03/07/2014 BBC London News

That's all from us. But

Good evening, this is BBC London News, with me Asad Ahmad.

A manhole cover exploding in Piccadilly last night, sdtting

a lorry alight, has led to safety fears about the growing number

We've seen figures which show a sharp rise in the number of

explosions over the past fotr years, averaging around two every week.

Late`night central London and flames are leaping from the pavement.

A crowd has gathered on Piccadilly, there's been an explosion

underground and firefighters are desperately trying to move a lorry

But there are more blasts beneath the surface.

This video, obtained by the BBC shows what they were up against.

Eventually firefighters movd away, although in a bizarre moment a man

runs towards the blazing vehicle and is pulled back by a police officer.

Restaurant manager Georgina saw the fire last night.

It was very scary because we could hear the explosion down there.

We were afraid at any moment there could be a huge explosion

The drama played out on the steps of the home of British film

and television, where today workmen were repairing the damage.

They've been working through the day to fix this particular

problem, but the Health and Safety Executive has told us that

there are two or three of these problems in London every week.

Few of them are as dramatic as last night's blast.

But it was revealed last sulmer how there had been a worrying

Now, latest figures we've sden show an even sharper rise.

In 2011, there were just nine incidents.

And so far in 2014, only halfway through the year,

The Health and Safety Executive says it has

told the company which delivers electricity through the caphtal to

We've called UK Power Networks directors in

We made it very clear to thdm that we were looking to them to manage it

a lot better, to carry out more inspections.

As a result of that, they've actually got a couple

of dedicated teams working in London, just looking

But checking all 100,000 eldctrical link boxes under the capital's

UK Power Networks says it is investing ?10 million a year

for the next eight years, and that the safety

No one was injured last night, but Colin Wingate spent three months

in a wheelchair after a pavdment exploded in Harrow three years ago.

They are not doing enough to ensure that these accidents, incidents,

call them what you like, don't happen anymore.

Because sooner or later, at the rate these explosions are

continuing, sooner or later someone is going to lose their life.

It may be hard to imagine on a sunny day, but the wet weather ovdr

the past few years is thought to be behind the rise in explosions.

The prospect of water mixing with electricity in the heart of the

The Education Secretary, Michael Gove, has been crithcised

over his flagship policy on free schools, after his department

stepped in and blocked a frde school from opening in Hammersmith.

Around 100 pupils were expecting to attend Fulham Boys this September,

but uncertainty over the school's location appears to

The boys have their uniform but suddenly no school.

The Government has withdrawn funding for the boys school,

a few weeks before this new free school is due to open.

Other schools that we had as other choices are completely full now

We have no choices, there is no democracy

in being able to choose the future of your child's education.

The council blame the Government, the Government blame the Department

They need to work together and think about what

The special`needs school is moving out and Fulham Boys School has

a guaranteed two years here, if not more, before the devdloper

Sullivan School was earmarked as the eventual permanent site, but when

Labour won the local election they reversed council plans to close it.

The Fulham head insists that shouldn't matter.

They have, he says, a business plan hailed by mhnisters

Whatever side of the political fence you come

down on, you obviously want to have the best schools in your borough.

I'm going on record on the BBC to say that if this is not outstanding

That's how passionately I fdel about the fact that this is

You'll be using something shmilar to this sort of technology.

All this does appear to expose a fundamental flaw in the Education

If the local authority can derail a school at the last minute,

that doesn't say much for the free school policy.

One of the things about the free school policx is it

there to supplement and augment what local authorities do.

But, in a way, if you've got a Labour local authority

and they want to pursue a p`rticular agenda, I've got to respect

the verdict of the ballot box, and we've got to do everything we can.

Luckily, we have in the Mayor of London

a Conservative mayor who has backed free schools who, where other local

authorities have been difficult in the past, has liberated sites.

I'm determined to find a site for this marvellous group of people.

They're meeting tonight, if there is 100% support from the parents, they

are happy to open in ten weeks' time, will you listen to thdm again?

Hammersmith and Fulham Council maintains this is the Government's

Our warmest day of the year so far, 28 degrees today in Essex. It

Our warmest day of the year so far, 28 degrees today in Essex. Ht could

be even warmer tomorrow. Lots more sunshine to come for the end of the

week. Temperatures are tapering off slowly outside now under cldar

skies, but no surprises, it will be a pretty warm night. Eventu`lly

skies, but no surprises, it will be a pretty warm night. Eventually, as

a pretty warm night. Eventu`lly as we head into this more hours, low is

down to 15 degrees. Patchy, high cloud around first thing on Friday

but the sun will make short work of that through the early hours. A fine

day to come with more hot sunshine. day to come with more hot stnshine.

The slim chance of a shower down towards the coast of Sussex later in

the day. We could see temperatures up to 29 degrees to the east of the

region through Friday afternoon. The outlook for the weekend is puite

outlook for the weekend is quite different.

For those of you who haven't already heard, we've recorded our highest

temperature so far this year, and that was in Writtle in Essex. It

looks highly likely as well that we could see temperatures of a similar

value for tomorrow. Anywhere through central London to the east could see

highs of 27 to 29 degrees. But that is only one part of the story. The

second part of the story is rain moving in as we speak across the far

north and west. Some of that rain will turn heavy through the night

across Northern Ireland and into western Scotland. I had a bit, cloud

with pieces of rain but it will be a pretty mild night to