:00:05. > :00:08.to South Today. Tonight's top stories: The Post Office accused
:00:08. > :00:13.them of theft and fraud but were postmasters actually the victims of
:00:13. > :00:17.a faulty computer system? 60 firefighters tackle heath fires
:00:17. > :00:21.in Dorset as soaring temperatures continue.
:00:21. > :00:31.Did a pot hole prove pot luck? A heart patient thanks a hole in the
:00:31. > :00:37.road for his speedy recovery. The ambulance driver was laughing
:00:37. > :00:40.with the rest of us, her exact words were, I probably saved him because
:00:40. > :00:50.he hit a pothole. And where have all the hedgehogs gone? A university
:00:50. > :00:54.
:00:54. > :00:57.aims to tackle the decline of a and false accounting and some have
:00:57. > :01:00.been sent to jail but they insist they have done nothing wrong. Around
:01:00. > :01:06.100 sub-postmasters claim they are victims of flaws in the Post Office
:01:06. > :01:11.computer system. The Horizon system was introduced in 1995 to record all
:01:11. > :01:14.transactions. It's used in more than 11,000 branches But a year ago
:01:14. > :01:21.independent experts were appointed to look at the system after apparent
:01:21. > :01:24.shortfalls in takings. It followed the intervention of North East
:01:24. > :01:27.Hampshire MP James Arbuthnot. The initial findings from those experts
:01:27. > :01:31.are being published this evening. I'm joined now by Nick Wallis, a
:01:31. > :01:41.journalist who first reported the story for the BBC. Nick, this has
:01:41. > :01:41.
:01:41. > :01:46.been a long running saga. Yes, this appears to have been going on for
:01:46. > :01:56.years. I first became aware of it in November 2010 when I was contacted
:01:56. > :01:57.
:01:57. > :02:03.by the husband of eight postmistress who had been sent to jail for fraud
:02:03. > :02:08.in the Post Office. She maintains that it was due to errors in the
:02:08. > :02:12.Horizon accounting system. As I investigated, I found more and more
:02:12. > :02:17.people who had been affected by this and it did seem that they had a
:02:17. > :02:21.case. Often the money would have been alleged to have gone missing
:02:21. > :02:27.but there was no proof of it going anywhere else. All these people
:02:27. > :02:31.didn't have criminal records and they were utterly convinced of their
:02:31. > :02:34.innocence. Unfortunately, some of them took to desperate measures to
:02:34. > :02:43.cover up what had gone wrong cause they were worried about it being
:02:43. > :02:50.discovered. Many postmasters live in isolated areas and are not financial
:02:50. > :02:56.experts. When they are told they cannot keep trading unless they make
:02:56. > :03:01.up the shortfall, the panic. One woman found herself false accounting
:03:01. > :03:08.and order to try and make good the books and she found herself in all
:03:08. > :03:14.sorts of trouble. I got to the end of the week and I was �2000 down so
:03:14. > :03:19.I rang the help desk and they told me to do this and this and the
:03:19. > :03:27.number doubled right in front of my eyes in three minutes. I had to
:03:27. > :03:34.repay the �4000 which I didn't have so they took it out of me wages.
:03:34. > :03:42.resorted to signing of accounts which she knew to be wrong and that
:03:42. > :03:52.led to her trial. Many people in her community contributed to a funds to
:03:52. > :03:53.
:03:53. > :03:58.help pay back the money that the Post Office said she owed. He
:03:58. > :04:04.started leaning on the Post Office to investigate what they said was a
:04:04. > :04:10.fundamentally robust process. They commissioned another report. Can you
:04:10. > :04:20.tell us what the report says? literally just come through in the
:04:20. > :04:40.
:04:40. > :04:50.last half hour so I haven't had time Post Office have agreed to set up an
:04:50. > :05:24.
:05:24. > :05:29.statement which I have just had an interim report and the full
:05:29. > :05:32.report will be out in the autumn. I imagine in the meantime,
:05:32. > :05:36.sub-postmasters will be digesting this report before making any
:05:36. > :05:40.comments. The hot weather is here and so is
:05:40. > :05:43.the first heath fire of the summer. It flared up on National Trust land
:05:43. > :05:53.at Studland in Dorset and at its height, around 60 firefighters were
:05:53. > :05:56.
:05:56. > :06:06.tackling it. Let's cross to Steve Humphrey who's at the scene. We are
:06:06. > :06:07.
:06:07. > :06:17.just across the water from pool and Bournemouth. The fire broke out and
:06:17. > :06:20.
:06:20. > :06:23.emergency services were called around 1:30pm. The temperatures were
:06:23. > :06:31.around 30 degrees Celsius and that made conditions very tough for the
:06:31. > :06:34.firefighters. The temperature makes firefighting more hazardous and one
:06:34. > :06:39.of our colleagues has gone to hospital suffering from the effects
:06:39. > :06:47.of the heat. Fire Service have little doubt that the fire was
:06:47. > :06:56.started on purpose. We believe that it will be a deliberate fire but we
:06:56. > :07:01.are looking at because. It is extremely important area so we want
:07:01. > :07:09.to do as much as we can to protect the wildlife and the environment. It
:07:09. > :07:13.is important that we all enjoy that in a safe way. This is the first big
:07:13. > :07:23.heap and fire in this part of Dorset of the summer. It could have been so
:07:23. > :07:27.
:07:27. > :07:30.much worse if not for the prompt response of the emergency services.
:07:30. > :07:33.The Police and Crime Commissioner for The Thames Valley, Anthony
:07:33. > :07:36.Stansfeld, is going to have to repay some of his travel costs following
:07:36. > :07:39.an audit of his expenses. Mr Stansfeld had been criticised for
:07:39. > :07:42.using public money to pay for some journeys into police headquarters.
:07:42. > :07:45.Later he was given a personal driver to take him to work. Following the
:07:45. > :07:49.audit, �142 will be deducted from his salary. He will be allowed to
:07:49. > :07:52.keep his driver and car. It's a vision for the future that
:07:53. > :07:54.also embraces the past. Almost 4000 new homes are to be built at the
:07:55. > :07:58.former Aldershot military garrison site. The Wellesley development,
:07:58. > :08:08.approved last week, will give a new lease of life to some historic
:08:08. > :08:09.
:08:09. > :08:14.buildings and open up many areas to the public. David Allard reports.
:08:14. > :08:21.This is one of the former words and you can see we have cleaned it up a
:08:21. > :08:26.bit. This disused Victorian hospital is about to be transformed. This
:08:26. > :08:29.could be converted into houses or flats. The Cambridge Military
:08:29. > :08:32.Hospital closed in 1996. After years of neglect, it's now one of the
:08:32. > :08:40.listed buildings that will be central to the new Wellesley
:08:40. > :08:45.development. It is a huge amount of responsibility and we keep getting
:08:45. > :08:49.reminded of it by the local residents. It is very iconic and you
:08:49. > :08:52.can see the wonderful clocktower. That's only part of what's proposed.
:08:52. > :08:54.There'll be 4000 new homes in total - 35% of them social housing.
:08:54. > :08:57.There'll be more community facilities, based around the
:08:57. > :09:07.existing road network. Two new schools will be built, open green
:09:07. > :09:13.spaces preserved. I think the good news for this area is that it will
:09:13. > :09:20.create choices for people were they do not have them at the moment. We
:09:20. > :09:29.want to bring forward the development but keep its best
:09:29. > :09:35.attributes. I hope it comes back into use. We don't need more houses.
:09:35. > :09:40.It will just clog things up. We do have a problem in this time with
:09:40. > :09:43.housing. More job opportunities, hopefully. The first phase of
:09:43. > :09:47.building will start at the top of Queen's Avenue in the next few
:09:47. > :09:51.months. In 20 years' time, this area which has been closed to the public
:09:51. > :09:53.for so long should be a thriving community once again.
:09:53. > :09:56.Hundreds of employees at Wiltshire Council will soon know if their
:09:56. > :09:59.application for voluntary redundancy has been accepted or rejected.
:09:59. > :10:02.Senior managers at the council are meeting this week to sift through
:10:02. > :10:06.the applications. They need to cut around 400 posts, 340 of those are
:10:06. > :10:16.full time positions. Letters to inform staff of the outcome of their
:10:16. > :10:37.
:10:37. > :10:40.application will start being sent out next week. Still to come in this
:10:40. > :10:44.evening's South Today: She helped change the face of women's football
:10:44. > :10:48.four decades ago. Ahead of the European Championships, Sue Lopez on
:10:48. > :10:51.the glory years with Southampton and the future of the women's game.
:10:51. > :10:56.They are loathed by motorists and can wreck cars but can these also
:10:56. > :10:59.save lives? It seems driving in an ambulance over a pothole could have
:10:59. > :11:05.helped save the life of one Wiltshire granddad. 65-year-old Lee
:11:05. > :11:07.Ray was being taken to hospital with a dangerously high heart rate. He
:11:08. > :11:13.says when the ambulance hit a pothole, suddenly jerking him
:11:13. > :11:22.upwards, his heartbeat returned to normal. Chrissy Sturt has been to
:11:22. > :11:28.meet him. Ray was exercising on a cross
:11:28. > :11:33.trainer at home when his heart rate shot up. It was a suspected heart
:11:33. > :11:40.attack and paramedics arrived in minutes. That meant an ambulance
:11:40. > :11:50.ride at speed along here. And an encounter with one of these. We were
:11:50. > :11:50.
:11:50. > :11:56.going along at the good old pace and we had a pothole. We looked at the
:11:56. > :12:00.monitor and the heart rate was 60 beats per minute. Something had
:12:00. > :12:04.happened to the heart that had got it back beating as it should have
:12:04. > :12:14.done. Normally patients would have been given an injection to return
:12:14. > :12:15.
:12:15. > :12:23.the heart rate to normal but Ray did not need such an injection. Is shot
:12:23. > :12:30.to the heart is one measure that is used and that heads to that pothole
:12:30. > :12:37.had given me that treatment effectively. Doctors say it is
:12:37. > :12:45.impossible to make a clinical link but for now, Ray's attitudes to
:12:45. > :12:54.potholes has definitely softened. would take her grandchildren past
:12:54. > :12:58.that routes to school. It is fair to say that I have cursed pot rules --
:12:58. > :13:08.potholes in the past. The state of the roads are appalling and I have
:13:08. > :13:28.
:13:28. > :13:34.cursed potholes in the past but that one is special.
:13:34. > :13:39.One of the residents parks his car behind his flat. But the land to the
:13:39. > :13:48.right belongs to an adjoining property. Until the 1970s, the flat
:13:49. > :13:53.was part of the hotel. But most of the species can only be accessed by
:13:53. > :13:59.driving across land still owned by the hotel. In January, the Hotel
:13:59. > :14:08.wrote to residents and asking them not to park the. Now they are
:14:08. > :14:18.seeking an injunction and anything up to �60,000. Getting a solicitor
:14:18. > :14:20.
:14:20. > :14:26.'s letter out of the blue. We tried to contact them to ask for a
:14:26. > :14:30.discussion. They have refused to talk to us. None of the residents
:14:30. > :14:37.has been here more than 16 years and the needs formal support for the
:14:37. > :14:41.case. If they can prove that they have driven the car is over that
:14:41. > :14:49.space since the 1970s then by lot we will have the right to continue to
:14:49. > :14:55.do so. The owners of the flats have until Friday to trace former
:14:55. > :14:58.residents and decide whether to continue to fight the cause.
:14:58. > :15:00.Nine female police officers from the Middle East have just completed a
:15:00. > :15:03.ground-breaking leadership course at the College of Policing in
:15:03. > :15:06.Hampshire. The delegates spent five weeks on what is the first such
:15:06. > :15:13.course specifically for women. Here's our Home Affairs
:15:13. > :15:19.Correspondent, Alex Forsyth. It has taken these women more than
:15:19. > :15:22.just a plane journey to get here. Some are among the first in the
:15:22. > :15:28.country to become female police officers. It is a profession which
:15:28. > :15:34.in many Middle Eastern countries has only recently been opened to women.
:15:34. > :15:40.In the beginning some people didn't accept the idea. They said this was