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Catch up with all the latest news from across the county with Chloe Brewster.
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00:25Hello and welcome to Kent Tonight live on KMTV.
00:28I'm Chloe Brewster and here are your top stories on Friday the 13th of November.
00:33Out for the county, Microsoft outage hits councils and NHS services across Kent.
00:40I'll be here in Canterbury bringing you all the latest on the global Microsoft outage.
00:46Ready for the storm, Herne Bay electrician builds storm emergency app in just two weeks.
00:53It's nice to know that I've built something and put it out there and it's basically helping
00:58people be prepared.
01:00And Friday the 13th, our reporter Finn McDermid quizzes me on some Kent superstitions.
01:07I believe in portals and I lived in a haunted house near Pluckley.
01:25Hospitals and councils across Kent have been hit by tech issues after a global Microsoft
01:30blackout saw emails and other programmes stop working.
01:33Schools and universities have also been affected by the outage which has lasted nearly 24 hours.
01:40Our reporter Sophie Denny is at the University of Kent Canterbury campus now but they've also
01:45been grappling with these tech issues and she joins us live.
01:49Sophie, tell us more about the outage and how is it affecting people here in Kent?
01:55Yeah, so Chloe, they say that Friday the 13th is unlucky for some.
02:00Definitely been unlucky for Microsoft and it's thousands of users here in Kent who have been
02:05affected by this global outage which has brought down emails, Microsoft Teams, Outlook and Microsoft
02:12365.
02:12But this has been caused by connectivity problems, that's what Microsoft has said, including affecting
02:19the University of Kent where I am now.
02:21Their emails were down all morning, some slowly starting to triple through in the afternoon.
02:27But it's been at the top of everyone's lips today.
02:29We had the deputy leader of Kent County Council and the leader of Medway Council on the politics
02:34show this morning.
02:35They were telling me that it's affected them, both of their councils, in fact all councils
02:40across Kent, their emails have been brought down by this.
02:43So while we've not seen a steady stream of emails today, what we have seen is a steady stream
02:49of posts online by affected organisations trying to notify people who have probably been trying
02:54to get in touch with them via email.
02:56So we can see posts from Kent Fire and Rescue Service, they said their home fire safety visit
03:02that referrals have been affected, encouraging people to ring them rather than email.
03:06NHS foundations across the county have been affected.
03:10They said it's impacted patient inquiries and referrals, but importantly that no clinical
03:15procedures or appointments would be affected, they'd continue as normal.
03:19Kent Police were saying that their online submission forms could be impacted by it, so they were saying
03:25that the public needed to ring 101 if they were having an issue that wasn't an emergency
03:30but was still time critical.
03:32It's impacted schools, even estate agents have been saying that people trying to move
03:36house today would be impacted, so it's really had wide-ranging effects across the county.
03:44And what's Microsoft said about it?
03:48Yeah, so Microsoft has ruled out a cyber attack that was an initial concern given the volume of
03:54cyber attacks we face in Europe in recent months.
03:56They've said it's due to an elevated load on their infrastructure, which means servers
04:01are handling a higher volume of stress than normal, and so a large number of these servers
04:06became unexpectedly unavailable.
04:08They said they tried a number of solutions and did start seeing some encouraging recovery
04:13progress, off their words, early this afternoon.
04:16And that they're focused on addressing remaining areas of disruption but warned that people would
04:20still face some intermittent issues as recovery continues.
04:25Thank you so much for bringing us that update, Sophie.
04:31How should the government support social care businesses and who will become mayor if Kent
04:36moves towards being a mayoral authority?
04:38Well, we put those questions to Medway Council leader Vince Maple and Kent County Council's
04:44Brian Collins in this week's episode of the Kent Politics Show.
04:48Now, if you missed it before this show, there's a snippet of it here, and you can watch it
04:51on our website, kmtv.co.uk, or stick around and watch the full episode at 8.30pm tonight.
05:02Independent care providers across the county are facing growing financial pressures following
05:08this year's autumn budget.
05:10That's according to one local business.
05:13I mean, obviously, first and foremost, I recognise that the issue of social care is
05:17a national conversation.
05:18That's why Andy Burnham has said he wants to bring forward the Louise Casey review.
05:23A lot of these care providers are private companies, and like all businesses throughout
05:29the country, they've got to look at how they're running and efficiencies.
05:33One of the things we've been doing at Kent County Council.
05:36My fear is, and we've seen it in the past from all political parties, you get into language
05:41like the death tax and dementia tax.
05:43That doesn't help anyone.
05:44We need to find solutions.
05:45We need to find them cross-party if we can, doing nothing on the issue of social care, particularly
05:51for adults, and not necessarily even older adults, is not something we can just do nothing.
05:56I think it's hypocritical for us to, on one hand, be like, we're saving the high street,
06:00and on the other hand, slap a small business with loads of extra council tax bills, taking
06:04money away from a renovation that we want to do.
06:08What would you say to that?
06:09Well, I don't want to get into too much detail about an individual case, but as the report
06:13said there, obviously it's the discretion in this policy is whether we have that policy or not,
06:19which properties we give it to is not the discretionary element of this.
06:23And I think most people would say if there are empty homes, we want those empty homes back in use.
06:29Now, Brian, you mentioned to me earlier, you sat here about this time last year.
06:33It's budget time at the moment.
06:35Yes.
06:35And you were proud of the fact that you didn't raise council tax bills.
06:39I'm sure Vince will forgive me for reminding him of the fact that he said at the time,
06:46you will have to put council tax up by the maximum.
06:48And I said, watch this space.
06:50One thing that might give you more flexibility is I know Kent could become a mayoral authority.
06:54Vince, are you going to run for mayor in 2028, Brian?
06:57Same question.
06:58It's not something on my agenda, no.
07:00Vince?
07:00Look, it's a really exciting opportunity.
07:02We'll see what happens when the timetable comes forward.
07:04Surely you're not going to pass up the opportunity.
07:07My job right now is to get the budget through in February and get a re-elected Labour administration
07:12for Medway.
07:19And you can watch the full episode, as I say, on our website or later at 8.30.
07:24Now, the A21 Tombridge bypass has seen roadblocks of three fire engines and a bulk water carrier
07:30following a coach fire earlier this morning.
07:33Firefighters worked to extinguish the flames while paramedics treated one person for smoke inhalation.
07:39A police spokesperson confirmed that police were at the scene supporting the Kent Fire
07:43and Rescue Services with road closures.
07:45Later in the morning, it was confirmed that operations at the scene were now complete,
07:49but people were still advised to check for traffic updates before travelling.
07:53The cause of the fire is still unknown.
07:58Several Kent beaches remain closed after an oil spill.
08:01The public have been warned to continue to avoid beaches in areas like Thanet, Ramsgate, Margate
08:07and Broadstairs after an oil spill which was reported on Wednesday evening.
08:12Currently, the source of the oil is unidentified and the council is now working alongside the Maritime and Coast Guard
08:18Authority to clean up the beaches and make them safe for public use.
08:22They plan to collect samples for analysis with a total of 18 beaches still closed while authorities locate the source.
08:31An electrician has built a free storm ready app and wrote a book all in under two weeks.
08:37Paul Sergison from Herne Bay created Be Ready as a free planner for every household in case an emergency or
08:44a crisis happens.
08:45He was inspired by his experiences during storm below and wanted to give families a starting point during difficult times.
08:53Our community reporter Henry Luck has more.
08:57Paul Sergison has always been a man of survival and has built something to help his family and others during
09:07a crisis.
09:08Paul made Be Ready in just two weeks without any coding experience thanks to Claude AI.
09:17Be Ready is designed to help people find information and create an emergency list in case disasters strike such as
09:26heat waves, storms and disease outbreaks.
09:30Let's say you needed some bottles of water during a drought or a power outage.
09:36What you would do is type in how many you need into the app and if you need more it
09:42gives you links to Amazon and eBay.
09:45And then it will be complete and you'll be one step closer to being safe in the event of an
09:51emergency.
09:52After witnessing storm below and a half an hour car journey taking up to two hours because of fallen trees,
10:01Paul wanted to create a one stop shop for people to go who may be confused by all the information
10:08of the government's Be Ready campaign.
10:11I mean ideally you'd want it to become sort of, ideally I suppose I'd want the government to contact me
10:17and go this is our website which is one page of a PDF and we've seen what you've built.
10:24Could we license it? Could we work with you? Can we put it out on a national rollout or make
10:30it available?
10:31Maybe, well you know financially it would be quite handy obviously but all these things cost, hosts, servers, stuff like
10:38that.
10:40But yeah it would be nice to know, it would be nice to know that I've built something and put
10:45it out there and it's basically helping people be prepared.
10:50That's basically the motto, be ready. So why not be ready and use an app to be that.
10:55Alongside the website, which has a link to download the app to devices such as phones and tablets, there's also
11:02a survival book Paul wrote for people to download on Kindle which focuses on the first three days of power
11:10cuts, floods and storms.
11:13Paul hopes these will help people when a next time eventually comes around.
11:19Henry Luck for KMTV in Herne Bay.
11:24Well it's interesting isn't it? Have you done anything to prepare yourself as part of the Government's Be Ready campaign?
11:29If you have, do let us know. You can email us at kmtvdesk at kmtv.co.uk.
11:35But for now we need to take a short break but don't go anywhere as we have plenty more news
11:39to come.
11:40Trainee reporters Molly Field and Laura Smith are investigating how winter is affecting the normally booming Margate economy.
11:47We have that and much more. We're going to be exploring superstitions it being Friday the 13th today.
11:51See you soon, goodbye.
11:59We'll see you soon.
11:59Bye.
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15:13Hello and welcome back to Kent Tonight Live on KMTV.
15:15Now Margate's known for its thriving businesses during the summer months, but as the weather
15:20becomes more hot chocolates than Mr Whippy's, how's the economy coping?
15:24Trainee journalists Molly Field and Laura Smith walk the high street there to find out how they're faring.
15:32We came out to ask Margate's independent businesses what it's like to be part of the seaside town
15:37and potentially what changes they're seeing over the colder months.
15:41The store collective is one of the small businesses here focused on sustainable brands and designers.
15:46We asked the owner Kate what her favourite parts of owning an independent business in Margate are
15:51and any effects the cost of living might be having on day-to-day running.
15:55I love it here, people are so friendly and supportive.
15:59People will come and shop small, shop with independents, they will come and support.
16:03Definitely I think people are a bit more price conscious and that gets more and more so as time goes
16:09on.
16:10So we have definitely, we do a lot of sort of design-led and Scandinavian brands here,
16:15but we've also looked to try and get designs in that are a little bit friendlier on the pocket
16:20so that people can, there's a whole range of things that people can afford.
16:24Just down the road we came to Giant Coffee to speak with the owner Amelia about her experience of the
16:30Margate community
16:30since opening her business two and a half years ago.
16:33It's such a vibrant, fun, incredible space and I am so, so incredibly proud to be one of the small
16:39business owners that operates here.
16:41When you're investing you're really investing in quality and you're investing in someone who's incredibly passionate about what they do.
16:46Everyone is doing something fabulous, they are doing something that they are so genuinely passionate about
16:50that they really give a hundred and fifty thousand percent to.
16:54In summer we get all the tourist kind of trade come through which is fantastic.
16:57You know we're a seaside town, you kind of expect that over the summer season you get a lot, lot
17:01more footfall.
17:02Every single year out of season just gets busier and busier.
17:06I've already seen it level out a little bit more, I'd like to see that continue.
17:10On the seafront we spoke to Jason, who recently opened the bar The Cockle & Hen during the summer
17:15and asked him about his experience being part of the town so far.
17:18I've been reasonably busy throughout the summer.
17:21With the local tourism it's been a lot of fun and I've enjoyed meeting lots of new people.
17:26It's definitely slowed down a bit, the first little bit of September was very, very slow.
17:30Since then we've noticed it started to gradually pick back up again.
17:33Whilst in Margate we've seen ourselves how busy the town can be even out of the peak summer tourism months
17:39and the benefits small businesses are continuing to see.
17:43Molly Field and Laura Smith reporting for KMTV.
17:47An investigation is being carried out after an 11 year old girl's hair was caught in a Ferris wheel near
17:52Maidstone.
17:53The girl's mother, Amy Messenger, said that her daughter was left with a large bald patch
17:58after her hair became tangled in part of the ride's mechanism.
18:02Messenger claims the Ferris wheel continued despite her daughter's shouting for the operators to stop the ride.
18:09The incident occurred at a fireworks event at Cornwallis Academy on Saturday 7th November and the investigation is still ongoing.
18:18You can catch up with our past reports at any time on our website kmtv.co.uk.
18:23There you can watch stories like this one about a winery harnessing the power of science to lower its carbon
18:29footprint.
18:32Winemaking with a sustainable twist. Defined Wines is a contract winery producing wines from vineyards all over Kent.
18:40Here at their home in Bridge the team have installed the UK's first winery carbon dioxide capture technology.
18:47This was developed by Cork and Capture and aims at cutting costs and reducing emissions.
18:53So what we do is we provide a service to wineries and breweries like Defined Wine that we're at today
18:59which is to capture the CO2 that comes off tanks like this and we capture it through simple nozzles like
19:05this
19:05and we get the CO2 channeled out to our machine which processes the CO2 and then makes it available to
19:11the winemakers or the brewers for reusing.
19:14But it's not just emissions Defined Wines want to tackle. Carbon dioxide is also essential for the winemaking process.
19:22So we use it to what we call gas our tanks so before we fill a tank we'll often fill
19:28it with CO2 to get the oxygen out
19:30because oxygen is the enemy of wine and then we often find there's what's known as an ullage between the
19:39top of the wine and the top of the tank
19:41and that gap we fill with CO2 throughout the year to make sure that there's no oxygen getting in and
19:48spoiling the wine.
19:49It's in these huge tanks behind me here at Defined Wine that their wine is made.
19:54The corp and capture technology takes the carbon dioxide from these tanks and into another network of pipes.
20:02But how does this impact the climate?
20:05We're doing something which almost nobody else in the whole world is doing which is avoiding that emission to the
20:12atmosphere
20:13and of course avoiding all the emissions related to importing CO2.
20:17So far this winery is the only one in the UK to use this technology and it's taken a lot
20:23of team work to get to the launch today.
20:25I think it's really exciting. It's such a cool project to be as you say a world first getting this
20:36to work in Kent with the Kent businesses.
20:39Yeah really really excited about that.
20:42The portable CO2 tank at Defined Wines will be here for a little while longer before going on to cut
20:48costs and emissions at other wineries in Kent ready for next year's harvest.
20:53Justine Lata for KMTV in Bridge.
20:57Well let's take a quick look at the weather.
21:04We're moving on from that.
21:06Okay we're going straight into radio.
21:07So Kent's local radio station KMFM has announced an expansion bringing a brand new station to the channel.
21:15Well the votes are in.
21:17January 2027 the brand new radio station coming to Kent is.
21:22KMFM all time hits.
21:24That's right KMFM all time hits.
21:26That's the moment that Rob and Noomi announced that after public vote the voters picked a new additional station for
21:33the channel.
21:34It was following a county-wide competition to decide their new sound voted for by the listeners.
21:41The audience chose between Kent's biggest rock, Kent's all time new music, Kent's all time hits and Kent's dance albums.
21:51The new station will start broadcasting in January 2027 on DAB as well as on the KMFM app and on
21:59smart speakers.
22:00And you're able to listen to KMFM on KMTV too.
22:05Now let's have another look at the weather.
22:14So it's a chilly night again tonight across the county with some temperatures hitting minus two in areas like Maidstone
22:21and Ashford.
22:21Going into tomorrow morning it's still sticking very very cool cool temperatures there from one degrees to up to four
22:28degrees.
22:28Into the afternoon some sun is moving in with temperatures staying around seven to nine degrees.
22:34Looking towards the end of the weekend.
22:36Oh, it's looking very rainy there.
22:38Bring your umbrella out.
22:40Temperatures are sticking around 11 to 13 degrees.
22:55Well, we were so unlucky there.
22:57I mean, the weather disappeared.
22:59Did you notice that?
22:59Well, it's back again.
23:00But speaking of being unlucky, today is Friday the 13th, which marks a superstitious and spooky day in the county's
23:08calendar.
23:08But as always, Kent likes to do things all on its own.
23:12Historically, some areas of the county used to believe in ghosts, witches and curses.
23:18With a range of different folk tales across the Garden of England.
23:22Our reporter Finn McDermid joined me earlier to see if I could figure out the fake superstition from the real
23:29one.
23:29But first, before that, we asked the people of Rochester whether they had any of their own superstitions
23:34and whether they believe in Friday the 13th themselves.
23:38Yes, I know, and I had no intention of coming out.
23:40I believe in spirits.
23:43I believe in portals and I lived in a haunted house near Pluckley.
23:49So, I lived there 30 odd years.
23:53So, we dealt with things day in, day out.
23:56So, I do believe in that type of thing.
23:58Yes and no.
23:59So, I'm quite mixed about it to be honest.
24:02I've got good reason to believe it might not be what other people think it is because my young lady's
24:07son passed his driving test first time this morning.
24:10Friday the 13th.
24:12Telling the bees and cattle of a death.
24:14In East Kent and areas like Dartford, families would traditionally tell the bees and their cows that a death had
24:19happened first.
24:20Out of worry that if they told other people first, the bees would leave the hive and the cattle would
24:25sicken and pass away.
24:27So, how are you going about telling bees something?
24:29Because I know I wouldn't want to get particularly close to them.
24:32I'm assuming you just whisper to the hive.
24:34Whisper to the hive.
24:35I'm assuming you sort of whisper in.
24:37So, that's one.
24:38The Leeds Castle black dog.
24:39So, reportedly there were sightings of a phantom black hound at Leeds Castle that carry a superstition of impending death
24:45or witchcraft.
24:46But some view it as a protective guardian.
24:49And lastly, the Whitstable moon shell.
24:51An old superstition for fishermen.
24:53If they found a perfectly white seashell on the beach after sunset, it means the moon has chosen your household
24:58for a visit.
24:59If you choose to bring the shell indoors, then it'll be a visitor that you want to welcome.
25:04You haven't maybe seen them in a while.
25:06If you don't bring it, if you just leave it, then what'll happen is that you'll get a visit from
25:10someone you maybe don't like or don't want to see.
25:12So, telling the bees of a death, a black dog around the grounds of Leeds Castle, or the Whitstable moon
25:19shell?
25:19Which do you think is fake?
25:21I mean, I might embarrass myself here, but I feel like I've heard the black dog one before.
25:25I feel like that's true.
25:29The Whitstable moon shell, purely because of how many details were involved in it.
25:33And I think you kept looking at your notes, which suggests to me that it's not something that you've made
25:37up.
25:38So, I think that's true.
25:39So, I think the lie is talking to the bees.
25:42Not quite.
25:43No?
25:44No.
25:44I thought you were going to absolutely read me there.
25:46Oh, okay.
25:47It was the Whitstable moon shell.
25:48Oh, okay.
25:49The reason I'm reading so many details is because it's made up.
25:50So, you made it complicated for yourself?
25:52Yes.
25:53Okay.
25:53So, that is completely false.
25:55No such superstition exists.
25:57But, in East Kent and areas like Dartford, people really, it's generally believed.
26:01Some people did believe in that superstition.
26:03And similarly, Leeds Castle.
26:04Some people claim that it was a black dog.
26:06I'm sure there's people out there who walk their black dog normally around Leeds Castle.
26:10That's probably just a black lab or something.
26:12So, you're 0 and 1.
26:13But, I really thought you had me on the ropes there.
26:15Mm-hmm.
26:16Okay.
26:16But, what's one superstition you believe in?
26:18I tend to, I don't really walk under ladders.
26:20But, I don't know if that's a superstition or just a general thing.
26:23I don't want to get head injuries.
26:24I'm not really a very superstitious person.
26:25Would you say you have any general superstition?
26:28No, not really.
26:28We were talking about this earlier within the newsroom.
26:30I feel like, I mean one superstition is not opening an umbrella indoors.
26:34Everybody knows that one.
26:35But, I don't have any particular ones.
26:37But, no, I'd like, if anyone at home has got any superstitions, then they're free to share it.
26:41Thank you so much, Finn, for your very educational lesson there.
26:45Well, I'm very lucky to have you guys joining me tonight.
26:48See you soon.
27:08All right.
27:09Thank you, guys.
27:13I'll be too late.
27:13At the edge of the sky let me see you later.
27:14I'll be right in the middle of the floor.
27:15T produ stomp.