10/01/2014 BBC London News

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Tonight on BBC London News: Four days of Tube strikes are announced

as the row over ticket office closures escalates.

We urge the RMT to get back round the table. We will do everything we

can to make sure the strike does not happen. If the talks are not

successful, action will go ahead. With tensions running high, can an

agreement be reached to avert the strikes?

Also tonight: More people living near the Thames are told to prepare

for flooding, as the waters approach record highs.

The mother of a south London doctor who died in a Syrian prison, on her

attempts to rescue her son. They knew they wanted to kill him, and

they killed him. Plus why the capital seems to be

taking on a more Gallic flavour. It is exciting to be here, like a fairy

tale. As Sherlock concludes this weekend,

how London now has some new destinations on the tourist map.

Hello and a very good evening. Tube passengers could be hit by a

series of strikes next month after Underground workers voted to walk

out over plans to close almost all ticket offices and cut hundreds of

jobs. Four days of strike action have been announced. The first two

will be on the fourth and fifth of February. Then they'll walk out

again the following week on the 11th and 12th. With more details, here's

Tom Edwards. Outside Euston station, a

demonstration protesting at plans to close all of the Chew's ticket

offices, and to cut jobs. This afternoon, the RMT union announced

two 48`hour strikes. This is what commuters thought of it. I want more

people to be employed, so I fully support them. You think it is the

right way of going about it? Management do not change their mind

any other way. Do you think it is the right way to make your point if

you are a union? I don't think there is an alternative. Putting the

public in a situation where they cannot get to work is not fair. They

should deal with it in a different manner.

The strikes are over some of the most radical changes to the

underground in its history. Bosses want to shout all ticket offices and

put staff on the platforms and in the stations. In total, 750 station

staff will go. As part of the industrial action, unions will tell

members not to sell fares at certain times. Have you got any objection to

people moving from behind ticket offices on to the gate lines? We

have an open along with anything so long as there is agreement. But they

cannot come along and given ultimatum. These people have worked

for years in the industry and they have been kicked from pillar to

post, which is why members and the executive committee have said enough

is enough. We are available for talks but if they are not

successful, action will go ahead. Part of the plan is a 24`hour

service on the weekend on some lines, and the mayor has closed his

mind on closing ticket offices. In 2008 he said this. Why don't we keep

ticket office is open to give people the sense of safety and security

they want. Two years later... No ticket offices will be closed, all

right. Now, he and the bosses think the Oyster card has changed how the

tube should opt `` operate. Compulsory redundancies will be

avoided and all stations will be staffed with the cuts saving ?50

million per year, they say. We are going to make the changes and close

the ticket offices. We will use technology to help staff carry out

their jobs. But clearly, we are not efficient and we have to make

ourselves even more efficient. Other unions are also balloting now for

strike action. At the moment, compromise looks unlikely. This is

just the beginning, and it is the commuter who will be stuck in the

middle. So, Tom, how likely is it do you

think these strikes will go ahead? You have to remember that the last

dispute between these two sides was over reducing ticket office hours.

Then, we have the strikes and the changes were still forced through.

It would not surprise me if the same thing happens again. Also, normally

you get some language, some indication of compromise. I did not

get that today. Very hard and serious language from both sides. It

would not surprise me if we get these tube strikes.

Coming up, we'll bring you a detailed weather forecast later in

the programme. Ahead of the Premier League match

here tomorrow against Crystal Palace, we speak to former Tottenham

Hotspur player now running the show here, manager Tim Sherwood.

The flood waters in Surrey and Berkshire are continuing to rise and

it's feared that levels could exceed the record highs of 2003. More than

40 warnings and alerts remain in place along the Thames this evening,

from Reading through to Teddington. That means a difficult weekend ahead

for many people living near the river who are already flooded, and a

concern for for many others. Sarah Harris is in Windsor.

Yes, you will have to take my word for it, but even here in Windsor

town centre, the River Thames has burst its banks. On the other side.

You can see it from here in daylight. That was despite a

multi`million pound flood defence project in the 1990s. Further

downstream, where we have spent the day, things have been much, much

worse. With water levels continuing to rise, many families there have

decided, as we have, that the safest thing to do is to leave. After

spending last night in a hotel, it was time for mother and daughter to

face what had happened to their home, but getting to it was the

first hurdle to overcome. Debbie and Lily had only just finished the

refurbishment since the last flood, but things were much worse than they

had ever seen before. It is just such a waste of money, waste of

time. We have only just come in here after last year. This is even worse.

We need to do something next time. It is just ridiculous. We have lost

everything. There is nothing left now. I have not even got any shoes.

Nothing has been prepared for this, definitely not. We tried to save or

we could, but it is nearly a foot in the house. For those families who

decided to stay here, the safest way to get about is by boat, and even

that has its tricky moments. And there are other challengers, too.

Toilets acting up and cats and dogs having to be rescued. Also, some

people have lost electricity. We have not but we are lucky so far.

But many people have had to get their cars away or have had to leave

their homes. What makes it hard to get about is not just water levels

but also the current, which makes it hard to keep your balance. And then

the water is contaminated, so there are hygiene issues, which is why

most people have one of these. Further down the lane, Carl Douglas

runs a business making boats. He has had to send home his employees for

safety reasons, whilst he assesses the damage, which he says will run

into tens of thousands of pounds. The impact will be at least two

weeks lost business. We have to work out where the stock has gone, talk

to insurers about damage to stock which we could not lift. And for the

Browns, too, any kind of clean`up is a long way off and the fear is that

the worst may not yet be over. The official advice is that things are

likely to get worse before they get better, with water coming down from

small rivers and tributaries. Even though it has been fairly dry today,

spitting with rain. The water levels are not expected to peak until

sometime over the weekend. Well, away from the Thames, people

whose homes were flooded when the river Mole broke its banks on

Christmas Eve are calling on the Environment Agency for more

protection. They say the current flood defences failed to protect

their homes. As Tarah Welsh reports. The flooding came more than two

weeks ago but the clean`up is far from over. Close to the river, the

garden has flooded before, but in 27 years, the water has never reached

the house, until now. The water level rose up to here, and we are

left with a damp patch here. It felt like I had been violated. I was so

upset when I saw the water come through the house, I can't tell you.

We have lived here 27 years and it has taken us almost that long to get

the house up to the level of completeness. Not a show home, a

family home. It upset me no end. Several areas flooded in and around

Leatherhead over Christmas and last week and there are concerns about

why. We don't know exactly what happened but there seems to be a

widely held belief that the controls on the River mole were not enabled

to allow the drainage at full speed. I am concerned that this has

happened so that we have suffered to save other areas of the catchment.

No one at the Environment Agency was available for interviews but it has

told us that river flows have been at their highest since 1968. It said

there is no way that offences in one area would make another area flood

more, but it says it was investigating the recent floods.

Today the local MP defended the Environment Agency. It was a fluke.

Nothing has happened like it in living memory. We just have to say

this is the high water mark, if you will excuse the pun, and make sure

we have the defence is therefore this heightened level that we have

never had before. You believe everything was in place and nothing

could have been done. Nothing is absolute. We will be going back to

learn from this. In the meantime, it is local people left picking up the

pieces. The bodies of two children and a

woman have been found in a house in Brent. The 33`year`old woman and two

boys, one aged five and the other seven months old, were found

yesterday. Chris Rogers reports. It does not bear thinking about. We

now understand it was the husband that arrived at his flat last night,

where he discovered his wife and two children dying from their injuries.

He called the London Ambulance Service but by the time the police

arrived the ambulance crews had lost their battle to save the lives of

his family. His youngest was a seven`month`old boy. His other child

was five years old and his wife was 33. Understand they are from Sri

Lanka and have lifted for 12 months. While the neighbours did not know

them well, they often joined them on walks to school and described them

as a happy, normal family. It is one of those things you cannot

comprehend, that something can happen like this. It leaves you

feeling very numb, very cold. I got up to Sainsbury is and I was

literally in tears, and yet I don't even know the people that well. I

was pretty shaken up by what I heard. You had no inkling there was

something wrong, that she was depressed, that anything like this

could have happened? She probably could have been depressed but been

good enough to cover it up. She would be smiling and said hello.

That Labour did not want to be identified. Police are treating this

as a murder in this `` investigation of the seven`month`old baby and the

five`year`old boy, but they are not treating the death of the mother as

suspicious and are not searching for anyone else in connection with their

deaths. The mother of a doctor from south London who died in a Syrian

prison last month has spoken of what she called her failure to save her

son. Fatima Khan spent five months in the

country trying to free Abbas, after he was arrested in a

rebel`controlled area in November 2012. Just days before he was due to

be released, he died. And as Jenny Hill reports, Fatima worries she'll

never learn the full story of what happened to him.

Even as a child, his mother told us, Abbas Khan like to help others. Why

was he so compelled to go to Syria? Because it was everywhere on the

internet and in the news that people were dying, no doctors, no medicine.

He thought, it is my profession. Instead of giving money I should

give my services. Once he disappeared, you decided to go and

try and find him in Syria. It is such a dangerous place. Why did you

feel you had to go? He's my son. I said to my other children and to

myself that if I die, I will die for my son, so it is nothing strange.

Any mother would do. When you found him, can you describe the

circumstances? When they brought him, they took me to a court of

terrorism. Suddenly I felt that somebody is mine in there, and I

don't know how I got up and how I can help him. He was a skeleton and

he was crying. He had tears and he said, money, I am sorry, take me

from here, mummy. I said, don't worry, you will be released in a few

days. I was checking, his hands were full of black marks as if electric

shocks were given. They screwed, drilled into his mail, and his legs

were full of cigarette marks. They used to beat him up for no reason,

putting the eye band on his eyes. What for? Because he helped women

and children. They said, no, no, you help the opposition. He did not. He

said, mummy, I swear I did not help anybody, only women and children.

You have done so much to try and get him released. You have done so much

to try to free your son. It is a shock that they killed him. It is

because it came in media and British government didn't do anything. They

didn't want to do anything. When will the last time you saw him? The

25th of November. At this point you thought he was coming home. Yes. He

said, this Christmas I want in London. Last Christmas I was in

prison, but this Christmas I want in London. I said, as usual, I will

cook Christmas dinner. The Syrian government claim he took his life in

prison but Fatima says a government official told her something

different. He said, yes, we killed your son. He knew, he was not

surprised. I said, why? He said, go back to Britain and tell your

British Government that we killed a British man. Tell your government,

don't send any more. So they knew. And they killed him. The mother is

the loser. I failed to save my son. What can I do?

That was Fatima Khan, talking to Jenny Hill. In a statement, the

Foreign Office say they consistently sought access to Dr Khan and pressed

for his position to be reviewed, but were turned down by the Syrians.

They say they will continue to support his family who have shown

great courage and fortitude. Up to 400,000 French citizens now live in

London, which is more than the population of French cities like

Bordeaux or Nice. With plans for a new French school in Wembley, we

report on the growing French love affair with our capital. An

unfurnished house. Marie`Ann and her family will soon move from Paris to

London as her husband's company needs them to relocate. They are

looking to buy a multi` multimillion pound property in Kensington

Chelsea. He's in the financial market. His company want him to be

in London. We are very pleased to be in London. Obviously we, French

people, have many problems with the tax ` all the taxes increases a lot,

every day and we don't know if it will stop. According to this French

estate agent the family are not the only wealthy French people looking

to move thasmt have opened an office in Fulham to deal with the demand.

It is up the road from a French Bakers and green grocers. Why do

your customers want to move? The tax bracket in Paris is very high. They

are keen to get out of that and pay less tax. It is a financial

decision? Yes. Why are more French people moving to the capital? Is it

a way of avoiding the taxman, or is there more to it than that? David, a

partner with a wealth management company in the City believes it is

easier for all French people to make money here. What I can say to you is

that I am seeing this every week. Yes, that's the reality. Why is

that? Why is that ` I think number one reason is ease of doing

business. You know, the business culture.

And back in Fulham. Some French ex`pats say it is not just the welty

who are feeling victims of a general malice on the continent. It is more

the spirit in France at the moment ` the feelingvy got is very low, you

know? `` the feeling I have got is very low, you know. What is going to

happen tomorrow. Per if ect for French people `` perfect for French

people. As they look for their perfect new home, it is predicted

many more will make the move here to London in the future.

OK, let's get the sport round`up now with Sara Orchard. Plenty of news

coming out of White Hart Lane today. Starting with the confirmation that

England striker Jermain Defoe is leaving Tottenham to join Toronto

FC. The 31`year`old has signed a four`and`a`half year contact. He

will join up to them until March, leaving himming on loan at Spurs

until February. Tim Sherwood has been speaking to the BBC about his

ambitions for the club. They play Crystal Palace tomorrow in the

Premier League ` a place where he has enjoyed a good record so far. In

the Premier League Tim Sherwood's Tottenham are unbeaten, with ten

points from his four games in charge. Despite last week's loss to

Arsenal, the 44`year`old is growing into the role. I am getting used to

it now. It is obviously a real pleasure and privilege to manage

this football club. It is very close to my heart. I played here. I am

doing the best of my job. Tottenham have had eight managers in the last

ten years. By some Premier League standards that is not too bad. It is

no surprise when Tim Sherwood was offered the job he refused a

six`month contract, instead signing up for a year`and`a`half. I was not

really prepared to go and take a job what I thought was going to be a

five`minute job. We came to the conclusion that 18 months was

probably fair. I wasn't there to stand up and demand four or five

years, for someone who is untried as a manager. I felt that was a good

period of time for me to really prove I can do the job. Sherwood's

appointment is still viewed as a gamble. He made 93 appearances for

Spurs and won three England caps. He took up coaching under Redknapp in 2

oh 008. He `` 2008. Andre did a good job at this

football club. I see the game differently. I like attacking

players to play in attacking areas of the field. I like defenders to be

responsible at the right times. Arsenal and Man City for me are the

two best teams in the division at the moment. We are not too far away

from being at the same level. To get to those levels results will need to

come fast for Sherwood. He has his own hopes for where Tottenham will

be in 18 months' time. Hopefully we're in the champion's league and

we are flying and they are enjoying a nice new era. That is under a

manager called Tim Sherwood. If you want to hear more of that interview

with Tim Sherwood, you can see it tomorrow on Football Focus on BBC

One from mid`day. On to tennis and the draw was made

earlier today for the Australian Open, which starts on Monday.

British number one, Wimbledon's Laura Robson has been drawn against

18th seed Kirsten Flipkens. Robson has been struggling with a wrist

injury since the New Year, but has been practicing in Melbourne and is

expected to be fit to face her Belgium opponent. Good luck to

Laura. That is all the sport. Back to you. Thank you.

Now, it is not only been a huge hit with audiences at home, but the

latest TV series Sherwood `` Sherlock which concludes this

weekend has led to some corners of the capital becoming popular with

sightseers from around the world. It is not Baker Street. But this cafe

in Euston is now attracting a lot of attention, from some interesting

people. And the reason ` well it is

elementary. This is the cafe used in the BBC's Sherlock series.

At the cafe today, we found Catrina, from Russia, who has been a Sherlock

fan since she was 13. He's very clever. He's not very emotional.

You like that? I like out of emotions and I like clever people,

like smart people. Then there was Paul from Argentina who is only 18

years old. Now the hat is not quite right, is it? No, but this was

cheaper than the original one, the one that Sherlock wears. ?35 is

quite expensive. Of course it is all a bit distracting from the real home

of Sherlock Holmes on Baker Street, given you can call it that, given he

is fictional. The cafe owner is not complaining. Our custom consists of

a lot of young people, young girls, mainly. There wasn't any sign of the

stars today. Only a few coateds that might perhaps have been suitable for

a detective. And what all the fans want to know,

of course, is will there be another series?

Obviously the stars are busy and the writers are busy. We are looking at

diaries and hoping they can meet up again, yes. What it is like to be in

the cafe? You feel you are part of the scene. You are making it happen.

This is the best thing ever in the new Sherlock series. So a new London

landmark is born ` it seems and its fame may only spread.

Let's get a check now on the weekend weather with Sara. Many areas hoping

for no more rain, I imagine. That is right. We have more moving towards

us this evening. We had some beautiful pictures sent

to us from this morning. Now, this is just outside Marlow ` Bourne End.

A lot of mist and fog around. We have a drier weekend in prospect. We

have to get through this evening. A beautiful day for tomorrow. It will

be cold tomorrow night into Sunday. Things will cloud up on Sunday. You

will then have more rain for Sunday evening. Here is a frontal system

out to the west of the UK. It is patchy but moving towards us as we

go to this evening. We have some lingering showers around. That

patchy rain comes in. It maybe looks heavier around these graphics than

it will be. It is tending to die off as it moves towards the east. Out

towards the north`west, where the cloud clears, we could see a frost

there. Elsewhere, temperatures milder than the night that we had

last night. Tomorrow morning cloud first thing. Lingering patchy rain.

It clears nicely. As I say, a beautiful day in prospect for you

tomorrow. Plenty of sunshine around. Lovely and dry. It will feel that

bit colder though than it has been in recent days. Temperatures not

quite into double figures. As I say, that will lead us into a

cold night tomorrow night. A sharp frost around Sunday. Also, as you

can see here, some mist and fog developing through the early hours

of Sunday morning. Temperatures in the countryside lower than that. A

chilly start. Then it will be a chilly day. We will keep a bit of

cloud around. Mist and fog in the morning will lift to low cloud. Bits

and pieces of rain will move towards us as we go to the morning. Trying

to make their way in, because we have this frontal system from the

west. This will give us another five or ten millimetres worth of rain as

we go into Monday. A beautiful weekend in prospect. It looks like

we will stay unsettled for the start of the new working week N the mean

time, a beautiful day for tomorrow. That is good news. Thank you very

much. And that's it for now. Thanks very

much for joining us. More news at 10pm, of course and plenty more on

our website. From me and the team, do have a lovely weekend. Goodbye.