10 - KENTONLINE NEWS "News you can trust" This is the KENTONLINE Podcast. Kate Faulkner Hello, hope you've had a lovely Bank Holiday weekend and thank you for downloading today's podcast on Tuesday, May 7th. Coming up today, we'll hear from the family of a snodlland dad who died of an asthma attack as they campaigned for more awareness, as well as from a business in Rayner who says new parking charges are having a big impact on trade. But first, taking a look at our top story, a woman's been left unable to taste and smell after being punched in an unprovoked attack in Rochester. Zoe Jennings suffered a broken nose when it happened on the high street last November. The 42-year-old was knocked unconscious for several minutes and says it's affected her not just physically. "If I've surgery on my nose after they manipulated it, I can no longer smell or taste. And I have like a peripheral vision loss in my left eye, which I'm waiting on professional opinions on it. It could be glocalma caused by trauma and mentally it's just, I don't like going out. I'm scared of guys and can't sleep." It just sounds absolutely horrendous. Can you say that this guy punched, was it square in the face? Yes, straight up. And what do you think of the punishment that he got, do you think it was fair, do you think it's right? I think it's ridiculous to be honest, he's going to kill somebody, he's got a very violent temper. The court said that he had 70 other cases of violence and obviously he was in the paper for beating his girlfriend, hitting her 15 times in the face, in your paper and online for you, yeah, 15 times in the face until I'll rip your face off. He's obviously done it before, he got five years for his girlfriend, so surely if he's not learnt his lesson, he should have got more time, he's a danger to society. And did you know him before this happened or was it just complete space? No, just a complete stranger, no, I'd never met him before in my life. This was completely unprovoked this attack and it's left you almost housebound because mentally it's really scarred you, let alone physically. What do you think should have been his outcome at court? I'm not entirely sure, but if he did five years for his last violent attack then he should have got more than that because he obviously didn't learn his lesson. Even coming to the papers I want people to know what he's like so that they can be protected because he's a very dangerous man, but anyone that has been attacked needs to come forward. Barry Connerton, who's from Fort Pitt Hill in Chatham, has been sentenced to 26 months for GBH. Kent Online News. A motorcyclist killed in a crash at a Kent race circuit, has been named as Stuart Donnelly. He was in his 50s and died after coming off the track on a bend at Lydon Hill near Dover on Saturday, his daughters pay tribute saying the world will be quiet without him, police are investigating. A woman who fired a BB gun as her boyfriend argued with a group of men outside a boxing event in Medway has avoided being sent to prison. A court was told Abi Ledbetter armed herself with the weapon near Lordswood Leisure Centre and ball bearings hit a car windscreen, the 28-year-old from Regis Crescent in Sitting Bourn has got to do rehab sessions and pay compensation. A fox carb has been found in Gillingham with a head injury that's feared to have been caused by a gunshot pellet. The animal was discovered in Johnson Avenue on Friday morning and had to be put down, work is underway to establish the cause of death. Two men and a woman have been arrested after a fight involving up to 15 people on She and S High Street. Local businesses and vehicles were damaged when violence broke out near the junction with Beat Street on Saturday night. The suspects have been released on bail while investigations continue. A teacher from Rochester has been suspended from his job after appearing in a sex comedy on Amazon Prime. According to reports, 43-year-old Paul Belsey was deputy head of a special needs school in Chiselhurst while acting in the low-budget movie Babe Camp. The school said they were unable to comment and we haven't been able to contact Mr. Belsey. The family of a snodlin dad who died after an asthma attack, a raising awareness of the condition on this world asthma day. Gary Bouch was putting his two daughters to bed in July in 2019. He suffered an asthma attack. He managed to call 999 himself. He was taken to Medway Maritime Hospital in Jillingham in an ambulance and was ventilated before being taken to the intensive care unit. Doctors later told his family he was practically brain dead and there was nothing more they could do for him and he died on July the 4th. Gary's parents Karen and Robert have spoken about the moment they were told he wouldn't survive and how they're now encouraging others with asthma to get support. On the Monday, obviously, you just hope everything is going to be all right. You just carry on and you think everything is going to be all right. We obviously, all the family came in and we were all there and literally it wasn't until the Thursday that they said they had to do some tests on him. That's when they come and told us that he was basically brain dead and it wasn't anything I could do. Well, obviously he's out of time and he was kind, very, very caring. He was a compassionate talk, isn't he? He was very, very caring to us and my mum and dad wasn't even doing anything for him. To be quite honest, we never actually heard of MASH and if I'd have known it to have been there, I would have took Gary there a long time before as a child because we've put people on to them, my son's a manager of a football team and he's got a little boy there. Reminds us of Gary. He's got asthma and he's been to see the asthma nurse who's there and she's very good. It helps people with asthma, if it can help people, that's what we want it to do because although I didn't personally believe that in this day and age, you could die for asthma. Kent Online News. There won't be many trains running in Kent today, as drivers go out on strike, members of the Azlef Union are walking out in their long-running pay dispute, only limited services will run from Dartford, Ashford and Orpington, Lucy, who's been chatting to Andy comments from Southeastern. Perhaps today we've got a really reduced service right across the Southeastern network, actually the vast majority of our lines and actually the vast majority of our stations are closed. There are no services and there are no rail replacement bus services either, so really significant impact on our customers, which we're really sorry for, but unfortunately the nature of strikes, they are designed to be disruptive and they're very disruptive to Southeastern today. Of course, a lot of people will be going back to work after the bank holiday as well, does that add a little bit of confusion too? It's definitely something we've got to be mindful of that this is the first day back after a bank holiday weekend, we started talking to customers way back in the beginning of last week, trying to give as much notice as we possibly can, but also trying to make it as simple as we possibly can. We offer a huge network, but the vast majority of our network is closed today, we have just four lines open, we'd really urge customers if they live on all near those lines to actually only travel, if it's absolutely necessary, we expect that people do travel that we will be seeing queues outside stations and really busy trains, so really important for customers to understand what strike means for them and if possible, travel later in the week when we're running the full service. Yeah, suppose you don't want people to think, "Oh, the station near me is open, my train's running, so everything's going to be fine," but that might not necessarily be the case. Yeah, it's a very unusual service that we'll be providing today, we would typically run around 1,800 trains a day, today we'll be running just less than 200. That clearly means that if everyone who could travel travels, we're going to end up with some very, very busy trains and also to manage safety in the stations, there will be queuing systems outside the stations too, so we know people have to travel sometimes, and if that's the case then please do so, we will look after you, just understand and check your journey before you set up, but if you have that choice, you'd probably have a much better, more comfortable journey if you can travel later in the week. What about the train drivers themselves, obviously, employees of Southeastern? I mean, I'm sure you want them to be happy at work, and why aren't these demands that the union is calling for, why haven't they been met, and how do you approach that as a company? As a company, we obviously want to look after our drivers, much look after all of our stuff, so there's things we're doing internally to try and look after our drivers as much as we possibly can. I think the really frustrating thing is really unusual for the industry that has operated a different way for many years previously, is that these pay talks aren't being done at a local level, they're being picked up nationally by government and by the rather delivery group, so we're talking about half of all operators, so there's a lot of work going on behind the scenes here to speak to our drivers and all of our staff to try and explain what's going on, but unfortunately, at the moment it's slightly outside of our control, which is why it's so important that we can hopefully move beyond this and put it behind as soon as possible. Things are expected to return to normal tomorrow, despite ASLEF also announcing an overtime ban. Business owners in Rainham say they're worried for the future after a hike in car parking fees has been followed by a fall in customer numbers, Medway Council has increased the fees by 60p for each period at Rainham Shopping Centre in an attempt to balance the books. Caroline from Ascot Flowers says the drop in football is horrendous and she's never seen it so low, Theresa works at Cafe TikToks and has been telling reporter Alex Langridge she's worried for the future. There's been a decline in trade since the car park charges have gone up. There was quite a big boost when B&M opened of people coming into Rainham and literally since the car park charges were not, it dropped immediately and you have people coming in and they were saying about the car park charges and the extortionate way that it went up. But it wasn't just a kind of penniless, it was a lot of money. It's took at least a third of the trade, you can see today it's literally Edmonton and normally this time not coming up to lunchtime would be fairly busy so it's definitely had a knock on effect. Is it something you're a bit worried about? Very worried, yes, very worried, I really do think that they should either put the prices back as they were or give a cut of ours grace or something like that. They need to do something rather than leaving it as it is. Kent Online News A landslide that's closed a road in North Kent for more than a year will be raised in Parliament later, the Dartford MP has secured a debate on the government providing funding to repair Galley Hill Road in Swanscombe, Gareth Johnson has said it's essential the road is reopened as quickly as possible. Matthew Scott has been re-elected as Kent's Police and Crime Commissioner, our local Democracy reporter Simon Finlay, caught up with him after the result. I'm absolutely thrilled it was a clear and decisive win, I know I've made a lot of promises to the people of Kent and I absolutely intend to deliver them, I will cut crime support victims and I will build trust and I thank the people of Kent for putting their faith in me for a third time. What do you think was the main drivers in this election? I think it's about who you can trust on policing and crime, I had a very clear message, I'm going to deliver more labour policing, I'm going to cut crime and support victims, those things resonated, those are things that residents of Kent told me they wanted to see, those are the things I've promised to deliver. Did you expect the result to be this close, I mean you got 56% last time? I always said that this was going to be a tough election, I'm really pleased with the result that I've been able to deliver which is but the national trend for the Conservatives but absolutely not going to take for granted anyone who voted for me or even those who voted against me or stayed at home, I'm here for everybody. We've got another four years, what are the key areas that are going to be focusing on? Neighbourhood policing number one, number two, making sure we carry on balancing our budgets in a way in which we don't impact operational policing, we're going to do more to support victims of crime, we're going to tackle antisocial behaviour and we're going to build trust, there's a very clear message and a very clear mandate for me to do that now. We've also got reaction from Lenny Rose who was the Labour candidate. I'm pleased with what we've achieved in this election, it was always going to be an uphill struggle but if you look at the communities across Kent and Medway like Canterbury, Dover and Deal, you know those kind of coastal communities and here in Graveshire we've seen a swing to Labour, Labour actually won the popular vote in those areas and it's a demonstration of the fact that you know people are fed up with the way that the Conservative policies are, I'm pleased with what we've achieved and I'd really love to thank everyone that voted for me, any activist or the Labour door knockers, leaflitters and everyone that's been out there on the streets for Labour to get us the result that we've got, a huge thank you to each and every one of those and most importantly to my family. Kent Online News. As National Highways continues to work on the £92m stock brief flyover we're told to expect more closures, both slipways at Junction 5 London bound near Sittingborne will shut from 8pm to 5am on Tuesday and Thursday, it's a work that can be done to CCTV cameras and traffic systems, the flyover is expected to be finished by July. More detailed plans for a housing development and wetland in Ashford have gone on show. A company wants to build 180 homes off the A2070 in Will's Brelise, the nature area would be created to the north of the estate, the plans are expected to be submitted to the council this month. Tesco has withdrawn plans for 61 new houses near Staplehurst Station after local bosses said it was likely to be refused. The supermarket giant wanted to build the homes on farmland off George Street, 21 of which would have been affordable, but made stone council raise concerns about the project potentially causing harm to the appearance and character of the countryside. The owner of one of a few businesses left in a shopping centre in Ashford says turning it into homes could be a good move. Security square bosses have suggested the site could be used for up to 200 properties, the manager of chill time milkshake bar reckons could help the town grow. Historic England are among those opposing plans for a wedding venue marquee near Deal to stay up permanently. Last year, the owners of Gray 2 listed Ripple Court estate were given permission to hold ceremonies in the 60-foot tent, but it must be taken down between October and April. They've applied to have the condition removed, critics say it looks like a big circus top and ruins the look of the countryside. Get online news. Ken Wild Life Trust has taken ownership of an important area of marshland. All marshes near Fabuchum are said to be significant for migratory birds. The charity has managed the site since the 80s, but Stephen Weeks from the Trust says this is a big step forward. This is all marshes nature reserve. It's been a trust reserve for many years, but we've had it under leasehold from the owner's tarmac. So we're very grateful that they've agreed to give us the freehold for this site, which will give us long-term security for this wonderful bird reserve on the North Kent coast. We've seen black-tailed godwits on the on the on the wetland floods, the Shellducks, red shank, green shank, little egrets, a marsh harrier went flying over, which was really exciting to see such a such a large and interesting bird of prey. There's so much you can see down here, the seals haul themselves out on horse sands in the swale, but you do really need binoculars to appreciate them. You can get good views of the birds on the east flood from the road that goes through the middle of the reserve, but again to enjoy them at the best, you probably need to look at them through binoculars. We've got a series of walks that set off from the car park, depending on the time of the year. Some of the paths can get muddy, so we suggest you wear suitable footwear, but you can do a number of circular routes from a short one that goes around the east flood and then back to the car park, or you can go further afield down alongside the creek, down towards Orr. It's really like a service station for birds. The mud behind us on the swale estuary is packed full of invertebrates for the wading species to feed on. The wet grass, london reed bed, and fresh water inland also allows areas for birds to breed and also rest up for the longer-ditch edges. A fifth-generation fruit farmer in Maidstone has dug up 80% of his orchards, saying apples simply don't make money anymore. James Smith's family have owned Loddington Farm in Borton, Monchelsie for nearly 150 years, but he's hoping to secure its future by opening a farm shop. He says climate change and a decline in business has seen trade plummet. He says he'll also sell produce from other local businesses, like cider and coffee. A Kent boy, who's raised millions of pounds for charity after being abused as a baby, has been invited to the Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace. Tony Hudgels, adoptive mum, says she's over the moon after receiving an invitation from the king. The event takes place tomorrow. And she gets to see Becky Hill in Kent this summer go on sale today after an extra date was added. She'll play the scenic stage at Margate's Dreamland on September 1st. Her show the previous day has already sold out. Ken's online sports football now, and the Gilliam chairman has spoken about his decision to sack their head coach, Stephen Clements and assistant Robbie Stockdale parted ways with the club last week after a disappointing finish to the league two season. Brad Galenson says it was a tough call, but the timing was right. Well, so to start, I wanted to again thank Stephen and Robbie for serving the club, getting us through the season, they are, and I remain terrific, terrific individuals, and it was an extremely bad day, an extremely difficult decision. The process that we went through to make that change is ultimately my responsibility to the club and to the community and to the fans. And so because of the poor form we had at the end of the season, I was faced with going through the summer, going through recruitment, starting next season. And if the first few months didn't go well, it's very difficult to change a manager in the middle of the season. Ironically, although we've been through two managers in my sort of brief tenure here, I actually think breaking continuity is a very damaging thing to an organization, and it's sort of a last resort thing that anyone at the club would certainly me would ever want to do. But the conclusion was that we have, we're impatient, our fans are impatient, I'm impatient, the club is impatient, the expectations for promotion are strong. With our budget and sort of the reality and the size of our club, we fully expect to get out of this league, as I've said many times. And so the end result was that we wanted to make a change now so that the new person in charge has pre-season, has a very important recruiting time, and can start the next season sort of with that behind them. And so again, because of the responsibility to the club and where expectations are, we decided to make the change now rather than risk having to do it next in the middle of the season. Yeah, when we decided to make a change on Monday, we immediately put criteria together. We targeted a very specific group of managers, all of which were interested, some actually came to us. On Tuesday we met three, Wednesday we met another, yesterday we met one, we're meeting a few today. So I would say that the process is going well, it's, you know, our expectations were set early, our focus was there, and we have quite a few very qualified managers to finish the process. The idea is to be methodical, not make mistakes, but to get it done as soon as possible, so that we can continue our recruiting process, which you need your leader there to do. Staying with football and Chatham Town's hopes of promotion are over, they were beaten three-nilled by Enfield Town in their playoff final yesterday, Chatham Boss Kevin Hayek says he can't be too disappointed with his players. I thought the guys could have everything really, and it was just, in the end it just come down, who took their chances, you know, as it can be in a lot of, you've been finding a lot of playing things, exactly that, we didn't tell our chances, they did. We performed well, you know, but there's no point saying how great we played or anything like that. The other ones were going to the conference south, and deserving, they took their chances. I think the boys come out in the blocks, I thought they played well, you know, particularly first half, I thought we, you know, we dominated, we just, the goalkeeper was just a little bit better than, you know, we're not better than ours, because, I mean, I can't say if any was wrong with that, but they just took their chances, you know, I'm going to present with an opportunity later, their chances, we didn't, you know, and that's football, so if you can't take the lows, you can't take the highs, you know, I mean, that's, that's just what you have to do in football, you know. We've had a really good opportunity to go up in our first season, but hopefully, you know, the team will learn from that as a squad, and they'll look at it and just say, "What can we do for you?" because there's nothing off the field we can have done anymore. We prepped, we know exactly how they were going to play, you know, they've done exactly the same to the win game, they eventually didn't play particularly well first half, come out in the blocks second half, won the game there, I think the third one from our point of view is where we're chasing the sort of game, you know, which is fair enough, but, you know, it's football really. We had a real chance to, you know, to make some history, you know, but in reality that, you're always going to have seasons when, you know, things don't necessarily go for you, and, look, we've won a cup, we've finished second, did I want to go up, was we good enough to go up? Yes, I believe it was, I think, you know, we've, we've run, we could have run a whole church a bit closer than what, than what I would have liked, but, you know, to get to a playoff final, you're in your home ground, you know, you want to do your best, but, look, I can't, you know, I've asked a lot of them boys, you know, they've played a lot of games, we had a big game of Wednesday, which should take us around in 20 minutes, and they came through that, you know, brilliantly, you know, playing in front of their fans, which is just remarkable really to, in such a short space in time, to play in front of over 3,000 fans, overall, you know, the clubs, you know, on the up, and the thing is, it's in football, you know, sometimes you don't just get it, you want to go look at a whole church last year, though, it was a playoff final, and they're going to leave the following year, so that's the sort of, you know, they're the heights we've got to go to now, so don't leave it to the lot of the other playoffs. It means I'll stay in the same division next season, cricket now and can't have beaten Lancashire by seven wickets in their latest county championship match, it's the first time they've won at Old Trafford since 1997, Kent have now moved up to sixth in the division one table. And Graves and gymnast, Georgia Mae Fenton, has won her first individual European medal, she picked up bronze in the uneven bars at the artistic championships in Italy, it follows a silver medal for Maidstones James Hall in the men's team event last week. That's all from us today, thanks ever so much for listening, don't forget, you can follow us on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok and threads, you can also get the details on the top stories, direct to your email each morning via the briefing, to sign up, just head to kentonline.co.uk, news you can trust, this is the Kent online podcast. (dramatic music) [ Silence ]
