Points West districts

From the Suspension Bridge to the Severn Crossings and from Charfield in the North to Congresbury in the South, the Bristol Bureau includes it all.

Rolling hills, market towns, chocolate-box hamlets, regional-scale hospitals, Universities, an international airport the M4 and M5 and one of the busiest shipping ports in Europe.... the list goes on and the stories that crop up in the patch can change by the minute, let alone the day.

John Maguire and Scott Ellis are based in the Bristol Bureau and always ready to respond rapidly.

Often they'll be dispatched to report the latest news live using the Satellite News Gathering Truck (or SNG as it's called) or the smaller TV Car which can broadcast from various spots across the city.

John using the Newsroom Camera

The Bristol newsroom also has a permanent camera installed which is used by Points West and the national networks. So if you're watching News24 and see 'Bristol' appear, you may also spot Points West staff in the background.

Transport is particularly close to Scott's heart, he cycles almost everywhere and literally rode into journalism:

"My first experience of Points West was delivering tapes to the news room as a despatch rider many moons ago," he says.

"That was after a short and undistinguished career as an army officer, and as a trainer at Rolls Royce in Filton."

Scott's picked up plenty of skills working at Points West - he's learnt to wingwalk on a bi-plane, fly balloons to take part in the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta. He's also reported about West Country stories taken place far from the UK:

Scott setting up a story

"I've reported all over from Niger to Everest base camp, and was even "taken hostage" by Tony Bullimore for six days on a giant catamaran!" says Scott.

When he's not off-road mountain biking or playing tennis, Scott's likely to be sipping lattes on North Street in Bedminster.

John lives in Bristol too, with his wife Lucie and two young daughters.

His time with Points West has seen him develop some unusual skills too.

He's learned to pull and park a caravan live on TV, joined our coastguard teams on the mudflats, estuary and open sea, and investigated secret chemical tests over Swindon to human trafficking into the West.

When he's not renovating his house, he's a keen skier... and actually met his wife while working as a ski-boot representative in Australia.