31/10/2016 South Today - Oxford

Coming up: A ten-year jail term for the lorry driver who killed

a mother and three children on the A34.

Use of his mobile phone while driving from Florida and Mulligan.

Calls for rent to be waived for community groups hoping

to save children centres from closure.

There will be rain at times but drier days, I had the weathdr

shortly. Police have released footagd

of a fatal crash caused by a distracted lorry driver

who was using his mobile Four people were killed -

including three children - when Tomasz Kroker's lorry smashed

into stationary traffic He has been jailed for ten xears

at Crown Court. Video released by police

in conjunction with the victim's families shows Thomasz Krokdr

scrolling through his His lorry closing rapidly on a queue

of stationary traffic. Moments later, children, Ethan,

Josh and Aimee were dead together with the boy's mother,

Tracey Houghton. Their car crushed to

a third of its size, In the moments Thomasz Krokdr chose

to look at his phone, he caused a multiple vehicld

accident that endangered all surrounding road users

and took the lives of Tracy, To all intents and purposes,

Mr Kroker's use of his mobile phone whilst driving turned his lorry

into a lethal weapon. Videos seen by the judge exposed

the wider family's emotional trauma. I thought that was the

worst day of my life. But I think it was three wedks later

when I went to the funeral directors and actually saw them dead,

cold, in their coffins. Witnesses said Mr Kroker

was in tears after the crash but insisted his brakes had failed

until he was confronted The death toll could

have been far higher. Adam Pearson's was thrown upside

down in the crash, breaking Using your phone while drivhng

is not something minor, it It is the only good

thing to come out of this, that it will changd public

attitudes when using a phond The family said it could never

be compensated for the Earlier I spoke to our transport

correspondent Paul Clifton and asked him how

realistic that might be. There is no evidence to suggest

the number of people using ` hand held mobile phone at the whdel

is going down. Yet the number of drivers ptnished

for doing so fell by half since last year alone,

and by 84% since 2011. There are fewer police

are out on the road looking There are far fewer traffic police

than five years ago - every force in this region has cut

the size of its roads polichng unit. It is not because people ard

using their mobile phones bdhind the Many studies have

described it as shocking. The RAC called it

an epidemic of use. The cuts that police forces have

seen, and they have had to make difficult choices,

road traffic policing has bden seen These officers save lives

and we need to see investment to make sure

people think they will be caught when they use

a Having two cameras inside

a lorry cab is unusual. Having one facing the

driver is more unusual. It is the boss watching

everything they do. Many drivers welcome it

because it exonerates them at the time of an incident

and demonstrates they were doing the right thing or not doing solething

they might be accused of. We know that texting whilst driving

impairs reaction times more than being at the legal

drink drive limit. IAM Road Smart, the Institute

of Advanced Motorists, said the courts seem

to be playing catch up with society's views on this,

and said sentencing was out It wants stronger

penalties and more police. The drink driving battle

has largely been won. That's because it is widely regarded

as socially unacceptable. Using a mobile phone whilst driving

does not have the same Until it does, and until drhvers

fear they might actually be caught breaking the law,

there will be more terrible Police are investigating after a man

was seriously injured at a Halloween The man was stabbed at

Bottelino's Restaurant in the early He was taken to the John

Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, where he remains in a seriots

but stable condition. Three men have been arrested

and released on conditional bail. Community groups hoping to step

in to save some of Oxfordshhre's children's centres are clailing

they're being kept in the d`rk about how much rent they'll be

charged to use council buildings. Funding cuts mean more than half

of the council-run centres are set to close in March -

unless other groups Now some councillors are calling

for rents to be waived The Doorstep Family Centre hn Oxford

is one step ahead of other similar It's managing to stay

afloat without depending on council funding -

that's exactly what Oxfordshire County Council wants

to happen elsewhere. But managers here are worridd

about how other community groups will cope if they're charged rent

when they take over If they spend their first ydar

raising money to save rent, they They need that step

for the right Fundraising is very

difficult in itself. from closure by a charity

is Britannia Road in Banburx. But those trying to take ovdr say

Oxfordshire County Council hasn t been clear about how much

rent it will charge. At the moment we are in the dark

about information we need to include We still need to find out

what the rent will be, we are still waiting to find out

lots of different things like what Tomorrow Oxfordshire County Council

will debate whether or not to waive rents for children's centres

for the first year - something called for by

the Green party. This is a false economy

because if you close the children's centres,

the number of children taken into Taking a child into care

costs a fortune and that money can be better spent kdeping

the doors of the centres opdn. Meanwhile, local

churches are being urged by the Diocese of Oxford to help run

services like this. What we are saying is this hs

a fabulous opportunity to t`ke your place at the heart

of community life. In terms of doing things

that are for the common good,

for the community good. The County Council says

it's now received bids from 17 charities and

communities hoping to take over children's centres

across Oxfordshire and has insisted the discussions

it's had with those groups have The Ashmolean Museum has bedn

granted just over a million pounds from the Heritage Lottery Ftnd

to help it secure a hoard The rare find of Viking coins

and artifacts was discovered in a field near Watlington by metal

detectorist James Mather The weather's next starting

with the regional forecast looking The weather for the week ahdad

is set to turn colder. Temperatures by day could rdach

a high of 10 There will be some rain at times,

brighter spells as well aftdr a fairly mild start

to the week today. Overnight tonight, mist and fog

patches will develop. The fog may be stubborn

to clear and could linger up until around

ten in the morning but once it is clear,

we're looking at one or two bright spells,

increasing cloud and the possibility It won't amount to too

much and a lot of places will stay dry with a high

tomorrow of 11 to 12 Celsius Tomorrow night the cloud

eventually disappears and under clearing skies with lhght

winds, there is the chance of one the countryside, possibly

down to freezing, so the risk of a touch

of That's also the case

through Wednesday. Wednesday is a lovely day whth clear

skies and barely a cloud in the sky and it will stay dry

with temperatures reaching ` high Quite a fresh feeling

day with that light High pressure starts

to move away from Thursday and we will start to

see increasing cloud during the afternoon

with this weather front expected to arrive

during Thursday evening so Thursday will start on a dry and bright note

with sunny spells but we ard Even the chance of a frost first

thing on Thursday morning. Eventually the rain

will clear and following it and scattered showers with ` high

of just nine Celsius. As a look ahead to the weekdnd,

it will be unsettled Isolated showers through Saturday

and for bonfire night, it Up next is the national

weather forecast. side. Strong northerly winds, some

sunshine and also some rain for the weekend. The National weather coming

up now with Louise. Halloween 2 16 has almost come and gone but it has

left some spookily interesting statistics. It has been a third

consecutive mild Halloween. The warmest was in 2014, 20 four

Celsius. Today we have been