the transport network struggles in the extreme weather at the start of the summer holidays. northern rail urges people not to travel in yorkshire because of lighnting damage. eurotunnel cancels day trip tickets, to ease the backlog caused by the failure of air conditioning. we've got passengers with special needs and terminal illnesses. and what happened was they prioritised that we could get the next train. so, we were supposed to travel at 20 past nine. but we ended up actually travelling at ten to three. we'll have the latest on the weather's impact across the country. also this lunchtime... some private probation contracts are scrapped, at a cost of £170 million, after failing to deliver expected improvements. five people are killed and another five injured in a collision between a minibus and a car in moray in north east scotland. tsb posts half yearly losses, after the it meltdown which affected

nearly two million customers — and isn't over. and will skywatchers witness a blood moon this evening, when the earth comes between the sun and the moon? and coming up on bbc news, geraint thomas is just three stages away from a first tour de france title. he is tackling the mountainous stage with a lead of nearly two minutes. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. the heatwave is causing disruption for commuters and holiday makers at the start of the summer getaway. trains have been cancelled in yorkshire because of lightning strikes. eurotunnel has cancelled

hundreds of day trip tickets to try to ease the backlog caused when air conditioning units failed on some carriages. and despite the arrival of storms in parts of the country, the uk'sjuly temperature record could still be broken today. simonjones is at the entrance to the eurotunnel in folkestone. eurotunnel warned at the start of the day that it was going to be another problematic period. it has certainly proved to be that way. passengers are facing delays of around two and a half hours because the company has had to take out more carriages because it is too hot. elsewhere, storms are causing problems as people continue to feel the heat. misery for motorists facing hours of delays at eurotunnel in folkestone. for many families, their holidays are getting off to the worst possible start. the hot conditions leaving some hot under the collar on the third day of disruption.

after waiting about two hours in a queue, just to speak to a customer service agent, we have passengers with special needs, terminal illnesses. and what happened was they prioritise so we could get the next train. we were supposed to travel at 20 past nine, but ended up travelling at ten to three. we had three children in the car with us. one to five. it was extremely hot, uncomfortable, there were no services available. in total, eventually, we spent approximately five hoursjust waiting in queues. there was nowhere to go, there were no refreshments, there were no updates. 12,000 cars are expected at the channel tunnel today and 400 tickets for day trips have been cancelled as the company concentrates on getting holiday—makers on their way. it's blaming unprecedented high temperatures, saying the air conditioning in some of the trains cannot cope, so some carriages are not being used to save

passengers from sweltering. eurotunnel is apologising to passengers, but it says it cannot control the weather and, as temperatures have been rising once again, so to have the queues. 0vernight some passengers said they had to wait seven hours to get on a train. airports are trying to cope, not only with the heat but also massive demand. uk air traffic controllers are expecting their busiest day of the year. we have had a heatwave and don't get me wrong, the seaside towns in the uk are thriving. but today most people will be flying to spain, still the number one holiday spot for the british market. really interesting, turkey has really grown for summer 2018. it has been quiet, tour operators took the capacity out, that is the big story this summer, that the british are happy to go back to turkey and it is doing really well. and just getting to the airport might prove a challenge. we are expecting a breakdown to happen every four seconds. before you get in your car, check your water coolant levels, check your oil levels,

check your tire pressure. make sure you have lots of water in the car and also when you travel at slower speeds, if you can handle it, turn your air conditioning off, bring your windows down, let your air circulate in the car and that will alleviate some of the pressure that is probably happening to your engine at the moment. the predicted relief from the heat has already arrived for some. this downpour hit doncaster. rail services on the east coast mainline and across yorkshire have been disrupted after lightning strikes damaged signalling. more storms are on their way, but the july heat records could still be broken. today we will see temperatures on par with yesterday, up into the mid—30s, but the heat and humidity, they will combine across eastern england. some severe storms possible here. the ground is so dry, as well, that could cause flash flooding. in storms and heat, people are advised to take care. the search for a teenager who was last seen in the sea near clacton pier

in essex has resumed. a sign of the dangers the warm weather is bringing with it. here they are praying for rain. it could be careful what you wish for. as we heard, lightning is causing trouble in the north of england. there is a weather warning in place for the east of england this afternoon for stormy weather. that could bring lightning, flash flooding and even hailstones. at the more “— flooding and even hailstones. at the more —— at the moment the weather is certainly anything but dull. simon, thank you. simon jones certainly anything but dull. simon, thank you. simonjones in folkestone. if all weather forecast coming later in the programme. —— a full weather forecast. when the government announced the part privatisation of the probation service in england and wales in 2015, it hoped it would lead to a reduction in reoffending. but now the justice secretary is scrapping a number of contracts, after admitting they're not delivering the benefits they promised. the decision will cost £170 million. our home affairs correspondent, tom symonds, reports. lunch, shortly to be served at this

old and community centre. but back in the kitchen, the staff are also serving sentences. this is community payback. you have criminals working for you. is that a bit odd? what you think of it? it's great, to be quite honest. yeah, it is. we're happy with them. they don't ask us questions and we don't ask them.|j have been sent here because of benefit fraud. it is payback, isn't it? the fact i've been placed here, it's an amazing place. when you have been convicted with something you have to do your time and it's the best way you could do it. this is privatised probation run by a community rehabilitation company. the government's biglia —— big idea

to transform the service and introduce investment and innovation. it allows us to work more flexibly, work out in the community rather than set behind a desk or in interview rooms, which sometimes are not the nicest places to meet service users. the private provision has run into trouble, in particular financial trouble. these companies are paid for each vendor they persuaded not to reoffend. but the courts have been sending fewer of them, becausejudges courts have been sending fewer of them, because judges and courts have been sending fewer of them, becausejudges and magistrates are not certain if these schemes work. yes, the number of people heading back into prison has fallen by 2%. but real fenders are reoffending more frequently. partial privatisation. evil in the probation service, as well as questions about standards. the clear majority of these companies are operating at a significant loss. it cannot be right that as a country we rely on private providers to operate on —— at a loss

to deliver critical services because those services will be pared down because of that. the government is having a rethink. it is important we have a probation system that helps people rehabilitate. the existing contracts are not working as well as they might do. they are not working as well for us in order to ensure that we can help rehabilitation, so we wa nt that we can help rehabilitation, so we want to bring those to an end early. we want to improve some of the services in the interim and put in place a new contract which make sure that we get a probation service thatis sure that we get a probation service that is working properly. that would involve directing an additional £170 million into private probation. the changes were the brainchild of then justice secretary chris grayling. in ministerial language they are now described as ambitious. new contracts will have to be designed. but the government insists they should still be a role for companies in the community trying to steer offenders from committing more

crime. tom symonds, bbc news. five people have been killed and several more are being treated in hospital, after a crash between a minibus and a car, near keith in moray. police scotland are appealing for witnesses to the accident, which happened shortly before midnight. james shaw is at the scene. this is the scene of the crash, is sweeping bend just south of the town of keith in moray. it looks very normal. the traffic has started to to flow regularly again few minutes ago. it is as if nothing happened here. but last night it was the scene of the most appalling crash. the wreckage at the sight of this morning suggested that this may have been a head on crash which happened at high speed. recovery teams spent several hours removing the remains of the vehicles, one a minibus, the other a four by four. the names of

those who died are not known, but some of them may have been holiday—makers in scotland. the a96 links aberdeen and inverness. it is one of the busiest roads in this region. 0vernight, there was a big operation, including a coastguard helicopter, to rescue the casualties. clearly, this is a horrific road traffic accident. finding it difficult to take in the scale of the incident with summary people losing their lives and people being injured as well. everybody‘s thoughts are with the loved ones of those who have lost their lives or been injured at this very difficult time. one of the injured is being treated at raigmore hospital in inverness. that person is reported to be critically ill. another of the injured is said to be a child. this was a devastating and horrific crash. police investigators will wa nt to crash. police investigators will want to understand exactly why so many lives were lost.

well, we do have some updated information now. we believe the total number of people injured may actually be more than five. i mentioned earlier that we believe some of them could be holiday—makers. we don't know at this stage is whether they are uk nationals or possibly they might be holiday—makers from abroad. james, thank you. james shaw. a man found guilty of killing a woman in a speedboat crash on the river thames during their first date has been sentenced to six years in prison. jack shepherd, who's 30, was convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence yesterday. charlotte brown, who was 2a, was thrown overboard from the boat, which had a series of defects, in december 2015. police have issued a warrant for shepherd's arrest, because he had skipped bail and didn't attend his trial at the old bailey. a letter from the prince of wales has been read out at the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse. the inquiry is considering the case of peter ball, a former bishop of lewes,

and gloucester, who was convicted of abusing 18 young men. prince charles was in close contact with ball, and it's been claimed he helped to protect him. but, in the letter, read by counsel to the inquiry, prince charles says he was misled by ball, who told him he was a victim of a vendetta. jon donnison reports. peter ball was a senior and powerful figure within the church of england for decades. but in 2015, the former bishop of lewis and gloucester seen here on the left with his twin brother, was for 32 months for sexually abusing teenagers and young men. he had been cautioned by police more than ten years earlier, and resigned his position. this enquiry is addressing allegations of an establishment cover—up. a cover—up that allegedly involved the church, seniorfigures in the

that allegedly involved the church, senior figures in the judiciary and even the royal family. senior figures in the judiciary and even the royalfamily. peter senior figures in the judiciary and even the royal family. peter ball claimed to be a close friend of prince charles. today, the enquiry was read extracts from letters the prince of wales sent peter ball written in the 1990s, after he had been cautioned. this is what the prince wrote in february, 1995. i wish i could do more. ifeel desperately strongly about the monstrous wrong stunt to you and the way you have been treated. it is appalling that the archbishop has gone back on what he told me before christmas, that he was hoping to restore you to some form of ministry in the church. i suspect you are absolutely right. it is due to the fear of the media. the enquiry also heard about a house that prince charles' dodgy estate had bought and rented to peter ball and his brother after he had been cautioned by police. —— gushy estate. the enquiry heard extracts from a letter the prince had written to peter ball talking about that transaction, negotiated by a figure

known only as x. "i'm so glad x has beenin known only as x. "i'm so glad x has been in touch. i pray the duchy will been in touch. i pray the duchy will be able to find something suitable for you in due course but it may ta ke for you in due course but it may take a little time to locate it. i longed to see you both settled somewhere that suits you and gives you peace and tranquillity." prince charles was out and about in norfolk today. in a letter to the enquiry he admitted he had occasionally sent peter ball and his brother small gifts of money, but that the details of the house rental were handled by the duchy estate. he said he was aware of the transaction but didn't select the house. the prince stressed that at no point had he sought to influence the police investigations into peter ball or encourages staff to do so. peter ball was released from prison in 2017 after serving 16 months. jon donnison, bbc news. theresa may will discuss her plans for leaving the european union with austrian and czech leaders at talks in salzburg. the talks come after the eu's chief brexit negotiator rejected a key element of her plan

for a future relationship. 0ur diplomatic correspondent james robbins is in salzburg. what sort of reception is theresa may likely to receive? she is coming here to a city that is in the midst ofa here to a city that is in the midst of a world —famous here to a city that is in the midst of a world—famous music festival, most people here are busy relaxing. i think for theresa may it will be farfrom i think for theresa may it will be far from relaxed afternoon, i think for theresa may it will be farfrom relaxed afternoon, her political purpose is to persuade her host, austria's chancellor sebastian kurz, that it would be a good thing if michel barnier, the eu negotiator, was instructed to yield more ground to britain after a bruising week in which he essentially rejected a substantial pa rt essentially rejected a substantial part of her chequers arrangements and the latest white paper. after that she will see the czech prime

minister and try to send a similar message to him, that it is not in your interests, of the eu 27, to push us into a position where britain perhaps has to crash out without a deal. the problem with this is although they are eurosceptic countries, austria and the czech republic, they may be sympathetic to her but they are not intending to leave the union and are not necessarily supported. in the end, iam not necessarily supported. in the end, i am sure they will tell her they will remain solid with the rest of the eu, that they think is where their long—term interests lie and if she asks if they fear a british crash out, they said it will not suit them but it will hurt you more than us so it is for you to blink in negotiations, not us. james robinson in salzburg. our top story this lunchtime. the transport network is struggling

in extreme weather at the start of the summer holidays. northern rail is telling people not to travel in yorkshire because of lightning strikes. and still to come... stargazers will get the opportunity to see the longest "blood moon" eclipse of the 21st century tonight. coming up on bbc news, red bull's daniel ricciardo was fastest in first practice ahead of the hungarian grand prix. championship leader lewis hamilton finished fifth and title rival sebastian vettel finish second. north korea has returned what is believed to be the remains of about 50 american soldiers who died during the korean war. the repatriation of those killed in action was a promise made by kim jong—un to president trump during their meeting in singapore earlier this year. the move comes on the 65th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended the korean war. laura bicker reports. after nearly 70 years, the fallen

soldiers are welcomed home with an honour guard. one by one the small caskets, wrapped in the united nations flag, were carried back onto american soil, a us airbase in south korea. this is just the start of their final journey. next week they will be taken to hawaii to be examined, to check they are the remains of us soldiers. this appears to fulfil a key pledge made by kimjong—un to president trump during the singapore summit. and it comes in the same week as north korea appears to be dismantling one of its main missile launch sites. but what does north korea want in return? kim jong—un chose his date well to keep his word. today marks the 65th anniversary of the signing of the armistice which officially ended the korean war. in north korea, they call it the day of victory.

"in tears and rapture, veterans run into the arms of chairman kim," announced state media. mr kim is trying to persuade the world his focus is on building his country's economy rather than building nuclear weapons. some doubt his sincerity. president trump, however, will see this as a promise kept, and publicly thanked him in a tweet. "after so many years this will be a great moment for so many families. thank you to kim jong—un," he said. in seoul, korean war veterans from around the world gathered to remember the millions who died. and they hope that at some point peace will one day come to the peninsula. for the last 30 years we have not seen anything very positive. and i think today we are starting to see a few positive things happening. the return of these remains may breathe new life into a peace process that has seeemed stalled

since the singapore summit. the fundamental problem remains. north korea has yet to hand over any that nuclear weapons. and until it does, the us will still believe it poses a global threat. laura bicker, bbc news, south korea. donald trump's former lawyer says the president knew in advance about a meeting two years ago between his aides and a russian delegation that offered to help his campaign. michael cohen says he was present when mr trump's eldest son informed his father of the meeting — something the president denies. gary 0'donoghue is in washington. what is the significance? this is president trump's former lawyer, who has been a close confidant of the president but they

have now fallen out, particularly because mr cohen is being investigated over financial dealings and payments made on behalf of president trump to keep a pornography star quiet before the last election. this relates to a meeting in june 2016, last election. this relates to a meeting injune 2016, some months before the general election, in which certain members of the russian sort of representatives of the russian government met with donald trump russian government met with donald trumerand othertrump russian government met with donald trumer and other trump aides, promising dirt on hillary clinton. the president has always maintained he did not know about the meeting, until it was raised a year later and he repeated that on twitter this morning but the difficulty is this goes to the heart of the investigation special council is making into potential russian collusion. this meeting is the most concrete part of the investigation. if the president knew about it, it poses him serious problems. gary, thank you. tsb's it meltdown in april,

which left nearly two million people struggling to use their accounts, has cost the bank at least £176 million, and pushed it into overall losses for the first half of the year. the bank says it hopes to have its service back to normal by the start of next year. 0ur personal finance correspondent, simon gompertz, is here. it sounds extraordinary that some it problems are still getting on. it sounds extraordinary that some it problems are still getting onm it sounds extraordinary that some it problems are still getting on. it is still not possible to do some things online with tsb and the costs carry online with tsb and the costs carry on mounting because you have the cost of compensating people who have problems, they waived fees for three months, part of the 176 million, and have taken on nearly 2000 people to help with customers and advise on solving it problems. those people remain and so this bill for clearing up remain and so this bill for clearing up is likely to go beyond £200

million by the end of the year, and that does not include fines financial regulators are likely to impose, so probably more than that, and it piles the pressure on to the chief executive, paul pester, and people have called on him to resign but he said he wants to stay on to clear up the mess. he has breathing space because it emerged the report tsb commissioned from solicitors into what went wrong, something top management were worrying about, the findings, we will not see it until next year, so more room for him and he will probably celebrate the fact, that although they lost 26,000 customers who dumped accounts during this period, 20,000 have opened accounts, a testimony, all of that, that people tend to stick to their bank accounts, even with a meltdown like this. simon, thank you. the foreign secretary has been asked

to intervene in a custody case of a father whose —— whose father was killed by their mother. seven—year—old jack and six—year—old alice are at the centre of an international custody battle. their british father michael was stabbed to death in his shanghai apartment last year by his estranged chinese wife. she is serving a life sentence for murder. since their father's death, jack and alice have lived with their chinese grandparents, unaware what has happened to their pa rents. unaware what has happened to their parents. but their english grandfather wants to raise them back in the uk and is fighting for them to be brought back here, which is,

he says, what michael desperately wanted. michael raised them very much ina wanted. michael raised them very much in a western style and they spent two visits a year over here, they speak english. it is suffering a bit ofa they speak english. it is suffering a bit of a moment, for obvious reasons. they have travelled in spain and thailand with our family. when they were talking about a divorce, and weiwei fu was happy the children went with michael because he was the real carer. the thing thatis he was the real carer. the thing that is where they should be. the foreign and commonwealth office said, we are supporting the british relatives of michael simpson at this difficult time. we helped the simpson family visit their grandchildren early this year and remain in contact with the children's chinese relatives and local authorities regarding this case. our argument is they are british citizens. jack has a chinese passport but alice has no

documentation which means she cannot go to school there because she needs an id card to do that. mr simpson said his daughter—in—law‘s family are demanding tens of thousands of pounds in exchange for the children. he thinks political intervention is needed and hopes with the backing of the british government, they can be reunited by the autumn. tributes have been paid to ellie soutter, one of britain's most talented young snowboarders, who died on her 18th birthday on wednesday. ellie souter won a bronze medal for great britain at the 2017 youth 0lympic winter festival, and carried the british flag at the closing ceremony. herfather tony said he was "so proud of the beautiful young woman she had turned into." richard conway is with me. desperately sad, so young and tip to represent team gb again. exactly. ellie soutter was tipped for greater

success in the future perhaps a contender in 2022 with the beijing winter olympics. she had been training abroad in europe and died near her home in france. no further details have been released. her father tony saying he was so proud of her and father tony saying he was so proud of herand said, father tony saying he was so proud of her and said, this cruel world took my soulmate on her 18th birthday. ellie, iwill took my soulmate on her 18th birthday. ellie, i will miss you more than you could imagine, rest in peace, you little champion. and amy williams, skeleton champion, saying, such tragic news to wake up to and hugh robertson adding his condolences saying ellie was a popular and well liked member of the team. richard conway, our sports correspondent. skywatchers will be treated to the longest lunar eclipse this century, this evening. the phenomenon known as a blood moon occurs

when the earth comes between the sun and the moon — causing the moon to turn a reddish brown colour. the eclipse will be visible in the uk, clouds permitting, between 9 and 10.15 this evening. 0ur science correspondent victoria gill has more. 0ur familiar satellite heading into our own planet's shadow. tonight, as it rises over the uk at 9pm, the moon will be turned blood red as the earth passes between it and the sun. this particular lunar eclipse, or blood moon as it is known, will be the longest this century, lasting for one hour and 43 minutes. you need to be able to have a clear south—eastern horizon as the moon comes up, so we see low down to the south—east. and as it rises, you'll see it more and more clearly, and the eclipse finishes about quarter past ten. it is just lit by the light filtered through the earth's atmosphere, which is why it looks this sort of dusky red. at the same time our solar system neighbour, mars, will reach the nearest point to earth possible in its own

journey around the sun. where they are at their nearest point to each other, it is known as a close approach of mars. the minimum distance is 54.6 million kilometres. but that does significantly improve our view of the red planet. so, clouds permitting, there could be a celestial show tonight, with a bright red planet in the same sky as a blood red moon. victoria gill, bbc news. time for a look at the weather... here's tomasz shafernaker. any sense of change the way? there is change on the way but it will not happen until tonight and into tomorrow. today we have extreme heat across east anglia and the south—east, but the big story in the weather is the weekend and