Podcast: Work to fix 'rollercoaster' A299 Thanet Way to start this summer

0:00KENTON LINE NEWS NEWS YOU CAN TRUST THIS IS THE KENTON LINE PODCAST. NICOLA EVRETS. Hello, hope you're okay. Thanks ever so much for downloading today's podcast. It's Wednesday, March the 4th coming up. Police share the moment a burglar was found hiding in the loft of a house in Ashford. And he came out of the loft. I've seen a scuff box on the field. I'm going to be coming up, mate. He will come down. Advice has been issued to holiday makers who'd been due to travel to Dubai. I do think it's a worry for Dubai, yes, and that part of the world, because as you say, it's incredibly popular. And Gillingham's new youth team manager, chance about his new role. It's just a club definitely going in the right direction, and it just felt right for me. But first up on today's episode, a man's appearing court accused of killing a teenager on an e-scooter near Maidstone. The 15-year-old was knocked down by a BMW in Cox Heath in 2023. Cameron Langley McCollum is accused of causing death by dangerous driving.

1:00The 22-year-old from Coombe Road in Maidstone has indicated he'll plead guilty, and the case has been sent to Crown Court. A kenda, who was caught hiding more than a million pounds worth of cocaine in his lorry, has been jailed. John King was stopped by a border force officers when he drove into the port of Dover in an HGV in July 2020. The 52-year-old from Wilberforce Road in Sangate has been locked up for 10 years. A warrant's been issued for the arrest of a man who's accused of injuring three people in a crashing kent after he failed to show up at court. Luke Wells was due before magistrates yesterday, following the collision that happened in Sheeness last July. The 31-year-old from Lapwing Close in Minster is charged with three counts of causing serious injury and one of perverting the course of justice. Now, police have released footage of the moment they found a burglar hiding in the loft of a house in Ashford. Anthony Allen, who doesn't have the opponent to dress, had targeted a home in the town at Christmas while the owners were away.

2:02The 47-year-old was tracked down by air pods hit Stolen. And he came out of the loft. I've seen a scuff box on the field. I'm going to be coming up, mate. He will come down. And see. Aye. They just come down and loft it. This is ridiculous. Well, I'll find it. I'll just come up, mate. Can we get a chair? Can you just come out, mate? I can see you under the, um, what's it called? Fibre glass. Can you just come out? You're going to go over there. I can see your head pop right there, mate. Come. You want a burglary, mate. Listen, Anne. Listen. I'm going to see you. I'm going to see you. I'm going to see you. Listen. I'm Russian-special burglary, OK? You don't have to say anything, mate. I'm going to say it's not meant to be. We're going to question something we should let along quite a little bit. We do say we're going to give it everything. OK? Come out.

3:03Let's come down. It's ridiculous. All right. So that's it, John's Russian-special burglary. Yeah, all good. He's coming down now. I've gone straight now. Being good? You good? So you do what we've been looking for. OK, so listen. Oh, no. Listen. So what have you got in your head? Nothing. Come down a second. I was going to tap it for several seconds back then. I'll do it. I'll do it. Come down. So you can tap it for a second. Well, no, no. Listen, we've been in the residential burglary this evening. It's air pods trapping me by air. And that's how it comes to your dress. Although that's what we've tried. I heard you're getting in the loft because you've heard it's duffing on the door. And downstairs is the bag that was using the burglary and the shoes, OK? Oh, you are? Yeah? OK? And then also took cash, jewelry, bank cards, handbags, and other personal belongings. He's been locked up for two and a half years. Kent Online News. Now, as the conflict continues in the Middle East,

4:04a holiday makers in Kent are being urged not to panic if they've got future flights booked to countries like Dubai. Thousands of Brits have been left stranded. After the country was caught up in retaliatory strikes over the weekend. I've been speaking to Chris Scobal, who runs a travel agent in Tumberidge Wells. You've seen this before with Tunisia as an example. And there was the horrific attacks on the beach. And Tunisia took a long, long time to recover if indeed it has. So yes, I can see that. And I can also see our human beings will have that thought process within their minds. And as you say, Dubai is huge. And I think the Dubai tourist ball and videos and stuff that I've seen coming out today is try to be positive to say this is fine. Nothing's too much to happen. That's not the cause of the case. So I do think it's a worry for Dubai, yes. And that part of the world, because as you say, it's incredibly popular place to visit. So I do worry for them certainly for the immediate future.

5:06Yeah, something like this. It can be very damaging. Can't it to a country's reputation? Do you think it would damage their reputation and have an impact on the number of people who would want to travel there? I'm doubtfully at will, because as I said, humans are very actional. And the brain works as puts that barrier up for you. You know, Dubai is an incredibly popular place. So are the other areas around Dubai. And they were growing as tourist destinations don't forget. So all the UE countries are very popular and growing. And building results, you know, there's a lot of infrastructure being built. There's lots of big new hotels and things to do. So yeah, it is a worry. I think we just have to wait and see, don't we? This is not a one-off. This is obviously a war situation, rather than a one-off act, because in the while I mentioned earlier with Tunisia. So yes, I think it is a concern. And I always like to put a positive spin on things.

6:06And this one, at this second, is a bit of a tricky one to put too much positivity on. Have you been able to speak to any of your contacts in the moment out in Dubai at all, Chris? I don't know how many people you know out there. Have you been able to speak to anybody? Yeah, well, finally, I've got a very good friend of mine that I've worked with, within travel, who's got family in Dubai actually. They're not the three customers. I'm lucky enough. I haven't got any customers in Dubai at the moment. But she said that everyone's very nervous for, you know, they are very, very anxious and really just, yeah, just looking after themselves and make sure they stay inside and make sure they stay safe. And it is a worry, especially if you've got young family, it's a logical thing to be worried. And as you said previously, people do relocate to Dubai. People do go there for work, not just young individuals, but families as well. So again, it's a tricky time for them. A handful of commercial flights from the region arrived back in the UK yesterday and a government-charted rescue flight

7:08will bring Britain's home from the Middle East later. Meanwhile, we told pupils at a school in Dubai that's partnered with one here in Kent are being offered support during the unrest. Explosions were reported in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday. Pupils are currently doing remote learning to stay safe. Lucy has been chatting to Tim Hollis, who's the principal of Kent College Dubai. He lives there with his wife and two daughters, who are 16 and 18. I think on Saturday, a lot of people were just living their lives as normal. And, you know, aware of the regional conflicts, but maybe not quite as aware as how close it was to our own doorstep. Then as things developed across Saturday evening, I think a lot of people then got, you know, when they got home and then they stayed in on Sunday. From the school points of view, it was declared quite quickly that all of the schools within the country would go to distance learning. So I think families and quite a few, whether they were involved in education

8:08or working elsewhere in other sectors around the city, were sort of setting themselves up for that, making sure that, you know, their children were fully resource for everything that they need. They were supervised at home and so on. So I think there was probably a lot of people probably stayed at home on Sunday. And that's when I think quite a few people saw sort of the responses from the UAE, obviously, the defence responses. I think before that, I think a lot of people didn't realize that there were actually, you know, areas within the UAE that may have been targeted. But I think from Sunday onwards, we saw the response from the UAE. And I think most people would be very pleased with that, you know, that it's the way in which the UAE moved very quickly to say this is how what we're going to do to try and make sure things can be safe for everybody. And everybody can be well looked after, you know, take shelter. They were the embassy sort of instructions quite quickly. People were able to do that, but also then keep some kind of daily routines.

9:11So school was able to continue for everybody that needed it. You know, since COVID, I think quite a few schools have been used to having to react to certain situations and move online. And so schools, all of them over here, to be honest, are very quick to respond to that and do that very well. So I think that's reassuring for a number of families on the ground, including us with our two girls that, you know, throughout the day, yes, they might be a little bit worried about what's going on. But actually, they can still check in with their teachers. They can still learn and they can still see their friends. So it's still ongoing now. Things have maybe quite down a little bit for us, but we're aware of, you know, that the embassy alerts remain keep sheltered. You know, don't go out if you don't need to and stay safe. Yeah, I mean, how close do you feel to it all there? Because obviously, we think of Dubai and the UAE is such a safe place, but you are kind of so close to those countries that are deemed dangerous. And now this kind of proves that, doesn't it?

10:13Well, we're certainly within range, you know, and I think, as I said before, you know, on Sunday, when we could hear things overhead and we could see some things overhead, I think it mainly was intersections. I haven't sort of seen anything sort of hit the ground over here, but there's been interceptions that have taken place in the skies and then debris as for them has been reported in, you know, across a certain number of media outlets. So that's sort of quiet and down a tiny bit. So people can certainly hear what's going on from time to time. It depends, I think, on which part of the country you're from. There's very clear warning signals that come through, you know, through mobile phone networks and that kind of thing. So I think, you know, even if you're at home and it might seem, if I look at the window right now, that it's a normal day, if there is anything that sort of suggests that we should seek that extra cover, it comes through quite quickly on the phone and we can go and do that, you know, as behind sort of quite solid walls and so on and try and keep safe.

11:15And I think that's reassuring for a lot of families that are currently here. And hopefully for a lot of people that are currently stranded here as well that may have been on holiday, because, you know, this is the time of the year when actually we get quite a lot of visitors, family and friends come out to see a lot of the expats that live here as well as people transiting through the country, say. But the way in which the authorities have shared sensible communications, the sort of adjustments that they've made today, living and I think people certainly we feel relatively reassured despite, you know, the close proximity of a lot of the action. Now, important is it for you, obviously from the school standpoint, but also as a dad to sort of give that reassurance to people and to your daughters, because for them, it must be strange going through all of this at a young age and kind of having to deal with it, but normally kids are quite resilient, aren't they? They are, I think for my two, they're a little bit older. You know, we can talk to them about what's going on

12:16and they can read from what they see from us as well as others. You know, some levels of concern. I think, you know, certainly for our younger kids in school and families there, I think you probably have to be a little bit more careful about what you share and what you communicate, because they could quite easily get an idea that might not necessarily be a tree picture of what's going on and that can be quite alarming, you know, as they get a little bit older and more mature, they'll sort of deal with it in a more adult way. So I think families are being careful, which is something that we're sort of aware of for when we do return to face-to-face school, you know, is how when everybody does get back together and they are talking whether that's in their classrooms, you know, with their friends or the messages that then come from the teachers and from us, we have to be quite careful about making sure that that's calming and that we're sharing the right information with the right children and those, you know, for specific age groups. Kent Online Reports. A warning spin issue to about the number of meeting ports

13:18that are avoiding border checks at Dover. A committee of MPs has found 18% of animal products aren't being checked, despite being directed to by digital systems when they arrive at the port. It raises the risk of disease getting into the UK. Ministers say they're working to address the concerns raised and expect authorities to follow up on any breaches. A hearing spin told a Graves-End grandmother died after accidentally taking an overdose of a prescription antidepressant. 55-year-old Grace Uludag had complained of being dizzy and short of breath the day before falling at home and suffering a cardiac arrest in November last year. Last month, the NHS issued a warning about a potentially lethal side effect called serotonin syndrome. A coroner concluded there was no indication the overdose was intentional. A warning spin sent out to parents about plans for organized fights among children in medway. How would school and fairview community primary and random

14:18have issued messages after reports of post-being shared online? It follows a similar alert to mums and dads in fanat. It's all thought to be linked to a trend on TikTok. Work to repair a road near random that's full of pot holes has been criticised by residents. Mats Hill Lane in Heartleap is often used as a cut through from the A249 to the M2 at Farthing Corner. People living nearby say while some of the smaller holes have been filled, the larger ones have been left untouched. Medway Council has been contacted for a comment. Meanwhile, this is one of our most red stories on the website today. It's been confirmed, work to fix the stretch of the fanat way. We'll start this summer. OK, joined me now with more on this story. Can you remind us what the problem is with the road? Yes, so the stretch between the Duggate services and Roman Galli Parper has been reduced to a 50 mile per hour speed limit since September last year because the surface is so uneven. In fact, drivers have described it as like a rollercoaster with multiple bumps in the carriageway.

15:19This is all due to clay underneath the surface of the road that is shifted over time. So what's going to be done about it? Well, the man in charge of highways at the County Council has revealed work to rectify the situation. We'll take place over six weeks from June 1st with the aim of having the road back up to its 70 mile per hour limit by the start of the school summer holidays. But I understand not everyone's happy. No, the MP who covers the area, so Roger Gale, once it's sorted out quicker, he said the road was designed to speed up journeys and enhance the economy of East Kent and is calling on the County Council to inject a sense of urgency. In response, Councillor Peter Osborne has said, we fully recognize the strategic importance of the A299 between Bradley Corner and Fannett and are prioritising this work accordingly. Kate, thank you, ever so much. Canceled line reports. The former folks to library building is expected to go up for auction this summer after efforts to stop the sale failed. Campaigners have been fighting to bring the historic site in Grace Hill back into use. They've been unable to agree a deal with Kent County Council

16:21who say it's costing too much to keep. The planning inspectorance going to decide if two large developments in Medway will go ahead, rather than the Council. Developers want to build in Hussam, Werberg, and say the local authorities taken too long to consider their applications. If approved, it would see almost 700 homes in the area. Meanwhile, a former office building in Gilligan could be converted into an HMO with developers promising a yoga studio, cinema room, and gym. A&E property have put in an application to convert the three-story site on Green Street into a 19-bed house. Bossy say it'll transform an underused commercial building. It's currently been considered by Medway Council. Elsewhere, controversial plans for hundreds of homes in Favisham are back on the table two years after they were initially rejected. The Abbeyfields development was turned down due to its potential impact on the countryside. Developers are looking to revive the idea and have added another 60 homes to their original proposals, taking the total to 240.

17:23There'll be a public engagement this month before plans are submitted. And a construction graduate from Canterbury says more needs to be done to help women and girls get into the building industry. 25-year-old Jessica Scanlon works on a site in deal after getting a degree in project management. She says friends were surprised when she got a job in construction and has been explaining more to Lucy. Anybody that sort of knows me, I'm very girly, like to have my nails done, like my hair and stuff. And so for them, it was a massive shock to know that I'd be like spending my days out in a field in the mud. So yeah, I think everyone was a little bit shocked, but I think it's more of the bigger picture than people just thinking you're out outside. There's a lot more that goes into sort of my job role. than just being on site. When you're going through school, was construction ever mentioned as a career option for young women and young girls? No, never, never, never an option. Even when I was in university studying project management,

18:24they were still very shocked that I was ever going to go down the construction groups, obviously project management leads into lots of different industries. And even on like our career days at uni, it was never made aware. And the construction was an option. And if it wasn't for my dad, I wouldn't have even thought about the industry. That's kind of surprising in this day and age, isn't it? You know, we think of ourselves as such an equal society, but we still have these things that seem to be like off limits almost for girls and women. I do think like massively in the education department, but it needs to sort of be tapped into and make more people aware from me on age. And I think as well, like lots of young women think it is just being out on site, being in the mud, being cold, getting wet. And it is a lot more than that. It's a really, really rewarding job. So there is a lot more to what you would perceive the industry to be. Obviously, I am based in construction, but there's more behind the scenes of a house builder.

19:25So you've got loads of different departments, which you'll feed in. And again, I don't think they're made visible enough for young people. What's it like for you as a young woman on a construction site? Because I know there's probably a lot of misconceptions about, you know, what men's behaviour might be like and how intimidating that could be for a young woman. Is that something you've found or not at all? I would say my experience sort of with Barrett David Wilson has been like incredibly positive. I haven't really had any issues. Everyone's been really supportive. Before I went on site for the first time, there was lots of preconceptions of what I might experience and what people will be like. But personally, I've never, ever had any issues with any of the trades, any of my other team members. It's just been a really positive experience. And I think because of that, it's helped me develop and grow in my career as well. Kent Online News Southern waters apologised after residents questioned why 15 tankers have been stationed outside a pub in Hythe.

20:27A 10 mile per hour speed restriction is also in force near the juke's head. Bosses say they're having to pump out excess ground water, which is putting pressure on sewers, following the wet start to the year. David's going to bid to become the UK's first town of culture. It joins Chatham, Folkston and Diel in putting itself forward for the new competition. Whoever wins will get £3 million of funding for cultural events during 2028. A protectionist who used to work at a former cinema in Canterbury says it broke his heart to see it go up in flames. A blaze broke out at the Odian in St George's place on Valentine's Day. Eric Moore reckons the building deserved better after entertaining so many people. You can see pictures from its heyday within a special report today at Kent Online. And finally, Danny Dyer's new reality show filmed on Sheppie is going to return for a second season. It sees him and his daughter take over a caravan park in Laysdown, dealing with dodgy plumbing and demanding customers. Bosses at Sky say it's been hugely successful and they'll face even more challenges

21:29in the next series. Kent Online Sports Plenty of football to update you on. First up, Kent's Alessia Rousseau scored twice for England's women as they thrashed Ukraine 6-1 last night. Georgia's Danway also hit the back of the net twice with all the goals coming in the second half. It was their opening World Cup qualifier match. They'll play Iceland next on Saturday. Elsewhere, Jullingham have been beaten by Tumberidge Angels in the Kent Senior Cup. The Jules put out a young squad for last night's match and lost 4-3. Tumberidge will go on to play Chattam Town in the semi-finals. More from Jullingham now as Scott Wagstaff has been named as the new manager of the Youth Team at Priestfield. He takes over from Joe Dunn who left the club last month. The 35-year-old made 66 appearances for the Jules over two years, scoring four goals and he still plays for Tumberidge Angels. He's been speaking to the club's media team. There's a lot of changes since I was last year as a player, but there's still a lot of familiar faces. So it's not like I'm coming in sort of blind to it. So it's nice to see the familiar faces and

22:31I've never seen him really welcome him since I've come back in. So now I'm really excited to start the new part of my journey now. What was the appeal with this particular job? What made you think this was the next part of my coaching journey? I think the club as a whole, it's a massive club. It's a really big club when I played here. The fan base was excellent and as a whole as a club, it's just the club definitely going in the right direction. And it just felt right for me. I think when Brian Pau spoke to me on the phone, just before Christmas and we're sort of interested to get me in and it was something that I jumped at a chance at. I think it's the next step for me moving forward in my coaching career. Obviously still playing at the minute, but we'd have to wait and see what happens at the end of the season. But for me, I think this was definitely the right move at the right time. I always wanted to go this route by the academy and to do it that sort of way. So yeah, I'm really excited and obviously it's a club close to my heart and it's close to home as well, which obviously helps.

23:32As you say, you know the club you've paid here for a couple of years, you've played against us before. You know some of the staff you mentioned Brian and of course Pata, who you know very well? Yeah, Pau, he was obviously with me at Bromley when I was doing my coaching down there as well. So he gets how I work and understands how I work and bries the same. So it does help having some familiar faces around you. And they know how you are, they know how you work, they know how you tick. So yeah, it's really exciting for me and I can't wait to get stuck into it now. There's probably a bit more to this job than meets the eye because of course you've got that's had to do life skills. They've got an education programme as well. It's not just the coaching about the football. It's not more to it than that, which people perhaps don't see. Yeah, I think when I was a player, when I was a scholar coming through the education, we didn't want to do it. But now I've got to be on the side of see the education. It is really important. I think it's really important for these boys because you don't know what's going to happen after football. Fingers crossed a lot of these boys have careers in the game. But if they don't, they need someone to fall back on. So we need to make sure that they do honing on their education side as well and the life skills, which is brilliant for them.

24:33So we'll be reiterating that to the boys, making sure that they're on job every time and listening. If they don't do that, then there's going to be nothing after football. So they need to have that ready for when they finish football anyway. And finally, in rugby, Kent Spennell has kept his place in the England side for this weekend's Six Nations game. They suffered back-to-back defeats in the Tournament and coach Steve Borthwick has made nine changes, England travelled to take on Italy in Rome on Saturday. Well, that's all from us for today. Thanks ever so much for listening. Don't forget, you can follow us on socials, plus you can get details on the top stories, direct your email each morning via the briefing. To sign up to that, just head to KentOnline.co.uk and watch through on the website. You can sign up to KentOnline Premium. That gives you content with fewer ads and exclusive stories.