good afternoon. the multi—billion pound project to install smart energy meters has been heavily criticised by a group of mps. they've warned it's likely to save customers just £11 per year. the report says the programme risks falling behind schedule and ending up heavily over budget. our business correspondent joe lynam reports. malcolm got a smart meter... it is the biggest infrastructure project you have probably never heard of, costing £11 billion they mass roll—out of smart meters into 30 million homes across the uk is designed to cut our bills and make oui’ designed to cut our bills and make our lives easier, but things are not going to plan. the mobile phone mast is just there, touching going to plan. the mobile phone mast isjust there, touching distance. warren lives in london and he is having problems with his smart meter connection. the so-called smart meter was not so smart. my bill still comes through is estimated and i have to keep updating them,

manually phoning them to give them a reading. until they finally reset the meter and they confirmed it was sending readings again. the big infrastructure group of mps says that smart meters might not be so break that smart meters might not be so brea k after that smart meters might not be so break after all. the government says it is rolling out technology which might be out of date already in some areas, and it may be useless due to insufficient mobile coverage. the cost savings for consumers that were expected may not materialise. consumers will not go anywhere near what they were promised originally. it is bound to £11 million from the projected 26. —— to 11. we are calling on government, on 0fgem and the suppliers to get a grip of this probe sets. not so according to the group charged with rolling out the new technology. this infrastructure upgrade is the biggest one happening in energy in our lifetime so it is important that people get to talk about this debate and everyone needs

to know, get a smart meter because it will save billions of pounds over the next few years. building an entirely new mobile network to reach 65 million people from scratch is not easy, not cheap and fraught with potential problems. the government says it is a third of the way there. 0thers the government says it is a third of the way there. others say it is the wrong technology, behind schedule and will not deliver the savings we all expect. nine members of the same family were among those killed when a boat capsized on a lake popular with tourists in the us state of missouri. 17 people died when the amphibious vehicle called a duck boat went down in poor weather. the safety record of duck boats has come under scrutiny. more than a0 people have died in accidents aboard them in the last 20 years. sophia tran—thomson reports. hundreds of mourners gather around cars for a vigil in the parking lot where the table rock lake tourist boats depart. it is thought that they belong to the passengers who died. this duck boat made it back to shore. the passengers filming

the storm apparently unaware of the danger they were in. oh, my god. it's going under. further out, this boat was sunk in the severe sudden storm. we have a report of a duck that has sank completely. they have lost sight of it. if anybody can read me, i need a rope on the bow. of the 31 on board, less than half survived. among the 17 who died, nine were from one family. this picture has been shared by local media. only the woman on the far left and the boy on the far right are thought to have survived. we'll be working arduously to determine what happened, why it happened, and how to prevent it from happening again. it will be very important to the investigation that the vessel is raised. there is the intent to salvage vessel. an assessment and an analysis of it and its condition will definitely be key to the investigation.

there was a severe weather warning, so investigators are looking into why the boats were on the water, and if the passengers had safety vests on. it was a pretty severe storm. my husband was like, "this is crazy," severe winds and things, and then we come back and hear about this, and i just got sick. duck boats can travel on both roads and water. they are used as tour vehicles in many places around the world, but following several accidents in recent years, their safety record is now under scrutiny. investigators say a primary report should be ready in a month but a full enquiry could take up to a year. mourners have gathered for the funeral of six—year—old alesha macphail who was murdered earlier this month while on holiday on the isle of bute. those attending were asked to wear pink, alesha's favourite colour. she was reported missing from her grandmothers house a few days into a summer break. a 16—year—old boy has been charged with her rape and murder. police in salisbury have stepped up their search of a park

in the centre of the city, where two victims of the novichok poisoning may have picked up a contaminated bottle. charlie rowley was released from hospital yesterday. his partner died. 0ur correspondent simon jones is in salisbury . what seems to have caused this increase in police activity? the search has certainly intensify during the course of the morning. initially we saw the public toilets buying me surrounded by barriers, then in the heat of the sun, we saw a number of police officers put on protective suits and head towards the centre of the park, where they we re the centre of the park, where they were able to carry out a search of a park bench. we saw them taking swabs and photos and they also took away evidence bags. the police are not commenting why specifically they are looking at the park at this moment, but we know they have been

able to speak at length to charlie rowley since he has been discharged from hospital. what we know, according to the police, is he has been offered advice on his own security. they are not saying if he has been offered police protection. they say, ultimately, what is intensifying this is the fact they wa nt to intensifying this is the fact they want to get to the bottom of this. that is why the search is continuing. simon jones, thank you. a quick look at some of today's other news: facebook has suspended an american data analytics firm while it investigates claims it built surveillance tools with users' information. the company, crimson hexagon, is said to have worked with a group linked to the kremlin, and us government agencies. two men have appeared in court in bristol following what's been described as a "significant seizure of cocaine" from a boat in the english channel. the dutch nationals were charged after a yacht was intercepted off the coast of south—west cornwall on thursday. the national crime agency says the exact quantity of cocaine is not yet known. injapan, at least 20 people have died

in heat related deaths. weeks after being hit by floods, parts of the country are now experiencing a heatwave. temperatures have risen above a0 degrees, more than 2,000 people have been taken to hospital. the girl guides have launched a selection of new badges which they say reflects the modern world. they include vlogging, human rights, mixing nonalcoholic drinks and mindfulness. younger guides, aged ten to 1a, will be trained to spot media bias and discuss human rights, while older ones can learn the art of festival—going and how to be an entrepreneur. with all the sport now, here's mike bushell at the bbc sport centre. good afternoon. the golf course they sometimes call the beast is more a thing of beauty so far today, and the early starters are making hay on day three of the open championship at carnoustie. the leaders go out later this afternoon, but already there are a couple of brits on the charge. katherine downes is there for us. hello. it has been a brilliant

morning for the english golfers in particular. the cut was made last night at three over par and olympic champion justin rose just squeezed inside that mark, birdieing the 18th to make it through to the weekend. it has been a better day forjustin rose so far. he has had a cracking round. five birdies as he nears the end of the 18 holes. he is on two under par. within four macro shots of the lead. chris where is another englishman on fire, on six under for the day, five birdies in his first seven holes, four under for the tournament and two away from the lead. he is having the best round of the day and has shot the lowest score over the front nine of the tournament so far, 31. tommy fleetwood is another englishman close to the top, on five under, one

shot away from the lead. after coming second at the us open this year, he has got his eye on the claretjug. i can't lie about it. if i could pick one tournament in my life to win, it would be the open. i've never been anywhere near before. so far, after two rounds, i'm up there on the leaderboard, but it would be something to have in my career that would be amazing by the time i'm done with... whenever i'm playing... the open is something i would like. tommy fleetwood one of the favourites to win the title at carnoustie this year but let's look at the leaderboard as it stands. the americans out in front. the 2015 open champion jack —— americans out in front. the 2015 open championjack —— zachjohnson at the top and kevin kisner, who threw away a two shot lead last night by hitting his approach shot into the barry burn at the 18th. rory mcilroy is also in the mix on four under par. he is tied with four

other players. it is tight at the top of the leaderboard, perfect conditions at carnoustie for links golf. we should see some good scores today on what is traditionally known as moving day at the majors. you can watch highlights on bbc two at eight o'clock. england play india in london in an hour's time on the first day of the women's hockey world cup. jo currie is at the queen elizabeth olympic park in london for us. jo, the action already under way? yes, the first match of the world cup got under way about one hour ago. this is the lee valley hockey stadium london, sweltering heat today. 0ver stadium london, sweltering heat today. over 100,000 stadium london, sweltering heat today. 0ver100,000 tickets have been sold for the biggest women's sporting event in the world this year. then there are germany are leading south africa 2—1. in one hour, all eyes will be on england, one of the big favourites to lift the new world cup trophy. they are

ranked second in the world and if you think back to 2016, as part of great britain, they are the reigning 0lympic champions. they are not having a bad 2018 having already claimed the bronze medal at the commonwealth games on the gold coast of australia just a few months ago. england are one of 16 teams aiming to lift the world cup trophy. the biggest threat will come from the netherlands, the world champions and world number ones are also at the european champions. england start theircampaign european champions. england start their campaign against india at two o'clock this afternoon. the stadium holds 10,500 people and really expecting a sell—out, which is not bad. it looks great behind you. lots of action. thanks very much. that is all the sport for now. you can see more on all of today's stories on the bbc news channel. the next news on bbc one is at 6:05. bye for now. hello.

you're watching the bbc news channel with shaun ley, it's 1.12pm. roads, ports and airports are set to be extremely busy this weekend as millions of us embark on oui’ summer getaways. with schools in england and wales breaking up for the summer there could be lengthy delays as more than nine million road journeys are expected to be made between friday and sunday. ben ando reports. if yesterday was frantic friday, today could be standstill saturday. travel experts say more than 5 million people are expected to set off this weekend on getaway trips at the start of the school holidays, and that means super—busy roads, airports and railways. at this time of year, it's really avoiding the peak times. so over the weekend, it tends to be lunchtime, so if you can go earlier in the morning or later at night. and also, you then get the advantage you're not stuck in a hot car when the sun is bearing down, or indeed the thunderstorms that are predicted in some areas. for staycationers, roads in south—west england, particularly the m5 and a303, look likely to be the worst—hit,

while the port of dover is expecting its busiest outbound day of the summer, as thousands head to the continent. and a further 2.5 million are taking to the skies, with heathrow expecting 500,000, 250,000 at gatwick, and 160,000 passengers through manchester. weekend engineering works are causing disruption on the railways, too. the mainline linking london and the west country is blocked, meaning diversions of a0 minutes, and in scotland, the line linking glasgow and motherwell is also closed. and here at king's cross and st pancras, passengers are facing ongoing disruption caused by the botched introduction of a new timetable back in may. but there is one piece of good news for weary rail users. virgin trains are dropping evening peak restrictions every friday until the end of august, in an effort to spread loadings and cut congestion. as the peak holiday season gets under way,

more than 100,000 passengers on ryanair have been told their flights have been cancelled because of a series of strikes in the coming week. but its emerged that they could be in line for hundreds of pounds in compensation, in an unprecedented move by the civil aviation authority which is encouraging all persons affected to make a claim. earlier simon calder — travel editor at the independent — told me why these strikes are happening and how passengers affected can claim compensation. pilots employed by ryanair in ireland are unhappy about a range of issues, including seniority and transfers and so on. their next strike is on tuesday, 16 flights grounded. more seriously, in terms of numbers, cabin crew in belgium, spain and portugal are going on strike on wednesday and thursday, and over 600 flights have been cancelled, affecting 100,000 people. unbelievably, yesterday, late on, the civil aviation authority put out a statement saying, ok, if yourflight has been

cancelled, claim your compensation. why do you say unbelievably? compensation these days is almost routine. let's remember how european rules work. if your flight is cancelled or delayed by three hours or more, the airline has to pay you compensation. unless it can demonstrate extraordinary circumstances were responsible, which couldn't possibly have been affected. it has always been held by the airlines that strikes are extraordinary circumstances, even though you and i might think, surely you can sort it out by paying them more. in april, there was a ruling by the european court 0fjustice about wildcat strikes and they said, if your airline has been hit by a wildcat strike... so, if they suddenly down tools and walk out? an old fashioned phrase.

you know what i mean. you will get compensation. there is still no certainty, rather, there was not, about official strikes, which these were. this one will have been notified over a certain period. exactly. air france has had lots of strikes the last few months, cabin crew in britain were on strike. and they were not paying compensation. no, so for the official body which looks after consumer rights to come out and say, claim your money, it was really unprecedented. i have never seen anything like that, and immediately i contacted ryanair who said, no, it is extraordinary circumstances, the behaviour of the unions is outrageous and we are not paying anybody a penny. you apply for compensation as passenger. ryanair says no, it is extraordinary circumstances, we are not obliged to pay you anything. what do you then do? according to the civil aviation authority, you go to the dispute resolution partner and put in your claim and it gets sorted out. i suspect it will not be that easy.

i imagine we will see legal challenges going to the high court, possibly the european court 0fjustice and if it were to be held that passengers were entitled to compensation, as the phrase goes, the floodgates would open, and people would be able to retrospectively claim for last year's ba cabin crew strikes. 0ne imagines the industry will fight this hard? yes. it does not yet apply retrospectively. if you were given more than two weeks notice of the strike, which none of these passengers were, you do not get any compensation, but there is always a duty of care, they have got to find your alternative flight and pay for your hotel and meals while you're waiting to get there. in the meantime, do not spend the compensation you expect to get, it might be a few years. but your instinct is that people should apply. that is what the civil aviation authority says and who am i to say different? simon calder. he's off on his summer

holidays this afternoon. i did not ask who he is flying with, i'm afraid! let's get more now on the multi—billion pound project to roll out smart energy meters, which has been heavily criticised by a group of mps — they've warned that it's likely to save customers just 11 pounds per year. a report by the british infrastructure group said the programme had been "plagued by repeated delays and cost increases" and looked set to miss its 2020 deadline. the government agency involved has responded that millions of people are already saving money after having the meters installed. we can discuss this further now and joining us in our derby studio is diane lilley who's a smart meter customer. and i'm joined by steve crump, in woodley in berkshire — he's had problems with his smart meter. good afternoon. tell me about your experience, diane. when did you get

your smart meter installed ? experience, diane. when did you get your smart meter installed? about two years ago when it first became available with my supplier. you will quite keen, why? i liked the idea of being able to see what power and actually using, and gas, and being able to check whether the bills they sent me correspond to what i actually use. has it made a difference to your usage of energy, would you say? it has, in a way. i'm aware how much the tumble dryer costs. so, i boughta aware how much the tumble dryer costs. so, i bought a dryer that... a heated air dryer, which saves quite a bit. but other than that, not really. so you might not have looked to an alternative to a tumble dryer if you haven't been able to see upfront just how dryer if you haven't been able to see upfrontjust how much those springs were costing. probably. what about this question of the bills and the accuracy. 0ne about this question of the bills and the accuracy. one of the things they sell it on is the idea of no more

estimates, no more than telling you what they think you have used, based on what you used the same quarter one year ago, when the weather might have been very different in this country! they suggest it's a more accurate picture, is that fair? that is fair. i have a tariff that runs from november to october, so the gas a lwa ys from november to october, so the gas always gets out of sync over the winter and catches up over the summer. just recently, they wanted to increase my monthly payments by £10. i was able to point out to them that i had only used £5 worth of gas injune and this month, i have used even injune and this month, i have used eve n m ess injune and this month, i have used even mess because the central heating isn't on. it's the only thing i use it for, hot water and central heating. if the heatwave keeps going, by the time you get to september, they will owe me money. because i could prove that i will not be using, and i am not using gas, they have kept the payments the same over the year. let me bring in

steve, now. was it something you we re steve, now. was it something you were keen on when it was first suggested? i grasped the concept of what they were trying to get at, but ididn't what they were trying to get at, but i didn't have a choice because they just told me i was going to be fitted with a smart meter on a certain day. what has been the effect on your energy usage and on your bills? the direct debit monthly projected was £72 a month, every quarter it was going up, it was doubling. recently, until we quarter it was going up, it was doubling. recently, untilwe solved theissue, doubling. recently, untilwe solved the issue, it was 200 a month that they wanted.

-- £265. do you notice a difference with not having to have people come in and read your meter and things like that? there's no difference because the company that fitted the smart meter, i switched to months later and my new service provider does not recognise their smart meter, so in essence, the smart element of the meter has completely been eroded. that does not sound very smart. we spoke to a man from the smart energy gb, the company which promotes these smart meters and he said any problems like this should be possible to overcome quickly, he says the meter is an obsolete, they just need quickly, he says the meter is an obsolete, theyjust need a change in software. do you accept the argument that actually you don't have to go through the whole process again?“ i'm honest, i'm not convinced. a smart meter, you can'tjust look at the meter and there is the reading in front of you. it's got a number

of menus, so you in front of you. it's got a number of menus, so you are in front of you. it's got a number of menus, so you are not giving any guidance as to what reading to send the energy supplier, because as i've said, they don't speak to different energy suppliers. from your point of view, it would have been better if this had been a system where they we re this had been a system where they were using a common meter that every company would install, then you would at least have found switching more realistic. we were told that switching is a smart move. yes, if everyone could read everybody else's meters, it would be exactly what i think the government wanted, by being able to make this a simplified process. diane, what about your experience of using the meters? did you get any training, was it relatively simple to read or did you have something similar to steve's experience of scrolling through all these different menus to find out what you wanted ? these different menus to find out

what you wanted? i actually log onto my account online. all the information is actually on my account, online. i've also gone for pa perless account, online. i've also gone for paperless bills as well. that's where i got the information from, i got my tablet in front of me with the grass in front of me, when i was speaking to the lady on the phone. it was the same grass as she was seeing. i get all my information off my account online. you can't get it off the meter, to be honest. they are awkward to read. that might be a tip, but you don't sound on the whole terribly impressed by your experience so far. the problem being, that the person or provider that fitted the meter is no longer my energy provider. if it was, then i could log online like your other cooler has suggested, and see my energy usage. but because i've been smart and switched to get a better

deal, my new energy supplier, though they do also have a website, i can't read my previous energy supplier's website because i'm not with them any more. the point i would like to make it, that has been established, it has taken 11 months for me to identify with the help of my current provider that my smart meter that was fitted is recording in imperial measurements. laughter 0h, measurements. laughter oh, no! so it's not quite as modern as you thought. exactly. and my new provider measures in metric. that's why my bill was going up metric. that's why my bill was going up every quarter, because my new provider wasn't provided with the information about the smart meter and moreover, the fact that it only records in imperial. sounds like some wrinkles still need to be

ironed out in this process. both of you, thank you for talking to us. as temperatures remain high, this spell of hot weather is being compared to the longest heatwave in britain in living memory, 1976. the met office says there is no "significant sign" of change "any time soon" as forecasters expect temperatures to feel even hotter next week. earlier i spoke tojim dale, a senior risk meteorologist and founder of the consultancy, british weather services. i asked him if this summer is shaping up to mirror the one the uk had in 1976. i was a young boy at the time, i remember it well. how does it compare...? i think we go back to 1995 first, that's the most recent, what you might call, heatwave that lasted. now we have surpassed that. this is like comparing apples, pears and pomegranates. they are not all the same, one season is never the same as the next but as an entirety, and by that time in sunshine, temperature and lack of rainfall, this is comparing very well with 95. it's getting close to

1976 but not in terms of the extreme temperatures yet. 76 was a whole three—month stretch. what are the prospects? six weeks in, eight weeks...? we almost missed spring, we went from winter virtually in march to mid april when everything changed and we suddenly metamorphosed into summer. we have been there ever since. how long will it last? at the moment, it's a real battle. low pressure sitting of the north west of and this week and this week anyway, that will start to punctuate some of the heat in the north and west. the extreme of heat is always going to be in the south—east, london, east anglia, up to the midlands. that will continue all week long. we will probably see, my guess is, a temperature of about 33 degrees. that's probably the height this week. moving into august, i don't see any immediate change, high—pressure. .. nothing on the charts yet?

not at the moment, my gut instinct is to believe this won't last forever. going back to 1976, that ended in early september with flash floods. it was a dramatic change. we have got to look out for that. if people have not made hay while the sun shines, you have missed out. from a risk meteorologist to a meteorologist who is never risky... there is not much rain if any for the next four or five days but we could see a change into the following weekend with thundery weather. this weekend, not thundery. we could see some showers east anglia to cornwall and devon through the afternoon but lots of sunny spells for england and wales. cloud

for northern ireland and western scotla nd for northern ireland and western scotland turning increasingly misty and murky with health into this evening and overnight. some of that cloud pushing further south into northern england and wales, quite a warm and muggy night but particularly across southern britain with some city values not below 8119. sunday, similar story. with some city values not below 8119. sunday, similarstory. lots more cloud across the north, patchy light rain and drizzle across the west of scotland. misty, murky conditions. bit of brightness. the best of the sunny spells, england and