closes the door is, using CCTV to

check it is safe. Southern want to roll it out but unions say it is

dangerous. To the chief inspector of the Railways said providing that

certain measures are in place driver only operation is safe. If you have

the right equipment, competent staff and the right processes and

procedures driver only operation can be safe. The drivers union Aslef has

described the report as a whitewash and says it does not get driver only

operation a clean bill of health. There is the difference between the

three car train in 1986 or 1990 and people running 12 car trains with

much more people on them and very busy platforms and you only get a

couple of seconds to assimilate the images on the train and you cannot

rely on the technology that is meant to support. The trains are already

running driver only and does not seem to be problems which seems to

be more of a political issue. If anything the unions are the icing on

the cake of this issue. A day of significant developments but with

more strike action in the pipeline that does not seem too much hope

from passengers there could be an end to this dispute any time soon.

Let's have a look in a bit more detail at the Office

The rail regulator tested safety of driver only operated

trains already running in the Southern region.

They found that the quality of the CCTV images drivers can see

varied but adequate - though Southern have been told

The inspectors did identify stations where lighting,

foliage or overcrowding could obstruct the driver's view -

and Southern say improvements are being made at those stations

or additional staff provided to help.

Overall the report says there are some 'clear safety

Paul Cox from the RMT Union joins us live from Westminster.

Mr Cox, driver-only operated trains have been ruled safe today -

many commuters will be thinking that it's now time

for you to call off future strikes, and ask your members

Let me first say tender introduction you attributed all the disruption

that has gone on from months to industrial action by trade unions

and that is clearly untrue. I believe you know that so I am quite

upset at the bias displayed by BBC south-east. There has been a lot

of... That was deliberate bias. It was enacted it. If you are going to

tell the people in your region then you should report accurately. That

was a factual statement and most of the action has not been caused --

the destruction has not been caused mainly by industrial action and this

attitude by BBC south-east is recovering. I can answer the

question on the Office of Road and Rail report, if you want. It is down

to whether or not commuters will get the chance to get to work, isn't it?

The report... That is biased again. The report from Office of Road and

Rail is completely detached from reality. It is not an accurate

reflection of what is happening out on the trains. Drivers are reporting

the dreaded working, the they cannot see the doors on the trains because

of lighting issues -- a depleted working. The office of the rail

regulator know this. We have been told repeatedly but decided to

ignore it. It is just not true. It calls into question the integrity of

the regulator. That leads us to believe that is no safety body left

in this country that is not under the influence of the train companies

and the Government. You are choosing this programme of

bias and I can assure you that is not the case. If we had Chris

Grayling on the programme we would question him an equally robust way.

The identity has agreed to hold face-to-face discussions with the

Transport Secretary. -- the RMT. Do you see Chris Grayling as part of

the solution of the problem. He has had his hand on this dispute and MPs

who are biased toward trade unions have decided to take up the fight

against trade unions whereas before they had a meeting in Parliament in

June with everything from Southern all the wanted to do was see the

back of Southern because at that point they recognised Southern what

basket case who were incapable of running a service. It targets of

attacking trade unions seems to be more appealing to Conservative MPs

in the South East. That is where the whole process has been distorted.

Chris Grayling is behind this. We will have to leave it there for the

moment but thank you. You are very welcome.

We'd like to know what you think about the planned strikes which take

or do you feel that they still have a case to fight

over their safety concerns with driver only operated trains?

A warning more homeless people could die in the cold weather

this winter unless more help is given to rough sleepers.

The troubled Thanet amusement park, Dreamland, has been given the

go-ahead to borrow up to ?10 million from a hedge-fund based

The investment's being made as an attempt to keep

Dreamland opened 18 months ago after a major restoration project

and has struggled to generate cash from paying visitors.

A financial expert has called the new loan "very concerning"

for a business "that has always looked very weak".

Dreamland opened with a lot of public money invested -

?18 million by Thanet council, including ?6

million from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

But the private operators could not attract enough visitors

and went into administration and are now relying on a big loan for

It is a long way from the original vison of the park

being run by a not-for-profit organisation.

Now that we have got Arrowgrass investing ?10 million

that means it is likely that those profits will not find their way back

into Thanet and its economy, but will find themselves in the bank

accounts of wealthy people who have invested in Arrowgrass, and that is

Dreamland opened in June 2015 after an ?18 million

But by last August the operator's owed

creditors ?8 million and now the administrators say a loan of up

to 9.9 million will be used to invest

in the site to get it ready for sale.

Looking at the size and value of the business and

the size of the loan, it does seem out of proportion

will have to be asked as to what the overall thrust

and idea of this business proposition will be.

Arrowgrass refused to comment but supporters of Dreamland

It is a significant milestone in the life of Dreamland.

We know that Dreamland needs a lot more investment, it would always be

We know the lease protects its life as a

Heritage amusement park and we think it is a good thing.

Mixed views in Margate on whether more

It has had its day and it is time to move on.

This is the tiny little lifeline we have, so let's give it our all,

Thanet Council said it was aware administrators were working

with investors to secure the future of the park.

Simon Jones is in Margate and joins us now, So Simon,

Some big questions tonight such as Dua Arrowgrass ultimately want to

take over the running of the park, they would not comment. Is it

financially viable in the long-term? Visitor numbers have gone up so you

get them for free and pay per right but if it is not financially viable

could the site to be sold off for housing? The council says that will

not happen but it is certainly clear it is set to be in a lot year for

Dreamland. -- another turbulent year.

It's emerged that up to 34 new wind turbines could be built off Margate

as part of plans to extend the Thanet offshore windfarm.

When it opened in 2010 it was the largest offshore

Owners Vattenfall say the new turbines would be taller

than the 100 that already exist, potentially almost

It's been revealed today that a lorry in Kent where a stowaway

was found crushed to death under Christmas catalogues had been

searched only a short while earlier by French authorities in Calais.

An inquest heard that piles of the books had fallen

on the unidentified man, believed to be in his 30s,

who's body was discovered at the Airport cafe truck stop

in Sellindge, near Ashford in October last year.

Our reporter Leanne Rinne has been at the inquest

other migrants had been removed from the same lorry

Yes, that's right. The inquest was told the lorry driver heard of

people trying to get onto the back of the lorry while he approached the

port of Calais actually pulled over and the French authorities removed

them migrants from the vehicle. Along the side of the lorry was a

large slash so it was not secure and police are not sure if the man found

dead was aboard the lorry at the time of the search or not. The

assistant coroner said this was a tragic accident. He said he was

probably somebody's son, brother, friend.

It's been revealed that one of our busiest hospitals didn't

This programme has seen a report into Fire Safety Management

at the Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham.

It reveals that along with the lack of fire drills,

fire wardens haven't been trained, fire alarms not maintained

and many of the buildings would not be able to contain a fire.

The hospital trust say they are now

"on the way to being fully compliant"

Our Health Correspondent Mark Norman reports.

It is a busy hospital, more than 4000 staff caring for 400,000 people

locally and they see half a million patients a year. What would they be

safe if there was a fire? The public should not be worried. Since I have

been here we have done a thorough review and is no safety issues and

never have been to both patients, staff and the public. This report

highlighted some serious issues. It said had been no fire because of

rehearsals in the past 2-3 years and there were no plans to have any,

they had not been -- they had been no fire warden training and there

was limited evidence of maintenance of the fire alarm system. Add to

that problems with risk assessment, fire doors damaged and unclear

evacuation procedures. It is a bit quite serious. Training is an

essential component of the work of all staff and if it is all that long

operational staff it would not be a problem but if it is people pooling

of high dependency patients it could be life threatening. -- dealing with

high dependency. We have reviewed the processes and looked at the

maintenance regimes and evacuation procedures and updated the pilot

policies and done a significant amount of work on fire training with

all staff. The trust tell us things have improved for a number of years,

fire safety was a major concern here. The last fire drill was in

December with the more planned this January. -- three more planned.

Our top story tonight: Direct talks are to take place between the RMT

Union and the Transport Secretary as the Southern Rail

It comes as a report published by the Office of Road and Rail says

that driver-only operated trains are safe.

100 miles for 100 years, how a series of trails to commemorate the

First World War has been created. It has been a crisp winter day to

day. Chile through tonight but less called toward the weekend. The

details later in the programme. -- less cold.

After two homeless people were found dead on the streets

of chatham over Christmas, Homeless charities are warning

there could be further deaths in Kent this winter unless more help

Medway Council currently provides shelters when temperatures drop

below zero for three consecutive nights.

While the council says it's doing as much as it's budget allows,

local charities say more needs to be done.

Chrissie Reidy has tonight's Special Report.

Tributes line the doorway with the homeless man,

Michael McCluskey, was

His daughter, who did not want to appear

on camera, says more emergency shelter

I hope the council pull their finger out and do something

about it because I do not want it be someone else's dad or grandad

Because it is not nice to think your dad was dying there while people

were walking past them in the street.

Medway Council only open shelters when temperatures have

fallen to zero for three consecutive nights,

but people I have spoken to

say communication has been so poor and there

is no way of knowing when

they are open or even getting to them.

I tweeted the council in November and said to them, what is the policy

And they said, "we are advised to take guidance from the

Instead of just sticking their head outside and going, "oh, my God,

Just days after Michael McCluskey was discovered police were

called to the death of another homeless man in the next street.

They've got to wait three consecutive nights for it to fall

below zero before they will put them somewhere.

This should not be going on, it is upsetting, it is

Charities say the system is failing those in desperate need.

So whenever somebody goes for help they get help.

They get help to prevent homelessness or if they become

homeless they get emergency assistance into accommodation or

night shelter right there and then because we have seen the tragic

consequences if that does not happen.

We need the council to engage with the groups out here on a

regular basis, meeting the homeless, speaking to them and looking after

them, we could do with sitting down with the council.

They should have to come down and speak to people and see

Currently we have got to tell them you're homeless.

With numbers of rough sleepers up 30% in

the last few many say emergency provision is now made more than

Almost a third of new teachers who started jobs in English

state schools in 2010, had left the sector by last year.

Now the Valley Invicta Academies Trust, based in Maidstone,

has devised a unique way to try to protect themselves from

The trust is encouraging and financing current students

to return to their former school - as teachers.

It's thought they're the first trust in the country to do it.

Our Education Correspondent Bryony Mackenzie has more.

In my first year seven class one of them asked me

if she needed to use a

So that was quite an interesting question.

My name is Amy and I'm a sixth form student.

Amy has been at Invicta Grammar for seven years.

She is now considering moving to the very front of the class as a

And did you not put any of the parchment paper?

This is an amazing school so coming back

to a good school to become a

I like helping out and showing them what to do as well.

It is nice passing on what I learned through my

The trust runs eight schools in the Maidstone area

and students who show an interest in teaching can get funding towards

their university course and preference over other graduates for

An hour a day I'm with my A-level physics teacher, him teaching

year 13 so I'm sitting observing lesson and sitting

We're educating all these young individuals, very talented, great

Quite often you get lots of people who go

off to university and then do not even come back to Kent, and so this

was a way of getting them to come back to Kent but, most importantly,

get them to come back to us so that we have got rich talent.

If they change their minds, well, they do have to hand

But keeping careers in the family, it is hoped it

Kent County Cricket club have appointed a new coach. Walker spent

the last three seasons as assistant to Jimmy Adams who left the club in

September. The 43-year-old batsmen who made his debut for the company

as a teenager said he is delighted to be working alongside him.

30 trails through towns and countryside in Kent will lead

walkers to discover places, people and events which were

The plan is to research and mark the trails so that people can

It's called 100 miles for 100 years - the idea

stemmed from commemorations for the centenary of the conflict.

The proposal will go ahead this year after being awarded a grant

There is an awful familiarity about pictures like these. It is the First

World War film on Cameron is to show people at home for the first time

what the war abroad was like. -- films on movie cameras. Less

well-known scenes of things at home where Kent was the front line.

Military training, arrival of refugees, embarkation is, they were

all part of life in the county closer to the action. They were

arriving in September 1914, you would have seen the 20,000 Belgian

refugees who arrived at the harbour to be welcomed by the local

families. This woman is leading a project designed to bring the story

of World War I and came to life. 30 new walks in pounds from Dartford to

Dover will lead to stories of what was happening. The idea is to get

people to go into the local area, so many of us just walk by without

looking up and realising the significance of the building, not

realising something important happened there. She thought about

him all her life, even until the last few days... The idea stemmed

from the making of the film in which people talk about their own families

are at war like Richard, a Folkestone farrier. I thought it was

wonderful. I love the forge, the smell, which do not get now. 100

years on this is very much a legacy project and it has received funding

from the Heritage lottery fund. 30 trails across Kent Tele future

generations the stories of the First World War as get out and about. --

telling the future. It is a working project with the first trail due to

be ones in the next few weeks. The story of the folks at home revealed

in the places that they knew. It's been a day of dramatic

developments in the Southern rail dispute - the rail regulator has

ruled that driver only operation is safe and the RMT has

agreed to direct talks Speaking on this programme,

Paul Cox from the RMT Union said: It calls into question the integrity

of the regulator and leads us to believe that is no safety body left

in the country that is not under the influence of the train companies and

the Government. Charlie Rose is in

Brighton this evening. Charlie, Hugh Merriman's suggesting

new legislation could be introduced to end further strike action,

how likely is this? We are hearing some commentators are

suggesting this is not just a growing issue for local MPs but also

a problem for Chris Grayling, whose own job as Transport Secretary could

be on the line if a resolution is not found soon. The local MP could

be looking to bring in legislation from next month banning this sort of

strike action, he said it would be a last resort but it would take at

least one year come into effect and that is not much comfort to

commuters who are expecting another bout of strike action on Tuesday.

Lots of your comment on this. Chris Webb says is totally unacceptable

and the public should be held to ransom like this. We're back to the

bad old days of the 1970s and 80s. Sheila says she is wheelchair

dependent and uses Southern a few times a year and if there is no

guard who will help me on and off the train on an unmanned station?

Had concerns of her and her husband. Mike Parker says straight should

never have taken place and driver only trained clearly work otherwise

networks that have used the system for years problems. Another says

people with usually prefer another member of staff on board the train

for safety reasons. Perhaps the solution could be all trains over

four carriages long could have a second member of staff.

And we're holding a Question Time style debate about the

If you live or work in the south-east and want to take part

at the Chequer Mead Theatre in East Grinstead this Sunday then

send an email to with your name, address and daytime phone number.

The programme airs on Monday the 9th of January at 7.30pm here on BBC1.

It is time to check the weather now. It will be less cold toward the

weekend but that goes hand in hand with more cloud and some rain.

Earlier it was a beautiful but bitterly cold. The hard frost to

start the day, lots of sunshine by the afternoon and temperatures not

much above five Celsius. In two tonight, still those clear skies

those temperatures plummet. Overnight lows of minus two Celsius.

Slightly milder along the coast. The main difference through tonight is

we will see some stubborn mist and fog to start tomorrow. Once again a

frosty start and that mist and fog stubborn to clear and eventually we

see that rain but it is moving slower than initially thought so we

will start to see it during the evening. Mostly dry during the day,

frosty and foggy to start the day. Some sunshine around about lunchtime

but by the afternoon we see more cloud cover, winds are

south-westerly, temperature is a little less cold. Friday and

Saturday, we see that warm front bringing some patchy rain, the

little heavy at times. Cleaving through towards the early hours of

Saturday and it means a much milder night. Temperatures only dropping a

degree or sought from daytime values.

Looking towards the weekend, some rain first thing, a damp start but

mostly staying dry. Feeling milder, rather cloudy, perhaps some rain at

times but as high pressure builds it is looking increasingly settled

through Saturday. Temperatures once again in double figures. Similar

story on Sunday before it turned wet and windy on Monday.

That is from us for this evening. I was about to see exactly the same

thing! I will be back at 8pm and 10:30pm. See you then.

Hello and welcome to The One Show with Matt Baker.