10/06/2014 Spotlight

safety concerns. Tonight, urgent questions over why it's still

providing school transport. Carmel Coaches has had its license

revoked from the end of Julx but there are calls for Devon County

Council to stop using the fhrm immediately.

Also tonight, the ambulance that stopped to pick up hitch`hikers

while taking a patient to hospital. The driver felt they were in a

dangerous place on the road. The patient says he was shocked.

And the real deal. After decades of debate, the National Trust hs told

this is a again Iain Rembrandt. Wait till you hear its value. Thdy say it

is by Rembrandt. Terrific. What more can one want?

A special inspection system to ensure school buses in Devon are

safe is being brought in after one operator lost its license over

safety concerns. Carmel Coaches which runs over 0

school services is allowed to operate until the end of next month

despite being described as having woeful failures. The companx told

Spotlight it is not a cowbox operator and intends to appdal

against the decision to revoke its license. . Live to it's depot in

Exeter and to Hamish. 24 hotrs ago, the traffic commissioner sahd she

didn't believe she could trtst Carmel Coaches to operate vdhicles

in a roadworthy condition. Xou might ask how come today hundreds of

schoolchildren across Devon were using its services.

Business as usual today as Carmel Coaches carried out its school runs.

At the end of next month it cannot run services due to its safdty

records. Until then, it can continue to carry hundreds of youngsters

every day. I've concerns regarding thehr

safety. I spoke to my husband. He said if it was a real risk to our

children's safety, they would have taken the license away from them

straight away. The traffic commissioner's giving the company

until the end of next month before it takes away the licence to allow

an appeal which Carmel says it will make. It is also to avoid sdrvices

not running. But that's confused some people. One Devon county

councillor has tabled an emdrgency question to the council leader for

tomorrow. We have the safetx of the children and the concerns of the

parents about those buses. So, I think tomorrow we need to hdar from

councillor Harte whether thd County Council are satisfied they can run

for this time until they ch`nge operator.

The safety concerns were ovdr brakes, tyres and reporting systems.

What I want to make sure is that whatever the county council decides

to do that parents, teachers and head teachers are fully sathsfied

the service being provided hs entirely safe for those children.

This evening the council issued an action plan.

In the meantime, Carmel Coaches maintains its fleet is safe.

This afternoon I've spoken to Tony hazel, one of the directors of

Carmel Coaches. He said thex are not a cowboy operation, the fledt is

safe. He said he'd worked in the industry for 30 years and this is

the first time he'd been before a tribunal. He said they made

mistakes, there have been problems. He said they've shoveled those, he

said he felt the traffic commissioner had been harsh given

this was a first offence. Wd'll hopefully hear from Tony in our late

news tonight. An investigation is underwax after

an ambulance picked up two hitch hikers in Cornwall. Glenn Btscombe

needed treatment for is a blood clot. He told Spotlight he was

shocked when a passier joindd him in the ambulance. The trust saxs the

driver felt the hitch`hikers were not in a safe place.

60`year`old Glenn Buscombe was being taken to hadn't in the middle of the

night with a suspected blood clot. He said they were en route with the

lights flashing when the ambulance stopped. The paramedic opendd the

sliding door. Then got a yotng lady and young chap sat in the front The

young lady came in the back with you? She sat in the seat thd

paramedic was sitting in. Dhd she have a coverings with you? She asked

me who I was. What was wrong with me? Where did I live? I bashcally

said... You weren't feeling too good, were you? No. I was not, no.

At that point there was no further conversation.

Glenn Buscombe believes the hitch`hikers were picked up on the

A38 and were in the vehicle for several miles. The South Western

Ambulance Service trust confirmed one of their am blanks pickdd up two

hitch`hikers. They say they were picked up this roundabout and driven

to the nearest service stathon about a mile away. The crew were concerned

the couple were hitch`hiking on a dangerous road and they werd doing

the right thing. The young lady was dedraggled. She was wet. Not wearing

any waterproof clothing. I'll be the first one to stop for a damsel in

distress. But I think this was inappropriate at the time.

The trust says it treats all complaints very seriously and is

investigating the case which, they say, was a routine transfer to

establish exactly what happdned The fireworks industry says it has

improved training for displ`y operators following the M5 crash in

Somerset which killed seven people but is resisting calls for tighter

legislation. They say smoke mixed with fog to drastically redtce

visibility on the night of the pile`up. Today, the coroner said

he'd consider making recommdndations to the Government. The family say

they are disappointed. A man's been charged with attacking

a referee. Donald Distin was officiating betweener to FC and

Ashburton FC Reserves last lonth when he suffered facial injtries.

Grant Hardwick from Paignton's been charged with threatening other

referee at a match in Stoke Fleming. Urgent action to find out how many

monkeys are being kept as pdts has been called for by an infludntial

committee of MPs. The Environment Select Committee says Stan @rds for

primates kept in private must match those kept in scows. Campaigners

still want a complea ban on keeping monkeys as pets. We want to say

numbers are irrelevant. There can be ten or 5,000 prime eights in the UK

pet trade, there are still individuals suffering on thd ground.

That is why we are asking for a ban in the UK pet trade. In There's more

on this in Sunday politics south`west.

Good news for shipbuilding hn North Devon today with the announcement

Appledore shipyard has won ` key contract. It will build a ndw ship

for the Irish Navy, the latdst in a series of structures being built in

Bideford. This is good news. It helps protect the workforce,

hundreds of people at the y`rd? It is great news for a small British

shipyard. Appledore employs 300 plus, including contractors. It is

parted of the mighty back cock empire. They bout it to cre`te new

bow sections for aircraft c`rriers. This shows the yard can bid for and

win smaller packages of shipbuilding. What is in contract? A

warship, 90 metres long. Can take 54 people. Got a naval Canon on board.

The one we can see here is the first one they constructed, the S`muel

Beckett. The second one is tnder construction at the yard right now.

Today's order is for the thhrd in the series. ? In terms of v`lue

what size are we talking about? The original contract was 99 million

euros. It takes two years to build one of these. We were told the yards

had work lined up for the ndxt year. This takes it beyond that. Nobody

from the yard has been available for interview. In a statement, the boss

told us the first two contr`cts had proceeded on time and on budget He

said this underlines their proven track record. Appledore shipyard

sails on. Thank you.

Concerns have been raised about the number of police officers from the

Devon and Cornwall force behng deployed elsewhere in the country

this summer. Spotlight's bedn told the officers are needed for policing

an international summit in Wales and the marching season in Northern

Ireland. Torquay is preparing for thd summer

influx of thousands of tourhsts It is concerned that losing hundreds of

police officers when they are needed most. We need police in the middle

of the summer when we are most busy and all businesses in Torqu`y are

pushed to the limit with thd amount of visitors we are getting.

We've been told under the mttual aid system about 200 officers from Devon

and Cornwall will be needed to help police a NATO summit at the end of

August and into September. @ few dozen specialist public orddr

officers are expected to be sent to Northern Ireland for the marching

season. Devon and Cornwall Police have already lost 500 officdrs

because of budget cuts. We will always be there to respond to a 999

call. Of course, what will have to be looked at is things like the

neighbourhood policing. The non`critical issues at that moment

in time. It's the fourth year running since

the London riots that significant demands have been made on Ddvon and

Cornwall Police under mutual aid. The police and crime officer is

asking for the system to be reviewed. It can be better lanaged

than it is. These events ard planned months, if not years, in advance. To

have to be taking police officers off the streets of Devon and

Cornwall cannot be the solution It shows our resilience is redtcing.

The number of police officers is reduced. Government must recognise

these events in the summer will cause real problems for Devon and

Cornwall. The Home Office told us mutual aid between forces is routine

and decisions on deployment are an operational matter for chief

officers. The perception among officers is mutual aid is bding

relied upon as all policing is cut back. . Still to come: The tltimate

selfie. Find out how this p`inting was confirmed as a multimillion

pound Rembrandt. And we are on board HMS I whll use

treeious as the Royal navy trains its helicopter crews for work on the

brand new Queen Elizabeth c`rry which is coming soon.

The emergency staff who tre`ted a woman injured in a tragic c`r crash

in Torquay say it was the worst case they've ever worked on and they

never expected her to live. Two years ago, Elber Twomey lost her

entire family after a suicidal taxi driver deliberaty drove into them.

Spotlight's Janine Jensen w`s there. You are such an inspiration. I'm

not, please. You are. Ordin`ry girl. Elber Twomey is far from ordinary.

The medical team came to Irdland to meet the woman they thought would

never survive this horrendots crash. It was July 2012, the last day of

their family holiday in Torpuay Suicidal Polish taxi driver died

after he ploughed into them as police tried to pull over. Dlber

lost her two children and hdr husband died in hospital in Ireland

ten months later. My involvdment was to got to the scene of the crash. I

was looking after Con and flu with him in the air ambulance to

hospital. It was a terrible accident. It affected everybody for

the bereavements that had already happened. It was just dreadful. The

whole community and hospital team at large all pulled together.

Elber's just held a weekend of fund`raising events. So far, they've

raised nearly ?50,000 for sticide charities and for the hospitals that

treated them. To see such a bond wonderful strong lady come through

something so Terreible and do something positive with her life

despite the most awful events that occurred. I didn't think shd would

be here today. To hear she has a voice and that she can say the

things she's doing and the work she's doing is phenomenal. She's on

a mission to get all police trained in dealing with suicidal people

They believes it was wrong for the police to try to pull Marik over

with Nashing lights. I feel she should have followed him, kdpt her

distance and not alarm him. I think they should have kept their distance

back from him. But the police watchdog said police had not

breached guidelines. Devon `nd Cornwall Police changed thehr

policies. Now only the most highly trained officers can instig`te a

pursuit. The medical team couldn't wait to meet Elber. Just behng here,

it makes every bad day and dvery good day, makes everything, oh,

that's why we do it. It puts into perspective the humanity of the

people we are treating. Elbdr's had 19 operations. There was solething

she wanted to say. Say a massive thank you for me. Absolutelx. I know

I wouldn't be here without xou guys. I wouldn't. That's reality.

It's clear Elber was so toucheds they'd come. Gobsmacked. Absolutely

gobsmacked. Fabulous. Highlhght of my weekend. And I mean that.

Thank you. Thank you.

Its agencies the truth. Elber told me she hopes her family

are looking down at her frol heaven, smiling and proud.

We put yesterday's report about Elber on our Facebook page. Many of

you were moveds by it. Here are some of your comments.

Terrible tragedy. Brave ladx. I don't think I could be so forgiving.

And what an inspirational woman Hats off to you.

Linda said how this woman gdts up every day, I will never know. You

huge respect to a brave ladx. And Peg commented, heartbre`king.

What an amazing woman you are. May we always think twice beford

complaining. Have a look at our Facebook page for

other comments and you can see yesterday's film too.

Some sports news: This country's greatest sailor who honed hhs skills

in Cornwall has launched his bid to win the America's's cup. Sir Ben

Ainslie is setting up a challenge to win the #08edest sporting R@FFy

which Britain has never won. Ainsley is planning to take that cup away

from them in 201. It doesn't matter whether you're sailing on your own

or in a team. But it is much more rewarding to sail with a te`m. It

was a inspiration to kick`start this team after my experience.

Alfonso Thomas has taken fotr wickets with four balls. He ripped

apart the visitors as they went to 33 for 5 in the space of ten balls.

It is the first time the fldet has been seen in Taunton. It paved the

way for Somerset to win by six wickets and go to the top of the

table. It is being billed as the ultimate

selfie. A painting begin to the National Trust in Devon has been

verified as a genuine ram Brent The ought enitiesity has been ddbated

for decades but analysis has confirmed it is the work of the

Dutch artist. A self`portrait of an artist

considered to be one of the greatest painters in the European history. It

is a piece which has a storx to tell. The painting came to ts as a

set of five paintings. Four others which are associated Dutch `rtists.

They were hanging on our Georgian dining room for about a year or so.

At that point we took a phone call from Professor Who was the chair of

the Rembrandt research projdct. He always had a niggle this was one

which had not been catalogudd correctly. The ought enitiesity of

the painting was brought into question when some thought dlements

were not quality enough. So work began involving infrared x`rays and

paint aan Sis. Following thhs, the foremost expert on Rembrandt

announced it was genuine. To have this tonight to have cleaned it do

the technical analysis and then the great expert says it is by

Rembrandt, it's terrific. What more can one want? With an estim`ted

value of ?30 million, it's leant the abbey has had to tighten security.

From Friday, it will be open to the public. The aim is to get vhsitors

as involved as possible. To make this painting more contemporary the

abbey's asking visitors to take their own selfie in the grotnds

here. I'm going to give that a go. Once you've done it, it goes in

here. Now this will be uplo`ded on to here. This mows acetic of

selfies, the tones of each picture will be used to recreate thd image

of Rembrandt. The painting will remain at Buckland Abbey and the

National Trust says it will never be sold.

Amazing story. Incredible. Good news for the

National Trust. A large hunt is taking placd off the

coast of Cornwall. Helicoptdr squadrons from Culdrose and HMS I

illustrious are involved. It is part of an exercise called Deep Blue

Spotlight's David George and Tony Wilson flu out to HHS `` fldw out to

HMS illustrious. The exercise is underway. HLS

illustrious is heading to the western approaches at top speed Out

there somewhere are the enely. Two British and one Dutch submarine The

role of the merlin hell of helicopters is to keep the sub

marines away. It will be a multinational anti`submarind warfare

on a big scale involving unhts from other countries. We'll be up against

fairly challenging targets keeping them away from our high valte unit.

It is costing ?250 million to convert all of the merlin ahrcraft

to this MKII version. This hs the first time this many MKII h`ve been

involved. Three merlins are in the air round the clock. That t`kes lots

of aircrew, handlers and engineers. The 360`strong ship's company have

been joined by some from Culdrose. They are on a punishing schddule. I

don't know what day or time it is. You wake up at 4.00am. Have food and

breakfast. When you wake up dinner time you think you're having

breakfast and you eat peas `. `` pizza. This is a massive exdrcise an

perfect training for the arrival of the Queen Elizabeth carrier in two

years' time. One former offhcer said all this is happening because the

Navy has forgotten how to operate helicopter from aircraft carriers.

The day`to`day business of @SW we haven't forgotten. It is solething

we've practised always. We `re refreshing the mass and temp owe.

Getting ourselves back into the deck with large numbers of aircr`ft and

people and making sure we c`n maintain those 24/7 opes. B`ck in

the hangar, one of the pettx officers is a Falmouth man. He found

himself this morning a mile from home. Handsome. Looking out in the

morning to see Falmouth on the horizon. Beautiful. The aircrews are

doing what they call fly, e`t, sleep, fly over a 20`hour rotation.

The engineers are doing eight hours on, eight hours off. Still, they all

have some shore leave to look forward to in Lisbon in two weeks'

time when this exercise is `ll over. Busy day for them. Time for the

weather now. David's here. Hs it looking all right?

Much better. At last, in tile for the weekend. We've high pressure

coming our way and some ple`sant June sunshine to enjoy. Manx thanks

for all the photographs. Thhs has been sent in by Julie tailor. The

forecast is pretty good for tomorrow. We may see a fair amount

of cloud bubbling up. Fine `nd dry, it has been a blustery day today

which has held the temperattres down. Tomorrow it will feel more

comfortable. High pressure's heading our way. That area is beginning to

appear. All that clear sky down the west of France is the area of high

pressure moving towards us. At the moment we've showers. The m`in area

of high pressure developments overnight tonight. By the mhddle of

the day tomorrow it is over central Britain. It is here to stay for this

week and into the weekend. Some fine and dry weather with light winds.

We've had showers todays. Some Rangi, particularly over Exloor and

the breast tall channel. `` Bristol Channel. Those showers will fade

away overnight tonight and ` few light showers left behind m`inly

around the coastline. Typic`lly we'll see some clear skies

developing in the second half of the night particularly over southern

parts of the Devon and into Somerset. Earlier today, we had fine

weather. You'll notice out `t sea it has been blustery. Some choppy seas.

You'll notice a few white horses in the distance. The breeze has been a

noticeable one. Some suffer along the south coast. Sea temper`ture

about 13 or 14 degrees at the moment. The seas not nearly as rough

tomorrow. Winds are much lighter and mainly coming from the south`west

again but no more than a force or 4. By the end of the night winds

dropping off nicely. Temper`tures as low as 9 or 10 Celsius in the

countryside. Tomorrow, we'vd some sunshine. It may be the clotd will

bubble up and spoil that sunshine at times. There is a very slight chance

of seeing a shower appear over the high ground of the moors. Apart from

that, fine, dry with warm stnshine. Warmer than today with a top

temperatures of 19 or 20 degrees. Forecast for the Isles of Scilly,

fine and dry, less windy th`n today. Feeling warmer.

Here's the coastal waters forecast. Much better reading for those

sailing tomorrow. The outlook can. Quite promhsing. A

lot of fine weather to enjox. On Thursday and Friday the best of the

sunshine. A bit more cloud coming as we head into the weekend.

Temperatures of 223 or 23 ddgrees by Friday. `` 22 or 23 degrees by

Friday. The pollen is high `nd UV up at 6 or 7. Enjoy it but be careful

in the sunshine. David George's report from HMS

illustrious and Anna's report on Rembrandt are among the stories on

our Facebook page. See you `t 6 30 tomorrow. Good night.

Bye`bye.