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Catch up with all your latest news from across the county with Chloe Brewster.
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00:21Hello and welcome to Kent Tonight live on KMTV.
00:24I'm Chloe Brewster and here are your top stories on Monday 9th November.
00:28Turn your lights on.
00:31Driving instructors warn motorists about dangers of foggy conditions following the M20 collision.
00:37If you're going along at a normal speed and you can't see in front of you, you never know what
00:42can be there.
00:43Rail report.
00:44Investigation finds delivery drivers' death could have been prevented.
00:49And finally, plentiful produce.
00:52Giant pumpkin grown in Thanet Garden Centre with help of micro-algae.
00:57The idea to use the algae is interesting because potentially we can look at using biostimulants.
01:04So stimulants that are of natural origin.
01:18The M20 is back open following a 30-vehicle collision which saw two people left with serious injuries.
01:26The accident happened in foggy conditions on the London-bound carriageway between Maidstone and Ashford.
01:32National Highways has confirmed that thick fog was in the area.
01:35And Sophie Denny joins me now to tell us more.
01:38Sophie, can you just recap what actually happened there at the weekend?
01:42Yeah, so police, fire and rescue and paramedics were called to the collision on the motorway.
01:49This was at around 6.45pm on Saturday evening.
01:53Now, as we can see on the screen though, as you said, there was thick fog in the area.
01:59And there were lots of vehicles that included lorries and cars.
02:04Now, the investigation is ongoing.
02:06You can see those pictures there of kind of all the traffic that was caused as a result of this.
02:12The investigation, as I said, is ongoing.
02:13So we don't know exactly what caused it.
02:16But as you said, National Highways have confirmed that there was thick fog in the area, reducing visibility, which causes
02:26the motorway, the M20, to be shut between Junction 8 and Junction 9 for a number of hours, only reopening
02:33on Sunday.
02:35Now, two people suffered serious injuries.
02:38One was taken to a London hospital while the other has been treated at a local hospital.
02:44At the time, paramedics said they were treating about 11 other people for minor injuries, but that these drivers, they
02:51were just minor injuries, so these drivers weren't needing to be taken to hospital.
02:56And what was the reaction like from drivers who were there on the road?
02:59Because I know I've seen plenty of videos from drivers who say it was just terrifying conditions.
03:04Yeah, so one driver, her name was Elena Borodina, and she said that it was like a scene from a
03:11horror movie, really.
03:12She said that she's struggled to sleep as a result of it, which she said she wasn't expecting.
03:19But she was travelling with her partner, and she just said that the fog suddenly became really thick, so that
03:25it just came on all of a sudden.
03:27I've been speaking to some experts who said this is kind of what happens with fog, so you can just
03:32be driving along and then just suddenly hit this fog.
03:36And she said as they were approaching, her husband was following the sat-nav, and the sat-nav was kind
03:41of showing.
03:42As it does, you know, you're driving along, you can see that there's lots of traffic, but they were unsure
03:46why until they kind of reached the site of the collision and saw all of the fog.
03:53And she said that they miraculously just avoided a crash with a lorry just in front of them.
03:59And so we thought that we'd have a think about how drivers can stay safe in fog.
04:06And so I went and spoke to a driving instructor about this earlier.
04:10These were the conditions on the M20 when 30 vehicles collided.
04:16Videos from the scene show unusually thick fog obscuring drivers' vision.
04:22Now a driving instructor in Raynham is giving advice on how motorists can stay safe in foggy conditions.
04:30The main thing would definitely be your lighting, you know, make sure your fog will actually work and avoid using
04:35your main beams.
04:36What they'll do is they'll bounce off of water droplets and create a massive wall of glare that you won't
04:40be able to see through.
04:41So use the dip headlights, make sure your fog lights are working before you start your journey.
04:45I'm ashamed to admit it, but when I got into my car this morning, I wasn't 100% sure how
04:50to turn my fog lights on.
04:51But a quick internet search, I figured it out, got to turn this dial here, pull it out, and as
04:58if by magic, the fog light symbol appeared on my dashboard.
05:01But Jack does say that you can't trust this symbol to necessarily tell you that your fog lights are working.
05:08So don't just assume that on your dashboard, because it says it's working, it actually is.
05:12Make sure they're just switched on and get out and have a walk around your car and make sure it's
05:15working.
05:15The Met Office describes fog as ground level cloud which reduces visibility to less than 1,000 metres.
05:22In dense fog, this can fall below 100. And it can happen out of the blue.
05:28So fog can literally just appear from nowhere. So you can literally leave home in conditions like this, where it's
05:35clear.
05:36And you can drive five minutes down the road and then all of a sudden, bam, you've literally got a
05:40wall of fog that's ahead of you.
05:43It can linger as well. So a lot of people say, well, you know, why doesn't fog burn off, for
05:48example?
05:49It's an expression that you hear people say, you know, the fog's burned off.
05:52It's purely because the sun is weak and there's no heat in it.
05:56So it can hang around for a lot longer this time of the year.
06:01While we might often assume that ice or even heavy rain makes it more dangerous to drive, Jack says fog
06:07is actually the most dangerous driving condition.
06:10It's the most dangerous because it not only robs you of your visibility, but also your stopping distance.
06:14You know, if you're going along at a normal speed and you can't see in front of you, you never
06:18know what can be there.
06:19I tell all of my learners, if you can't see, assume the worst. You know, there could be a lorry
06:22that's on its side.
06:23If you go into it at 70 miles an hour, you've got no way to stop at all.
06:27As winter descends and fog continues, Jack is urging drivers to check that their lights have the all clear.
06:35Sophie Denny for KMTV in Medway.
06:38A Kent police officer who was found with 300 indecent images of children has avoided prison time.
06:45Matthew O Callaghan was on the beat in Seven Oaks and Swanly as a police officer before it came to
06:51light that he had been downloading illegal pictures and video.
06:55Across three devices, police uncovered 324 images, with the majority being of the most serious nature.
07:02He received 10 months in prison suspended for two years.
07:06Sentencing him, Judge Daniel Stevenson said the biggest punishment of them all was his loss of good character, his career
07:12and his marriage.
07:15An ex-teacher has been imprisoned for sending threatening emails to conservative leader Kemi Badnock.
07:22Kieran Kyle, a 43-year-old man from Gillingham, pleaded guilty on 22 September for sending threatening and offensive emails
07:29to the Tory MP.
07:30In two of these emails, Kyle made racist remarks and stated he was an ex-IRA member in an alleged
07:37attempt to threaten the leader.
07:39Alongside his 20-week prison sentence, the judge also assigned a restraining order preventing him from contacting her for five
07:46years.
07:50Level crossings have a decade-high fatality rate according to the Office for Rail and Road.
07:56Now, over a year after Brandon Hatcher was killed at Bax Crossing near Tenham, the Rail Accident Investigation Branch have
08:04released a report into the circumstances surrounding his death.
08:07Our reporter, Justine Latter, was there for us earlier today.
08:12So, Chloe, on the 13th of July, 2025, 23-year-old Brandon Hatcher was killed when the delivery van he
08:20was driving was hit by a train at Bax Crossing near Tenham, which is where I am right now.
08:26And today, the Rail Accident and Investigation Branch released a report on last year's incident.
08:32They found that the train was travelling from Ramsgate to London, Victoria at around 70 miles per hour when the
08:39van was hit and Mr Hatcher was fatally injured.
08:42The crossing here is a user-worked crossing, which means you need to manually open the gates which go to
08:47both sides of the railway.
08:49It's also fitted with an overlay light system, a miniature stoplight system, which you can see behind me now.
08:56And if it's showing a green light like it is, there are no trains approaching and it's safe to cross.
09:02And it will change to show a red light and an audible warning will sound once a train is detected
09:07to be approaching a crossing.
09:09The correct operation of the crossing is also described by signs there.
09:13And these instruct users to check that a green light is showing before opening both gates, before crossing with a
09:19vehicle and before closing both gates again.
09:22The investigation found that the van was stationary on the level crossing because the green light shown by the stoplight
09:29system when Mr Hatcher arrived almost certainly led him to believe that it was safe to enter the crossing once
09:35the entry gate had been opened despite the exit gate still being closed.
09:40And they also found that the signage at the crossing and the lack of road markings did not effectively guide
09:46the delivery driver to use the correct crossing procedure.
09:50And what has the report recommended?
09:52So the Rail Accident and Investigation Branch has made four recommendations today.
09:57These are two different bodies.
09:59So that's Network Rail, the Department of Transport and the Health and Safety Executive.
10:04They're asking for a review of the rules that these user-led crossings use, as well as looking at the
10:13legal framework of these and just making it safer for everyone.
10:16And these bodies have been contacted for comment.
10:20Well, a Department for Transport spokesperson said that the death of Brandon Hatcher at Bax Level Crossing was a tragedy
10:27and our thoughts remain with his family and friends.
10:30Safety on the railway is our number one priority and we're studying the report in detail and will work with
10:36the industry to take forward any recommendations to ensure it is safe for everyone.
10:46A 30-year-old man who tried to take a Ramsgate fishing boat out to sea has been imprisoned for
10:51eight months.
10:52Balau Adam caused more than £5,000 worth of damage when he took the boat from Royal Harbour in an
10:58attempt to drive it to France.
11:00He has pleaded guilty for aggravated vehicle taking and damaging a vehicle.
11:05Adam was sentenced at Margate Magistrates Corps on Wednesday and has now been disqualified from driving for over a year.
11:15Now it's time for us to take a quick break, but don't go anywhere because we have plenty more upcoming
11:21stories across Kent to bring you.
11:23We'll be talking about a police investigation of a suspected arson case after a caravan burst into flames in Dill.
11:30We'll also be taking a look at the weather as well as a monster pumpkin weighing roughly the size of
11:36a grand piano.
11:37And what that tells us about new University of Kent studies into microalgae.
11:42Very interesting. Stick around.
12:05We'll see you next time.
15:11Hello and welcome back to Kent Tonight live on KMTV.
15:14Now, police are investigating a suspected arson case after a caravan burst into flames in Dill.
15:21The emergency services were called to Frederick Road in Dill around 5am after residents said they heard an explosion.
15:28Neighbours have said the caravan had been parked in the same place for months.
15:33With the cause yet to be confirmed, a spokesperson for the police has stated that the fire is being treated
15:38as suspicious and an arson investigation is ongoing.
15:42The road has since been reopened, but the caravan remains are still cordoned off with no injuries reported at the
15:48scene.
15:49You can catch up with all of your latest news from across the county by logging onto our website, kmtv
15:56.co.uk.
15:57There you can see reports you may have missed.