hello, it's thursday, it's 10 o'clock, i'm victoria derbyshire. today we reunite a young woman who had made a decision to take her own life with the train driver who stopped her. so calm, he was just so caring. and that's the thing thatjust makes the biggest difference when you are with anyone in crisis. just having someone that kind and that genuine. kind of gives you that bit of hope again. on that night he honestly saved my life. you 0k? you ok? i am all right, thank you. liv pontin says the kindness of that stranger completley tra nsfermed her life. we'll bring the full exclusive film in five minutes... new measures to tackle knife crime in england and wales mean children as young as 12 could be put

under curfews and banned from using social media. i want to make sure that we are doing everything we can to stop this senseless violence taking place on our streets, traumatising so many communities and ending too many young lives. we'll be talking to rachel webb whose 15 year old son kyron was stabbed to death — to see what she thinks of the knife asbos. and at least 12 people have died in the united states as a deep freeze hits the midwest. hello. welcome to the programme. we're live until 11 this morning. this morning i want to ask you about the kindness of strangers your experience of that and whether the kindness of someone you did not know change the course of your life. our producer andy sythe has

brought together a train driver with the woman whose life she says he helped save. if you have an experience you want to share plse do let me know — send us an email victoria@bbc.co.uk. . .and our excluisve film we'll bring you in a few minutes after the news with annitta. thank you and good morning. the home secretary, sajid javid, has announced new measures aimed at cutting knife violence. knife crime prevention orders would work like asbos and could see suspects placed under curfew or having their social media activity restricted to prevent the " rapid escalation" of rival disputes. mrjavid says breaching the order could carry up to two years in prison. a 25—year—old woman has told the victoria derbyshire programme about the kindness of a train driver, who helped her when she walked onto the track, intending to take her own life. liv pontin is backing calls by the samaritans for anyone who suspects that someone is having a mental health crisis to step in and try to help. this programme brought her together for the first time with that train driver. you can see our full exclusive film on this story in a few minutes‘ time.

he told me about his son and he told me about his previous job as a firefighter and have you seen it from the other side and the impact it has. a study carried out for the bbc has warned the government isn't ready for the prospect of the uk leaving the eu with no deal in two months‘ time. ministers are working to replace eu legislation which would no longer apply but the independent think—tank, the institute for government, has concluded there is a very significant risk that the new laws won't get passed in time. twenty thousand more staff, including physiotherapists and paramedics, will be recruited over the next five years to work alongside gps in england. the nhs says this will allow doctors to spend more time with the patients who most need them, and increase the range of services at local surgeries. the move is part of the new long—term plan for the health service announced earlier this month. the number of rough sleepers in england has fallen

for the first time since 2010, according to the latest official tally. figures just released found 4,677 sleeping outside on a single night, down two per cent from 2017. but the number of rough sleepers is still 165 per cent higher than it was in 2010. new figures suggest investment in the uk car industry has fallen nearly 80 per cent in the last three years. last autumn companies also reported a significant fall in production. the society of motor manufacturers and traders said brexit uncertainty had put the industry on "red alert". mps say social media companies should be subject to a legal duty to protect the health and wellbeing of younger users of their sites. in a report, the commons science and technology committee calls for a regulator to oversee social media. the government says it is considering all options. the uk has had its coldest night of the winter so far.

the temperature at loch glascarnoch in the highlands fell to minus 1a celsius. the met office has warned of snow, ice and fog for today and tomorrow. stay warm. that is a summary of the main news. the tory, it's back to you stop sometimes, there are moments — split second decisions — which change the course of your life forever. today, we're bringing you the exclusive story of 29—year—old liv pontin, who had one of those moments, when the kindness of a stranger saved her life. in 2017 she'd decided to try and take her own life, but the actions of a train driver, then the emergency services, completely transformed her life. the leading charity which deals with issues around suicide, the samaritans, say that kind words from any of us to someone in crisis can make all the difference. you to the train driver.

but our producer andy smythe tracked him down, and re—united them. here's his exclusive film. i think ithinka i think a lot of april think when you are thinking about suicide that you are thinking about suicide that you don't think about the impact on other people. it was the 24th of march 2017. that i decided was going to be my last day alive. in all honesty it had

been a decision i had been thinking about for quite a long time. because i ultimately lost work as a result of my mental health. and spend some time in hospital. and i came to the conclusion that i had no future because if i couldn't work then i wasn't useful. to anyone. so that day, i'd actually tried to get help that day. i had actually been to the doctor. i was open about the thoughts that had gone into my head about doing it. i think when you go home feeling like nothing has changed it takes away that last bit of hope. i was working and evening shift that day. that was my second day driving

asa day. that was my second day driving as a qualified driver. i was let loose after a year and a bit of training out in the big wide world doing my thing on my own. and i think i took a train from bedford to brighton, the longest route that we do. and have a break and was turning round and coming back from brighton up round and coming back from brighton up north. i didn't have dinner because that was actually a massive factor in that when i don't eat my head goes. completely. and that makes suicidal thoughts incredibly more strong for me. i was absolutely exhausted, drained by the thought of life and i didn't want to go on. i wa nted life and i didn't want to go on. i wanted to explain to my family because i think i wrote two letters, i wrote one to my dad to tell him that i love them. and how wonderful he is. and then i wrote one to apologise to the train driver. i

didn't think they'd be affected in the sense of being traumatised and i thought they'd be angry. i didn't wa nt thought they'd be angry. i didn't want them to hate me for doing it. i wrote the letter to explain that. which i kept in my pocket. when i left my house. when you think about someone who is feeling suicidal you tend to think of it as quite dramatic but it's the little things that hit you hardest. just walking down the street and thinking i am not going to be here any more. i am not going to see my dad again, i'm not going to see my brother again. i was going through my normal procedures. brother again. i was going through my normal procedureslj brother again. i was going through my normal procedures. i had applied the brakes. i could see the lights coming andi the brakes. i could see the lights coming and i stood there and i watched it, i was fixated on it. driving along, looking down and out

of the window. i thought, it's all right. i remember being so cold. and i stood there just so called, watching. coming closer. literally in an instant i saw a face appear. it must have read that split second. it must have read that split second. it the horn, quickly. and i think that was probably what had my brain enough that i did not take that final step. i saw the face disappear. i pulled into the station. this is normal. i was a bit worried. i did not think i have the person would be don't know. i was waiting to see what happened. i was making my way along the platform. i think about

point when you realise you have not done it, that's the point you go 0k, i don't want to do now, he's seen me. i made an announcement to the passengers, stepped from the train and in the distance i could see a figure, she was in total shock. i called after her, are you 0k. she turned around and we started having a conversation. i remember him trying to reassure me because i was so trying to reassure me because i was so scared. he was trying to point what was going on. and why. he asked mea what was going on. and why. he asked me a lot about my family and my dad and he told me he had a son and he explained about his previous job as a firefighter at how he'd seen it from the other side. this i was happy i could help her. she was

facing and been quite open, talking to complete stranger about reasons baby she has not bug allows twitter friends and family. he was so can and so caring and that's the thing that makes the biggest difference when you are with anyone in crisis. having someone that carrington and getting you gives you that bit of hope. 0n getting you gives you that bit of hope. on that night he honestly saved my life. so we are going to bedford today. to

meet the driver who have made the night but i've tried to end my life. to be able to say thank you, that made a difference. hopefully for him to know that he had helped. as i don't know how he feels either. it's going to be nice to meet. it would be at the debugger quite regularly. especially when i'm in the area. i am here today to meet her and see how her life has changed. what positive things she has done. you 0k? positive things she has done. you ok? i positive things she has done. you 0k? iam positive things she has done. you ok? i am 0k, positive things she has done. you 0k? iam 0k, thank you. positive things she has done. you ok? i am 0k, thank you. how have you been? yes, very good at the moment.

good. what have you been up to since we last met? since we last met? things have been pretty all right. i have been doing a lot of work with the police, doing some on how to help with the mental health process. that's an element that i am not used to. i had to be really subjective, we had to talk. it worked really well. 0nce we had to talk. it worked really well. once you have kind of got someone to stop and engage, you are there. i thought everyone was going to hate me. judging me. when you are in that situation again imagine that is what you think there are so many more people out there. we were talking about your family, there are people out there, if you not ready to speak to each other... for me,

family isa to speak to each other... for me, family is a big thing, i lost my mother and i was like, i would never put my brother or dad through that but sometimes i need a bit of help to remember. this now you are doing the right things. and you have that focus. every time i go into that station i look out for you in a positive way. i do look out for you. in crisis you see someone at the worst point in their life and you don't know anything about each other but you see them at the most private and personal... seeing all of you, almost. i am glad that i got that help that night. so... it's something that you carry with you, when you are quirky every minute. it's a dramatic change in fortunes

for herand it's a dramatic change in fortunes for her and that's really great to know and really pleasing to know she's put positive energy in to help herself and was i was in crisis that night, he was the month who said somebody's life and they kind of get forgotten. he's such a good human, he deserves some of the credit. it was nice to get a hug from them. this was lovely to meet you. i am exhausted. i am so glad you are well. thank you. you really helped me. a lot. good, that's amazing. this liv is here, alongside lorna fraser from the samaritans. thank you. just thank you, incredible. when you watch your meeting with ashley back, what do you think? it was really nice to watch it. i was so nervous about watching it

before. it was nice to see it done ina before. it was nice to see it done in a sensitive way. i have lived that the samaritans and the guidelines and that was so nice to see a pointed out sensitively. it was nice to have the chance to meet ashley and to hopefully use it to help the people as well. absolutely. can you recall what it was he said exactly that made the difference? pa rt exactly that made the difference? part of it was that he just talked to me. hejust gave me small talk. he asked what was going on and what was making me feel that bad. and he kind of gave me space, he didn't come to close, because i was backing

away, i was terrified. but he just kept me talking. which obviously gave the emergency services time to get towards the scene. he he told me about his son. i was worried about my family. being a burden on them. and he told me how he knows that has he would know of his son was struggling. he told me about his previousjob as a struggling. he told me about his previous job as a firefighter and the impact that it has. which was really important for me. but this something that really worried me. this as well as what he said it was the way he was just really reassuring, it really reassuring presence. he had that way of keeping the safe when i needed it and i couldn't do it yourself. you said you were backing away, you were terrified. what you terrified of a

powerpoint? i think when you have made that decision, you haven't acted on what you are planning to acted on what you are planning to act on, there is almost a sense of now things are going to get worse because now you have the consequences of what can happen next. and in that situation the police arrived. so you are terrified of being in trouble. and you are not in trouble. they are there to help. i cannot fault them. they were absolutely brilliant that night. the police were wonderful. they got me help as well, they kept me alive as well that night but you are terrified of it, it's not a nice situation to be in, however much you are getting help, it is not a nice way to get help and there are times when i struggle, i would rather not be there and be in that situation where i have to get help in such a dramatic way. this is so everything

in my head at that time just goes i need to get out of here, i need to be on my own and get away from this and hide. i am going to bring in lawn from the samaritans. good morning. people watching will see ashley and here tempered one described him as a genuinely kind quy described him as a genuinely kind guy but you believe that every one of us pretty much, could do what ashley did. absolutely. i think this isa ashley did. absolutely. i think this is a really lovely example ofjust making a connection with somebody, somebody who was in a crisis at the time and needed help. and just through having a normal, simple conversation, starting a conversation, starting a conversation, talking to them, reaching out to them, begging that connection is the vital thing that helps them to that vital step of

seeing another way, you know, and to the next steps for their own recovery. what do people say, what do we say? it really doesn't matter what you say, this is a thing, this is why small talk saves lives campaign is all about rigging down the barriers, that there is no right or wrong thing to say, it'sjust having a conversation. making small talk with someone. —— breaking down barriers. ask them where they were going, talk about a family, as ashley did on that day. it's starting a conversation with them. it's not about what you say, it is showing as a person that you recognise maybe they need help and you are reaching out to them and you have time to listen to them and help them in that moment of crisis. can i read you some messages from the audience? louise says this is very emotional. i been in that rock bottom placed many times. my breasts

—— best friend took her life, i tried to imagine and think about how much she is missed. ashley is an angel. what a wonderful story of recovery. another view it says i am so happy things have been turning around for you, you do some great work highlighting the issues many people face and i have no doubt you have a much bigger impact and you realise. is he is one of my local officers. he says well done. that is so important to you now, you want to help other people. yes, i do. i do a lot of talks now with police on mental health training sessions. at the moment, they are probably the first and last resort sometimes for a lot of people in crisis. and they are not mental health professionals. but again they are the people who

are on the front line in a crisis situation. kind of do the same thing, they don't have a guide to tell them what to say, they are doing that same thing. and you said, one of the things you said, so many things that are incredibly powerful that talking, it worked really well. sometimes that's all you need, no one can make you better that night 01’ one can make you better that night or day. you know, takes a long time, you don't just or day. you know, takes a long time, you don'tjust up the next day cured and glad you are a life. i did not wa nt to and glad you are a life. i did not want to talk about it until i was in a better place. but it gives you that bit of hope, even if at the time it is that bit of time until the emergency services arrived and you start to process it later.|j have some more messages. mike says well done, very moving and brilliant to see you're sharing your experience for the understanding of others. another viewer says this

brought tears to me, well done and being brave enough to do this. and aaron says bank god he was there. and so glad you got through that. sending love and hugs. karl says very powerful, glad you are in a better place and i hope this goes a long way to help others who make are indeed be enough workplace. talking about your own experience, what do you want to do in the future?|j you want to do in the future?” a lwa ys you want to do in the future?” always wanted to work with the police so my aim is to use my experiences now to make me better for that. i will never be a front line police officer because of my health but i can use my experience to maybe pick a difference to other people. in whichever way. to maybe pick a difference to other people. in whicheverway. doing more talks, i think. people. in whicheverway. doing more talks, ithink. would be people. in whicheverway. doing more talks, i think. would be really good, i've got some more with call

handlers coming up, talking about what can help and what people can do. i want to ask you both finally, what would you say to anyone watching you right now who is maybe feeling that their future is bleak ina way feeling that their future is bleak in a way that you once felt? reach out, it is a cliche but it is so important. write things down. talk toa important. write things down. talk to a friend, talk to a stranger. talk to anyone, talk to somebody. but also, as well as reaching out, we are going to need people to region as well. ask your friends how they are doing, ask colleagues how they are doing, ask colleagues how they are doing, ask colleagues how they are doing. you know, it has to be two way thing. and what would you say? be two way thing. and what would you 7 i be two way thing. and what would you say? i would echo what liv has said. if you find yourself feeling that life looks really bleak and you have

lost sight of hope that it's really important to reach out to someone, to talk to someone. there is always help out there and equally, it's really important that people do that for others. look at those around you. this was a situation that happened but this is an intervention that could have taken place anywhere at any time, it could be your brother, your father, someone you work with, someone you see in the pub and if someone, if something doesn't go quite right, if someone doesn't go quite right, if someone doesn't seem to be themselves, ask them if they are ok. there are is no evidence to show... but talking to them will make a difference. thank you both somewhat for coming in. and ted macron, thank you so much. thank you very much. we have so many messages from you.

i'll read some. so many under the house type. 0ne viewer says it's a cliche but there industry, there is a light at the end of the tunnel of depression. i'm the light of the research are positive outcome for this wonderful angel. leslie says a story with a happy ending, thanks to a caring stranger. there is another story, she had been to her gp earlier that day, told them she was suicidal and got no help. and another viewer says i am moved to tea rs, we another viewer says i am moved to tears, we all travel emotional journeys that for some can reach breaking point. with a heavy heart i think of two close to me in 2018. takes bravery to stand forward and raise awareness. it takes kindness and time forany raise awareness. it takes kindness and time for any one of us to care,

respect to both liv and ashley. so many more. i will try and read some more. before the end of the programme. still to come, social media measures designed to protect young users. we will get the reaction. some news just in to us here. a coroner has ruled that the inquests into the 1974 guildford pub bombings which killed four soldiers and a civilian should resume more than a0 years after they were suspended. surrey coroner richard travers agreed that an inquest was necessary following a campaign from the families of victims, survivors, and those wrongfully imprisoned to complete the hearings. soldiers caroline slater, 18, william forsyth, 18, john hunter, 17, and ann hamilton, 19, and civilian paul craig, 22, died in the blast, carried out by the ira at the height of the troubles,

at the horse and groom pub popular with soldiers on october 5th, 197a. 0riginal inquest proceedings were suspended when the so—called guildford four — gerry conlon, paul hill, paddy armstrong and carole richardson — were convicted over the bombings in 1975. they were handed life sentences, but had their convictions overturned in 1989, and their case became one of the best—known miscarriages ofjustice in british legal history. new knife crime asbos that could impose curfews or bans on social media are being introduced by the government. the knife crime prevention 0rders would target anyone aged 12 or over suspected of being involved in knife crime, even if they have not been caught with a blade. if the asbo is breached the individiual could be jailed for up to two years. latest figures show knife possession rose by almost a third in five years. it is already a crime to carry a blade in public without good reason, and there's a separate offence of taking a knife into a school.

so, will these new measures work? let's talk to rachel webb, whose15—year—old son kyron was fatally stabbed in 2017. alsojoining us from oxford is penelope gibbs, deputy chair of the campaign organisation the standing committee for youth justice. thank you both very much were talking to us, appreciate you coming on the programme. rachel, first of all, what you think of these night as bos? i think it is good that the government is taking a stand to to do something but it feels like it is a bit reactive. there needs to be more education for young people and families about the impact of carrying a knife, self—preservation, pining away for them to tap into purpose as well as strategies that are implemented that can be proactive, so they have a

long—standing, sustainable measure and it can be consistently facilitated. another pick me your reaction? i think this is another piece of knee jerk reaction legislation that will not work and will not get to the core reason why teenagers carry knives. most teenagers carry knives. most teenagers carry knives because they are afraid of others and quite often, if they are involved in, say, drugs, they are being exploited and groomed by quite dangerous adults, so how are these orders, which, again, stop them using social media, stop them going to certain places and so on, going to be imposed when there isjust a suspicion of carrying a knife ? there isjust a suspicion of carrying a knife? how will it do any good to actually stop these teenagers feeling so frightened that they want to carry a knife? and if they want to carry a knife? and if they breach one of the asbos, they could be jailed for up to two years, apparently. and this is it, so a

teenager aged 12 could be banned for using social media on the basis of one of these orders. he does use social media, doesn't commit a crime and then can be imprisoned in places which are universities of crime, so all our young offender institutions of pretty dangerous places where somebody who may not have been even carrying a knife in the first place is going to come out more damaged and certainly not turning their lives around. rachel, i know you are co mforta ble lives around. rachel, i know you are comfortable with telling our audience what happened to your 15—year—old son. audience what happened to your 15-year-old son. so on october 17, 2017, at nearly seven in the evening, my son was attacked by two teenagers, one was 16, one was 17. he sustained a fatal wound to the heart and a second attack was a stab

wound to the back. he ended up passing away three days after, he went into cardiac arrest and was pronounced brain—dead. went into cardiac arrest and was pronounced brain-dead. and what were the circumstances? why did that happen? we don't actually have a motive as to why the attack took place. we were able to watch the cctv footage and there wasn't any aggression leading up to the attack orany aggression leading up to the attack or any altercation whatsoever, it just seemed like three young people talking, there was a bit of lapping, mobile phone texturing and then there was an attack —— a bit of lapping, mobile phone texturing. and your son do those teenagers? we don't know how they knew of him. they were arrested on the day he passed away and the main individual was sentenced to 15 years in prison. but they never explained what was going on? all i know is that the young boy who carried out the act was under a 12 month order, so he

was under a 12 month order, so he was already under a regulatory body but that is as much of the information as we have, we don't know anything else, how they met, what they were doing that day together, what was their relationship or anything. goodness me. you cope with not only losing your son but not knowing what was going on —— how do you cope? initially, my therapeutic approach was writing. i became quite a passive recipient to grieve and i was quite broken down, it affected me physically and mentally —— to grief. i started writing initially a diary and it turned into a novel which we published last october and i was detailing the journey, what happened to kyron, notjust how i was dealing with that, the court case and everything that came with it, i wasjust penning it. case and everything that came with it, iwasjust penning it. penelope, there is good work going on where people go into schools to talk to

youngsters about the fact that those carrying knives are more likely to have that knife turned on themselves, so perhaps this is complementing these things that are already going on, these measures? there is no evidence that it will complement these or improve the situation and, in fact, the times reported that the lord chancellor himself didn't think these were a good idea. many senior police and rank and file police don't think they are a good idea. 0ne rank and file police don't think they are a good idea. one problem we have got is a lack of trust between the police and teenagers and this is only going to make that worse. and unless we can improve that trust, the police are not going to get the intelligence they need to try and stop the kind of deaths we talk about. in the end, what we need is better children's services, better housing, look at the causes of these things. so there was another tragic death, a 14—year—old, coreyjunior

davis, in new, and he was shot in the street and they looked into the background of him and his family and they found that his mother had been crying out for help for him for years. he had had poor schooling, his mother had tried to get him rehoused, children's services had been involved but then sort of white their hands of him, so it is all those services that need to get around those children, because, in fa ct, around those children, because, in fact, corey had been found himself to have carried a knife previously and then he was murdered in the street. so these things are intertwined and those children need support, they also need enforcement where relevant but not this kind of enforcement for merely suspecting somebody might be carrying a knife. thank you, penelope gibbs, deputy

chair of the thank you, penelope gibbs, deputy chairof the campaigning organisation the standing order for youth justice and organisation the standing order for youthjustice and thank organisation the standing order for youth justice and thank you organisation the standing order for youthjustice and thank you rachel, we appreciate your time. temperatures dropped to minus 1a celsius last night in parts of the uk, making it the coldest night of winter so far. the country's lowest temperatures were recorded in the scottish highlands. and today the met office has issued weather warnings for snow, ice and fog. quite a bit of snow could fall in parts of wales, between three and seven centimetres in parts of southern england. nick miller is here. 0bviously southern england. nick miller is here. obviously we will talk about what is going on in the us in a moment, because that is completely put into perspective what is happening here but talk us through what is happening in this country first. proper winter has finally taken hold. first. proper winter has finally ta ken hold. the first. proper winter has finally taken hold. the lowest temperatures overnight, every home nation in the uk had their lowest temperature of the winter last night, dropping 2—14 up the winter last night, dropping 2—14 up in braemar, so it is the

highlands and grampian parts of scotla nd highlands and grampian parts of scotland where we are seeing temperatures drop that low and the lowest temperatures so far in wales and in england in north yorkshire at -11 and in england in north yorkshire at —11 celsius, so a bitterly cold night, which has meant plenty of ice around this morning and freezing fog in places as well, so difficult start to the day. and there is more snow forecast for today. there is a weather system coming into the cold air, the layer waake delete area of low pressure, with moisture associated —— that area of low pressure. so it is the sort of they way you head out in the morning and think i am 0k way you head out in the morning and think i am ok so far but the cow conditions will change as we go deeper into the day as the weather system deeper into the day as the weather syste m m oves deeper into the day as the weather system moves in. south—west england, it could be rain in places before a transition is to snow but you see it moving in across more of southern england, the midlands, wales and parts of east anglia as we go on into the night and the morning, so conditions certainly deteriorate. this is an idea of some of the snow totals out there. i think the higher

amounts will be in the higher ground, but a good covering in some places and some disruption and whilst i have been in the studio, the met office have upgraded their level of warning for the snow event to amber per parts of southern england and wales, that is an indication that things are pretty clear at the moment but by the time we are up clear at the moment but by the time we are up about tomorrow morning, if you're travelling tonight, things will be turning more difficult. let's talk about what is happening in parts of the states. tomasz schafernaker described the in parts of the states. tomasz schaferna ker described the polar vortex on the programme yesterday, how bad is it getting there? the latest temperature in chicago is —28 celsius. the lowest temperature ever recorded in the uk is —27. as lowest temperatures are in rural areas, that he chicago getting that and it may well get colder. the polar vortex, basically a push of bitter cold air right across the us

midwest. let's not forget canada as well, absolutely in the grip of that blue. plenty of snow around in places, too, but a big transition on the way through the weekend. it may be —28 in chicago at the moment but by the weekend, we are lifting to around plus ten, plus 1a celsius, so write the other way and very quickly as well and that transition itself will cause some problems. in what way? you have things that are frozen that melting very quickly. here, when it gets to a few degrees below freezing, you get a rapid thaw and it might cause problems with your pipes. we are talking about change ona pipes. we are talking about change on a massive scale, a lot of infrastructure that has to adjust to a temperature change very quickly, challenging for it and for the humans of course as well. thank you, nick. thank you for your many, many comments about liv, in our exclusive film earlier as she was reunited

with a trained diver she credits for saving her life. merely cooper says iam saving her life. merely cooper says i am crying —— reunited with a train driver. i'm sending love to liv and everyone out there who needs a hug. chris e—mails and says this. when i was 17, my mum took her own life. i found her. i had a few weeks of work. when i returned, i had lost lots of weight. my manager knew my mum had died but not why and how. 0ne mum had died but not why and how. one day, i was in such a state that i went into the car park and sat on the wall and cried. suddenly this woman appeared beside me. i knew she worked at my place but i didn't know her well. i told worked at my place but i didn't know her well. itold her everything. it made her cry as well and she took me to the doctors because i looked like a skeleton. she took me on holiday to her parents‘ house by the sea. she allowed me to stay over at her house and call at any time. it was like someone had sent an angel from nowhere to help me. we kept in touch

over the years and i did text her a few years ago to say thank you again for what she did, but i don't think she really understands how important her kindness was to me that day in the car park. thank you for sharing that, christine. do get in touch. if you are messaging us on twitter, use the hashtag victorialive. two students banned from the university of warwick for ten years for their involvement in a group chat that threatened to rape fellow students will be allowed to return later this year. the facebook group chat was first reported last summer by warwick student newspaper the boar. one of the messages said: "sometimes it's fun to just go wild and rape 100 girls." while another said: "rape the whole flat to teach them all lesson." another post included

a racially offensive term and anti—semitic language. well, we can talk to one of the women who was targeted. she would like to remain anonymous. she was not one of the women who originally officially complained but she did seek help from staff. thank you very much for talking to us. i wonder how you react, first of all, to the fact that these male stu d e nts all, to the fact that these male students are able to return to warwick university later this year. i think, ultimately, warwick university later this year. ithink, ultimately, i'd warwick university later this year. i think, ultimately, i'd feel a com plete i think, ultimately, i'd feel a complete sense of betrayal from the university. i feel so hurt complete sense of betrayal from the university. ifeel so hurt and let down by the institution that i pay £9,000 a yearfor that is £9,000 a year for that is supposed to educate me but also keep myself and to educate me but also keep myself a nd cou ntless students to educate me but also keep myself and countless students safe and they have let us down, frankly and my heart truly goes out to all the other girls are affected in this and also the two girls who made the initial complaint, because after the hell they got put through through this entire process, it has come to

this entire process, it has come to this result. i have no words. it is possible that you could bump in to these people, either in a seminar, on campus, in and around the area. how do you feel about that? frankly, the thought of it terrifies me, you know? i thought i knew these boys are well but it turns out barnabas had no idea what they are capable of and we still don't know —— non—others had any idea. and the fa ct non—others had any idea. and the fact that we have to go back and attempt to complete a degrees and getan attempt to complete a degrees and get an education alongside people like this, i truly feel they don't ca re like this, i truly feel they don't care about the safety of the stu d e nts care about the safety of the students at all, they don't care about us, about the effect this has had on our mental health. i feel so let down and betrayed will stop it is appalling. i have got a statement from university, they say they cannot comment on individual discipline cases but we can assure you that the university has a robust

student discipline procedure that includes detailed investigation and our focus is to ensure that anyone who is involved in this matter that remains a student at warwick is able to co m plete remains a student at warwick is able to complete their studies while minimising any further contact between the original complainants and anyone who received a sanction from the discipline committee. how do you think they are going to try and minimise any contact? well, warwick university, it is a large university but ultimately it is a campus university, be it the library or the humanities building, i could risk seeing those boys anywhere and i won't even have any warning when i see them. it could be completely out of the blue, i could be doing something, going to shop at the grocery store and have to face one of them on the road and not be able to do anything about it. it is stuff like that that makes me feel insecure and so disposable to the

university, clearly they are putting the interests of their publicity and the interests of their publicity and the male interest here over the stu d e nts the male interest here over the students who have speaking out about this, and also the majority of stu d e nts this, and also the majority of students on campus who spoke out about this last year and are continuing to speak out now. the two stu d e nts continuing to speak out now. the two students who are banned for ten yea rs students who are banned for ten years for their involvement in that group chat that threatened rape appealed and the length of their band was reduced to one year. what do you say should happen now? —— there three. i think ultimately they need to go back on that and review the evidence one more time. they need to take into account student opinion, what the student union have said and advised and also the victims themselves, what they are saying, which in this case is being com pletely saying, which in this case is being completely ignored. the two main complainants were put through so much throughout this entire process

and they are just being brushed aside, as if their complaints never meant anything in the first place. sorry to interrupt, do you want the ten year ban reinstated? ideally, yes, because the students who would have been involved will no longer be attending the university at that point and would no longer feel in danger and, who knows, perhaps the two boys who received the ten year ban may show signs of remorse and may have changed, but there is no telling. i think the priority now should be focusing on protecting the vulnerable students here and now, rather than prioritising the perpetrators. thank you so much for talking to us, we really appreciate your time. 14—year—old molly russell took her own life in 2017 after viewing disturbing content about suicide on social media. the teenager was found dead in her bedroom after showing no obvious signs of severe mental health issues.

herfamily laterfound she had been viewing material on social media linked to anxiety, depression, self—harm and suicide. her father ian spoke to the bbc‘s angus crawford about what he found when he looked at the social media accounts his daughter was following. some of that content seemed to be quite positive. perhaps groups of people trying to help each other out. but some of that content is shocking, in that it encourages self harm. it links selvam to suicide and i have no doubt that instagram helped kill my daughter. instagram is owned by facebook and the company's new vice—president of global affairs and communications is sir nick clegg, the former lib dem leader and deputy prime minister. earlier this week, he spoke to our media editor amol rajan about the issue. why are there are thousands of

images glorifying self harm on instagram? well, there shouldn't be and it is as distressing to me as anyone, really, to have heard about the awful tragic cases of teenagers taking their lives in the way that has come to light in recent days. slit wrists. smeared blood. you have got three children, would you let them anywhere near that? no, of course not. i have seen a lot of these images. that stuff would still be on instagram if the bbc had unfounded. molly russell's father says it is images like that that led to her taking her own life, or played a role, i should say. what we have to do, we have to look at this from top to bottom without any prejudice. we will do whatever it takes to make this environment safer online, particularly for youngsters. today, mps on the science

and technology committee say that the self—regulation of social media companies is no longer good enough. they're calling for an independent government—backed regulator to be established as soon as possible, to take strong and effective actions against companies who do not comply with new standards, saying social media companies should have a duty of care to young people. we can speak now to marc—antoine durand, chief operating officer at video streaming app yubo. carney bonner is a campaigner against cyberbullying who was bullied online as a teenager and tried to take his own life because of it. natasha devon — a campaigner and activist who contributed to the report and norman lamb, the chair of the science and technology committee of mps. thank you all of mr lamb, what does having a legal duty of care to protect young people's health and wellbeing actually mean in practical terms? at the moment, if bad things happen, awful things like we have been

hearing about, if they happen, there is no recourse, no legal accountability on those social media companies. we think that needs to change. to what? so they are subject toa change. to what? so they are subject to a legal responsibility to protect children from harm. does that mean bring reading legislation?m children from harm. does that mean bring reading legislation? it does, it has to be legislation, it has to be backed up by a strong regulator that has a strong, tough sanctions regime. we have asked the government to have a look at the personal responsibility of directors. there really needs to be a message to social media companies that there are consequences to your actions. and i think that is necessary. marc—antoine fortune as the ceo of yubo, how many users? 20 million now. how do you respond? i thinkl ee, now. how do you respond? i thinkl agree, social media companies should be responsible for creating platforms and user interaction on

the platforms. so you would like to be responsible in that respect, if you break the law, you should be punished? i think we have a responsibility for the well— being punished? i think we have a responsibility for the well—being of society, so at yubo, we already went further than any social media company andl further than any social media company and i think the first thing we need to work on is moderation and moderation guidelines. i can give you simple examples. for example, we decided to remove pictures are teenagers who were shirtless. we consider it is something that can not be safe for them and it leads to people judging performance and similar, so we made this decision to lead to more well—being of our users. we removed any violence, like knives, weapons. did you move it quickly? that is the other thing people complain about. that is the challenge, we do and we have a filter that can filter content very quickly. what do you think of this

suggestion? that is carney! it is time we heard about taking action. we hear these reports coming out of urgent people being in danger on social media and there is a lot of talk, but it is good to see companies saying we are going to create algorithms to remove that content. it is long overdue, it is so we stopped talking and started acting on what we should be doing. the technology is there, as we have heard. i also think it is important that we don't oversimplify the narrative and demonise social media because even if you have legitimate websites such as yourselves, which are following this legislation, that would presumably be global, it will only apply in the uk and we also have the dark web bad people access and flies below the radar, so the work i do in schools is about critical consumption, so they are wearing armour so they can protect themselves when they step into the digital sphere. i think we also have

to be really careful when we talk about suicide because any suicide charity will tell you that most suicides are complex, there is more than one contributory factor, so this idea that social media causes death by suicide, we need to challenge that a little.” death by suicide, we need to challenge that a little. i am not sure anybody has said that is the case. molly russell, for example, there are complex reasons and her father said in part it was the content on instagram. and he made the point that he saw good content on there as well and often teenagers, children can get access to advice and guidance on where they can get help, so let's not throw the baby out with the bath water. it can bea baby out with the bath water. it can be a force for good but we need to protect children from the potential harm that is there. i don't see any government, not even when the lib dems were in coalition, wanting to bring in legislation to rain in social media companies. we have the minister giving evidence to the committee and she indicated the

government was considering legislation. they have been saying that for years. i know and we need to hold them to account. when matt hancock was culture secretary, over a year ago, or maybe not that long, time flies in politics at the moment, he called it the wild west and it needed to be reined in and nothing has been done.” and it needed to be reined in and nothing has been done. i totally agree and what we have seen is this explosion over the last five years, really, and it has affected the wake all of us lead our lives. we are dominated by social media and eve ryo ne dominated by social media and everyone is grappling to get the right response to this and i think the uk has the opportunity to lead the uk has the opportunity to lead the way in smart regulation that allows innovation but also clamps down on harms. we have to leave it there, iam down on harms. we have to leave it there, i am so sorry, i couldn't give you more time, i apologise. we have had this statement from the government department responsible. it says we have heard calls for an internet regulator and to place a statutory duty of care on platforms and are seriously considering all

options. social media companies need to do more to make sure they are not promoting harmful content to vulnerable people and the forthcoming white paper will set out their responsibilities. you are shaking your head in disagreement. again, we have heard it before and i look at it as saying we have a government who are in power, mps who are there to represent us. why are young people still falling into that 0k, they fall into the lives of young people are not taking seriously. because young people don't vote tory. exactly. young people don't vote, so they don't count and it is like mps are saying, 0k, we will try and do something but it has been going on for years and how many more young people must actually have these issues, mental health issues, through social networking sites and also within their peer groups. how long have we got to wait? i agree. thank you, all, thank you your patience i wish we could have given it more time. i would like to read some more m essa g es would like to read some more

messages from you about the interview with liv earlier, who we reunited with the train driver she credits her saving her life. natasha says what a stunning story about the power of human instinct and interaction. the words and actions of that train driver saving that woman's life. jonathan tells us this, i was saved by a schoolteacher at the age of 13. i was being bullied for a long time but couldn't talk to anyone. i try to take my life, was taken to hospital. when i returned to the school, the headteacher blamed me for bringing a bad name to the school and my bullies started tormenting me more. this one teacher sat with me after class and talk to me and helped me. and i'm so grateful. if you are affected by any of the issues we have talked about in today's programme, you can contact the bbc action line. and there is also the samaritans number. thank you so much your

company, we are back tomorrow at ten a:m., havea company, we are back tomorrow at ten a:m., have a good day. bbc newsroom live is next. good morning. it was a very cold start to the day and through today, we are going to see some snow moving in. in fact, we are going to see some snow moving in. infact, the we are going to see some snow moving in. in fact, the met office hasjust issued an amber warning for parts of south—east wales and the south—west of england for significant snow pushing its way in through this afternoon. i will get back onto that injusta afternoon. i will get back onto that injust a moment. elsewhere, sunshine across northern scotland, northern ireland and northern and eastern areas of england, maximum temperature is 3—5d but let's focus

on the snow because, at the moment, rain is pushing in but it will turn increasingly into snow over the moors and the tors and into rush—hour, parts of devon, somerset, herefordshire, gloucestershire, south—east wales, significant snow and it could cause problems at rush hour. the snow continues southwards and eastwards into the london area, the m4 corridor and these are the accumulations we are looking at this evening and early friday, so friday morning could be quite tricky. you're watching bbc newsroom live. it's 11 am and these are the main stories this morning:

the foreign secretary says extra time may be needed to finalise legislation for brexit. if we ended up approving a deal in the days before the 29th of march, then we might need some extra time to pass critical legislation. more than 20,000 physios, pharmacists and paramedics are to be recruited to work alongside gps to allow doctors to spend more time with patients. temperatures in the uk plummet, making it the coldest night of the winter so far — more snow and freezing temperatures are forecast. meanwhile it's minus 30 in chicago — as cities across the us midwest come to a standstill, in a deadly cold snap known as a polar vortex.