12/09/2013 South Today

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

programme... One man dead and four injured in a

flat fire — the second fire in the same block in 18 months. In this

case, it appears that the man was alive when the fire started. We will

look at all of those aspects to see if we could have done anything, what

we did, what the residents did. All of that will get looked at.

The Berkshire mother campaigning to make paid bereavement leave a legal

right after her own personal tragedy. Five days after the death

of a child, we haven't even buried him. How can he go back to work?

Shifting up the gears — how to keep tourists in national parks out of

their cars. I am quicker than all of you!

And the Hollywood blockbuster putting Formula One in the driving

seat — we ask a former world champion driver for his memories.

A man has died and four people have been injured in a fire in a block of

flats in West Sussex. It's the second time in 18 months the

property in Littlehampton has been hit by a blaze. Questions are being

asked about the length of time it took firefighters to find the body

of the man, who hasn't yet been named. Steve Humphrey has this

report. The first 999 calls alerted the

emergency services to the fire in devil Hampton were received at —— at

Littlehampton, were received this morning. If I attract some residents

in their flats. Wayne Gorter, who lives nearby, watched as some of the

people were rescued. He says it was a considerable time before the body

of the young man who died was discovered. It all died down and

then roughly about an hour and a half later, they pulled the young

boy out. There was panic and everyone started running back over,

the paramedics and the fire crew run over. They waited for the ambulance

to turn up. The young man who died lived in a flight at the rear of the

building to stop the fire service says a full investigation into what

happened is underway. In this case, it seems that the gentleman was

alive when the fire started. We will look at those aspects to see if we

could have done anything, what we did, what the residents did, all of

those issues will get looked at. We don't like losing anyone. In terms

of the investigation, will you look at when crews checked individual

flats, when people were brought out, those sorts of things? We will do

all of that. We need to talk to our crew, the residents and build up a

detailed picture as to what happened, what went wrong and what

went right. It is very early days and the investigation has only just

started. We will cover all of those aspects. This morning's fire is the

second in a few months. —— in 18 months. A total of four people were

taken to hospital, suffering the effects of breathing in smoke. All

of them have now been released. Residents who were trapped in the

building this morning were told on the telephone by a fire control room

staff to shut their doors and to await the arrival of firefighters.

It is believed the fire started behind the front door, in an area

where an electrical distribution board is located.

A whistle—blower has told an inquest into 19 unexplained deaths at a care

home in West Sussex that residents there were being put at risk. Lisa

Martin informed police of her concerns about Orchid View Care Home

in Copthorne before it closed in 2011. The inquest in Horsham has

also been hearing from bereaved relatives. Roz Upton reports.

Jean Halfpenny died from a stroke in hospital after being taken from

Orchid View Care Home by anglers. Her daughter learned more about the

circumstances running her death today. To have placed her mum in the

care home and felt she was in safe hands, to then feel that people who

had gone not just beyond neglecting but had intentionally destroyed

records Mo was very disturbing and distressing. Lisa Martin, the

administrator, said she became scared of the seven 77—year—old

died. She said that the home and be shut down if she did not destroy

papers. She was asked to tread the originals, only later understanding

that a nurse had been giving Mrs Halfpenny overdoses. Witnesses said

that staff were undertrained. Medication was mismanaged. In August

2011, she rang the police. In October 20 11, the Care Quality

Commission failed the home on eight different standards and the home

closed. The inquest is also hearing from briefed relatives of the 19

residents who died. —— be bereaved relatives.

Plans for a solar farm spreading over 56 acres of land to the north

of Fareham have been given the go ahead. Hundreds of solar panels will

be installed here on a former landfill site in the village of

Funtley. The company behind the scheme says it'll power around 5,000

homes. It's one of two large solar farms planned for the area.

A Wiltshire MP is urging the Government to consider getting

private companies to help fund the renovation of the health emergency

response unit at Porton Down, near Salisbury. The Conservative MP, John

Glen, says the facility is a world leader in biological research and it

could play a vital role in the event of a deadly disease outbreak or a

biological attack. The Government's currently reviewing whether to move

the unit to Essex. I would urge the Minister to examine the potential of

a public— private partnership that would give scientists at Porton the

ability to reach new facilities through their industry as they have

suggested. Such a role was also enable Porton to operate more

strategically, providing a cost—effective way to protect the

UK's microbiological response capabilities.

A council has been told it committed a criminal offence when it erected a

war memorial in Dorset. The six—foot Portland Stone monument was put up

in June. It's dedicated to local men who've died serving their country

during and since World War II. The monument is within the area of

Shaftesbury Abbey. English Heritage said the work was unauthorised and

has asked Shaftesbury Town council to remove it. But the council says

it was told by North Dorset District Council they did not need

permission. Negotiations are ongoing.

A mother whose son drowned just before his second birthday in a

garden pond wants MPs to consider enshrining parents' rights to paid

leave in the wake of such tragedies in law. Lucy Herd, who lives in

Sandhurst, says her son's father had to return to work just five days

after the tragedy. Now she's hoping to get 100,000 names on a petition

by November to have the issue debated at Westminster. Joe Campbell

reports. Jack was a cheeky little monkey.

Happy—go—lucky, free spirit. He made everybody laugh and smile. Lucy Herd

and her youngest son, Jack, were enjoying their summer holidays when

tragedy struck. I took a phone call and in that space of time, Jack had

opened the back door, wandered off, climbed a ball and fell into the

garden pond. If losing a child wasn't bad enough, what followed

made things worse as the family who had rallied to her aid had to leave

and return to their jobs. Jack's dad was told he had to go back to work

after five days. Five days after the death of a child, we hadn't even

buried him, how can he possibly go back to work? Lucy says that the

lack of time to grieve its planes white her relationship with Jack's

dad was one of nine out of ten that do not work after a child's death.

She has one political allies in the cold to give parents time off to

grieve. They need time to grieve, and we want them to not risk their

job to do so. That is a very basic thing that people should expect in a

civilised society. One expert says that they change in the law would

not be without difficulties. Where do you draw the line? Are you

looking at a specific period of leave, how do you define a child,

will it just be biological or adopted? Tending the rabbits that

Jack loved so much, political debate is hoped to overcome it. David

Cameron took two weeks off after his son 's death. Last year, they asked

him if he took enough time off and he said no. Two weeks. Some people

don't even have the luxury to have two weeks off. If the government

offered just two weeks, it is better than being told that you cannot take

any time off. Lucy Herd ending that report from Joe Campbell.

Still to come in this evening's South Today...

Shooting the breeze — the world championship sailors who had to wait

for the weather to pick up. A review has found that some of the

most dangerous prisoners are being freed without a proper assessment of

the risk they pose to the public. One mother from Winchester, whose

daughter was killed by a freed rapist, has now spoken about her

experience of the release process. Matt Prodger reports.

People on my sentences rarely spend their whole lives in prison. But

before they are let out, prison and probation staff are supposed to

assess the risk they pose. In England and Wales, they haven't done

it well enough. Basically, they were challenging enough and they relied

too much and too often on the account of the events given by the

offender. They did not take into account other objective information,

like their behaviour on the wing. 13,000 people are serving life terms

or indeterminate sentence is. Of those released, the risk assessments

have been in —— have been insufficient. More and more people

in prison are serving life sentences. Sooner or later, some of

them are least. According to the report, only a tiny minority go on

to reoffend. Verna Bryant 's daughter was one of those who was a

victim of someone who did reoffend. Because he had passed as exams and

did good things, he was in jail, where he didn't have any choice

because he was in prison. They said he was a good boy and deserve the

chance and so they let him into the open air and released him. The

government says it is setting up a national privation service,

dedicated to assessing risk and supervising the worst offenders.

Now, if you were given £4 million to persuade thousands of people to

ditch their gas—guzzling cars, what would you spend it on? That's the

question transport chiefs have been discussing in Brockenhurst today.

The New Forest and South Downs National Parks have been given the

money by the Government to encourage greener transport. Roger Finn

reports. It is a gimmick but it is also a lot of fun. And a very

eye—catching way of promoting the very idea of green travel in the New

Forest. There are 27 of these electric cars

for hire in the New Forest. They cost £50 a day but they have proved

popular. And they've led to the creation of 22 electric vehicle

charging points around the Forest. This is just one of the sustainable

travel initiatives conference delegates heard about in

Brockenhurst today. The New Forest and South Downs National Parks are

midway through a programme to spend £4 million on encouraging greener

travel. At the moment 95% of visitors use their cars. We

recognise that the majority of our residents and visitors will continue

to use their private car as the main form of transport. What we are doing

is giving them a choice and the choice of exploring the park in a

much more inspirational and memorable way and some of the

products we are investing in, like the tour and open top bus experience

is, smaller Ettrick vehicles and cycle hire. They have all been

successful. Much of the money will go on boosting cycling. And this

cycle hire business has already seen a rise in interest from visitors.

Definitely. I think green tourism is on the up. With bikes, it is very

weather dependent. This summer has been great for green tourism and

cycling as a whole. The Lake District National Park won a similar

government grant to encourage sustainable travel four years ago.

They were at the conference to reveal change is possible. We are

now starting to see the real impacts of this money. We're getting a lot

more people on our buses, we are starting to get nice problems to

have, such as cycle congestion in some parts of the Lake District.

Some people are turning up for our white boat across Windermere and not

being able to get on because there are too many bikes on board. The New

Forest and the South Downs now have a year and a half to spend their £4

million. Cars of a very given sort now.

The new film Rush opens in cinemas tomorow. It's about the intense

rivalry between British racing driver James Hunt and Austrian Niki

Lauda for the 1976 Formula One world championship. In a moment, I'll be

talking to Formula One World Champion Jody Scheckter, who raced

in the same era. Directed by Ron Howard, much of the action was

filmed in the South and many of the cars come from Stockbridge. Our

transport correspondent, Paul Clifton, reports.

I accept that every time I get in the car, there is 20% chance I could

die. 1976 64. James Hunt and Niki Lauda fight almost to the death.

Let's race! For many, the cars are the real stars. He is James Hunt's

title winning McLaren. It is maintained and raised by a workshop

in Stockbridge. WDK Motorsport. We have a lot of customers that like to

keep things quiet from their wives. 15 engineers maintain a large fleet

of historic racing cars. Many worth far more than modern machinery. They

are driven by owners with more money than a Monopoly board. It is fairly

expensive, yes. These guys are fairly rich and they enjoy racing.

We are probable talking around several thousand pounds per race

meeting, depending on how me race tyres you want. This is not a real

racetrack. Black Bush airport near Camberley stood in foster kids in

Germany, Italy and Japan. Some of the original cars no longer exist,

so replicas had to be made. Southampton racing driver Shane

Kelly stepped in for the actors when a real action was needed. We had to

use the original Formula one cars, so they are quite expensive to drive

and you don't want to crush any of them, celebrating precision drivers,

or race drivers like myself to basically drive the cars in the pit

lane quite fast. It is like being dropped into 1976. It is quite

surreal. The staff at Stockbridge helped with 50 days of filming at

ten different venues. They haven't seen the movie yet but they have

booked tickets. Because the good and the film looks good.

I'm delighted to say that I'm joined in the studio by Jody Scheckter.

These days, Jody is an organic farmer at Laverstock Park Farm in

Hampshire. But, four decades ago, he lived life at a very different pace

as one of the world's top Formula One drivers. In that 1976 season, he

came third, behind James Hunt and Niki Lauda. What are your memories

of that season? The six wheeler came out that year. A lot of people found

that completed different. People noticed it. I had people come to

me, with a dinky cars,. It was very popular. It kept breaking down,

didn't it? I did not like the theory about it. It broke a few times.

Wheels fell off in Sweden. It came back to the pits and drove in and

the engineer hadn't seen it and I said it was under staring a bit. I

just started laughing. You recently brought it back and you drove again

at half best, which we filmed at your place. What was it like getting

back in the car after so long? Did you get the feel for it? I didn't

fit into the current first! —— into the car at first. Some of James's

cars were there. There was the whole rivalry. You heard that noise and

that brought you back to what you felt like at that time. Does the

adrenaline get going before you get into the car? What is that moment

like? You have to try and keep as calm as you can but you are thinking

about what you are going to do for the first corner, it is all trying

to rehearse it in your head. James Hunt was a good friend of yours. We

only know him as the fact he liked to drink and the women and he was so

good looking, he was that pin—up. I knew him like that as well! We lived

near each other. We were good friends and most of the rumours are

probably correct. It was good when he was well champion. Did he have

that rivalry of the course? With Niki Lauda? I did not see that side

of it. In those times, when it was so dangerous, when drivers were

getting killed every year, we had a lot of respect for one another.

There weren't very many big fights amongst the drivers. You have your

helmet, and that is from 1979, when he won the world championships.

Pride of place? It is just somewhere at home. You going to go and see the

film? I'm not too excited but when you are in racing and you see a

racing film, it is weird. It is getting a lot of coverage, so it is

quite nice for people. Thank you for coming in. Fantastic talking to

you. We will go on whose board now. There is no F1 on is there?

That story is of thing I don't know much about. Before your time.Just a

little bit! One of the South's olympic gold

medallists has had a run—in with the authorities in Peru. Shotgun

champion Peter Wilson has been accused of trying to hunt whales

with his gun. He had flown to Lima with a youngster he is coaching to

take part in the double trap world championships. But customs officials

didn't like the look of his gun and didn't believe he was a professional

sportsman. His gun has been confiscated for the time being,

although Peter escaped arrest. He's due back for further questioning but

has been allowed to stay the night in a hotel. We'll hear from him in

our late news. To Poole and the World Championship

Sailing Event going on all this week. We saw Alexis being shown how

the boats in the 2.4m class work last week. Today, I went down to

Dorset to see the experts in action. The sun shone down on the world

championship fleet. The event has attracted a big entry in a class of

sailing which includes able—bodied and disabled sailors. There has been

some very tactical racing in variable conditions. Yesterday, it

was 14 knots out here. Today, very calm. Helena Lucas has gone to the

top of the leaderboard and the question going into day three of

racing is will the conditions allow the battle on the water to continue?

They would have to be patient, waiting for a breeze, but there was

a chance for the lead to reflect on the action so far. They are

extremely good sailors. A lot of them have done past Olympic

campaigns and staff, so there is a lot of talent out here on the water

and you certainly don't give an edge on the water. —— give an inch on the

water. Jonathan Currell is the youngest sailor hit was the piers at

member of the Helen MacArthur trust. He is competing with some of the

best. It is a massive event. It is really exciting. How you finding it?

Testing, it is really difficult. Race seven went to Ian Barker, the

Olympian who coaches Helene and Jonathan these days. Lucas looks a

person to beat as she aims for her first world title. Lovely album on

the water today, once they have some wind. 's paying with sailing now. ——

staying with sailing now. Ben Ainslie will make a dramatic

entrance into the America's Cup with an American team which is reeling

after the first five races of the event. Oracle Team USA is the

defending champion, but Emirates Team New Zealand has swept to

victory in four of the first five races, prompting the beleaguered

American crew to weigh up their options. Ainslie appeared on the

boat in practice yesterday, replacing John Kostecki, and has

been named in the crew for races six and seven, which start from 9pm our

time in San Francisco Bay. Cricket and Surrey are trailing

Somerset by 52 runs after day two of their County Championship match at

Taunton. This match is crucial for bottom—of—the—table Surrey if

they're to maintain hopes of avoiding relegation. Somerset were

bowled out for 260 — Surrey were 13 without loss. At the other end of

the table, Sussex lead Yorkshire by 46, but the championship chasers are

well—placed to move into a first—innings lead at Hove. In

Division Two, at the Ageas Bowl, James Vince went for 106 as

Hampshire posted 428. Worcestershire were 101 for two at the close. Thank

you very much. Let us go on to the weather. We want to talk about the

weekend because it doesn't look good. Unsettled this weekend, a bit

of uncertainty but we do have some wet weather to come. Saturday looks

like the better date at this stage. We have had some decent weather

today. Rob Webb captured a beautiful scene

overlooking Seagrove Bay on the Isle of Wight. Thank you for that photo.

Crashing waves at East Preston. A gorgeous seascape from Anni Stevens

there. And ominous—looking clouds building

up at Gravetts Lane riding stables at Guildford in Surrey. Raymond

Slack took that one. We have further ominous cloud heading our way

through the course of the night. Patchy outbreaks of predominantly

light rain heading our way from the West and working its way through the

region overnight. A bit of a damp, drizzly feel to things. Some misty

and muddy conditions as well. Those outbreaks of rain work their way

eastwards into the early hours, so slightly dry conditions arising.

Template is at around 16, so feeling quite close Tonight Show. It will

start to see write a conditions coming in. Tempters up to 18 or 19

degrees. By the time we reach the school run, we will start to see the

cloud thickening and the rain arrives into tomorrow afternoon. It

does not take long for that rain to spread through the region and by

Russia Howard Booth could see some heavy bursts, perhaps 30

millimetres, just over one inch in some isolated spots. That rain band

clears through through the course of tomorrow night and we are left with

patchy outbreaks through the early hours of Saturday. Tempters, ten or

11 degrees. It is a grey start to Saturday, very slow progress on that

weather as it eases away of some uncertainty on the clearance of

that. You can see from pressure charts that it is this formation

here that is clearing away. The ridge of high pressure overnight

brings some click conditions, so a crisp, bright start to Sunday but

this area of low pressure kicks in and we have some very strong winds.

You can see the tightly packed isobars and the wet weather as well

arriving by the middle part of the day. For Sunday, a crisp start but

then turning wet and windy into the afternoon. We have some events to

look forward to over the weekend. We may seem a little bit of light rain

at the Findon Valley Sheep Fair, which starts on Friday evening,

running into the weekend. That rain looks to ease away on Saturday will

stop for the Romsey Show on Saturday, a bit of a cloudy day but

we will see some bright intervals through the course of the day as

well. Let us take a look at the summary for the coming days will

stop lots to keep aware of. Friday, a bright day through the middle part

but becoming wet into the evening. Rush hour in particular. Saturday, a

damp start but improving. Wet and windy for Sunday. Thank you. That is

it from us this evening. More at 8pm and 10:25pm. Tomorrow, we will be at

the South Adam Voges. I hope you will be on the water! Join us

tomorrow at 6:30pm. Good night.