this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at 2pm. no ships and now — n0 contract — the government cancels a controversial agreement for extra ferries in case of a no—deal brexit. new allegations of sexual and racial harassment by former employees of the retail tycoon, sir philip green — are published. he denies any crime or misconduct. counting the cost of knife crime — the number of young victims admitted to hospitals in england — has risen by more than 50% in 5 years. the rapper, blaine cameronjohnson — who was known as cadet — has died in a car crash on the way to a gig in staffordshire. also coming up — the signs causing confusion in essex. we'll talk to the psychologist who took on the council and won — over the amount of signs at a chelmsford bus gate. and coming up in half an hour — a programme dedicated to a tennis star and pioneer of women's sport and equality — billiejean king.

good afternoon. a controversial ferry contract awarded to a company which had no ships has been scrapped. seaborne freight would have earned £118 million under a deal with the department for transport — intended to provide extra capacity in the event of a no—deal brexit. the transport secretary, chris grayling, had defended the deal — saying he would make no apologies for supporting a new british business . his department says it's cancelled the contract because the company's irish backer pulled out. our business correspondent, rob young, reports. preparations have been

under way for weeks. dredging started at ramsgate port at the beginning of january. the work was meant to ensure the port would be ready at the end of march, should britain leave the european union without a deal. the plan was for seaborne freight to run regular services to ostend in belgium once it managed to get it hands on some ships, but now the company has now been stripped of its contract. the government says seaborne freight‘s main backer has pulled out, meaning it could not mean its contractual requirements. we first flagged problems with seaborne freight in april of last year, and we have been tracking it since then, both in terms of its attempts to find vessels, which have failed largely because this port is very small. it is thought that backer, arklow shipping, has withdrawn for commercial reasons. ferry services haven't operated from ramsgate since 2013. the government hopes the port could

offer extra capacity should dover become clogged after brexit. so it is still possible ferries will once again sail from here. the department for transport says it's in advanced talks with other companies to supply freight services. with less than two months to go until brexit, timing is tight. rob joins us now from ramsgate. rob — what's the latest? the decision to award a £14 million contract the decision to award a £14 million co ntra ct to the decision to award a £14 million contract to a shipping canteen —— company that had no ships was controversial from the start. critics derided the government for doing that. some in the times said this decision to end the contract was inevitable. the local authority is considering cutting the amount of money it gets to the port because it says it is strapped for cash. if it does do this, the decision could be

taken in the next month, that might —— might mean it could be impossible for 40s —— ferry services to run from ramsgate. other services in the town are concerned about the level of extra traffic if the decision to operate a 30 service you could lead to the some warm —— some warn that we would be missing out on extra business brought to this area. the department for transport said it is an advanced discussion with other companies which might mean that is some no—deal brexit for the service going to operate from brands that —— from ramsgate should there be no deal come the end of march. we listened to that piece and someone said ramsgate was never going to happen, the suitability was never there in the first place? ramsgate has not had a regular ferry service

run uses has not had a regular ferry service run uses 2013 when the last operator decided not to run that service. since then the port has silted up which is wide—ranging work has taken place. people who live in ramsgate said it was taking place up to a few days ago. we do not know if the work was finished. it is not clear whether dredging work will continue. local see if the port was staged, it would be possible to restart something the service and offer the extra capacity that the department for transport thinks would be needed. i remainder why ramsgate was chosen, because it is further away from dover. there is a concern that if post—paid is it takes i put in place at dover, it might lead to delays so it might be quicker for some services to go from here. thank

you very much. thank you very much. with me now is our political correspondent matt cole. a lot of people are saying it is incredible this story rumbled on for us incredible this story rumbled on for us long as it did. yes, it is interesting. there was a wave of criticism when seaborne freight was announced as one of the companies to provide extra capacity, 10%. two other firms will continue to offer this facility. this was about relieving pressure on dover. the government has said we were criticised at the time because this company had noble but it had plenty because it was backed by this huge irish firm which would have been a 60% owner of the company, therefore due diligence was done. but it is clear they have not ensured that seaborne freight had set up a route

from ramsgate to ostend from which this new capacity could be piggybacked. so yes a credible firm was underpinning this but the contract had not been fully signed, without which this extra capacity could not be guaranteed which is why politically labour are so strongly on the attack. after chris grayling for once again being at the heart of a failure which follows criticism when he wasjustice secretary to reforms to the prison service and chaos and owned their real timetable and the drawn crisis at gatwick when he was minister. so he is underfire asa he was minister. so he is underfire as a minister yet again. more importantly, in the meantime, alternatives need to be found and there was a deadline at the beginning of march for a contract to beginning of march for a contract to be signed? march 29 is brexit de.

u nless be signed? march 29 is brexit de. unless things change. admittedly, with negotiations stuck, theresa may yesterday in dublin speaking to the irish prime minister. they have been unpleasant —— pluses and dublin to china find accommodation notjust to what happens to their backstop and the irish border. —— dublin and brussels. it does not look like that will be resolved so there are calls for it brexit to be delayed. theresa may says brexit baltic place on the 29th of march. but if a deal does not get done and the date stays the same, this extra capacity will not be there and will the roads around dover? i am told same is our starting to go up on the end 20

which is part of their contingency process. so no deal plans are being put in place but will there be space for other places to go across the channel. —— m20. . thank you. the owner of topshop paid a female employee more than £1 million to keep quiet — after she accused him of kissing and groping her. the daily telegraph says the senior female employee — which it hasn't named for legal reasons — was 1 of 5 members of staff — who signed ‘gagging orders' — after being bullied or harassed — by sir philip green. chi chi izundu has more. aggressive and intimidating. sexual harassment and racism. those are the accusations making headline news on the front of today's telegraph newspaper. details of the allegations against sir philip green, one of britain's best known businessmen involving five employees were published in the paper after a judge allowed him to drop action against it, which lasted six months. the allegations include one senior female executive

at the arcadia group, which owns shops including, topshop who was allegedly called "a naughty girl" by sir philip. he's accused of slapping her bottom and kissing her face. the telegraph reports how sir philip allegedly drew attention to the dreadlocks of a black employee, in front of other staff, and referred to him as "still throwing spears in the jungle". both are said to have received payments of around £1 million. the telegraph says the payments were dependent on the employee signing a non—disclosure agreement, which means they weren't allowed to talk about what happened or the money, and now sir philip is threatening legal action against them. in general confidentiality agreements can be legally binding, there are some circumstances in which they will not bite. for exxample, they can't prevent reporting a crime to the police, and in some cases they can't report other reports to other individuals, the media and regulators, but on the whole they may

still be binding. sir philip says the newspaper has pursued a vendetta against him and his employees, and denies any wrongdoing. he told the paper he categorically denies any unlawful sexual behaviour and any unlawful racist behaviour. thousands of bus routes in england are under threat — because councils say they can't afford to pay for them. they say they're having to fill a gap of over £650 million in funding — for the scheme which provides free bus passes for elderly people — and that the situation is "unsustainable". councils in england subsidise 44 percent of all bus routes — and say without extra funding — some could be cut. tens of thousands of people are demonstrating in paris — for the 13th consecutive saturday of the so—called yellow vests protests. security is tight and riot police have again fired tear gas in the champs elysees area. a number of marchers have reportedly been injured. the demonstrators are continuing to protest about the cost

of living and the policies of president macron's government. there are also demonstrations taking place in other towns and cities across france. just over a thousand stabbing victims — aged between 10 and 19 — spent at a least 1 night in hospital in the 12 months to last march. there's been a 54 percent rise in the number of young people treated for knife wounds in england over the past 5 years — according to nhs figures. our home affairs correspondent, danny shaw, reports. the youngest victim to die in a knife attack this year. jayden moodie was stabbed to death after being knocked off a moped. an 18—year—old man has been charged with murder. jayden was just 14. doctors say they're treating increasing numbers of people for knife wounds, and the victims are getting younger. what has changed is we are seeing a lot more adolescents and young

people who have severe injuries. and that used to be an occasional occurrencem and that's now the norm. i expect to admit somebody of school age under the care of our service this week, as a matter of course. the figures for hospital admissions for injuries from knives or sharp objects show there were almost 5,000 people treated for stab wounds last year. over 1,000 of them were aged 10—19 — that's a rise of 54%, compared with five years earlier. another trend doctors have observed is that more girls are involved in knife crime. some victims face threats that footage of their stabbing will be posted online. there's a shift in what we're seeing. in that i'm seeing young women who've come in having had their mobile phones taken off them in an attack, and having their attack filmed, as part of a humiliation. "this is what's going to happen to you if you say anything, we'll put it on the internet." doctors say the rise in knife crime is putting extra pressure on emergency services.

the home office has set up a serious violence strategy to tackle the problem and has launched a review of the links between violent crime and the trade in illegal drugs. danny shaw, bbc news. work has begun in the italian city of genoa — to dismantle what's left of the motorway bridge — which collapsed in august of last year — killing 43 people and injuring dozens more. the structure will be replaced by a new bridge of a different design. caroline rigby has more. it's the demolition project described by italy's transport minister as the image of the country's revival. thousands of tonnes of steel and concrete were removed from genoa's morandi bridge in order to make it lighter before a huge crane began to carefully lower the first section to the ground. decked out in a red hard hat, the italian prime minister looked on. thousands of tonnes of steel and concrete were removed

translation: it is an important day, because this is the first step of a path that i hope will be the quickest possible. what we can say today, and i've spoken with all the demolition companies, is that the new bridge will be up by the end of the year. the deconstruction process is expected to last around six months, and engineers will draw on heavy machinery previously used to right the costa concordia cruise liner, which capsized off the coast of tuscany in 2013. a new bridge will be built in place of the existing structure, designed for his hometown by the famed italian architect renzo piano. it's likely to be one of the most expensive in europe, at a cost of more than 200 million euros. it will feature 43 lamps in memory of each of the victims of last august's disaster and is expected to be open to traffic by april of next year. almost six months on from the partial collapse of the city's viaduct, many in the city are still reeling,

but as investigations continue into the cause and accountability, the authorities hope demolition of the old bridge and construction of the new will help residents to move on from what happened. caroline rigby, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news... the government has cancelled a controversial agreement to provide extra ferries in case of a no—deal brexit. new allegations of sexual and racial harassment by former employees of the retail tycoon, sir philip green have been published in the telegraph — he denies any crime or misconduct. the number of young victims of knife crime admitted to hospitals in england has risen by more than fifty percent in the past five years. around 40,000 children suffer brain injuries every year in the uk — and without treatment, they can become isolated and angry — falling behind at school.

now a national health service centre in cambridge, is combining a number of different disciplines in one place — in order to help children rehabilitate. richard westcott reports. buying some cake ingredients would be a doddle for most teenagers but 15—year—old zack's just learning to shop alone. hi, darling. hey mum, ijust need to make sure i have the right things, granulated sugar and self raising flour. no, you need plain flour. are you sure you didn't buy any chocolate, zack? yeah, i'm sure. laughs. he's trying his hand at baking for the first time, too. george! i mean, richard! laughter. did i hear my name? do the work. george... do the work, and then then you get a reward. yes, but have i got the payment we agreed earlier? did you manage to get it? yes. thank you very much. a decade ago, zack was an everyday sporty kid and then he banged his head at school,

permanently damaging his brain. i had a highly—intelligent child with a photographic memory, he was a natural sportsman, very happy all the time, to a child that was angry, to a child that was physical, to a child that screamed, to a child that had to learn how to use his limbs again. whoa, that was a good catch! zack used to beat me up daily. you know, he used to say it was my fault, what had happened. even though he didn't mean it, he wanted to die. zack wouldn't have shopped alone six months ago, then he started coming here. this is the cambridge centre for paediatric neurospsychological rehabilitation. a complex name for a bright idea. it is britain's only nhs one—stop shop to rehabilitate children with brain injuries back into family and school life. combining experts on emotions, language, medication, body movement and education. when a young person has had

an injury like zack's, they need all the expertise and what is great for the families is they get to come to the service and see everybody who they might need to see in one place, on the rather than having to go to multiple different services which can take years of sometimes. brain injuries happen through accidents, assaults, infections, tumours and strokes. imagine that's the top of the head... without help, people can become isolated and struggle to control their impulses. incredibly, around 60% of young adult prison inmates report having had a brain injury. the effects can lay hidden for a long time. 5—10 years down the line, you might see an adolescent who uses inappropriate language, whose behaviour is not right for the situation, who misjudges social cues and that might be put down to that person's bad behaviour, if you like. but really, it's a consequence of the injury that had back when they were five.

let's get the cake out of the oven... the child will never be their old self again but with this combined help, they can learn to cope with simple, everyday life. i've done a lot on my own, yes, and got quite far, but i've always felt very isolated. now i don't feel alone. richard westcott, bbc news, cambridge. let's have a look at some of the other stories on bbc news... seven people have been sentenced to life in prison for 2 jihadist attacks in tunisia in 2015. 21 foreign tourists were killed at the bardo museum in tunis. 38 people died — 30 of them british — when a gunman attacked a beach resort near sousse. a man has been shot by police — as they carried out arrests in south east london this morning. in all, 7 men were detained for allegedly holding a woman captive. the man, thought to be in his twenties — was shot after an officer opened fire near blackheath. his injuries are not believed to be life—threatening. the us envoy, stephen beegun,

says he's held 3 days of productive talks in north korea — to prepare for the second meeting between president trump and kimjong—un. speaking after arriving in south korea, mr beegun said — the us and north korea still had some work to do before the summit which — it's been announced, will be in the vietnamese city of hanoi, later this month. the rapper, cadet, has died at the age of 28. the family of the artist, whose real name is blaine cameron johnson, said he died while travelling in a taxi on his way to a performance. his management told radio1 newsbeat, he was a passenger in a vehicle, which crashed in staffordshire. cadet‘s cousin krept led the tributes online, saying he was "heartbroken"... and thatjohnson had "finally started getting

the attention he deserved". dj semtex also posted on twitter — saying he was on stage with him just last week — and he had never seen a man so happy. and hip hop artist, loyle carner, said cadet was a "true story teller." a woman fined for driving through a bus gate has won her appeal after arguing — there were too many signs for the brain to process. bernadine king's penalty charge notice was quashed. but in the last 18 months thousands of drivers were fined for using the chelmsford bus gate — generating £1.5 million. essex county council says, the penalty has reduced the number of people using the gate. well, we can speak to bernadine king now... thank you for speaking to us. you

knew what you're talking about, you and a psychologist and you have written on this subject so what was it these signs? i am a cognitive new psychologist and my phd was in reading and visual perception. that is basically what you do when you look at a same, you have to register it and make sense of it. the problem with these signs was that is so much information on the same and the same is contradictory. you also have the fa ct is contradictory. you also have the fact that arsenal many signs telling you to do different things that it totally confuses the motorist. —— that there are so many signs. if you are travelling at 30 miles an error you have a short time to take in the signs. you have to look at a sequence signs. you have to look at a sequence of signs and you will have

travelled 20 metres down the dude and that is a busy area where this bus gate is, there are lots of pedestrians running across the road and all sorts of distractions. obviously, you sent a precedent for future signage and also for people appearing there bills and charges, what would you like to see in future to make sure that drivers are safe on the road because as you pointed out this is dangerous? absolutely. that is why i did it from a safety point of view. my only option in this area was to go through the bus gate, that was the only safe option. i could have done a u—turn or reverse back to the range of eight which would have been very dangerous. i could have knock—down a pedestrian. —— back to the roundabout. i need a risk assessment

and the only thing was to go through the bus gate. they need to get rid of that area. and have the same seat do not enter, near the roundabout so that people do not accidentally get trapped when i was. or do we need a bus gate there at all? a spokesman from the council said just before turning on the cameras in 2017, the increased signage at all the junctions and sent more than 3000 warning notices and painted the words bus gate in five for the latest to help meet drivers the weed of restrictions so it is not really about compliance of the same age. —— away of that is —— a weight of the restrictions. so it is overload of the brain? absolutely. the bus lane

is directly under the bridge which is directly under the bridge which is where the bus gate is so you do not get to design until you are right on top of it. that is difficult from a perspective point of view to read that at that point. they need to make things clear, just by adding more signs does not make it better and can make it worse because libertine will cancel things which not make sense to it or get into system overload as you said and it will look for a particular feature. in a complex environment, thatis feature. in a complex environment, that is what their brain dies, it looks for a particular feature. that is what their brain dies, it looks for a particularfeature. when you have all these different signs telling you different things about height restriction, you do not have the time to read what is on the road and also the use of colour is wrong. on the signs they have a red triangle. this says height

restriction which occurs before it the same for the bus gate. your eye is drawn to the red and you think, thatis is drawn to the red and you think, that is ok because i in a low vehicle, i can get through that. then the bus gate same, the plane does not process that at all. it is after the thing you have identified as being the danger. do you think cognitive factors need to be taken into consideration when councils are putting together signage because there are so many distractions that drivers have to deal with? you also have electronic distractions going on in cars as well. driving is probably the most complex skill you will ever obtain, along with reading. we are asked to do both of those things in an environment like that. there are a lot of distractions as you see. i am surprised, it is supposed to be the

department for transport has approved these signs, they must surely have consulted a psychologist about the amount of information on the signs and where the signs are. thank you very much. now 50 years ago today, the "boeing 747" took to the skies for the very first time ?— heralding the start of what was dubbed — the "golden age of travel". the jumbo jet offered more space, more seats and greater luxury — than ever before. it transformed aviation — making far—flung destinations within easy reach — as adam woods explains. newsreel: thejumbos are coming. 1969 and the jumbo jet is unveiled to the world. newsreel: one observer commented that it seemed as though the qe2 had taken to the sky. bigger than anything else at the time, it transformed air travel for millions of people. newsreel: thejumbojet has brought a new dimension to air travel, space, more room for more passengers. more seats meant more tickets, it shrank the world.

america, africa, australia — now all within reach of the masses. the 747 was a massive risk for boeing — it nearly bankru pted the company. orders for the new plane were slow to come in. but half a century later it's still in service and more are still being built. yet thejumbo's days are numbered. british airways plans to retire its fleet within five years. all airlines in america have already grounded theirs. smaller, quieter, more efficient planes are now the future of passenger flight. instead, jumbo jets are finding a new life ferrying freight. the queen of the skies for 50 years — and, perhaps, for a few more to come. aaron woods, bbc news. in a moment a look at the weather but first,

the 21—year old singer michael rice, has been chosen to fly the flag for the uk at this year's eurovision song contest in israel. he'll be singing this song — bigger than us — at this year's competition in tel aviv, having triumphed over six contestants in a public vote last night. it's been 22 years since the uk last won the compeitition. now it's time for a look at the weather with alina jenkins. the uk was pummelled