IN THE old days, internet information crawled through East Yorkshire in copper wire networks as thick as an arm.

Its leaden progress slowed business transactions, delayed emails and caused a time lag for disappointed Youtube viewers trying to watch videos of cats.

But the future is different. Below thousands of homes a new network is being installed – silently carrying data along a billion bouncing points of light.

Hull telecom company KC calls it Lightstream, a fibre optic system far faster than anything, that has gone before.

"It's fast enough to download a HD movie in half a minute," engineering director Andy Whale told Hull MPs Karl Turner and Diana Johnson as he demonstrated what Lightstream could do.

"The great thing about fibre is it will always stay the same – if we get new technology we can just plug it into the fibre and it will run faster and faster.

"It's the biggest investment KC has ever made. If you're going to build a network you might as well do it once and do it right."

The system works by bouncing 2.5bn light pulses a second down glass cables, achieving speeds more than ten times faster than the old copper system.

It has already been installed in the Kingswood and Greatfield estates, as well as parts of Beverley.

To minimise cost and disruption from roadworks, the company uses compressed air to blow fibre cables down space in existing underground wires.

A machine can send it underground for 2km without any digging at all.

"We use our existing technology – there's enough room in the wires to get the fibre in as well," Mr Whale said.

"We try as much as we can not to dig. It's slow, it costs money, people don't like it and it causes disruption.

"This is absolutely future-proof. We deliver it once and then it's done."

That sort of work comes at a cost. KC would not say exactly what the total would be, but expected their bill to run into the tens of millions.

Although the technology is slowly expanding across Hull and is already in some parts of Beverley, it is likely to be a decade before the region is fully fibre optic.

The alternative approach, widely adopted by rival firm BT, is to run fibre optic cables to a series of cabinets on the street.

From there, internet signal is carried to homes by normal copper connections.

But worried about compromising download speeds, KC opted to take their fibre wires all the way to people's living rooms.

They started with places where the internet had previously moved at a crawl.

"We focused on some of the slowest areas first, just because they had such poor broadband," Mr Whale said.

"It's looking like about another eight to ten years to cover the whole city.

"Some of our rivals are putting in fibre optic broadband by cabinet, which is cheaper, but you don't get such fast speeds."

The inevitable consequence of this more expensive but higher-quality approach is a customer price hike.

Families in areas where Lightstream has been installed do not have to use it but it costs £5 a month more for the privilege if they make the choice.

KC bosses stressed the extra charge was not putting users off, with 24 per cent of home- owners signing on for fibre optics compared to a BT uptake rate of four or five per cent.

"It's fibre for a fiver," said business director Gary Young.

"We do on a regular basis try and tell our customers we provide the best-value budget packages in the UK.

"We decided to be transparent about our prices. You can't compare it to BT."

KC's fibre optic packages typically cost a family £36 a month, while businesses pay between £40 and £1,000.

That might seem expensive but Mr Young said there were no hidden costs or added extras to push a bill up.

"With BT you get headline rates but typically you get charged an extra 50p here or there," he said.

"If you break down the package, I would say we're absolutely a lot more affordable than national packages."

Below the feet of Hull families, a new age of internet use is beginning.

It may take time and cost more but with download speeds of 350 megabytes per second, KC's new system has the potential to transform internet use across East Yorkshire.

Waiting half an hour to watch cats on YouTube could soon be a thing of the past.

Visit www.lightstream.kc.co.uk to find out more.

CCTV captured the moment a vandal poured paint stripper over a £100,000 Lamborghini Gallardo supercar, causing thousands of pounds of damage, in Kingston Road, Willerby.

Michael Dunn, 29, only bought the jet black supercar, which is capable of zero to 60mph in 3.6 seconds, two months ago. But, in a flash, the accountant's "pride and joy", which was fitted with a personalised registration plate the day before the attack, was ruined. Now, Mr Dunn faces a repair bill that could top £10,000 to get the car glistening again.

Self-employed Mr Dunn said: "I would just like to know why someone would do this. When I see a nice car, as I did the other day when a Rolls-Royce Phantom, like the one Lord Sugar has, parked in front of my Lamborghini, I admire it. I certainly don't go around pouring paint stripper all over it."

Mr Dunn says CCTV footage, taken from a security system installed at his home, timed the vandalism at 7.38pm last Sunday. The three-year-old Lamborghini Gallardo LP560 – worth £180,000 new – was parked outside Mr Dunn's home in Kingston Road, Willerby.

Mr Dunn said: "Looking at the CCTV, the scumbag was quite brazen. Next door were putting their Christmas lights up. People were about.

"Somebody with a hood or cap on and a scarf pulled up over their face goes up to the car and pours liquid all over the side of it.

"They walk from the rear to the front, pouring this stuff as they go and then cross the road and walk off as though nothing has happened."

Mr Dunn noticed the damage about an hour-and-a-half after the attack.

"At about 9pm, I looked out of an upstairs window and realised there was something on the car – it looked like paint," he said.

"I ran downstairs and out to the car. I then discovered it was paint stripper.

"I am pretty annoyed, but it is fixable and no one has obviously been hurt."

Mr Dunn plans to submit a claim to his insurance company.

He said: "Unfortunately, the paint stripper has dripped on to the engine, which is at the back. It's caused a fair amount of damage.

"I am annoyed because my insurance premium will go up as a result of this, which does not seem very fair."

Mr Dunn, who is single with no children, believes the culprit was most likely jealous of his supercar, which can reach a top speed of 201.5mph.

"I don't smoke and I don't drink," he said. "I choose to spend my money on cars. It's my one pleasure in life.

"People love to look at it. People take photos of it on their mobiles at traffic lights. I didn't buy it to show off, though – I bought it for myself."

Mr Dunn has not driven the car, which is waiting to be repaired at Prestige Accident and Repair Centre in east Hull, since the attack.

"The Lamborghini is an everyday supercar," he said. "It's comfortable. It's a pleasure to drive, even at 30mph, although it wants to go a lot faster."

In 2007, paint stripper was poured over a Mazda MX5 Mr Dunn used to own.

The culprit was caught and given a police caution.

As well as the Lamborghini, Mr Dunn also owns a C63 AMG Mercedes and a Mitsubishi Barbarian pick-up.

A Humberside Police spokesman confirmed a "corrosive liquid" was used in the attack and appealed for anyone with information to contact them.

He said: "Anyone who may have been in the area, which is close to a row of shops, and may have witnessed an incident involving the car, should call the non-emergency number 101."

Hull Daily Mail columnist Ian Midgley asks why the flooding of East Yorkshire scarcely concerned national news programmers. Would establishing a new BBC North restore the confidence of licence fee payers?

I'm going to predict the news for the next three days. Tomorrow, aliens will land in Queen Victoria Square, making first contact and requesting to meet our leaders. Councillor Steve Brady accepts and is immediately whisked away to the planet Alpha Centuri for intergalactic treaty talks.

On Friday, the lost city of Atlantis will rise out of the Humber Estuary and, irked by the dreadful fantasy serial currently propping up Saturday night TV schedules, declare war on Hessle. Patrick Duffy is nowhere to be seen.

Saturday's a quiet one. After 72 years lost, Amy Johnson's plane reappears out of the mist, and she looks not a day older than when she disappeared. She has no memory of the past seven decades.

And here is what the national BBC news will report on those days. Tomorrow. Nelson Mandela's still dead. Lots of people are paying tribute to him. Robert Mugabe is rubbing shoulders with Barack Obama.

Friday. Someone from London was slightly injured when they fell off their bike on the Old Kent Road. First aid was administered at the scene. Saturday. Someone political wonk from Islington says something rude about another political wonk from Islington. There is a slight snowfall somewhere in Kent and everyone panics that the world is about to end.

Now don't get me wrong. I know the BBC is an international broadcaster. It sometimes has to take the long, global view on stories of international importance. And yes, Nelson Mandela was a towering figure of our age, who deserves to be lauded to the rafters and whose passing should be marked with dignity and in detail.

But when you're sitting at home, reading on Twitter and Facebook that much of the East Coast is being threatened by the worst tidal flooding in 60 years you'd think our national broadcaster would raise its London-centric eye from the capital for once and try to reflect the rest of the nation. Or could it just not be arsed to feign interest because it didn't happen within the M25 area?

When thousands of people – and let's not forget licence fee payers – are facing tides last seen by the likes of Noah threatening their homes, business and even lives do you not think dear old Aunty should take a passing interest?

But no, flicking through the extended 10pm national news bulletins and 24-hour news channels there was ne'er a mention of the calamity Hull and places like it were facing. Instead, we were repeated to endless droning eulogies to Mr Mandela and the same archive footage over and over again.

Well done BBC, your editorial judgment sucks. You really need to pull your head out of your journalistic backside and realise civilisation does not end at Watford.

I'll make an important distinction here. The local BBC and its rolling coverage of the floods were excellent. I know they're sort of the competition but, credit where credit's due, presenters James Hoggarth, Andy Comfort and co were both spot on in their live reporting and updating of the rapidly developing situation. As were the Mail's team of roving reporters.

I haven't got a beef with Radio Humberside. It's the snooty national lot who were so desperate to jump on the back of something they thought was of historic importance that they completely forgot, or simply didn't care, what their audience actually wanted or, more importantly, needed.

Can you imagine the wall-to-wall coverage such a story would have received if London had been flooded?

They would have had Kate Adie out in a flak jacket and Michael Buerk in a dinghy doing his biblical catastrophe thing all night.

And then, to add insult to injury, the muppets go and cancel Ripper Street, which is currently the best thing on the box.

Well, of course it's going to struggle for ratings if you put it up against I'm A Celebrity, what do you expect? That's still no reason to bin what is effectively the best-crafted drama currently on TV. There is nothing quite like watching a Victorian copper beating up a villain to get a confession.

And they wonder why people go on about chopping the licence fee? Maybe they should give half of it to a newly established BBC North – then we might get the coverage and service we deserve.

AND so the battle lines have been drawn. On one side sits owner Assem Allam, the man who has put £75m of his own money into Hull City to get the club back into the Premier League. On the other side is the ever-growing section of disgruntled fans who so desperately want Hull Tigers never to see the light of day.

And after seeing Dr Allam formally register his intent to change the club's name with FA officials yesterday, the Football Association is the party which must sit firmly in the middle. Ultimately, it is their decision which will now determine whether Hull City or Hull Tigers take to the field at the KC Stadium next season. Because having spoken at length to Dr Allam just a few weeks ago, I know no amount of protesting or campaigning is ever going to get him to change his mind. The owner is not for turning.

Primarily, his desire to change the name of the club stems from the fact it is still haemorrhaging money to the tune of £1m a month. His money. To date, the club's latest accounts show he has loaned it a total of £72m, but he desperately wants to raise more cash to ease the burden on his wallet and make the club self-financing. With the Tigers currently standing to lose anywhere between £7m to £11m in their first season back in the Premier League (depending what's spent in January), he wants to plug that funding hole.

Dr Allam believes marketing the club as Hull Tigers, particularly in the Far East, can help him to pull in bigger sponsorship revenues. Unfortunately, to date, he has not produced any research or statistics to back up his theory. Understandably, fans who are opposed to the name change want to see the proof is in the pudding before they do the eating. They won't get their wish, though, as the Tigers owner has now pushed ahead with his plans by making a formal application to change the club's name with the FA.

Whether Dr Allam is right remains to be seen. But, as those who know him will testify, he won't alter from his chosen course. Never. Not unless the FA put a stop to it.

Because when he sets his sights on something, he doesn't change his mind. Compromise is not a word in his vocabulary.

That's not to say he doesn't care about Hull City. He does. Spend a decent amount of time in his company and you'll see he cares passionately about the club.

Not only does he dream of becoming a mainstay in the Premier League, he's determined to put an end to the days of City looking over their shoulder. Fighting relegation is not something he wants to become an annual fixture on the Tigers' calendar.

Whilst he accepts that year-on-year progress is the only way to go about achieving this, he's more than up for the challenge. Because, as he will happily tell you himself, the one thing he'd love more than anything else is to be the owner who first brought European football to the city.

So, while fans fondly remember history, tradition and the good old days, all Dr Allam wants to focus on is the future. And he's willing to be ruthless in order to get what he wants.

If that means sacking a home-town hero, so be it. If that means changing the name of the club, so be it. If that means upsetting the fans who follow his club, so be it.

So, now it all comes down to the FA and their little known rule 3L. A rule which states: "Any application for a change of playing name must be received by The Association before 1st April in any calendar year in order for it to be considered by Council for adoption in the following playing season. Council will use its absolute discretion in deciding whether to approve a change in a Club's playing name."

Before the season, no-one cared a jot about rule 3L. Staying up was all that mattered. Now, the single biggest decision in Hull City's 109-year history depends on it.

WHEN Mike Sugden heard a squeaking noise coming from under the bonnet of his Citroen Picasso, he feared a costly repair bill. Instead, he ended up with a cute, but slightly mischievous, new pet after mechanics at his local garage fished out a stowaway, in the form of a four-week-old kitten, from the engine bay.

It is thought the kitten, which Mike and his partner Katrina Hunt have taken in and named Bluebell, endured a 35-mile trip from Murton near York to the couple's home in Willerby after stumbling on the warm place to take a nap.

Mike had parked at The Yorkshire Museum of Farming, where he is a member of Derwent Valley Light Railway, while he lent a hand at a Christmas show.

He said: "Driving back, I heard a squeaking noise. I had also been having problems with a headlight, so I thought I'd take the car into the garage.

"When the bonnet was popped up, I made out a tiny, little head – not much bigger than a golf ball really."

Mechanic Phil Johnson, of David Johnson's Motor Engineers in Hawthorn Avenue, west Hull, said it was one of the more unusual problems he had encountered on a Citroen Picasso.

He said: "As I was bending down to look at the headlight, I heard a definite 'meow'.

"I turned to Mike, who was standing next to me, and said, 'Is that your phone?' Some phones these days have weird text alerts.

"We then looked down and saw this cat sitting on the gearbox, under the bonnet. It seemed quite happy. I went to pick it up, but it crawled further into the bay.

"With a bit of help from the lads, I managed to coax it out and I grabbed it by the tail, before it crawled further into the chassis."

Mike, 54, a printer at packaging firm Clondalkin in east Hull, took Bluebell, shaken but otherwise none the worse for her road trip, to Kingston Veterinary Group's practice in Anlaby, where she was given a check-up.

Fearing the kitten could belong to one of their neighbours, Mike and Katrina went to some lengths to track down the owner.

"At first, it was a real mystery how it had got there," said Mike.

Katrina, 52, said: "We thought it was possible Bluebell had climbed into the car when it was parked overnight in front of our home.

"We had a load of leaflets printed and distributed them in the area. But we heard nothing."

However, the riddle was solved when Mike spoke to museum staff a few days after the discovery.

"I was telling the story to a few of the guys," said Mike. "One of them told me a little black kitten, a friendly little thing, had climbed up his leg a day or two earlier and he had put it near a pile of wood, close to where I had parked."

Two weeks on from her ordeal, Bluebell has recovered and has settled in well to her new home.

Katrina said: "I have never known such a playful kitten.

"Bluebell is very loving and loves playing with the telephone cable."

Amy Wilson, the veterinary nurse who helped treat the kitten, said: "Bluebell was so friendly and loved being cuddled.

"At the time she was found, she was four to five weeks old. She was in very good condition. Her mum had done a very good job with her.

"She has had a lucky escape, but we're glad there's a happy ending."

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LEATHER sheaths found alongside human remains in Russia suggest the bones could belong to crew members of Hull trawler Gaul. Assistant Chief Constable Alan Leaver, of Humberside Police, confirmed the sheaths found with the remains are unlikely to belong to Russian nationals.

DNA tests are being carried out by the Russian authorities to identify them and relatives of the Gaul crew members who died are being swabbed for comparison. Up to ten bodies are being examined.

The discovery comes almost 40 years after the trawler disappeared during a fierce storm in February 1974. The trawler was lost in the Barents Sea, 70 miles off Norway, with the loss of her entire 36-man crew.

Mr Leaver said: "There were sheaths found among the remains and the leather is of a very good quality, which is better than that used by the Russian military or the local fishermen at the time.

"That leans towards them not being from Russia."

The Mail understands the sheaths were commonly used by Hull fishermen.

Having found out about the remains in September last year, Mr Leaver says he has agonised over when to tell the families.

At the weekend, he personally told some of the family members and a team of 18 liaison officers were on hand to break the news to all of them around the same time.

Mr Leaver said: "Since we found out, there has been slow but steady progress.

"We have been working closely with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Russian authorities. We have to work diplomatically.

"We feel now is the right time to let the families know we have this information. I have been very anxious to tell them, but we wanted to ensure what we had to say was meaningful.

"We didn't want to wait until the 40th anniversary to let them know."

The remains had initially been found on the Rybachy peninsula in the Murmansk region of Russia in the mid-1970s by people living nearby.

Mr Leaver shed more light on why it had taken so long for the remains to be tested.

He said: "The bodies seemed to have been washed ashore in 1974 or 1975 and were then buried by locals under rocks as the ground was too hard to dig holes.

"They were rediscovered 18 months ago by a local researcher, who is aware of the Gaul.

"He and his team often do a sweep of the peninsula where bodies are regularly washed up and the locals told him about the burials.

"He then alerted the Russian authorities and made his findings public.

"There is no conspiracy around the length of time this has taken to come to light."

The current role of Humberside Police is to support the families and then ensure the tests are carried out.

Mr Leaver said: "I have to say the families have been unfailingly polite and courteous.

"Our primary job is to make sure we provide support and information for them.

"The end game is to establish whether the remains belong to crew members from the Gaul, but this will take time.

"In terms of the next step, we will be working closely with the Russian authorities in order to carry out the DNA tests.

"With the scientific techniques available today, we should be able to find out.

"The bones that have been found should provide a good sample."

He said if the remains are not from the Gaul, they would not be in a position to establish who the bodies belonged to.

Mr Leaver said: "Even if the remains to prove to be from the Gaul, I don't think this will establish, one way or the other, what the cause of the sinking was.

"Previous inquiries have found the Gaul was overwhelmed by water in a storm and I don't think that position will change."

10

A FORMER gym instructor has been jailed for a "cowardly" attack on his girlfriend in a restaurant. John Williams, 40, has been sent to prison for three months for slapping his partner twice, before smashing up her car.

Judge Jeremy Richardson described the assault as "distinctly cowardly" and hoped a short spell in jail would "bring him to his senses".

At the time of the assault, Williams, of Holderness Road, east Hull, who is still in a relationship with his girlfriend, was serving a suspended sentence. Prosecuting, Jhana Jobes, told Hull Crown Court Williams' girlfriend suffered minor injuries and would have to replace the windscreen and wing mirror of her car.

Mrs Jobes said: "He did say he lost his temper."

Last year, Williams was convicted of attacking a man outside a pub, the suspended sentence for which expired 15 days ago. Defending Williams, Harold Bloomfield said the father-of-two and his girlfriend had a "turbulent relationship".

He said: "It is no coincidence that since the relationship started, Mr Williams has found himself on the police radar as opposed to under it. Had it not been for this suspended sentence order, the magistrates would have considered a community penalty."

Sentencing him to one month for two counts of assault, two weeks concurrent for criminal damage and two months for the breach of suspended sentence, Judge Richardson said: "Men like you who attack girlfriends in the ways described, repeatedly and in a public place, deserve to go to prison for a short while if they have previous convictions for violence. This violent streak needs to be eradicated. You need to be punished for what you have done wrong.

"What a cowardly thing to do, to attack a woman. I hope this short period of imprisonment will bring you to your senses."

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CAMPAIGNERS have labelled Hull City's decision to make a formal application to change the name of the club to Hull Tigers as bad-timing and a broken promise. And they are warning tensions could escalate at Saturday's home game with Stoke City, which is being broadcast live on TV.

Having seen owner Assem Allam take a significant step forward in his name change proposal by officially informing the FA of his intentions, opposition to the move is continuing to grow.

It was only last month when Dr Allam spoke to the Mail to insist no decision would be made until 2014, whilst admitting he did not understand supporters' angst.

"Why the rush for a decision? Have I dumped City now? Why so much fuss? Should we not be enjoying the football?" Dr Allam had said at the time. "Talk about this when it comes along. It will be months and months before we decide but the media want to make a big thing of it. I have not removed City and will not for a good few months, so why the fuss?"

But with 109 years of history now firmly in the hands of the FA, fans campaigning against the change are angry at the sudden timing of the move.

Andy Dalton, a spokesperson for the City Till We Die campaign group told the Mail: "It was inevitable the club were going to ask the FA to change the name. It's extremely disappointing that Assem Allam has taken no notice to what supporters have said. He has blatantly ignored what the fans have put forward, and that is a real pity.

"It is unfortunate timing with the Tigers being shown on Sky TV again this weekend, and Steve Bruce has said he doesn't want to talk about it. Now, I don't think he has a choice. The fans have been very restrained up to now, but I expect the tensions to be raised on Saturday."

Dr Allam has previously claimed that owing to the fact the club do not own their KC Stadium ground, which Hull City Council do, he has to find other income streams and believes a 'Tigers' brand will be more marketable, having previously said he considers the word 'City' to be "lousy" and "common".

The company name was changed from Hull City AFC to Hull City Tigers back on March 7 and plans to change the name of the team are expected to be finalised early next year, although the FA would have to ratify any switch under Rule 3L which states it will use 'absolute discretion' in its decision.

A spokesman for Hull City said last night: "We won't be making any further comment on this at the moment."

A MAN walking the country to support a suicide prevention charity saw a woman prepare to jump off as he crossed the Humber Bridge. Colm Farrell, who is nearing the halfway mark on his 5,000-mile trek, watched as police talked the woman out of jumping from the crossing.

He was stopped about 100ft away as emergency services talked to her for two hours.

Mr Farrell, 47, has raised more than £100,000 for anti-suicide charity Console.

He said: "I was just standing there, hoping this woman was not going to end her own life.

"She got hold of the railings. Thank God, I couldn't see what was happening.

"Fair play to the police – I don't know what they said or did but they obviously did a good job."

Mr Farrell, of Tuam in County Galway, Ireland, was inspired to take on his walk after losing friends to suicide.

He has since met and helped others struggling with depression and mental illness along the way.

He said: "My only hope is this person will get proper help now.

"That seems to be the problem – when people attempt to take their own lives there's not always help.

"They put them on medication and send them on their merry way."

A former publican, Mr Farrell has been relying on people's goodwill for a place to stay at night as he walks the country.

In almost a year of travelling, he has only once struggled to find a bed.

He said: "It's been absolutely unbelievable.

"Everywhere I've gone the people have been fantastic.

"But at the end of the day, the reason I'm doing it is to highlight the plight of suicide."

The walker is now in Doncaster, heading towards Leeds, and has 2,900 miles to go.

CONSOLE, the suicide prevention charity being supported by Colm Farrell, is already established in Ireland. The support service is now planning to open its first centres in the UK.

Visit justgiving.com/colm-farrell to donate, or text HAZZ 66 followed by an amount in pounds to 70070. Follow Mr Farrrell on twitter @haz66 for updates on his progress.