25/04/2017 South East Today

Today's main headlines in the south-east:

A year of Southern Rail strike disruption costs

341 million pounds - denting Sussex hospitality

A teenager dies in prison after an epileptic fit -

his father asks an inquest if staff could have done more

And it's another frosty, bright start to the day

tomorrow, with scattered showers by the afternoon.

A year of industrial dispute between the RMT and Southern Rail

has cost the south-east ?341 million, we can reveal -

and Sussex Chamber of Commerce says catering and hospitality

Tomorrow, union members will be demonstrating

outside Parliament, saying their fight for

The company has said previously that safety isn't being compromised

It remains one of the UK's most protracted industrial dispute,

and tomorrow, an anniversary that no one will be celebrating.

Not being able to collect my children out of school, other people

having to get them at the last minute, sometimes not getting home

I'm self-employed, so I have probably

lost out of thousands, basically, because I haven't been able

Hasn't got any better, really, until very recently.

So, yeah, it's been, yeah, life-changing for a lot of people.

Not since the miners' strike has an industrial dispute

Professor Richard Scase is an expert

I think, behind the scenes, rather like in the miners' strike

of 30 years ago, the Government is trying to force

management to take a pretty tough line.

I suspect the whole thing would be resolved by there being a new

franchise allocated to a new company that

could more or less clean the slate

introduction of driver-only operated trains, and the changes to the roles

and responsibilities of drivers and conductors.

It was April 26th last year that RMT conductors on

On December the 13th, the train drivers'

union Aslef began the first of six days of action by their members, and

today, 364 days on, still no resolution

Heather's two-year-old son has cystic fibrosis.

On strike days, they face a six-hour car journey

from East Grinstead to London and back for vital hospital treatment.

The time it takes to, like I said, make

arrangements for Charlie's older brother and make arrangements to

What I would call on is both sides to carry on their talks,

Compromise is always needed on both sides.

This is the worst-performing franchise in the country.

And yet, this has been allowed to run on.

They should have called that in, should

So, as an unwelcome anniversary dawns, still no end in sight.

Juliette Parkin joins us live from Brighton railway station.

Juliette, this strike has had an enormous effect on people living

Yes, that's right. We have been reporting on this dispute since it

started from stations across the south-east, and here in Brighton, we

have seen businesses fold on the station concourse duty strikes and

default in commuter numbers. We have also seen customer service is cut

for weeks on end to places like Eastbourne Lewis, with one MP

calling for the Army to be drafted in to help commuters get from A to

B. Where are we now? Talks from the RMT union and southern had been

adjourned, they will begin again next week, the RMT has always

maintained that driver only operated trains are unsafe. Whatever the

reason is, people here can't understand how it has gone on so

long. The issue of so-called

"sex-for-rent", uncovered in an investigation by this

programme, has been The MP for Hove, Peter Kyle, asked

the Justice Secretary for support in tackling adverts that offer free

accommodation in exchange for sex. Charities say the practise

exploits vulnerable Website such as Craigslist are being

used by corrupt individuals to advertise free accommodation

in return for sex. Will the Secretary of

State agree that this is happening, at the moment, within

the law and a review needs to take place so that people who are doing

this and exploiting extremely vulnerable young women will face

the full force of the law? I agree with the

honourable gentleman that this is concerning, and I'm

very happy to look at that issue. One week into the general election

campaign, it's perhaps easy to forget the other date

in the democratic calendar - Our reporter Jon Hunt is here

to talk us through which areas Campaigning for that snap general

election is already well under way, sending the political parties

into a frenzy of activity, but what about those local

elections in the south-east? The county council elections take

place next, Thursday with voters going to the polls in Kent,

East Sussex, West Sussex There've been some boundary changes

affecting some of the wards, but votes will be counted

in the usual districts such We have already spoken to Ukip

about their local election plans. The Conservatives currently run

all of our county councils. Across Kent, East and West Sussex

and Surrey, they have 169 They all talk of needing to carry

on the work they've already been doing to provide services

and to invest in people We look after the most vulnerable,

we deliver the services in the most cost-effective way and in

partnership, and at the end of the day, we're not precious about how

we get those services delivered. If that is in partnership with other

councils and other organisations, Labour currently has 26 council

seats across the four counties, and say they are needed to hold

the Conservatives to account, scrutinise decisions

and fight against inequality. We have a crisis in

the national health. We have a crisis in adult social

care, we have a crisis in our With Labour, what they would do

is look at that budget, revalue that budget and make sure

that we protect all of those front The Liberal Democrats hold seats

on all of our councils, too, and are the official opposition

in East Sussex. Across the south-east,

they hold 33 seats. Their leader says that they are

campaigning to protect We ensure that we know

the local issues, we speak to local people, we try

and address In particular, we have

been campaigning to reduce the impact

of the Conservative cuts across the south-east,

on services that impact The other party - besides Ukip,

whom we've already spoken to - which is fielding candidates

in all of the councils Then there are the other smaller

parties, residents' associations and independents which are putting

up candidates at a more local level. All of the information

about candidates can be found There were dramatic scenes

at a Coroner's Court today, after a grieving father asked

an inquest whether his son was killed by the Prison Service,

rather than epilepsy. Daniel Adewole, who was 16,

died at Cookham Wood jail The inquest has already heard

that there was a period of 18 minutes when he was left unchecked

while staff went for a cigarette. Daniel's father held

up his phone in court, saying he wanted people

to see a picture of his son,

whom he had taken care His question, did the prison service

take care of Daniel? In African culture,

you pray that your But unfortunately,

in my own case, So it is a thing that will live

with me forever, until... Daniel didn't respond during a roll

call to check whether His door was kicked

three times at 5:53am. A further five attempts

to rouse him in the Officers went into

his cell at 6:31am. After attempts revive him

failed, life was formally pronounced

extinct at 7:44am. Prison officer Phil O'Neill,

when he first couldn't see or wake Daniel,

thought he was sleeping and went for a cigarette

in between checking on him. Alison Stevenson,

when she was called to enter the cell, said it wasn't made

clear to her at first At the time, she had had no

formal first aid training. Doctor Neil Soni told

the inquest that it was likely Daniel was dead before

he was found, but in court, He believed Daniel had died

at least 30 minutes and possibly some hours

before he was found. Now, let's take a look

at the weather for the week ahead. This morning, a cold, bright start.

Scattered showers in the afternoon, lingering during the first part of

this evening, but to see hours of this morning -- tomorrow morning,

mostly cold and clear. Temperatures of to or three degrees in towns and

cities, but hovering around freezing in rural spots. A touch of frost as

we start the day on Wednesday, again, a bright start, but bitterly

cold northerly winds and by the afternoon, some scattered showers.

Potentially, some hail mixed in with that, the odd rumble of thunder.

Highs, again, ten or 11, but northerly winds make it feel more

like four or five. That is Good evening. Another cold night

lies ahead after what was a chilly day for swathes of the UK. This is

the Highlands of Scotland. 25th of April and lying snow.