Episode 4 Oxford Street Revealed

It's the most famous shopping street in the world,

in the heart of Britain's capital city.

A mile and a half long with 30 million visitors each year.

-With some of the world's most famous shops, biggest stars...

-Kate Moss!

..and busiest stations.

Sorry, guys. Stand back for me.

What does it take to keep it running 24 hours a day...

'It's the busiest street in the world,'

so it needs constant attention.

-..seven days a week?

-Oi, clear off!

You're going to be arrested on suspicion of attempted theft.

'Are you ready, London?!'

A street that never sleeps.

This sort of thing wouldn't happen anywhere else.

Oxford Street.

Coming up...

I think she's spooked.

On the trail of the pickpockets...

Hi, Acting Sgt Bond.

..police crack down.

Cuffs.

There's a flagship store opening...

if they can get it ready on time.

We're all upset about it.

It's going to be open and this guy's not really working.

It's not good enough, Mike. Not good enough at all.

The streets' drains spring a surprise.

-Ooh!

-It really, really, really reeks.

To make sure Oxford Street stays as one of the safest major

shopping destinations in the world,

the Metropolitan Police have set up a dedicated team just to police it

known as ORB.

Today, two plainclothes members of the team, Acting Sgt Darren Bond

and PC Alex, are out on patrol in an unmarked car

when a call comes through that snaps them into action.

A security guard at a nearby shop has called to say

he's spotted a suspected dipper,

someone who surreptitiously fishes in bags to steal valuables.

He believes he's seen her trying her luck in a customer's handbag

and he's begun to follow her.

The officers are only minutes away but moving far too slowly.

Darren won't let the midday traffic come between him and a thief.

Still on the wrong side of the road,

Alex tries to get to the bottom of what's going on.

Leaving the car on the pavement,

they race towards the last sighting of the suspect.

The officers have to catch up with her without being noticed.

Although they have the security guard's report, they want to see

if she'll try and steal again, so they can catch her in the act.

She's walking up Regent Street, towards Oxford Street.

They begin what they call the follow.

So you really need this to play out, yeah? OK.

The officers don't want her to see them and take every precaution.

Just mix up the appearance a little bit.

They follow for 300 metres,

doing their best to stay at a safe distance.

But the woman is no longer lingering in shops.

She's walking a direct route to the Oxford Circus underground entrance,

and Darren thinks he might be in trouble.

I think she's spooked.

Darren's sure the woman has now worked out she's being followed.

She heads down the steps to the station.

He can't risk losing her,

so Darren makes the call for his colleague to move in.

Cuffs.

The search doesn't turn up anything of interest,

but Darren wasn't expecting her to have any of the victim's property.

In England, if you try to steal and put your hand in somebody's bag,

you try to unzip somebody's handbag, that's an offence.

PC Alex speaks to the security guard who first alerted them

and is now back in his own shop retrieving the CCTV.

And their investigations throw up something else totally unexpected.

Despite being dressed like a wealthy Arab shopper in a headscarf,

the woman is Bulgarian and, police believe, not a Muslim.

She's not dangerous, so they take her back to the station in the same car.

Darren thinks the headscarf is a disguise.

It's very easy for them to dress up with a headscarf

to look like another Arab female.

Allows them to get close to their victims and not be noticed.

Stand against here and look.

It's an aggravating factor to the offence.

Almost like going equipped to steal

from somebody with a foil-lined bag, etc.

She's using that as a disguise

to allow her to facilitate her stealing.

Running her details through the system has thrown up

some interesting results.

She is apparently known in Germany as a member of an organised crime gang

and the address she's given doesn't feel right.

We're going to try and see if that is a good address.

If we're not happy, we're going to ask the custody sergeant

to consider not giving her bail, put her straight in front of the court.

Over 300 notes in the police database for one address rings alarm bells.

They think she might be giving out a common holding address

that's nothing to do with her.

This is something they want to check out.

Sgt Carling decides to take a small team to go and have a look.

Later, the team reach the address,

but it looks like someone's been here before them.

This door has been put in by the police.

Opening a new flagship store on Oxford Street is a big deal.

Soaring rents in such a prime shopping location

mean it's expensive and any new arrival has to be profitable.

And the best way to ensure your new place is a smash hit

is to make as big a splash as possible with the opening.

Which is what trainer chain JD is planning to do

with its brand-new flagship Oxford Street store.

It's a massive undertaking for the chain.

It's the biggest shop that we've ever opened.

At the moment, we've got an empty shell, and in under a week,

we'll have a brand-new megastore to open for everyone.

So today, we've got 12 18-tonne trucks coming

with all the stock on them.

Shop manager James is in charge of getting

all 216 tonnes of stock into the store.

All right, guys!

Get everyone spread out and then we'll start loading it off.

To cope with such a massive new store,

the company has invested in some cutting-edge tech wizardry.

They've got a brand-new bespoke trainer lift.

It's been designed to get trainers from the stock room shelf

to customers' feet in no more than 30 seconds.

It should be running constantly,

but the experimental technology is having teething problems.

You can see here that somebody has actually

pushed the boxes forward too much.

"Do not push the boxes forward."

And now we have to restart the system.

This should be idiot proof.

No doubt some idiot will find a way of causing a problem

that I'll have to come back and address.

The shop have only got a week to get

the lift up and running properly before they open.

While the shop team work on getting that right, across town,

JD are working on something else

to make sure the opening goes with a bang.

JD's marketing team have set up a nationwide competition

to find a new face for the Oxford Street store.

Thousands of youngsters have attended photo shoots

up and down the UK to try and get chosen.

The winners will be plastered on advertising across the new shop.

It's the brainchild of marketing director Steve White.

It gives a reality to the people that we photograph and use

cos they come from an everyday stable.

The main thing is, I would say, close to the consumer.

Every time I take a photo, I want to see something a bit different, OK?

-A bit different?

-That's great.

And a week later in Manchester, Steve's overseeing the final audition

with the winners of the regional heats.

-Come on, smile. That's it! Cool.

-That's great.

Brooke was selected in London and is one of the first on set.

She's good but needs some coaching.

Just take the tension out of your legs.

So just slightly bring them forward, your knees. Slightly relax them.

It's quite a change for Charlie,

who was preparing to join the Royal Marines.

Getting used to people just jumping in and fixing things.

It's all part of the job, I suppose.

-Just been demonstrating how to model.

-You have? How brilliant.

HE LAUGHS

Have you seen my legs?

Steve's legs might not impress but Ramone,

who came through the Manchester casting, certainly does.

He's got that dead masculine structure to the top of his body,

-hasn't he?

-Fantastic.

It's still early but the photographers

already have some favourites.

-It's really good. I love that.

-Yeah, she's brilliant.

-Good. A good find, then.

-Yeah.

-Great.

If I could be the face of JD Oxford Street, that would just be amazing.

Absolutely loved it, can't wait to come back.

Fingers crossed I will be a winner.

Both Charlie and Brooke, as well as fellow finalist Ramone,

were selected to be the faces of the new Oxford Street store.

-This is mental!

-HE LAUGHS

Later, it's the day before the opening and the boss is in town.

Here he comes.

And the store's teething problems continue.

I haven't got a clue at the moment.

Visitors come to Oxford Street to soak up

the glamour of its high-end stores and luxury products.

What they don't see is the work

that goes on behind the scenes to keep it running.

There's a small army of tradesmen and engineers that operate unseen.

And one of those is Dave Taylor.

He's been a plumber for over 20 years.

Today, he's covering the West End of London.

And at the centre of that patch is Oxford Street.

The West End ain't my favourite place.

I'd rather much be out in the suburbs

on a lovely little cul-de-sac somewhere

having a nice cup of tea and unblocking an old lady's drain.

But it's not always like that.

Today, he's primed for emergency callouts,

and that could mean anything and everything.

Out in the van, it's not long before he gets his first call of the day.

Hello? Yeah, I'll be as quick as I can. I'm in the area.

Place just off the back of Oxford Street.

Old lady seems to be in a bit of a panic. Very bad smells.

Moments later, Dave's at the address.

Nina runs a beauty PR company from the ground floor of her home.

-Nina?

-Yes, hi.

-Dave Taylor.

-Hi, Dave.

-How are you doing?

She's got some kind of plumbing problem in her boardroom,

and it's not very nice.

Yes, this is where all my clients come and it stinks.

-OK.

-Keep getting a really horrible smell in here.

-OK.

Nina needs the problem sorted.

She has to be able to meet with clients here.

Everything here is about beautiful smells and lovely products.

It's slightly embarrassing, to say the least,

that they come to this prestigious PR consultancy

to just smell this rank smell of drains, actually.

Drains, sewage.

Dave moves outside to have a look under the manhole by the front door.

Ooh, there's your problem!

Ooh! Wow!

HE COUGHS

That is pretty straightforward,

to tell you where the smell's coming from.

I would say that's been blocked for quite a while because...

..that is extra thick compacted sewage.

That...

is not good.

Dave's seen a lot of drains, and it takes a lot of sewage to impress him.

But he can't resist sharing the experience.

-Hi, Nina?

-Coming down.

-Have you got a second, sweetheart?

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, no!

-Look.

-Oh, I can't bear it. That...

It shouldn't be there, it should be down below the ground.

-It should be gone.

-Grace? Gracie!

-That's the whole street's.

-No, that's you.

SHE LAUGHS

It's disgusting.

I've never seen anything like that.

Yeah, not very nice. Not very nice.

Dave's found the problem,

but now he has to work out how to deal with it.

I need to get it clear to see if there could be something

stuck in the trap at the bottom.

It could be collapsed.

He's got a high-pressure hose in his van

and he taps into the mains water supply down the street.

Until he can clean out the drain, he won't know if it's a simple fix.

If he can't get it running,

Nina might have to put up with the smell for a while.

What I'm trying to do here -

it's probably going to smell a bit worse now -

I'm going to try and break this up a bit on the top,

this crust.

Later, we'll see if Dave can get Nina's pipes flowing again.

It's pretty nasty.

Back at the new JD store on Oxford Street,

it's 24 hours until opening, and there's still much to do.

Oh, no, not like that!

No!

The last-minute preparations continue.

Downstairs, Steve is waiting for chairman Peter Cowgill

to show off his team's work.

Where is he now? I'm getting anxious.

Has he got lost? Here he comes!

-Welcome to the new store, chairman.

-Thank you.

Immediately, Peter spots something he doesn't like.

We don't need the G.

The problem with the G is, obviously,

I think there are very few people who don't understand

that they're on the ground floor

when they've just walked in off the pavement,

so I don't really think we need to tell 'em that, G for ground.

Steve here will have that done for Monday.

Certainly, chairman. Certainly.

Aside from some minor design quibbles,

Peter's pleased with the shop.

I mean, it's on the prime street in Europe, top of the tree.

Um, and I've not seen anything that competes with it.

The marketing team are also in town.

Last time, we saw them pick three faces of JD -

Brooke, Charlie and Ramone.

And it's Ramone they've brought with them to film a special video

to showcase some more of the store's new technology.

And he's been working on a new look for the occasion.

I think they quite like it when I look stern.

Um, so I've nicknamed that one Black Steel,

because I use it quite regularly now.

Then give us the Black Steel.

Looking cool. Cool as you like, innit?

HE LAUGHS

He nails it every time!

After months of planning, the new store is ready.

The doors will open at 9am tomorrow morning.

Regional manager Kevin is a happy man.

Just wanted to thank everyone, it's been fantastic.

Thanks very much and well done.

But the store has one final challenge to throw at them,

the escalator to the first floor has broken.

Manager Moz has tried turning it off and on again, but that hasn't worked.

It's not happening, mate.

An engineer is called.

If it can't be fixed, staff will have to direct customers

to the upper floors through the shop via the stairs or lift.

All right. So, boys, I'll see you in the morning, yeah?

HE LAUGHS

Finally, at 11.30pm, the engineer arrives.

But it's immediately apparent this might not be a simple fix.

I haven't got a clue at the moment.

Is it a case of one of the belts going?

I just don't know, there's something not right there.

The reset button feels a bit moody and all.

The store opens at nine o'clock tomorrow morning.

We have up until then to get this sorted,

so we're working on the next nine hours.

Later, the success of opening day hangs by a shoelace.

-Sweetie, you got a scanner?

-They're all dead.

-They're all dead?

-Yes!

At a property just off Oxford Street, plumber Dave Taylor is battling

a huge back-up of sewage at PR consultant Nina's house.

It's disgusting. I've never seen anything like that.

He thinks the drain's been blocked up for a while.

So you wouldn't drive your car, would you, for three years

without servicing it?

It's a bit like a drain.

People think they can chuck everything down the drain

and it's just all going to go away. Well, actually, it don't.

So they need a bit of service every now and again.

Dave's used to the smell, but Nina is struggling to cope.

It really, really, really, really reeks.

But thank God we've got some candles.

Candles?

Probably won't make any difference at all, but you know...

Luckily as a beauty PR, Nina has a number of different products

to try and cover up the odour.

I've got to say, the smell is so, so bad.

Oh, that nothing is going to do it, nothing's going to do it.

Outside, Dave is still trying to get to the bottom of the sewage problem.

Keeps you fit!

You see, that's what happens, it gets caught in there.

There's a big U-bend there.

Finally, with the blockage removed, it's clear.

After a hose down and some disinfectant, it's all good as new.

-Thank you so much.

-It was my pleasure, you're more than welcome.

Thank you. OK, I'm going to go and do the big flush.

-Yeah, on both toilets, yeah?

-Yeah, OK.

Perfect, that's how they're supposed to work.

It's taken an hour and a half,

but Dave's got everything working again.

Nina, however, has another problem.

Since you've done that, I'm now hearing in my wall by my desk

this scratching. I absolutely promise you, three times.

Scratching on the wall.

If you've got rats, they've come in from somewhere else

and they've got in behind the cavity.

That scratching continues,

-you're probably better off to get pest control in, all right?

-OK.

-Sorry about that.

-No, don't you worry.

-I can sort your drain out but...

-No, no!

HE LAUGHS

And with that, Dave's done.

Another happy customer. And he can get back on the road,

ready for the next Oxford Street flood or blockage.

Oh, God, it's going again, Grace!

The Oxford Street police team have arrested a suspected pickpocket

who was posing as a wealthy Arab shopper.

Stand against here and look.

She's provided them with an address,

and now they're on their way to check it out.

But they have their suspicions about it.

They think it might be a fake holding address.

If they have reason to believe she doesn't live there,

then they won't need to bail her

and can keep her overnight to charge her the next day.

They arrive at the building.

They are looking for someone to corroborate the woman lives here.

But already, her story is beginning to fall apart.

She put 1/4, we've got 8. So we shall try each one in turn.

They're in.

And although they still don't know which door is their target,

one stands out.

My first impression is, at some point,

this door has been put in by the police.

Because that damage and that damage has been caused by a door enforcer.

OK, so this looks a good place to start.

Without confirmation she lives there, they can't enter without a warrant.

There's no sound from inside, so they move on.

-Hello? Sgt Carling, Met Police.

-Yeah?

-We are looking for a...

-Natalia Simionova.

-Do you know who she is? You don't know?

-No.

-No luck here.

-All right, let's keep trying flats.

-Nor here.

-We're looking for...

-This lady.

-I don't know her.

-You don't know, yeah?

I'm still working here.

The neighbours either don't know her or don't want to help the police.

The officer checks the roof

while his colleagues go through the communal post.

Their target's name isn't on anything.

Obviously, because we can't get access into her property,

she didn't have any keys with her for us to access,

no-one else is in the property.

So we're going to have to give up on searching the property.

The police can find nothing to indicate that the woman lives here.

Their suspicion remains that the address is a fake.

The lack of proof that this is her residence means the police

don't have to grant her bail

as there's too much risk she could evade court.

Oh, OK.

As they prepare to return to the station,

Sgt Carling gets a call with more good news.

PC Alex has been talking to the manager of another shop

who thinks the suspect paid them a recent visit, too.

The manager's just looked at the CCTV, seen her face and he says

that she matches the description of someone who did a pickpocket there.

Same venue on the 16th of August.

Footage clearly shows the woman entering the shop

and finding a likely victim.

She takes a shirt from a rack to use as a cover

to try and get her hand in the victim's bag.

On the basis of this evidence and that of their earlier security guard,

the custody sergeant agrees with the team.

With no confidence the woman has given her real address,

she isn't bailed.

Instead, she'll be kept in the station cells overnight.

Now we're going to the Crown Prosecution Service

with the evidence that we've got,

and we'll put her through to courts tomorrow, hopefully.

And after we filmed, the woman pleaded guilty

to one count of theft from person and one count of attempted theft.

She was given a 12-week sentence in total for both offences,

a result the team are delighted with.

As dawn breaks on Oxford Street,

it's all hands on deck at trainer store JD.

It's opening day for their brand-new world flagship store.

Manager James is working hard.

-Unfortunately, his main escalator is not.

-It's broken.

My team were here till midnight last night trying to resolve the issue

and the engineer was meant to be in again at 8.15 this morning but...

It's now 8.30 and it's not been resolved, so we'll see what happens.

In a competitive market and paying prime rents,

the shop's got to do well.

And a successful launch is critical.

Regional manager Kevin Dalston

is another who's put months of planning into getting it right.

We got a shop that's going to be open. And this guy's not going to be working.

-We're all upset about it, Kevin.

-It's not good enough.

Not good enough at all.

While they wait, James has no option but to continue as planned

and give his staff one last encouraging word.

Well, I think what we've achieved over the last

couple of weeks has been amazing.

Obviously, you're all here because you deserve to be, all right?

All right, guys. Good luck today and just enjoy it.

Finally, the engineer has arrived,

20 minutes after they were expecting him

and less than half an hour before they wanted to start trading.

-Is it... Is it sortable?

-It should be, yeah.

While the engineers battle to get the escalator working,

preparations continue around it.

-OTHERS LAUGH

-I love that! Excellent. Wicked.

But as the nine o'clock opening draws near,

Steve and the team are forced to make a big call.

Nine o'clock, couple of minutes now, about 9.07.

We're going to put the opening back to 9.30.

So the shutters will be coming up at 9.30.

All in a day's work.

Ten minutes later, the engineer's job is done

and the escalator finally starts.

You can't explain how happy I am that this is working.

How proud are we now?

We're up and running and in fact, ten minutes earlier than 9.30.

The store bursts into life.

Before long, however,

there are problems with getting shoes to the customers to try on.

Yeah, I've been waiting for about 15 minutes.

It's obviously opening-day, so I'm not expecting it to be quick.

It's not just them waiting. The trainer lift has stopped.

It's just tripping out. It's going to slow us down.

Without the technology the store relies on, it's impossible

for the stock room staff to meet the 30-second trainer delivery target.

You on it? You need to be a little bit quicker. Yeah?

Maybe get two people...

Stock room - Ben to the lift, Ben to the lift.

With the main lift still out of action,

problems emerge with more of the store's new tech.

Floor staff have scanners to read barcodes on the display shoes

to order them from the stock room.

It's only mid-afternoon and all of the scanners have got flat batteries.

-Sweetie, you got a scanner?

-They're all dead.

-They're all dead?

-Yes!

We're trying to order trainers, but all the scanners are dead,

so we're going to use the radios now.

Which no-one has prepared for.

Stock room, stock room, stock room, stock room.

No-one answers.

Sales Assistant Anthony can't get anything for customers to try on.

This is not how JD saw opening-day going.

-That means I can't order trainers.

-Clear your orders.

Clear your orders, please.

Downstairs, with neither the lift

nor the electronic ordering system working, staff are feeling the heat.

Down here, everyone's sweating. It's all a bit stressed.

Technology is letting us down today. Let's just say that.

But cometh the hour, cometh the man.

Floor manager Moz takes things into his own hands.

First, he finds replacement batteries upstairs,

so his floor staff can get back to full functionality,

before heading downstairs

to single-handedly get things moving again.

Next one, now it's coming.

Superstar childrens.

Got to go 727, size two, please.

Come on, guys! It's 20 seconds now.

Trainers should be out in 30 seconds. You got it?

He even finds time to reset the lift.

For the third time today.

Starting again? Setting up and all.

It's working now, it's going to work.

With the machine back in action and the party still going,

it's down to the staff to try and reach that sales target

in the time left.

You want these, huh? I'll put these at the till.

Connor, Connor!

Now two of the new faces of JD, Charlie and Brooke,

make their appearance and see their pictures for the first time.

-Oh, my God!

-SHE GIGGLES

-That's so crazy.

-We are everywhere.

This is a mental!

-Two of me.

-Three, three!

You can't speak, can you?

-Not yet, it's cool.

-Speechless.

-It's so cool.

I think we're all speechless, really.

A new store opening is always a step into the unknown.

Moz has had to do some firefighting.

Everyone's struggling, but you learn from your mistakes, innit?

You learn every single day, that's how I learn.

At 9pm, finally the shutters come down.

All right, listen. I've said it all week.

I want to say thank you and I want to say well done. All right?

OTHERS CLAP

It's been a difficult day,

but the team still manage to beat their sale targets.

It just goes to show the power of a flagship store on Oxford Street.