26/07/2011 Spotlight

Hanging on a thread - the woman rescued from a cliff after being

spotted by an early morning jogger. I climbed down to the Catt -- I

climbed down expecting the car to be empty, and there was a lady in

the passenger seat. Good evening. We will hear more

about events at St Agnes in Cornwall in a moment. Also

tonight... Spending on the essentials, cutting

back on luxuries - some experts say the worst is still to come. We will

be live in Tiverton with more on the state of our local economy.

And two helicopters and four rescue teams - the moorland search for an

82 year-old man who then turned up in a taxi.

To find he had gone ten miles and a circuit is unbelievable, but a very

It was an unbelievable sight. A car perched on a cliff-edge. Today, a

woman was rescued after spending 18 hours trapped in the vehicle which

had fallen 200 ft down a hillside on the north Cornwall coast. It is

understood the woman drove off the road at St Agnes Head after

becoming lost in heavy fog. Spotlight's Eleanor Parkinson

watched the rescue operation unfold. This car has rolled 200 ft down a

cliff and hangs precariously 300 ft above the sea. What is even more

incredible is that the woman inside this car has had to wait 18 hours

to be rescued. The car has been here since four o'clock yesterday

afternoon. It was only spotted by this man when he decided to go for

an early morning run. I climbed down to the car fully expecting it

to be empty and there was a lady in the passenger seat, to my shock.

Did you speak to her? Yes, there was blood in the car,

the glass was caved in undergrowth was all caved in. I told her to

keep calm, but help would be on its way. She said she was here

yesterday afternoon about 4pm, it was very misty, and she must do the

road and started down the cliff, and she got thrown to the passenger

seat whilst it was tumbling down. By the grace of God she's stopped

just before the cliff edge, really. The rescue operation is difficult.

The car has to be secured to make sure it does not slide any further

and fall into the sea. I a our staff are engaged in the recovery

phase using lines to go down to the vehicle, having made it stave --

having made it safe. The woman is given medical

treatment and then very slowly a coastguard team and the fire

brigade bring her up to the clifftop on a stretcher. The woman,

who has not been named, is thought to have leg injuries, but was

conscious throughout the rescue. She was airlifted to hospital in

Truro by helicopter. Meanwhile, this month has been praised for his

quick thinking and gets a special well done Hogg from his wife. --

Business leaders in the south-west save the economy here is growing

slightly more than in the country as a whole. Figures released today

put the growth rate across the UK at 0.2 % in the three months to

June. That is a slight slowdown from the first quarter of the year,

when the figure was 0.5 %. The figures come from the Office

for National Statistics. Although there is no regional breakdown for

them today, we have been trying to assess how our region compares with

the big picture. Well, our reporter, Andrea Ormsby, has been talking to

businesses across the region today, and we can join her now.

I am at Tiverton Business Park, a fairly big manufacturing base here

in mid-Devon. That is relevant - manufacturing is probably the

reason that some analysts think the south-west's economy is doing

slightly better in terms of growth than the national picture. But

where manufacturing is strong, other sectors are suffering -

retail in particular, although not all areas of retail, as my

Growth, what growth? -- poor growth, what pro-growth?

The us shopping centres specialises in discount shops, and in times of

uncertainty that is where shoppers turn. In the last three months,

football has risen from 22 % to 26 Shoppers have to make their pound

note score a little further, and this is the way to do it. We think

the loyalty we have engendered within our customers will ensure

that when the economy does turnaround we will retain that

customer base. Times are tough for the hospitality

industry, primarily because eating out is a luxury for many. This man

has five restaurants. In the last two years he has after -- had

prodigious his staff. He has had to reduce prices of meals despite a

rise in VAT. People have no confidence day today,

particularly in this area where a large chunk of the population is on

benefits or dependent on pay-day, so people are cutting down on

luxuries, things like he didn't, maybe clothing, and that that is

affecting us. -- things like eating at. People do not get a taxi to

come to us, the taxi driver suffers command they are not spending

locally, that is how the economy collapses.

The South West Thames to lag behind the rest of the economy. Experts

fear the worst is to come. The big fear is that industry

specialising in the public sector will change again, and in that case

we will see unemployment rising significantly and spending going

down as a consequence. It is hard to predict what is around the

corner, but those best placed to know suggest we fasten our seat

belts for a bumpy ride. We have a definite figures from the

Office for National Statistics on that 0.2 % growth. We have a

representative from the Devon and Cornwall business council. You say

you are slightly ahead of that growth figure, can you put a number

on it? Yes, in manufacturing we are at

least 0.8 % up and in service sectors around about 5%, bucking

the national trend. We heard that there are worse times

ahead, especially in relation to the public sector cuts, do you

agree with that? I would not agree entirely. The

public sector big cuts will start to hit in around four years' time,

they are happening now but happen very slowly. That gives time to the

private sector have to fill that gap. We have mentioned

manufacturing doing well and retail not so well, are there any other

section of -- sectors worth pointing out?

Yes, our colleagues in the business of food, both from farmers, gate to

Plate, as be not only the role the stuff, we exported. Finally,

tourism looks as if it will do well. Do you think that in the South West

we can hang on to that slight growth and continue that?

I think we will see an increase in that growth, if nothing else,

because of tourism. We see optimism, other people

saying fasten your seatbelt. We have very much -- three months to

wait before we have a hint of Police say they are treating a fire

at a former guest house in Carbis Bay this morning as suspicious.

A fire at a former guest house in Carbis Bay this morning as

suspicious. Nearly 100 firefighters battled the blaze, which broke out

shortly before 1am. 70 residents were forced to leave their homes as

the flames spread to the property next door. There are was a fierce

fire. It was well developed when the

first crews got here. Fortunately, the wind was not in our favour. It

spread to the neighbouring property, but our crews got to work and

managed to stop it spreading to other properties.

Meanwhile, a 600 metre exclusion zone was set up this afternoon

around a barn fire at Lympstone. The building on fire at Nutwell

Court contained gas cylinders and fertiliser. Dozens of firefighters

were involved in bringing the blaze under control. Local residents were

warned to keep their windows shut. Dorset police made more than �1

million in profit last year from its Driver Awareness Course. It is

offered to some motorists as an alternative to points on their

licence. Around 20,000 drivers pay �100 to take the course in Dorset

every year. The force says the income offsets its costs.

Exeter-based airline Flybe will begin operating flights between

Newquay and Manchester later this year. Air Southwest has announced

it is pulling out of Plymouth and will cease flying the route in

September. The new Flybe service will commence in October.

An 82-year-old walker survived a night on Dartmoor and hiked 10

miles to get help after getting lost near Ivybridge.

The police feared the worst after two helicopters and rescue teams

scoured the moors for looking for Eddie Golding without success -

until he pulled up beside them in a Dartmoor rescue Group resumed their

search for the elderly walkers at first light, but with no sightings

they were getting increasingly concerned for Eddie Golding. An

extensive search by RMS called rose by air turned up nothing.

We can see a lot of country, as far as the gate...

Eddie Love's letterbox income and orienteering style challenge Blair

hikers goal from 0.2. On the moors stamping a visitors' book. -- where

hikers go from point to point. Rescuers were surprised when he

turned up safe and sound 16 hours later.

A bit of a surprise for you? It we could not believe it,

especially when he told us where he had come from. We were sure that at

that age it was unlikely he had crossed the river. We are limited

our surged to the side of the river. To find out he had gone ten miles

in a circuit is unbelievable, but a very happy outcome.

After getting lost without realising it, Eddie had almost

walked the ten miles home. The came off the murk at this could

have, but he was walking into the village before he saw a taxi that

he flapped down and asked him to take him back so he could

rendezvous with me. So he was only five minutes from

home to my cat exactly, but typically he knew I could not get

away because he had their key to the car, and he thought I was

spending the night perched against Picasso had to get back for me.

Carol is now it resuming her holiday in Devon while her father

takes a nap after his fight. The emergency services said the good

weather, his fitness and experience helped him survive and made on the

If you have just joined us, welcome to Spotlight. Still to come...

The metal thieves risking lives by stealing wiring from train tracks,

clay pits and even church roofs. And two men, three legs - but can

this pair of army commandos can A charity which offers support to

families of prisoners in the south- west is facing an uncertain future

due to budget cuts. String Of Pearls has already lost most of its

funding and the rest is due to run out in autumn. The charity is just

one of many in the region facing financial difficulties amidst a

backdrop of spending cuts. Our community affairs Correspondent,

Carys Edwards, joins us now and with more on the charity and the

Yes, it appears the majority of charities are facing difficult

times. The South West Forum, which represents around 70,000 voluntary

organisations in the wider South West, says charities generate more

than �2 billion of income a year. And a report due out this week

paints a picture of how they are coping. It says...

Most of the organisations were facing tough decisions,

redundancies and even total closure. Figures provided by the group

suggest 75% of charities and voluntary organisations are facing

budget cuts. The area worst hit appears to be support for children

and young people. Charitable donations are also falling. It is

all against a background of Government spending cuts, which the

coalition says are essential to stave off the debt crisis. I have

been to meet the charity String Of Pearls to find out what the cuts

mean for just one organisation. Law that says her family has never

before been in trouble with the law, but recently her son was jailed.

She and her family are devastated. Anger, sadness, loneliness. The

sometimes I want to hug him, I cannot. Sometimes I sit outside the

prison thinking, my son is inside through these big walls.

After the sentence, she was desperate for emotional and

practical support command came here to a group set up by the charity

grit. It helps families left behind when those they love are locked up.

-- helped by the charity String Of Pearls.

Wives, fathers, children, many struggled to cope. They say it

helps to be around others to understand. I like to be with the

group, because we know our pain is the same. We help each other, we

hugged each other, and we don't criticise each other.

The charity believes offering support to families of offenders is

important in helping to reduce levels of crime. It says 45 % of

prisoners was contact with their families, yet prisoners are six

times less likely to be a friend if they stay in touch. 65 % of sons of

offenders will go to prison themselves. Offers of support, it

could argue, can break the cycle of inter-generational crime.

Prisoners are normal people caught in this situation and they need

help as much as anyone else. The charity lost its core funding

from charitable foundations earlier this year, and the rest is due to

run out in September. It is looking for new funding, but meanwhile

I'm joined now by Stephen Woollett from South West Forum, who, as we

have been hearing from Carys, has a report out this week. Don't

charities have to share the burden? We are not at seeing charities

shouldn't it fair share, but they are providing key services and we

are seeing conventional public services being cut, and also seeing

demand for some of these public services, with the impact on -- of

the recession... So a year are not saying there

should be no cuts? So are they know all -- now too big?

The charities or the cuts? At the cuts.

They are. If you added support to charities providing essential

services there may be a long-term impact that will actually increase

costs to the state. The Government might argue it has

no alternative, because of the debt crisis.

I think the Government is concerned about efficiency and the overall

impact of cost, and are but -- we are asking the Government to be

aware that quick cuts to charity groups make in the long-term

increase pressure on public spending, so actually it is

important that they think about the process.

They could be counter-productive? Absolutely.

Thank you for a good time. -- thank Reckless thieves are being warned

they're risking lives by stealing wiring from rail networks and

overhead electricity cables at sites across the South West. The

mining giant Imerys has been particularly badly hit, and

elsewhere in the region at least one person is believed to have died

during a bungled attempt to steal cables. The spate of thefts is

being fuelled by the spiralling value of scrap metal. Leigh Rundle

reports. These pictures are released by our

regional train company. They show a man pulling copper cable from a

railway line. He was subsequently arrested and prosecuted. They will

stop at nothing, and frankly some of them are lucky to be alive. The

incident so you refer to where cabling has been ripped out exposes

the thieves to future risk of electric shock and there have been

deaths up and down the country and serious injuries were people

committing these -- with people committing these offences.

another event in Cornwall, our wire was severed. For engineers it was a

red alert. These wires have been cut in order

to remove the copper. Can you describe what you find when you

went to these over headlines after the incident? We were very lucky

our production people managed to be aware of the overhead lines, which

were at head height. What kind of damage could that have caused you

might be contact with those lines could be fatal.

By as damage could that have Across am like Cornwall operations,

this year to date we have had approaching 40 incidents of theft

of copper cable -- copper cable. This is totally unacceptable and we

are working closely with police to try and address these issues.

What a dealer may pale form -- pay for all of copper cable may they be,

but somewhere in the region of �5,000. For someone attempting to

steal it or an individual subsequently working on it, the

cost could be a life. A fire which was started quite

deliberately has destroyed an area of heathland near Dorchester, and

more such buyers are expected this week. They are happening with the

full approval of authorities near Dorset and they have attracted

attention far beyond the south of England.

Heath fires can decimate an environment in a matter of arrears.

Just last month, 140 acres was destroyed at Upton heath and a fire

which was started deliberately and got out of control. -- decimate an

environment in a matter of hours. A if we can understand the

conditions in which Upton heath burnt, we will learn a lot more, we

will understand the fire all it better this way than other brands

at other times of year. It is a novel lot of preparation

for a burnt that will only last a matter of minutes. -- it is an

awful lot of preparation. There is only one chance to collect the data.

Hi-tech monitoring equipment provides vital information on

everything from soil temperature of to the effect of wind. Every effort

is to -- is made to ensure wildlife does not get caught in the fire.

We have done all we can, with catchers and just prior to the barn

there is a lot of activity all of the sites so they will describe

well wildlife, but we have a final walk across the site to flush any

wildlife a way and do as much as we possibly can to remove it.

Experienced teams will be onside to manage the burn throughout the week.

It is hoped sacrificing small areas to research of this type will lead

to greater understanding of how to tackle large-scale fires in the

Sport now and Devon swimmer Liam Tancock has finished a

disappointing sixth in the final of the men's 100 metre backstroke at

the World Swimming Championships in Shanghai. The 26-year-old from

Exeter put in a strong performance over the first 50 metres and was

comfortably amongst the top three. But he couldn't quite match the

speed of the French pair, who both won gold in a dead heat.

It is a pretty fantastic achievement for the French guys,

top of the Apple -- top of the podium for both of them.

When you take them on? definitely.

I love to race against the best guys, so I have a few days' rest

and then the 50 metres race at the end.

A world record-attempt has been taking place in Plymouth today. Two

Corporals from 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery have been

attempting to enter the record books. Their challenge - to attempt

to travel the longest distance in a three-legged race. Spotlight's

Heidi Davey has been along to see them in action.

Gary Hooson and Simon Ashton started their challenge at 7am

today. They aim to cover 50 miles in 12 hours. The current record for

the same period of times stands at 40, but how are they standing up?

As you can imagine, we are feeling bid that he'd now. About lunchtime

it was really hurting, and we were just pushing through for the last

couple. We are really in the locker now,

the pain is now it -- the pain is there. It is a beautiful day, but

that does not help, does it? We are asking for rain, we feel so

hot. It is a great cause, but why did

you specifically choose this task? It was at random, really. We had a

chance to raise as much money as possible. Four world records, you

don't get much bigger. The two are raising money for Help

for Heroes. Also returned from Afghanistan last year and it is the

least they can be to raise fund -- Two laps to go, that is all we have

got, we will try to find out before the end of the programme. They

the end of the programme. They chose a hot day to do it.

One of the warmest days of the dear, so far. We have had 26 Celsius in a

few places today in the sunshine. It may not be quite as warm

tomorrow, but well into the twenties over the next couple of

days. There is some cobble some cloud around. -- some troublesome

cloud. We have a weather front coming in off the Atlantic, but

that is a weak affair, not much in the way of rain. An area of high

pressures dredges up to the top of Scotland and links up with this

high pressure of the western coast of Spain. Either side of it, this

weather front from the Atlantic will make slow progress towards us,

a lot more cloud bike in the east. Some of that will come our way

during tomorrow, but we hold on to the fine weather, until we get to

Thursday, when the weather front will start to creep in and give us

more cloud. We can see the cloud today. What a lovely end to the day,

glorious sunshine for the whole of the South West, but more cloud from

the east later tonight. For all of us tonight, fine and dry overnight.

Temperatures a little lower than recently with slightly less

timidity in the air, temperatures down to nine Celsius. Tomorrow

morning, sunny spells everywhere, more cloud from the east later in

the day for Somerset and Dorset and the eastern fringes of Devon.

Further west we hold on to the sunshine, especially for Cornwall.

Probably the warmest around Torquay, 24 Celsius, a little cooler on the

north coast with an onshore breeze developing. For the Isles of Scilly,

after it two grey days, a fine and one day -- warm day. The times of

high water - and for our sufferers, Coastal waters forecast, the winds

are north-westerly 4 -- for tomorrow, forced three, backing

Westerleigh later in the day, fair with good visibility. The forecast

as we move towards the end of the week and the weekend, expect

thirsty to be a contrast as that front comes in from the Atlantic,

quoting things over for Cornwall giving showers further east, bright

and dry. Friday, more generally more cloud with a risk of showers,

and into the start of the weekend it is bright, dry and still

it is bright, dry and still relatively warm at 21 Celsius.

Tomorrow it will be exactly one year until what they are calling

the Greatest Show on Earth begins in Britain. The 2012 sailing event

will be held off Weymouth and Dorset, and from a new host country

to the first, I will be reporting from Athens on what the 2004

Olympics did for Greece and what lessons Dorset can learn. That the