26/03/2012 South Today

Hello, I'm Sally Taylor. Welcome to South Today. In tonight's

programme: Delays at A&E. Ambulances with

patients queue at hospitals, but where is the hold-up?

Dreams for the future of the Solent's historic forts as a

businessman buys all three. All aboard the magical mystery bus

for a grand day out, but where is this tour going? I really fancied

going around the world but I'd think this is second best.

And another change at Bournemouth as manager Lee Bradury is sacked

after 14 months in the job. It is East Enders on C. It is one drama

after another. The The queues are still there and

they're getting worse. Last year South Today reported on the long

delays for ambulances arriving at A&E outside some hospitals in the

South. Well, now Managers at South Central Ambulance Service claim

ambulances aren't reaching life threatening emergencies in time

because they're still being held up at hospitals. It seems that nothing

much has improved after BBC South carried out a Freedom of

Information request to access the latest performance results. Emma

Vardy is here with more details. When Ambulances arrive at A&E, the

government says patients should be in the care of the hospital within

15 minutes. But in the South this target is often being missed.

Figures we've obtained under FOI show last month ambulances were

waiting for more than 400 hours at Southampton General Hospital, their

worst month for more than two years. Meanwhile the Royal Berkshire

Hospital's had more delays than any other served by South Central, more

than 2,000 hours over the past year, and delays were up by a third

compared with last winter. We could have anything from 10 patients in a

queue. Our staff will look after more than one patient at a time so

one ambulanceman could be looking after up to four patients and

delays can be up to one hour. Managers say delays at A&E are

affecting South Central Ambulance Service's times. On more than 50

occasions last month, patients in the most serious conditions were

left waiting more than half-an-hour for an ambulance, calls that should

have been attended in under eight minutes. In the first half of last

year the Royal Berkshire Hospital paid out more than �176,000 in

fines. The local hospital has to pull its finger out. You cannot

have this. I understand there are a considerable number and what they

are saying is they are looking at the details. You must not look at

the details when bombs are falling. People in ambulances are very ably

dealt with but it is only suitable up to a certain level of whatever

is going on with them. So what's causing these delays? Hospitals say

they've had an exceptionally busy winter, but at the Royal Berkshire

Hospital there has been some suggestion that ambulance crews are

taking breaks when they should be ready to respond to other calls,

something ambulance staff have dismissed as nonsense.

Some hospitals like the Queen Alexandra in Portsmouth have found

ways to bring delays down. It deploys extra nurses at times of

high demand. And uses private companies to look after patients in

the queue on the hospitals behalf, freeing paramedics up. Now the

ambulance service wants others to do the same, and says it's going to

be increasingly robust in challenging hospitals over delays,

so its crews can get back to answering life threatening calls

Hundreds of staff working for Hampshire based video games

retailer GAME learned today they're to lose their jobs as the company

goes into administration. It's been struggling with mounting debts for

months. Staff at the headquarters in Basingstoke were told the grim

news this morning, and late this afternoon workers in shops across

the country learned which would be saved and which would close.

How are people inside feeling? do you think? Crap.

Do you have any specific news about what is happening with jobs?

comment. After months of speculation the

facts were as grim as staff here in Basingstoke had feared. The company

had over reached itself and today the administrator agreed it was

operating too many high street stores while shoppers have

increasingly been buying games online. A handful of jobs have been

lost at the headquarters but the axe has fallen on the shops

themselves. 277, almost half the stores, have been closed from

tonight. That's 2,100 people being made redundant. As the market moves

to digital downloading and the market moves towards the internet

then you simply do not need that many stores. That is one of the big

problem is. What's left of the company is now

up for sale, with the administrators keen to say that

they believe a smaller company operating a more tightly controlled

business plan is viable and that potential buyers are out there.

objective is to sell the business as a going concern. There is a good

prospect of a sale. There is a good prospect that a large proportion of

jobs can be saved. Not all shareholders are happy with

the solution being pursued, but with debts of over �100 million,

time for talking had run out. Game grew big and quickly, but its

competitors were playing by different rules. Much of what they

sell here is now traded successfully online. Today's grim

news means staff here at the headquarters and in the stores

across the country, at least know what the administrators are trying

to achieve. If it is sold as a going concern, it will be a much

leaner player. A pupil at one of Surrey's top

public schools has been arrested over child pornography allegations.

Police have confirmed they've been questioning a 16-year-old boy from

Charterhouse School on suspicion of making indecent images of a child.

It relates to material allegedly found on a computer. The boy has

been released on bail. The destroyer HMS Liverpool

returned to Portsmouth for the last time today. She's being

decommissioned on Friday after 30 years' service, which includes the

Iraq war in 2003, and last year's Libyan blockade.

She's steamed hundreds of thousands of nautical miles across the globe.

But this was her final voyage. Her decommissioning pennant trailed in

the water behind her. A yard for every year she's served. Nicknamed

the Crazy Red Chicken, this is a ship that's made people smile.

has got a great sense of humour. The ship's company throughout her

life has always been an extremely happy bunch of sailors. Despite

whatever they are asked to do they have always worked together and

they are a real family and that is what makes a special. When HMS

Liverpool was ordered the Royal Navy thought it would take four

years to build her... Commissioned three decades ago, HMS

Liverpool was built in Birkenhead. This is a training exercise, but

last year off-Libya she became the first Royal Navy warship to be

fired on since the Falklands conflict. In 2000 she escorted the

Invincible supporting the campaign in Kosovo. And in 2003 she escorted

the Ark Royal during the assaults in Iraq. There have also been

humanitarian missions. Sporadic eruptions from the angry and

unpredictable volcano... In 1997 she was called to the Caribbean to

help evacuees. It is 30 years and this was my first ship so you have

a bond with it for that time. It is quite happy and sad. It is a

homecoming really. I am really proud of what the ship and the

ship's company had achieved and what I have achieved. I am only at

the start of my career and I look forward to the rest of it.

Looking on as she docked for a final time, her replacements. These

Type-45 destroyers will be the navy's most powerful ships ever.

After 30 years of service HMS Liverpool will be formally

decommissioned on Friday in front of a crew and their family members.

It looks set to be a very fond farewell.

She'll remain in Portsmouth after she's decomissioned and will be

sold to the highest bidder. An entrepreneur from the South is

promising to create jobs and growth in Portsmouth after purchasing the

three historical forts in the Solent. Mike Clare bought Spitbank

Fort in 2009, but now he's added No Man's Land Fort and Horse Sands

Fort to his property portfolio. His company Clarenco plans to turn them

into luxury hotels and a museum. Georgina Windsor is live in

Southsea tonight. You can see over my shoulder, there

is Spitbank Fort, in the distance there is no man's Land Fort and

over here is Horse Sands Fort. They have all come under the ownership

of Mike Clare who made his money in beds. In 1987 he started with one

store and buy 2008 p at 250. When he sold shares in that company

Dreams, he made himself a small fortune. He started investing in

property like office buildings but he wanted to expand into buildings

that were more fun. It has been a �3.5 million project

and a labour of love for the millionaire Mike her. His family

live on the Isle of Wight and these thoughts have -- Fortes have always

intrigued him. We want to create employment in the Solent and we

want to make it a destination so people will get to know where they

are. They have been nothing for decades and no one has really owned

all of them. We thought it was a great opportunity. I am not quite

sure what will happen but we are excited. His general manager is the

man who is charged with making Spitbank Fort into destination

hotels. Horse Sands Fort is derelict at the moment and that

will be turned into an historic time capsule for people to see how

the Fortes would have been. No Man's Land Fort will have a similar

thing as Spitbank Fort where it will be turned into an exclusive

venue and also a hotel for so people can come and stay. We will

put this on board. Bought in 2009, finally in 2012 Spitbank Fort will

open to the paying public but with quite a price tag, �800 for two

people to have dinner and bed and breakfast. He made a success of

Dreams and we hope that he can do the same for these faults in the

Solent. One of Britain's most congested

motorways has become a major marketing tool for a business in

Brighton. A company has launched what's thought to be the first tour

of the M25 taking in sights such as South Mimms services and the

Dartford Crossing. And according to the company it's a sell out, so

what is the appeal for tourists? This is part of the motorway

network, M25 past Junction 4... some it is the road to hell or the

biggest car park in the world but for others the and 25 is a day out

in itself. They to get people joined today's bus tour around one

of Britain's most hated motorways, but why? I really wanted to go

around the world are now have not when they did so I think this is

second best. It is round the and 25. It is something we would never

normally do. This section of the motorway was first completed in

1977... Every mile of the motorway cost �7.5 million to build. At one

point it is 12 lanes wide and its longest traffic jam was last year

with a 40 nine-mile tailback. The man behind the door says that he is

involved because somebody needs to stick up for this motorway. Because

we are sitting in a coach you can look over the walls and fences and

see a lot of the interesting sites around the motorway which if you

were driving you would just this. We are two hours in and we have the

opportunity to stretch our legs and sample the delights of everything

South Mimms services as to offer. It did not take long. Back on the

bus one of the highlights was the Dartford Bridge and four hours flew

by and we were on the home straight at placket lane. I have had a

really good day. It has been absolutely fantastic -- fascinating.

As the coach does offer towards the rush-hour traffic you wonder at the

venues will change. Still to come: We have the weather

for you. Sunny and dry weather on offer this

week and the unbroken sunshine and exceptionally warm weather has been

putting smiles on many of our faces and we have been out getting

reaction from businesses to say Police are appealing for

information after a man was killed in a car crash in West Sussex. An

82-year-old man died when his car, a Peugeot 207, left the road and

hit a tree on the outskirts of Upper Beeding. Sussex Police want

to hear from anyone who saw the car on the A2037 on Friday evening at

around 10.45. The man from Henfield hasn't been named.

A woman from Weymouth has been jailed for biting off part of a

man's ear. 28-year-old bank manager Samantha Williams attacked the man

outside the Cutter Hotel in the town last May. Williams was

sentenced to 15 months in prison after being found guilty of

grievous bodily harm. New figures show almost a third of

cigarettes bought in Crawley are from illegal sources. The tobacco

manufacturer Philip Morris commissioned research between

October and December last year. It found more than 30% of cigarettes

smoked in the town were either counterfeit or smuggled in without

duty being paid. Let us move on to support. Tony is

in the studio with meat. We are going to start with football and

Ballmer. The manager sacked. There have been lots of changes. Lee

Bradbury inherited the job from Eddie Howe. It has been difficult

for him this season and the axe fell. Lee Bradbury's 14-month reign

as Bournemouth manager ended yesterday, in an apparent dispute

over bringing two youth team coaches onto his staff with the

first team. Bradbury was fired by Chairman Eddie Mitchell, who's gone

on holiday after deciding to dispense with a manager who he gave

a new three-year contract to in January.

Lee Bradbury's car-parking space late Bacon today. He said his

goodbye to the players, while fans were also died jesting the news.

This club is EastEnders on Sea, one drama after another. We have a team

of talented individuals for this level but they have not gelled as a

team. I was amazed when he was given a 3.5 year contract. I think

that was madness. I don't know what he has done wrong. Bradbury was

fired after resisting attempts to move the youth team pairing of

coaches into the full team set-up. Paul Groves has stepped into the

hot steep temporarily. It is something I have been involved in

and of this clique to a degree whetted my appetite. It is

something I have experienced, I have a good knowledge about, and

been involved in the coaching side. Letter see how things develop.

Groves is now a leading contender for the job full-time. He has eight

games to prove his credentials, starting tomorrow at Stevenage. In

the Championship, Southampton maintained their five-point lead at

the top with a 2-0 home victory over Doncaster. Billy Sharp got

both the goals against his former team - the first a thumping header

from a corner, the second an equally emphatic finish after a

defensive mistake. That Saints' fourth win in a row.

Reading proved that their defeat at Peterborough was only a hiccup with

a fine victory against Blackpool. What a shot - Jobi Macanuff. Ian

Harte on the follow up. Then deep cross Alex Pearce header 2-0.

Mikele Leigertwood got the winner and Reading go second. Look at

third place West Ham, they failed to win again this weekend.

Southampton have a nine-point advantage over West Ham who play

their game in hand tomorrow night. What a game in store when Reading

play at Okehampton. Away from the race for automatic

promotion, Portsmouth prop up the table, but Brighton remain very

much in the play off race. Here's the rest of the weekend action.

Brighton rode their luck at the City Ground but looked on course

for a valuable three points when Sam Vokes put them in front after

the hour. Down to 10 men and did to the final minute, not him Forest

finally made the pressure came when Joel Lynch levelled but Albion are

still four. Today the pitch was perfect so there is no excuse. We

need to sort out the few things away from home because I don't like

it. Portsmouth's hopes of avoiding the drop suffered a major shock at

Coventry. Crawley took the lead against Robben just before half-

time. But Steve Evans was not happy, even after that goal from Billy

Clarke. Two more goals have probably right back in the

automatic promotion frame. They came from Gary Alexander from the

spot and then it was sealed by Pablo Mills. With a game in hand,

Crawley of fixing their sights on a second successive promotion. On to

rugby and London Irish were beaten on their return to Premiership

action at Reading's Madejski Stadium yesterday. Leicester won

41-32, Irish down to ninth in the table now. Meanwhile, Bournemouth

are on course for promotion from National League Three - they had a

nail biting win against Chinnor at Chapel Gate on Saturday, where a

late comeback saw them win by one point, in front of more than a

thousand fans. After more than ten years of

dispute, a motorcross company has won the right have a permanent home

at a site in Hampshire. Three Maids Motocross Ltd has been given

permission to use Three Maids Hill near Winchester. However 244

residents objected and many can't believe it's got the go ahead.

Catharina Moh reports. It is a sport you either love or

hate. Active participants cannot get enough. Local residents simply

wanted to stop. This is Three Maids Hill near Winchester. It has been

the centre of controversy since motocross racing began here in 2004.

In 2009 a permanent plan was rejected because of noise. Three

Maids Motocross Ltd appealed and now a government planning inspector

has ruled in his favour. News has not been welcomed by staff at a

nearby stud farm. They keep up to 80 horses onside. We have this huge

amount of dust on a dry day like today and it gets carried across

the road but the wind and these young horses will get a full face

full every day that the motor crosses on. It is a great deal of

work for us and means that a lot of that land is unusable during the

weekends or would they use it. motocross confuse as it is hard to

The volume of the noise is not the issue, it is just how annoying it

is. Three Maids Motocross will be providing noise and does management

plans and locals will be monitoring the situation, but for now it looks

like motocross is back on track. We teach it American football on

Friday night. I have been out most of the day saw a need to hear how

they got on. I cannot find out the score anyway. I would love to know.

Also, Sport Crilly, well done to everybody who did the mile. --

export relief. I was in Southampton. It was packed.

Summer seems to have come early to the south and it's given the

tourism trade a welcome boost. In places the temperature has been 10

degrees higher than the seasonal average. Open air attractions in

West Sussex are making the most of the sunny snap and some say visitor

numbers have increased by 25%. Danielle Glavin has been enjoying

the warm weather. At the 18th Polly, a little Greek

easily cooled down but the visitors had to stay above the waterline --

the 18th Polly. We do not look very far away but it is wonderful.

Absolutely fantastic, I wish we could have it all the time. It is

better than on the Continent at the moment. It does help when you come

out to the sort of places. Over recent weeks, they had been

roadworks which caused takings to pull but as the sun shone, the

visitors returned. They're just making the most of it. Especially

in springtime, after a long winter of very short days, the long days

are stretching out really nicely with this weather. People just want

to get out. At the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum, some of

the star attractions with three to the shade. In the vegetable garden

there were some impressive sun hats on show. I was thinking I would be

wearing it in the summer but suddenly I knew in March, which was

quite a surprise. Visitor numbers were up by 25% compared to the same

weekend last year but they are not celebrating yet. Normally, nature

has a habit of the evening itself out. The last thing you want is a

wig June or July and then everything goes pear-shaped. We do

live by the weather in that respect. Let us hope that we get a little

bit of rain by night but the days are nice like this. On a Monday in

March, the promenade and beach I'd usually empty, but sun-seekers were

around and traders hope it marks the start of things to come.

It is absolutely stunning outside, a gorgeous weekend. And it is going

to carry on. It is, and be warmer than the more southerly part of

Europe. Why go anywhere? But what you do one a day like this? What

about this? Well, nothing, I think! If you had some magnificent

magnolias they may be turning rapidly from pink to break tonight

because it is could be a very chilly night. Cold and cleaner and

stained dry. -- staying dry. Even in the towns and cities it is down

to three or four Max Celsius. A little bit of grass Frost and

perhaps some localised air frost. A stunning start to Tuesday. Unbroken

sunshine again and temperatures doing very nicely. To date we

managed to get 20 Celsius and tomorrow perhaps even 21 Celsius.

Into the evening once again, it will be a mixture of cloud and some

clear spells. Towards the north and west we may have some very chilly

conditions. Through the middle of the week we still have high

pressure with us but the mist and fog is not going to be much of an

issue. The wind springs ran to more of a naughty direction by the end

of the week which means it's going to be a cool weekend in comparison

-- 8 northerly direction. By Friday we may have a little bit more cloud

feeding him. But it is going to be a warm and dry as well as sunny

week ahead. Warm by day, Chile by night and a cooler weekend ahead.

But it is just around average for the time of year so it is not

particularly cold. But a lot cooler than what we have become used to.

Wednesday is tipped to be the warmest day this week, at 23

Celsius. On Saturday, back to what Tomorrow night, we had a sneak

preview of Southampton's mutes the City Museum, where the focus is on