30/12/2016 South Today

Hello, I'm Anjana Gadgil with the news here in the South.

17 people were taken to hospital this morning after a coach

overturned on a motorway slip road in Oxfordshire.

It happened on the northbound exit at Junction 7 of the M40,

Thick fog made access to the scene more difficult,

and the slip road itself was closed for several hours.

Passengers escaped in such a hurry they left their belongings behind.

16 adults plus the coach driver were taken

to the John Radcliffe Hospital after last night's crash.

We had to stabilise the coach to prevent it sliding down the bank

any further and from rocking from side to side, to make sure

Then we had to search the immediate area for anybody that may have been

ejected from the vehicle, so we used thermal imaging cameras,

we used some of our remote cameras we have there,

we had a period of using audible detection, so we needed

There was thick fog just before 3am, when the Heathrow Express bus came

It went crashing through the barriers and flipped.

Certainly it would have been a chaotic scene.

You've got people inside who are probably wanting to get out

Also their medical welfare needs to be taken into account,

and sometimes getting them out quickly isn't necessarily

Two things that we are looking into, obviously keeping an open mind,

but the two main things are very foggy at the time and the driving

conditions and the fact that the bus wouldn't normally be leaving

It's not the first time a coach has veered off

This on-board footage from 2010 shows the moment when an Oxford Tube

bus crashed at the very same slip road.

The slip road was closed while barriers were prepared here today.

The Oxford Bus Company has been contacting passengers this afternoon

and as foggy conditions remain investigations are continuing

to try to work out how this crash happened.

The fog has caused travel problems across the region today.

Poor visibility on the coast - this view

across Poole Bay was typical - badly affected the ferries.

Wightlink services between Lymington and Yarmouth and Red Funnel

crossings between Southampton and East Cowes were suspended, with

There have also been delays and cancellations for flights

to and from Gatwick, Heathrow and Southampton airports.

And football has fallen victim to the fog as well -

Brighton's evening Championship match against Cardiff City has been

Elsewhere, the railway line between Eastleigh and Basingstoke

in Hampshire was closed for much of this morning,

after a body was found by the track near Shawford.

Rail replacement buses were laid on and the police say they are not

Meanwhile, Southern Rail is warning of severe disruption

on their network once again, as conductors stage

The company says some routes will have no service

at all tomorrow, New Year's Day and on Monday the 2nd,

while the majority of others will have a very limited service.

It is the biggest night out of the year but many people

are going to struggle to get home afterwards, as the Southern strikes

The RMT insist they are not trying to disrupt

We did cancel the strikes on Christmas Eve and the day

We've done everything we can to recognise that the public have

been wonderful in supporting our position on maintaining

the safety-critical role of the guard on the train.

Once again Southern say they will have to cancel around 50%

Crucially, though, they are warning anyone who is planning to use

the trains to get home after a New Year's night out that

many later services in particular will be completely cancelled.

The conductors are striking over plans to give drivers responsibility

for closing train doors, changing the conductors' roles

Southern said 220 conductors have signed up to the new contract

and many will begin their new roles from the 1st of January.

The proposals we have made are entirely reasonable,

we think the union's reaction has been unreasonable

We think these strikes are absolutely unnecessary

and I would call upon the trade unions to call off these strikes

A six-day drivers' strike is planned from January the 9th and the unions

say they can't rule out further action for 2017 if an

Drink-driving is still a big problem in the region,

In the first two weeks of the Force's Christmas

and New Year crackdown they've arrested more than 140 people.

Additional patrols are being carried out in Berkshire to catch

A Christmas lights display in a Buckinghamshire village has

helped raise money for a girl with a rare health disorder.

Frankie Ross from Pitstone has Rett syndrome, which only affects one

This dazzling display, now in its 20th year,

is raising money for 11-year-old Frankie Ross.

She was diagnosed with Rett syndrome when she was a toddler.

She potentially would lose her speech, lose

purposeful use of her hands, might not be able to walk,

could develop scoliosis, epilepsy, breathing difficulties.

The community in Pitstone had initially been fundraising to buy

a hoist for Frankie for water therapy but thanks to social media

two hoists were donated to the family in the last few weeks.

This year we have had a great campaign and I believe that we have

We all really get on well as neighbours and it was just

the perfect opportunity to pull the stops out for Christmas.

There are so many worthy causes and to think that Frankie's touched

local residents' hearts enough for them to want

to fundraise for her I think is absolutely amazing.

There is no cure for Rett syndrome but Frankie's family hope more

research and funding will help find better treatments in the future.

It's a generally cloudy picture as we end the year

but for most it should stay dry for the New Year festivities.

We are seeing this weather front pushing down

Rather cloudy overnight tonight. arrive until the early hours of New

Again we've got those problems with fog and there is a Met

Office yellow warning in force until ten o'clock tomorrow morning.

With more cloud around overnight tonight

I don't think it will be quite as cold as it was last night

but still the chance of a bit of frost and

indeed those fog patches where we do see any clearer skies.

It should clear away to low cloud fairly swiftly

and one or two breaks possible through the day.

There is also a fair amount of cloud tomorrow, temperatures just about

scraping into double figures the sum of us. Staying cloudy into New

Year's Eve, the rain continues on Year's Eve, the rain continues on

New Year's Day, becoming drier and brighter behind that, but it will

feel that much colder with frosty nights.

I'm back later with more on today's top stories at 10.50 this evening.

If you are heading out on the roads, please take care.

Good evening, fog has been a problem in recent days, slow changes over

the next 48 hours or so as this weather front moves south bringing

rain and behind