Stories for 15 September 2006

The Northern Echo News

Gulf war veteran denies murder

A FORMER Gulf War veteran has denied murdering four members of his family.   more...

Racehorse trainer to go on trial

A RACEHORSE trainer is to go on trial later this year facing charges arising from the death of an animal in his care.   more...

Fury over 650 jobs to be axed at insurance firm

UNIONS reacted with fury last night over plans by Britain's largest insurer to axe thousands of jobs, including 650 in the North-East and North Yorkshire.Amicus yesterday branded Norwich Union owner Aviva "ruthless and despicable" after it announced a £250m cost-saving programme with plans to move 1,000 jobs to India.Aviva intends to reduce its 36,000 UK staff by 4,000, with 450 job cuts made at the headquarters of its life insurance business in York, which employs almost 3,500 staff.A further 200 jobs are being axed at Norwich Union's Newcastle office in Market Street, which employs 328 workers.The cuts will be across the company's operations, with positions axed in customer services, human resources, marketing, finance and IT.Yesterday, Davey Hall, Amicus regional secretary for the North-East and North Yorkshire, said: "I think that it's a ruthless and despicable decision by Norwich Union to literally dump highly-trained personnel and off-shore their work to India."He added: "There was a belief that call centres were the long-term future of the North-East and North Yorkshire, while in fact they have been short employment stop-offs."The decision will demotivate employees and destroy the confidence of customers, who I think will retaliate by moving their financial affairs to more responsible institutions."Before long, the only thing left in the UK to export will be quality jobs."Norwich Union said the jobs would go by 2008 and half would be through compulsory redundancies. It said it would seek to achieve as many redundancies as possible through normal staff turnover and redeployment.Bill Woolley, director of city strategy at City of York Council, said: "It is a bitter blow when a major employer announces such large job losses."We will be doing all we can to support those staff who are affected."Norwich Union executive chairman Patrick Snowball said the firm now sold much of its insurance online and therefore needed fewer staff."We have to ensure that Norwich Union remains a highly efficient and effective company in what is an increasingly competitive and dynamic environment," he said.The group said it would "reduce duplication" of work at the life and general insurance businesses and include the outsourcing of 500 IT jobs.  more...

patricia's lucky numbers are up

ANOTHER lucky winner has been given a cash prize after matching numbers in a Northern Echo competition.Patricia Horner, of Shildon, County Durham, is the third winner in The Northern Echo's Pick3.com cash giveaway, which gives readers a chance to win cash every day.Winners must match numbers on a special game card - which was in last Tuesday's paper - to digits printed in daily in the paper. Today's numbers: Page 13  more...

We will recover from bmibaby bombshell

THE boss of a North-East airport said last night he was confident of replacing some of the routes lost as low-cost airline bmibaby announced it was axing its base in the region.Hugh Lang, managing director of Durham Tees Valley Airport, said he believed another airline would replace flights to more popular destinations, including Alicante, Palma, Malaga and Jersey.And he spoke of his surprise at bmibaby's decision to pull out of the airport, cancelling six all-year-round routes and two seasonal routes.But he said: "We are confident someone will replace the popular Mediterranean routes, and Jersey is also very popular."The airport recently secured flights to Brussels with Eastern Airways, and a new low-cost operator flyglobespan.com is starting flights to Tenerife.Mr Lang said he was also in discussions with another airline hoping to be based at the airport, but could not say which.Bmibaby's annual passenger numbers of 354,000 make up about a third of the 1.1m passengers using Durham Tees Valley each year.It announced yesterday it was stopping its flights to and from Gatwick, Paris Charles de Gaulle, and Cork, in Ireland, from October 29, and to and from Alicante, Malaga and Palma from November 6.Seasonal flights to Jersey and Newquay will cease on October 29.Up to 50 staff are affected by the decision, but bmibaby said it hoped to redeploy them to minimise the need for compulsory redundancies.Despite passenger loads of between 70 and 80 per cent of capacity, the airline said yesterday that its two-aircraft base at the airport was not commercially viable.It said although significant amounts of money had been invested in marketing and advertising, the commitment had not produced the support in attracting enough passengers.Mr Lang last night hit back, saying he was confused by bmibaby's decision."They are saying they've done everything to make it work, and it's the fault of market conditions that it hasn't worked," he told The Northern Echo."What we say is that it is their fault it hasn't worked."We have not agreed with some of the decisions they made on routes and they have gone against our advice on various decisions."For example, we advised them to do double daily flights to Gatwick, but they chose to do just one in the evening."And when they flew to Belfast, they just did it once a day with a big aircraft, when it would have made more sense to do it twice a day with smaller aircraft."We still think pulling out of our airport is a strange decision."The only thing we can think of is we are the youngest and the smallest base they have out of five bases, and perhaps this isn't a coincidence."Mr Lang said the setback would not affect airport owner Peel Holdings' plans to expand the site.Only in April, bmibaby doubled its capacity at Durham Tees Valley Airport, introducing a second aircraft to meet passenger demand.Mr Lang said: "It is quite clear that when bmibaby has offered the right product at Durham Tees Valley, passengers have responded very positively and in large numbers."Staff working for bmibaby were also said to be confused by the announcement. They were told of the decision on Wednesday evening.One member of staff said they believed the airline should have flown to more imaginative destinations, such as Prague, rather than Cork or Paris, but that load factors and passenger spend on most flights was good.Passenger Bruce Walker, of Heighington, near Darlington, said he had booked a flight to Alicante for a festival in Benidorm on November 10."I've been going for four years and some of my friends have gone for the past 20 years, and the flights are always full," he said."It's really popular. I called my travel agent and they didn't even know that bmibaby had pulled its flights."It was me that had to tell them."I don't want to travel to Newcastle to get my flight, but I am going to have to."Bmibaby said passengers affected by the cancellation of its flights would get a full refund automatically, but anyone wanting more information could visit the website www.bmibaby.com Scramble to fill hole - Page 6 Comment - Page 1  more...

Lightning hits Teesside home

VIOLENT thunderstorms left roads flooded and caused traffic delays across the region yesterday.Lightning strikes were reported on a house in Stockton and several trees were hit in North Yorkshire - but it was Leeds that bore the brunt of the storm.A spokesman for West Yorkshire fire service said it received 90 calls in 30 minutes when the storm reached Leeds.Scores of householders in the Harehills area of the city were left counting the cost last night after a mini-tornado ripped off several roofs shortly after 3pm.One resident said: "I've seen nothing like that before."I saw a kid get hit with a flying wheelie bin and there were tiles coming off roofs all over the place."He added: "If that's not a tornado, I don't know what is."The main problems in the North-East and North Yorkshire were flooded roads, as drains failed to cope with the torrential downpour.Firefighters were called to a house in Biretta Close, Stockton, shortly before 5pm, to make a roof safe after it was struck by lightning.Meanwhile, David Hall, landlord of the New Masons pub, in Shildon, County Durham, said he had managed to open despite the cellar, kitchen and part of the bar being flooded."We managed to get it all mopped up in time," he said.Householders in Jubilee Road, Shildon, were hoping there would be no more rain after homes were flooded out nine years ago.Last night, the water level had stopped short of the lowest lying house, but cars had to negotiate the road with care.  more...

Families from hell to live with social workers

THE region's families from hell will be forced to live full-time with social workers to improve their appalling behaviour under Government plans.Up to three "family intervention projects", each housing about 20 problem families, will be set up in the region by next summer.Under the scheme, anti-social families blamed for making the lives of neighbours a misery will be moved into adapted homes under 24-hour supervision.They will have little option but to agree, because they will be evicted from their homes or have their children taken into care if they refuse.The Government is already identifying the locations of the projects, which will be announced by the end of the year.The details of the scheme were revealed by Social Exclusion Minister Hilary Armstrong in an interview with The Northern Echo to launch the Government's Action Plan for Social Exclusion. Two pilot projects are already in place, in Dundee and Bolton, but the Government plans 50 to cater for 1,000 families, although not all will be moved in full-time.Ms Armstrong, the MP for North-West Durham, said: "I hope there will be two or three family intervention centres in the North-East, in towns and cities."Where there has been severe disruption in the family, where people have become notorious in the street, or on the estate, they will be in danger of losing their tenancies."Ms Armstrong was handed the social exclusion brief in Tony Blair's May reshuffle, after four years as Labour's Chief Whip.It gives her responsibility for the action plan to find and help what Mr Blair called the deeply excluded, caught up in unemployment, crime, drugs and anti-social behaviour.An updated teenage pregnancy strategy will target councils that have failed to reduce the number of young mothers, despite an overall fall nationwide.Among the areas where conceptions increased between 1998 and 2004 are Newcastle (up 8.6 per cent), Stockton (up 1.5 per cent) and Redcar and Cleveland (up 0.1 per cent).Referring to those authorities, Ms Armstrong said the strategy was not getting the level of priority it had been given in areas where teenage pregnancies had fallen.They will be encouraged to embrace programmes such as Teens and Toddlers, which reveals the reality of parenthood to 14 to 17-year-olds at risk of early pregnancy.Ms Armstrong said: "We are convinced that things could be better and that, in other areas, the strategy has had a higher significance.  more...

Bach to the drawing board

A CHEEKY bid to highlight the "bevy of beauties" who will perform at a classical music society season has hit the wrong note with one lifelong fan.Former headteacher and music fan Paul Thompson is boycotting Darlington Music Society (DMS) after he dubbed the brochure outlining its forthcoming season as sexist drivel.The cover of the leaflet shows pictures of ten women who are due to perform in the town over the coming season.The back cover says: "We could think of no better way to grab your attention than devoting our front page to the bevy of beauties who feature in this season's programme."At £42 for a season ticket, that's only £4.20 per beauty and £6 per concert."Inside, the brochure shows pictures of men who will also perform. It says: "Lest you should think our front page is unfair to our male musicians, we give them their share of the cover here."Mr Thompson, 60, from Great Lumley, near Chester-le-Street, said: "The leaflet is ill-advised, sexist drivel that is an insult to the intelligence and sensibilities of anyone reading it, but particularly the performers themselves."I strongly suspect that they will be blissfully unaware of the appalling manner in which they have been presented. In my opinion, the DMS committee ought to be ashamed of itself."Mr Thompson and his wife, Lorna, have had a subscription to the society for about ten years.Society chairman Frank Hewitson said: "It is just lighthearted."There is an exceptionally large number of ladies performing this season, which is different, that is why we thought it was worth commenting on. I am sure it has not offended anyone except Mr Thompson."Mr Thompson has written to the performers' public relations managers.One, Roderick Thomson, who represents sisters Viviane and Nicole Hagner, wrote back saying: "I fully sympathise with your thoughts and will be raising this with the society, since I agree that it is an inappropriate way for Viviane and Nicole (not to mention the other artists) to be presented."Mr Thompson has also contacted the society's three sponsors, Sanderson Weatherall, Sherwoods and Roman, to express his views.  more...

Marine up for award after daring rescue of five climbers

A ROYAL Marine who saved the lives of five people in a climbing accident could be on his way to Downing Street.Corporal Tony Dicks may meet Prime Minister Tony Blair after being crowned one of 25 regional winners in the annual Vodafone Life Savers Awards.The Middlesbrough-born officer was nominated by Lieutenant Commander David Cook, at Royal Marine Fleet Headquarters, after showing bravery in the face of adversity. Cpl Dicks, 29, was among the crew of a Royal Navy Sea King helicopter, based at Prestwick, that was called out to a climbing accident.When they arrived on the scene, in March last year, they found an almost unbelievable situation.A free climber on the north face of Ben Lui, in Scotland, had fallen almost 500ft, hitting four other climbers and taking them with her to the foot of the climbing face.The casualties were on steep ground above the snowline, and in an area of severe down-draught, which prevented the helicopter from landing.Cpl Dicks was dropped about 200 metres away and, assisted by a colleague, took a stretcher and essential response equipment to assess the situation.The most severely injured casualty needed urgent treatment and was flown to a hospital in Glasgow.Cpl Dicks directed the allocation of the additional medical staff and equipment according to the needs of the remaining four casualties.He also recruited the help of the Killin Mountain Rescue Team, and called for extra stretchers, which were brought to the landing site.With the helicopter running low on fuel, and the four injured climbers showing signs of hypothermia, Cpl Dicks decided to perform a complex rescue and air lift all the casualties to safety in one go.Ally Stevens, of Vodafone UK, said: "Corporal Dicks' rescue efforts were instrumental in saving the lives of five people that day."His actions epitomise the brave actions of so many men and women in our emergency services, whose everyday work and dedication so many of us much too often take for granted."The ten National Life Savers will be announced later this month and the awards ceremony will take place on November 1, when the winners will be congratulated by Mr Blair  more...

Clown Doctors hit funny bone

THEY came, they clowned, they made funny noises -and how the children laughed. North-East children's wards had their first taste of the Clown Doctors yesterday, an initiative designed to help young patients cope with the stresses and strains of being in a busy hospital.Judging by the grins, giggles and raucous laughter, youngsters on wards 21 and 22 at the James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, could not get enough of their antics.Funded by the Arts Council for three years, the Clown Doctors will visit children's wards in Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Newcastle every week.The North-East has been chosen to pilot the Clown Doctors project and, if successful, it could be seen in other parts of the country.Apart from boosting morale, the Clown Doctors also try to help children understand why they are in hospital and what medical doctors do.Eight Clown Doctors have been recruited by Tin Productions, a company based in Newcastle that already runs performance workshops with mainly disabled groups in County Durham.Co-ordinator Clare Andrews said: "We put out a regionwide appeal for Clown Doctors and we got an overwhelming response."We needed experienced performance artists who could work with children, but we also needed people who can cope with some of the distressing things you see on these wards."Wearing red noses, bright clothes and white coats, the two clowns who visited yesterday were a hit with youngsters in the hospital.Gavin Dunn, from Grove Hill, Middlesbrough, watched as his two-year-old son, James, followed the Clown Doctors' antics.He said: "At first he was a bit shocked, but after he while he was mesmerised by them. He was loving it."Chrissie Hill-Sherwin, from Brotton, east Cleveland, was also delighted at the impact the Clown Doctors had on her six-year-old daughter, Britney, and the other children on the ward.She said: "Most children are bored and a bit nervous about hospital, but the clowns seem to lift their morale."Ward manager Katie Edmond said: "It is quite stressful for the children when they come in. Anything that brightens things up for them makes it better."The Clown Doctors will become a familiar sight on North-East hospital wards over the coming months.  more...

Smouldering cigarette blamed for fire tragedy

A DISCARDED cigarette smouldering in a bag of rubbish probably caused the fire that claimed the life of an eight-year-old boy, an inquest heard yesterday.William Patrick Blakelock - called Liam by his family - was overcome by thick smoke and carbon monoxide fumes and was found behind the door of the bathroom of his council home in Broome Road, Carrville, Durham City, in March of last year.The fire broke out at teatime in the kitchen and the smoke left his mother, Kathryn, and his brother Shaun, then three, unconscuious. They were pulled to safety by firefighters wearing breathing gear and survived.The boy's father, Gordon, a postman, and his 13-year-old sister, Helen, were out at the time.Police and fire investigators carried out a painstaking examination to establish the cause of the blaze. Keith Wanley, district manager for Durham and Chester-le-Street, said the electricity meter and fridge freezer were ruled out as causes.He said: "We put it down to a carelessly discarded cigarette, which set fire to a rubbish bag."He said that depending on conditions, an unextinguished cigarette end could smoulder for hours before starting a fire and that poisonous smoke from burning plastics in the house would have risen upstairs.Closed doors might have held back the smoke, but most were open at the time - and there was no living room door.Detective Inspector Neil Malkin said Mrs Blakelock told police she had gone to light a cigarette on the cooker and had heard an explosion, but he said this could not have happened. He said there was no evidence of foul play.Det Insp Malkin said Mrs Blakelock went out of the house when the fire broke out but went back in to rescue her sons and was overcome by the smoke.He said she had been drinking during the day, "but felt in command of her faculties''. He also told the inquest: "The evidence points to it being a tragic accident started by a discarded cigarette that started a fire that ultimately claimed the boy's life.''North Durham Coroner Andrew Tweddle recorded a verdict of accidental death, praising the thoroughness of the investigation. No members of the family attended the hearing at Chester-le-Street  more...

Buyer sought for hotel group

ONE of the biggest hotel and pub groups in the country - which runs 12 establishments in the region - has called in the administrators.The London and Edinburgh Swallow Group, parent company of Swallow Hotels, appointed administrators from Ernst and Young, which said the group had been struggling for some time in the face of heavy losses.Last night, the search was on to find a buyer for all but three companies within the Swallow Group, which employs 7,300 people nationally.But it was stressed that no redundancies were imminent.Hotels in the group continued to trade as normal yesterday, and said it would be "business as usual" for the foreseeable future.Hundreds of people are employed by Swallow hotels in the North-East, where the company operates The Three Tuns, in Durham City; The Derwent Manor, near Consett; The Eden Arms, in Rushyford; and The George, in Piercebridge, all in County Durham.In Tyneside, the group runs The Imperial, in Jesmond; The Springfield, in Gateshead, and the Gateshead Swallow; and The George in Chollerford, near Hexham, Northumberland.The group also has the Stockton Swallow, in Teesside, and in North Yorkshire the group runs The White Horse, near Pickering, and The Yorkshire and St George hotels, in Harrogate.A spokesman for Ernst and Young said that directors of the company - which claims on its website to be the country's fastest growing hotel group - had decided restructuring through insolvency was their best option.Kevin Rowan, regional secretary of the Northern TUC, said: "It is going to be a major concern for people working in Swallow Hotels."But it is unusual. We are seeing a significant growth in the North-East hospitality and tourism industry. We have also got a relative shortage of decent hotels."In the face of that, we will try and remain optimistic that a buyer will be found.  more...

Scramble to fill hole left by airline's flights withdrawal

No-frills airline bmibaby said yesterday it was axing its base at Durham Tees Valley airport, which accounts for nearly a third of the airport's passenger numbers. Business Editor Julia Breen reports on the shock decision.WHEN bmibaby announced it was stopping all flights from Durham Tees Valley airport yesterday, it was a serious blow to the region.What has angered and confused regeneration chiefs and business leaders the most is that bmibaby blamed a lack of interest from passengers for its decision.The airline's indication was that the North-East market was just not vibrant enough; not attractive enough to keep it here.But questions were raised yesterday about the motivation behind the decision.It has not been an easy few months for the airline industry. Rising fuel costs and last month's terror alerts have cost aviation dear.This week, British Airways said the terror alerts last month cost it £40m, and low-cost carrier easyJet said it had lost £4m due to the tightened security.A spokesman for bmibaby last night declined to give details to The Northern Echo about how the situation had affected its finances.However, to add insult to injury, bmi was the airline that pushed hard for the deeply unpopular name change at the airport in 2004, from Teesside International to Durham Tees Valley Airport.Bmibaby, its parent company bmi, KLM and Ryanair all voted in favour of the change, in the hope that the Durham name would attract more passengers from Europe.Yesterday, the airport's managing director, Hugh Lang, said passenger numbers were increasing and that bmibaby flights had been popular.He said any lack of interest was down to some of the airline's "questionable" decisions on routes, not the lack of support from North-East passengers.Tees Valley Regeneration, the organisation tasked with bringing investment and jobs to the area, yesterday said it was surprised and disappointed by the decision.A spokesman said: "Only last week, Eastern Airways announced two new flights each day to Brussels, and Globespan announced a new flight to Tenerife, so the announcement by bmibaby does not in any way diminish our strong conviction that Durham Tees Valley Airport has a very bright future as a major gateway to the Tees Valley."Tom Warburton, head of regeneration at development agency One NorthEast, said: "We share Durham Tees Valley's disappointment following the announcement, especially when the bmibaby routes were performing strongly."He said One NorthEast would work with airport managers to attract new carriers.Airport owner Peel Holdings, which also operates Liverpool and the Robin Hood Doncaster Sheffield Airport, said its development and expansion plans for the Tees Valley site would still go ahead.A new passenger terminal, freight village, offices and distribution facilities are planned for the airport, which has scheduled flights to 15 destinations.Bmibaby's decision to axe six year-round flights and two seasonal ones has blown a huge hole in the airport's range of destinations.But it is hoped they can be replaced.Yesterday, Rachel Spence, policy and representation manager at the North East Chamber of Commerce, said cost pressures on the airline industry could have influenced bmibaby's decision.But she said: "This does not paint a good picture of the region. "With bmibaby being a nationally-recognised carrier, it is a bit of a PR blow for the North-East."However, if the passenger numbers are as good as the airport says, there should not be any problems getting another aircraft to replace the flights."What is most important is that we do not lose our London airport slots."We need to replace the Gatwick flight because that is important for business travellers to and from the North-East."Although bmi is continuing its flights to Heathrow from Teesside, Gatwick has a very good shuttle service into the centre of London."The London airports would rather give a slot to an international flight than a domestic one, so we really have to fight to keep them."I am sure one of the airlines will snap up the Durham Tees Valley to Gatwick route."Mr Lang confirmed yesterday that he was already in talks with other airlines over flights.And he indicated that low-cost airlines were cancelling flights from other airports, not only Durham Tees Valley.New routes such as Brussels and Tenerife should boost the airport, which still has flights to Dublin, Amsterdam, Aberdeen and Heathrow, as well as chartered flights to Tunisia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Spain and Corfu, among others.But it needs to attract a major new airline to help fill the hole left by bmibaby  more...