winters icy blast hits the vegetable
trade the South's market gardeners face
a bleak prospect it could mean shortages
and even higher prices
hello good evening the snow gets worse
in the West but it's not so bad in the
East tonight we look at how to drive in
the icy conditions and indeed how not to
and it has to be better by rail 130
million pounds better as British Rail
unveil a new age of the train on the
Brighton line and our snow desk will be
bringing you a full roundup of the
latest effects of the weather what's on
this weekend and what's off and we start
tonight with the habit the snow and
frost is bringing to vegetable producers
in the south many market gardeners face
severe financial losses crops have been
ruined and spring planting is being
delayed this could lead to a shortage of
vegetables in the shops and of course a
hefty increase in prices Charles waste
reports on that down today's heavy
snowfalls couldn't come at a worse time
for market gardeners whose crops have
already been severely damaged by the
recent overnight Frost's the owners of
the clover vil nursery near Wickham in
Hampshire are facing losses of thousands
of pounds not only has the snow covered
fruit and vegetables but it's blocked
roads leading to the nursery making it
impossible for any remaining healthy
vegetables to be taken by Lori to market
much of the produce here though is
destined to go nowhere this field of
cabbages are impossible to economically
pick
the frost has also made many of them
inedible leaks which should now be on
their way to market are also buried
beneath snow more than half a thought to
already be ruined the nursery says the
weather's led to losses of up to 400
pounds a week and that's only the
beginning thousands of lettuces have
been frost damaged the continuing cold
weather has also ensured that ground
which should now be ready for planting
is frozen solid inside the greenhouse
there's no space for the thousands of
young lettuces still under propagation
and you in the shops later this year the
nursery says it's impossible for them to
insure against the cold weather the
premiums are just too high well it's so
serious that as you can see we cannot
find our crops they're absolutely frozen
into the ground and it's aptly
impossible to get do anything on the
land today what effects that going to
have on your business well it's mean
it's meant that everything's coming to a
standstill we've got nothing going out
today and we're not going to try and do
anything today what effect do you think
all this is going to have on prices and
the shops and the supply of goods
generally in the shops at the moment oh
we're gradually seeing a shortage of
vegetables home produce vegetables this
is going to get worse and worse
obviously particularly the roads get
snowed up and they can't be brought in
from other areas do you think he'll be
able to stay in business I'm sure where
we've seen worse times and we'll live to
see the better ones this is pretty bad
isn't it probably as bad as it's going
to get the snow will bring the South's
growers even more problems in the coming
months when they finally do get their
remaining fresh vegetables on to the
shop shelves they fear they could be
competing with cheap foreign imports
which will further cut their market
share in the years ahead but of course
it's not just the South's market
gardeners who have been hit by the
weather schools businesses and public
transport throughout the region have
also been affected John Andrews has the
details now
well the snow held up emergency services
as they were on their way to rescue an
elderly woman in a burning house at
Downton near Salisbury by the time they
arrived the woman who was 82 was already
dead it's thought she fell onto an open
fire at woodland near reading a woman
fell down an embankment and lay
seriously injured with a broken hip in
the snow until she was spotted by a
passerby walking a dog the woman mrs.
Doris sharp is undergoing surgery in
hospital at reading a school bus and a
gas van crashed in the icy conditions at
ferrum this morning the children weren't
injured but they were getting very cold
until the police stepped in with their
own mini bus to take the youngsters on
to school a hundred schools in Dorset
have been closed today because of the
conditions and a special snow disc set
up by salisbury police had 700 calls
this morning several villages on
Salisbury Plain have been cut off during
the day and even some major roads in
Dorset and Wiltshire were closed for
quite a while although most are now open
again Gatwick Airport stayed open but
the regional airport said Bournemouth
hearn airport and eastley Airport near
Southampton they were both closed the
buses to have been having a hard time
many services have been withdrawn
because of blocked roads but British
rails say they've been maintaining an
almost full service despite the extra
difficulties they faced as a result of
yesterday's strike but let's pay tribute
to the men who've been working around
the clock to keep us moving especially
the driver of a gritting lorry at new
milton in the new forest whose truck
slid off the road and straight into a
car showroom causing several thousand
pounds of damage to two cars well we'll
be looking at some of the other
casualties of the snow later with
details of some of the events that have
had to be called off because of the bad
weather well British Rail are getting
there also they promised us and today
they unveiled the final stage of plans
to improve the Brighton line more than
100 million pounds has apparently been
spent cutting the journey time to London
and modernizing that section of the
southern region part of the package is a
complete facelift for Brighton station
as Andy Webb reports now the whole 130
million pound
known as Operation new look British Rail
admit that some of the equipment they're
now using will be more at home in a
railway museum much of it is more than
50 years old before long Brighton's
ancient signalling system will be
replaced by a computer based at crawley
already much of the track has been
renewed the next few months engineers
will straighten out many of the curves
on the bright and approach another
target for modernization is the massive
New England viaduct 140 years old it
carries traffic over the a27 in the town
center the work will mean that the roads
completely closed for four days over
Easter well ironically it was exactly
this stretch of road that was closed for
half a day this week after an accident
in the snow then there were traffic jams
stretching way back up the Shoreham road
though British Wales say that they've
chosen the four days over the Easter
weekend good friday to easter monday
specifically to avoid those kind of
delays when they start work while work
on the track is completed all trains to
and from London will have to go via home
throughout the month of April adding 10
minutes to the journey time but after
April British Rail say trains will
travel to Victoria in 52 minutes a
six-minute saving on the normal time but
surely a costly warrior it's not just
that we're basically rebuilding a
railway much of which is 50 years old
the signaling in the brighton area is 50
years old and we certainly expect to get
a lot of extra business over the years
from the modernization and coupled with
the track and riesling work we're
modernizing the station itself and we're
making a start on modernizing the trains
too so it's Brighton station then going
to look much different after all
Brighton station will have a new
attractive terrazzo tile concourse it
will have a new indicator system of the
electronic type that's used at London
term in I replacing the old indicator
and it will have a new barrier line and
so soon it'll be all change in Brighton
station the one piece of historic
equipment with a future is the old
indicator board due for a trip itself to
the National Railway Museum in
well thousands of people are suffering
the misery of going without water in
this cold weather in Sussex repair teams
are working round the clock to fix burst
water mains the Southern Water Authority
in brighton is dealing with 15 emergency
calls a day compared with the usual one
or two Tim Hurst reports most water
mains are laid beneath roads so any
escaping water in these temperatures
immediately freezes and puts a layer of
sheet ice across the road the repair
teams can often only guess about exactly
where to dig their holes the mains are
four feet underground and thousands of
gallons of escaping water may seep some
distance before rising to the surface
we're probably having about 10 to 12
verse mines a day in the area what's
causing them well it's the bad weather
the temperatures are going well below
freezing the pipes are contracting the
grounds moving and it's just snapping
the mains why at this particular time is
it I mean before hasn't even started yet
no it hasn't but this is an exceptional
winter it's probably our worst winter
for 22 years since the 1962-63 winter
are you managing to cope with all the
calls as you get we're coping at the
moment what do you think is going to be
the worst period when the force that I
think possibly it may well be that so
what's your advice if you have any well
there's nothing the general public can
do with regards to burst water mains but
their own particular plumbing I would
hope that now but they will go and lag
all their pipes if it's not too late all
emergency calls from the brighton area
are handled in the huge southern water
control room at farmer from where the
repair teams are directed by radio the
rich pudding team your name address
and your child's burst mine it's clean
water spotting trouble before it happens
should be easier now with a new weather
radar which can pinpoint approaching
winter weather before it happens it
should also help in milder weather when
it's warm enough to rain then the water
engineers can use it to predict floods
when our day one said but the people in
London seem in their usual metropolitan
way to think that because it didn't snow
very much in London it didn't snow
anywhere at all right it's what they
were saying on the six o'clock news
isn't it you were a dance I'm more
accurate than most other people
forecasting last night went oh yes I'd
like to think we were Debbie we weren't
perhaps quite right for Sussex there's
really not a great deal of snow there
today perhaps unusually the Isle of
Wight was the worst-hit place in our
region not only in our region it was the
worst hit place really in the country in
the last 12 hours or so those are quite
a lot of snow down there and out towards
Dorset as well I think possibly you're
seeing the last of that now and perhaps
we're going to have 24 36 hours a
slightly better weather this afternoon
satellite picture shows all the cloud
that produced that snow during today
being pushed along by this low pressure
near bisco there the cloud is tending to
swing westwood here taking it snow with
it and somewhat clearer weather coming
in although not that clear really and we
haven't quite seen the last of us know
yet there's still some lingering around
the Dorset Weymouth Portland area but
that is now drifting away from Dorset
and then we'll have a dry night but a
very misty one you'll find if you're
driving around a cold one not quite as
cold as it's been just lately but
nevertheless temperatures which are now
a round freezing point are dropping
further so it'll be a widespread Frost
again but as I say a fairly dry night
once this last bit of snow is cleared
away from Dorset and a dry day to
tomorrow a brighter day that doesn't say
they'll be much sunshine around I fancy
but nevertheless the sky will look
brighter and it's going to be a dry day
as well temperatures zooming up to
around two degrees centigrade I say that
because that's a good deal higher than
they've been for some time in the past
and furthermore only very light winds
with a very variable direction so that
will help it make make it feel a little
warmer later in the day some South
easterlies picking up on the door
sick Coast strangers the temperature
shot up 20 today it felt quite warm
actually indeed while the snow baby
easing off it would be too late there to
save the majority of sporting events
which should have taken place this
weekend here's John Andrews again with
the latest on the list of cancellations
as far as the football program is
concerned there's hardly a match being
played at any level in the south this
weekend Southampton decided after
yesterday's snowfall that their game at
the del couldn't go on and today's
blizzards made conditions at the ground
even worse and while Sussex has escaped
the worst of today's snow the state of
brighton's gholston ground hasn't
improved enough to allow their match
against Carlisle to go on all the shots
home game against Halifax has also been
cancelled but four teams playing away
it's a brighter picture the games
between Middlesbrough and Portsmouth
Doncaster and reading and Rotherham
against Bournemouth are still on but
soccer cancellations are just the tip of
a very large iceberg BMX riders
belonging to the pool Panthers the
Farnham district and the Gosport clubs
won't be peddling this weekend and to
show jumping events have been cancelled
there at stockland show centre in
liphook and burly Villa arena at new
milton obviously the cold weather means
many elderly folk are sensibly staying
at home so tomorrow's whist drive at the
Avenue Church in Southampton and the
Lions Club meeting at ventnor are both
off Southampton's opportunity group for
the disabled has cancelled tomorrow's
skittles evening and the next handy Club
meeting for the disabled in swanage is
off to a spare a thought for 15
disappointed youngsters from Southampton
will be staying in the warm this weekend
there Junior Chamber survival course has
been called off because in all this snow
they just might not survive meanwhile do
bear in mind that radio solent will be
broadcasting a special snow program at
ten past seven this evening while radio
Sussex is manning a special phone line
tomorrow to help bring you the very
latest weather news thanks John now if
you have to go out in a car in this
weather it's best to know what you may
be in for Richard Vaughn has been
picking up a few tips from the experts
on just how to cope what you're about to
see is
not to drive on snow and ice the man
who's demonstrating his Ian Taylor
racing driver and instructor at thruxton
as I come down here I'm beginning to
break and if you just break without
coming off the pedal at all the wheels
are just lock up in the car just go in a
straight line at the same time the
either the back end or the front end
could break away if that happens to you
it's so important again to come off the
pedal and unfortunately most people in
the panic situation just tend to keep
their foot heavily on the brake and the
car will just go in a straight line and
unfortunately that's when they tend to
hit things just look at the difference
in stopping distances between the white
police car where the driver pumps on and
off the brakes and the blue car where
the brakes are simply slammed off the
experts advices break in a straight line
before you reach a corner not in the
middle of the bend like this and of
course if you get into a skid turn the
steering wheel in the opposite direction
it's so important in these conditions to
have light control in other words the
driver who drives on ice tends to tense
up but if you just feel the steering
very gently and do gear changing very
smoothly you can save yourself an awful
lot of travel it's more important than
ever in weather like this to be very
much aware of other drivers because in
snow and ice it takes everybody that
much longer to stop perhaps as much as
10 times the distance it would normally
take things to check before you even set
out on your journey and he freeze for
your windscreen wash is very important
this if you can't get hold of any a
little methylated spirits will do the
trick and the manufacturer's recommended
amount of antifreeze in your radiator
that is a must and that's not all it's
absolutely essential to make sure that
the battery is properly maintained that
it is regularly charged especially in
weather like this because when you're
driving with the heater and washers and
everything else going perhaps there's
more coming out of the battery than
you're able to put in perhaps another
little-known thing is the fact about
headlights for instance typical
headlight been used for a day look at
the difference
that's it a quick wipe if you've been
tempted to lower your tire pressures in
the snow the word from the experts is
don't just leave them as they are one of
the most dangerous times is when the
temperature is on the point of freezing
but what are the warning signs probably
one of the best telltale signs is if it
begins to go very quiet because the
slush isn't is no longer / it is turning
to ice and therefore it will go very
quiet and the steering will go very
light if ever that happens slow right
down what if you stuck out in the wilds
and the car breaks down there's a
snowdrift something like that what
should you do go the best thing to do is
to stay with the car and obviously if
you're going to stay with the car you
should have made some preparation in the
first instance to keep some warm
clothing or a blanket in the back to
prevent obviously hypothermia a lot of
people have in fact loss of life simply
because they've abandoned the car and
tried to walk for help stay with the car
so they are now you all know but now
who's pretenders it may not seem
appropriate at the moment to start
thinking of summer sports but at the
village close to Basingstoke you could
indulge in a game of tennis whatever the
weather we sent John Andrews busy chap
along to investigate here's his report
or in the heart of North Hampshire in
the depths of winter there may be a
watery Sun filtering through but even a
midday it still four degrees below
freezing the last place you would think
to hear the thud of tennis balls against
catgut it seems to be coming from this
bubble behind me I'll go and investigate
well inside this strange plastic bubble
our two top class tennis courts where
you can keep fit and practice your
skills 365 days a year the many down
tennis center lives under a polythene
bubble at a farm at wooden sand Lawrence
near basingstoke indoor courts are few
and far between and generally they don't
come cheap it can cost fifteen pounds an
hour to hire one many down courts have
cost a hundred thousand pounds to build
at the higher fee is a more reasonable
five pounds an hour tennis now if you're
looking to buy it seriously has to be
played all year round one can do a
certain amount of fitness but you have
to do some work on the court to keep
your timing in everything to go to keep
up with people now who are playing all
year round special board so especially
for youngsters are developing their game
something like this without it they
would never make the top grade they
wouldn't have a chance in my opinion
completing a board where they play
indoor tennis all the time and all year
round the the actual bubble itself is
designed to be able to to play through
the winter but at a reasonable and
affordable cost and that is the only way
really that the youngsters and the
people who matter can afford to play
tennis on we can broaden the base of a
game that way the strange bubble by the
farmyard has been built by farmer Hugh
Oliver bellis asst in a corner of his
five thousand acre estate but why branch
out from the livestock and Land Rover
world of farming into all-weather tennis
the farming community are under a
certain amount of pressure with
surpluses in Europe and we've looked at
first of all golf courses and we we went
into it quite seriously we got planning
permission and in fact fun but it wasn't
financially viable and so we then hit
upon the idea of looking at tennis
courts and an indoor facility
particularly it is much cheaper and and
of course the thing that has actually
killed off two of the big tennis centers
in this country is the fact that they
built a structure at 35 pounds a square
foot and they've gone bust twice or
three times
so you've got to keep your capital costs
down which enables you to keep your
costs are playing down and then will
encourage more people to play tennis
which is what we need to produce really
good tennis players think it's exactly
expanded right now although the center
is going to be most attractive to
developing young players and committed
competitors anyone can book a court for
a knock around or join the coaching
classes complete with video playback
watching McEnroe and lindell in action
will never be the same art you've seen
your own awful service in full color
close up those dreams of winning
Wimbledon may mean more work and you'd
imagined keeping them all you need now
is the sound of Dan maskel that well
known tennis voice and you could
actually imagine that it could be summer
well now you may remember the
Southampton Tramp who narrowly escaped
being crushed in a ref you skip while
he's now left hospital he'd fallen
asleep in the Skip which was loaded onto
the back of a rubbish lorry he spent two
weeks in hospital but now he's made a
full recovery and is settling into a new
home Charles waste reports Jimmy hanafi
fell asleep in the skip after having far
too much to drink earlier this month
huney woke up when the crusher started
working horrified refuse operators only
stopped the machine when they heard his
screams
Jimmy was taken to Southampton general
hospital where he was treated for
fractured ribs shock and bruising after
two weeks treatment in a private room
sheltered from the bitter cold outside
Jimmy who's 51 was pronounced bitten off
by doctors to leave he says he remembers
nothing of the night he spent in the
refuse skip having consumed 20 pints of
beer he now get into bed and breakfast
accommodation let's see you know he had
a good health what do you say that what
about the drink you can get off the
drink some job for me to do that that
money is no good to me to know he'll ask
me hours so you're still looking to have
a drink good session after his two week
stay at the hospital Jimmy who's still
weak on his legs seemed anxious to leave
because of the cold weather ambulance
services in Hampshire have been dealing
with emergency cases only so the
hospital administrator are South today
to take Jimmy the several miles to his
new bed and breakfast accommodation
provided by the social services Jimmy
says that now that he's got his own room
in a warm house he'll be much more
selective about where he sleeps in the
future well good luck to Jimmy and I
think at this stage of the program the
end of it we ought to say well done to
all the postman the milkman the paper
boys and of course the men have been out
gritting the Rose we're doing a splendid
job say something nice about them say
I'm doing something nice about them
today's in fact the Rosebud super
bleakley a well done you gritting men
all over the south and all our counties
were very very proud of you know and
that's it you're back tomorrow 515
tomorrow so tune in to us then good
night