0:00:00 > 0:00:04Now on BBC News, Inside Out.
0:00:04 > 0:00:07Hello there, I'm Matthew Wright, and you're watching Inside Out.
0:00:07 > 0:00:11Here's what's coming up on today's show:
0:00:11 > 0:00:14The union wants guards to be responsible for train doors,
0:00:14 > 0:00:18but Southern Rail management want this to be the drivers' job.
0:00:18 > 0:00:20With frustrated commuters caught in the middle,
0:00:20 > 0:00:23we ask who's right.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26No one is more tired of this story than southern commuters,
0:00:26 > 0:00:31so why such chaos over who pushes the button?
0:00:31 > 0:00:36We expose the job-seeking scam that has defrauded hundreds of Londoners.
0:00:36 > 0:00:38Do you know how many people I've spoken to who have been
0:00:39 > 0:00:40affected by your fraud?
0:00:40 > 0:00:42Who have lost thousands and thousands of pounds?
0:00:42 > 0:00:45And we pay tribute to Britain's first black publishing house,
0:00:45 > 0:00:48still going strong after 50 years.
0:00:48 > 0:00:53I do not believe that multicultural education would have been possible
0:00:53 > 0:00:58but for the work that this book shop and others like it actually did.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12For the last six months, commuters on Southern Rail have been
0:01:12 > 0:01:16enduring strikes, cancelled services and skeleton timetables.
0:01:16 > 0:01:18The key issue at stake?
0:01:18 > 0:01:20Whether drivers or guards are responsible for closing
0:01:20 > 0:01:24the train doors.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28The RMT union claim the guards also have a vital role to play in terms
0:01:28 > 0:01:32of passenger safety, but in Europe they already have
0:01:32 > 0:01:35unmanned fully automatic trains, while British Rail introduced
0:01:35 > 0:01:37driver-only ones in the 1980s.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39So how did Southern end up in such a mess?
0:01:40 > 0:01:46We sent Mark Jordan to investigate.
0:01:46 > 0:01:51Another week of strikes and southern discomfort.
0:01:51 > 0:01:56It is the tale of the sad little green train, loved by no one.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59Managers said it was an efficient, and unions warned it
0:01:59 > 0:02:06would injure people if the drivers close the doors.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08The striking guards said that was their job.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11The commuters were furious.
0:02:11 > 0:02:13In all the land, no one had worst punctuality
0:02:13 > 0:02:18than the green trains of Southern.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21No one is more tired of the story than southern commuters.
0:02:21 > 0:02:27So why such chaos over who pushes the button?
0:02:27 > 0:02:34How did a railway grind to a halt over who shuts the doors?
0:02:34 > 0:02:38In Europe, I'll meet those already running unmanned automatic trains.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41Here on Southern, that is for another generation,
0:02:41 > 0:02:48because the UK row over guards has been running for half a century.
0:02:48 > 0:02:50The first of London Transport's automatically-driven trains...
0:02:50 > 0:02:541969 and London Underground opens the Victoria Line.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57Automatic, no guards.
0:02:57 > 0:02:59One man will be in charge of each train...
0:02:59 > 0:03:02Today the entire London tube network runs without guards,
0:03:02 > 0:03:04in tighter space, underground, and carrying more passengers every
0:03:04 > 0:03:13day than the entire UK rail network.
0:03:13 > 0:03:1934 years ago, British Rail fought for the same.
0:03:19 > 0:03:27These brand-new electric trains sitting idly
0:03:27 > 0:03:30in the sidings at Bedford sum up British Rail's problems.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33The trains can't be put into service because of a continuing row
0:03:33 > 0:03:34over operations...
0:03:34 > 0:03:35Sound familiar?
0:03:35 > 0:03:37In 1982, British Rail finally won this dispute
0:03:37 > 0:03:40on what is now the Thameslink and here is where things get odd.
0:03:40 > 0:03:41This is Brighton.
0:03:41 > 0:03:42Two trains here from London.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44This is a Thameslink.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48It has been running driverless since 1982.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52This is Southern.
0:03:52 > 0:03:53They run with a guard.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55Let's take Brighton Station.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57You say keeping the guards is all about safety,
0:03:57 > 0:04:01so are the public risking their safety travelling on the tube,
0:04:01 > 0:04:03London Overground, or Thameslink, because none of them have guards?
0:04:03 > 0:04:06They don't have guards and we have never accepted the guards should be
0:04:06 > 0:04:08removed in any other situations.
0:04:08 > 0:04:09Trap and drag incidents, where people are caught,
0:04:09 > 0:04:11are becoming more and more prevalent.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14What the train companies and the Government want you to do
0:04:14 > 0:04:15is just accept the risk.
0:04:15 > 0:04:21We do not accept that we need to have a risk.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24But Transport For London claim that incidents actually reduced
0:04:24 > 0:04:27when they turned their packed overground planes to driver only.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29The industry rail safety standards board was set up
0:04:29 > 0:04:31to prevent accidents.
0:04:31 > 0:04:39From the research we have done over the last 15 years, we are very clear
0:04:39 > 0:04:42that operating with driver-only is no more risky than having a guard
0:04:42 > 0:04:45present, and in many cases is actually safer.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48He says safer because video in the driver's cab now gives a good
0:04:48 > 0:04:51view of every door and rules out driver-guard miscommunication.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53The RMT dispute this.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56Deadlock.
0:04:56 > 0:05:01But if guards accept Southern's no-redundancies offer and become
0:05:01 > 0:05:05customers supervisors with other responsibilities, any
0:05:05 > 0:05:10of their future strikes would no longer stop trains.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14Most of the arrangements where drivers are operating trains
0:05:14 > 0:05:17alone at the moment are actually agreements that
0:05:17 > 0:05:18were reached by British Rail before privatisation occurred.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21But weren't we told privatisation would speed towards a modern,
0:05:21 > 0:05:25efficient railway?
0:05:25 > 0:05:29Not it seems if strikes risk ticket revenue and profit.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33There was no incentive to lose the guard, but then the Government
0:05:33 > 0:05:35gave Southern a unique fixed-fee contract, with no loss
0:05:35 > 0:05:39of revenue for strikes.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41Your contract means that when there is a strike
0:05:41 > 0:05:43you still get paid.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46The lost ticket revenue is picked up by the taxpayer, the Government.
0:05:46 > 0:05:47Is that correct?
0:05:47 > 0:05:54We have a very unique franchise in the way this one is operated
0:05:54 > 0:05:56and all fares and revenues do go to the Government.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00There is still a cost to our reputation when we have strikes.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02Southern claimed the deal was to cover uncertainty over
0:06:03 > 0:06:06the London Bridge redevelopment.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09Overcrowding, the late...
0:06:09 > 0:06:11That these angry commuters believe the Government
0:06:11 > 0:06:15and Southern are in a pact.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19We are not able to even start to demystify the close
0:06:19 > 0:06:22relationship between them and the Department for Transport.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25They are secretly backing them because that is their agenda.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28When they deliver new rolling stock, when they procure new rolling stock,
0:06:28 > 0:06:38that is a Trojan horse.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41They put through on the back of it is to de-staff the trains
0:06:41 > 0:06:42and the de-staff the stations.
0:06:42 > 0:06:43They call that modernisation.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46I'm saying to the Government we should be stripping this private
0:06:46 > 0:06:47company of this franchise.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50Talk to us, we are willing to take over the suburban trains.
0:06:50 > 0:06:51Can it be right that the Government ministers
0:06:51 > 0:06:53have their heads in the sand?
0:06:53 > 0:06:56I have met so many commuters who actually hate your company.
0:06:56 > 0:06:58That is a terrible position to be in, isn't it?
0:06:58 > 0:07:00I totally sympathise with our customers and this is why
0:07:00 > 0:07:04we need to make these changes very quickly now so we can bring
0:07:04 > 0:07:09everything to an end.
0:07:09 > 0:07:10If I just open this cabinet...
0:07:10 > 0:07:12In London this summer, something much more radical
0:07:12 > 0:07:15was attempted on the Jubilee Line.
0:07:15 > 0:07:23TFL ran a test on a driverless tube in a depot.
0:07:23 > 0:07:29It is an early precursor to some of the agenda that the employers
0:07:29 > 0:07:31and the Government has got about dehumanising the railway.
0:07:31 > 0:07:36That we are on the alert and trying to be vigilant about it.
0:07:36 > 0:07:40Drivers earn about ?50,000 a year, that is 8000 more than some second
0:07:40 > 0:07:41officers piloting easyJet flights.
0:07:41 > 0:07:51As TFL prepares to spend ?16 billion on trains
0:07:51 > 0:07:57capable of full automation, the RMT say their drivers are going nowhere.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00Here in Paris, they are hardly any immune to the old
0:08:00 > 0:08:10industrial dispute, but on their busiest commuter line
0:08:10 > 0:08:13they have done something that leaves TFL and Southern in the dark ages
0:08:13 > 0:08:14of railway technology.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16This is line one on the Paris Metro.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18It carries more people every day than the entire
0:08:18 > 0:08:19Southern Rail franchise.
0:08:19 > 0:08:25The trains have no guards, no drivers, they are totally
0:08:25 > 0:08:29automatic with 100% timing.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32It is very safe and very comfortable for them so it is not
0:08:32 > 0:08:33a big issue, in fact.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36While Southern battle over who pushes the door button, this
0:08:36 > 0:08:42entire line is driven from here.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46Any big event means more trains at the click of a mouse.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49It is quite amazing to think up to 750,000 people a day
0:08:49 > 0:08:51are speeded to wherever they are going from this
0:08:51 > 0:08:52one control room.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56In Paris, they are already automating the next line.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00Here in Haworth Heath, the chaos of Southern Railway has
0:09:00 > 0:09:04forced Clare to move out.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08Fourth day of the week and it has taken you three hours a night to get
0:09:08 > 0:09:10home, you're just ready to burst into tears.
0:09:10 > 0:09:17I would've been at risk of losing my job.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20Six months on, perhaps the greatest insult is both sides still claim
0:09:20 > 0:09:22the fight is for the passenger.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25We actually don't care whose fault it is any more, we just want
0:09:25 > 0:09:27trains to run on time and we want our lives back.
0:09:27 > 0:09:32Mark Jordan reporting there.
0:09:32 > 0:09:42Still to come on today's show:
0:09:46 > 0:09:49It was actually in the Black Panthers that I discovered Black
0:09:49 > 0:09:50literature my interest developed.
0:09:50 > 0:09:53Not only did I discover a whole range of books about history,
0:09:53 > 0:09:55slavery, poetry from Africa and the Caribbean, it just opened up
0:09:55 > 0:09:57a whole new world for me.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00When you are hunting for a job, it can be a great feeling
0:10:00 > 0:10:02being called up and offered a position with decent
0:10:02 > 0:10:03salary attached.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06Sometimes it pays to be on your guard because an undercover
0:10:06 > 0:10:08investigation for Inside Out London has exposed a sophisticated
0:10:08 > 0:10:17employment scam where candidates are offered positions in nonexistent
0:10:17 > 0:10:23companies, a scam which has, in all likelihood, fooled hundreds
0:10:23 > 0:10:25hundreds of job-seekers out of thousands of pounds.
0:10:25 > 0:10:30Now the special report.
0:10:30 > 0:10:35These men and women have been taken in by one man.
0:10:35 > 0:10:37I want to welcome you to HTS, I'm John Phillips.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40He oversees a job scam and sophisticated fraud.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43You are very well aware of what your employment
0:10:43 > 0:10:44life will be.
0:10:44 > 0:10:49We know it sucked in hundreds of people who paid thousands of pounds.
0:10:49 > 0:10:58These are just a few of them.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00I've rarely come across someone whose scam was so realistic and had
0:11:01 > 0:11:03such a huge impact on his victims.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06What we're going to do is give you a front row seat
0:11:06 > 0:11:08on how that scam works.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10Some highly qualified, some just starting.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14All were desperate to work in HR and progress their careers.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17They place their CV on job websites that can be openly
0:11:17 > 0:11:22accessed by employers.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26Later they got contacted by John Phillips, in charge
0:11:26 > 0:11:30of a large HR company, offering them what they
0:11:30 > 0:11:32thought was their dream job.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35The job was an admin assistant role, which was supposed to be
0:11:35 > 0:11:36based in London Bridge.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40I was going to be paid ?24,750.
0:11:40 > 0:11:42I couldn't be happier, my family was happy for me,
0:11:42 > 0:11:49and me personally, I just felt like finally I had made it.
0:11:49 > 0:11:59To understand this scam, we are going to apply.
0:12:02 > 0:12:10Our undercover reporter, we called her Jane Smith,
0:12:10 > 0:12:12prepares a realistic CV and posts it online.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14On the kinds of sites that are victims have used.
0:12:14 > 0:12:18A few days later, a job description and an e-mail from one company,
0:12:18 > 0:12:22Premier Employment.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25And then a call confirming this to a man called John Phillips.
0:12:25 > 0:12:30Hello there.
0:12:30 > 0:12:31I'm just calling back about a job.
0:12:31 > 0:12:36OK.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39I have HR, it is 24,000, that role is 9-5, Monday
0:12:39 > 0:12:46to Friday, 20 days location.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49We find a website and see it is registered on companies house.
0:12:49 > 0:12:53All the job-seekers are told to come for a final interview before signing
0:12:53 > 0:12:55a contract and commencing work.
0:12:55 > 0:12:57Our reporter is on her way to an office in the
0:12:57 > 0:12:58heart of the city.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02But no sign of John at all.
0:13:02 > 0:13:07We are met by someone else, Tiffany.
0:13:07 > 0:13:11So basically they will put ?100 a month into your pension
0:13:11 > 0:13:17and you should be able to join the private health care
0:13:17 > 0:13:19plan and also they give you a free gym membership.
0:13:19 > 0:13:27One, two...
0:13:27 > 0:13:33Next is the crux of how Phillips makes his money.
0:13:33 > 0:13:35All were asked by different assistants to pay for accreditation
0:13:35 > 0:13:37to work at the company.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41We hand over our accreditation fee but are told it will be refunded.
0:13:42 > 0:13:45And then you get back 200...
0:13:45 > 0:13:48And she said I would have to pay ?480.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51And you need to bring the cash in order for you to
0:13:51 > 0:13:52start employment.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55You need to pay upfront before you start the job.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57So as the meeting with the undercover reporter was taking
0:13:57 > 0:14:02place inside this building, I was waiting outside.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05Now we have heard from other victims that when it comes to actually
0:14:05 > 0:14:09receiving the money, John is nowhere to be seen.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12So what I happened to record with my phone while waiting outside
0:14:12 > 0:14:13is very interesting indeed.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16I spot John Phillips, seemingly running operations
0:14:16 > 0:14:18from outside, and if that is in any doubt,
0:14:18 > 0:14:23look who comes in.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26Tiffany.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28Who we have given them money for so-called accreditation.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30She gives it to John.
0:14:30 > 0:14:39Initially we thought she might have been part of it,
0:14:39 > 0:14:44the later we discovered that she herself was being conned
0:14:44 > 0:14:48with a fake job and is just as much a victim as everyone else.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50This lady, Lucille, not her real name, was exactly
0:14:50 > 0:14:51like Tiffany, a senior manager.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54John persuaded her to pay for premises from her own funds
0:14:54 > 0:14:59to interview candidates.
0:14:59 > 0:15:04Her task, to get the accreditation money off them.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07One week I did five payments, they just give it.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10I just finished the interview and go back to John and give him the money
0:15:10 > 0:15:13back as cash.
0:15:13 > 0:15:18?2,000, probably more.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21Then, devastating, when the whole thing turned out to be a lie.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24It is hard to trust yourself when you have been through this
0:15:24 > 0:15:28and just get fooled like that.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32I do think we need to get him to stop.
0:15:32 > 0:15:34We receive a detailed list of instructions to start work.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38Our job, to find other candidates.
0:15:38 > 0:15:45We are sent a set of e-mails and numbers to call.
0:15:45 > 0:15:51There are 30 numbers and e-mails here and what is clever,
0:15:51 > 0:15:54so to speak, about this is were we to do our job and invite
0:15:54 > 0:15:56all of these people for interview it would mean
0:15:56 > 0:15:59about ?7,000 for Mr Phillips.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02He is aware of the cash value of our calls and gets jumpy
0:16:02 > 0:16:08when we don't make progress.
0:16:08 > 0:16:10You are not moving fast enough for me.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13No, well I don't understand what I'm supposed to be doing.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16Check your e-mails, you have not sent any e-mails from the e-mail
0:16:16 > 0:16:17we gave you.
0:16:17 > 0:16:18You're not paying attention.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20Are you reading what the company is sending you?
0:16:20 > 0:16:23Yes, I am, I read it, but some things were missing.
0:16:23 > 0:16:30We investigate Mr Phillips.
0:16:30 > 0:16:34He uses several aliases.
0:16:34 > 0:16:36John Phillips,Nathan Phillips as well.
0:16:36 > 0:16:37When I posed as a client...
0:16:37 > 0:16:39Can I check what your name is?
0:16:39 > 0:16:40Dale Barnett.
0:16:40 > 0:16:41Pardon?
0:16:41 > 0:16:46Dale Barnett.
0:16:46 > 0:16:48The firms he has set up have professional looking websites.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51We find more than ten, some using fake company directors.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55And we speak to numerous job-seekers who have never been paid.
0:16:55 > 0:17:00With reports online suggesting this scam has been going on for years,
0:17:00 > 0:17:03with possibly hundreds of victims.
0:17:03 > 0:17:09For these men and women, it wasn't just the money,
0:17:09 > 0:17:10it was staking everything on a full-time job
0:17:10 > 0:17:13and all that involved.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17I wouldn't say it is exactly depression, but it was a state
0:17:17 > 0:17:20where I was completely stressed financially and I didn't know how
0:17:20 > 0:17:21to cope with life in general.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24There is no company and there is no office, there is nothing behind.
0:17:24 > 0:17:28How can you possibly do that?
0:17:28 > 0:17:34Where is your humanity?
0:17:34 > 0:17:37John Phillips still thinks we are going to arrange him
0:17:37 > 0:17:38people to be interviewed.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40And usually he agrees to meet us in person,
0:17:40 > 0:17:43to push us to do the calls to get him the candidates.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45We would find a way to make money at every possibility.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47The world is very competitive.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51For us to pay you, that is recycling,
0:17:51 > 0:17:53we don't throw anything away.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56He says goodbye, but now we seize the moment to ask him some
0:17:56 > 0:17:58questions of our own.
0:17:58 > 0:18:00I'm from the BBC.
0:18:00 > 0:18:10I just wondered if you could tell me all about the high levels
0:18:16 > 0:18:17of fraud you been committing against many
0:18:17 > 0:18:19many people by lying about various jobs?
0:18:19 > 0:18:21I don't know what you're talking about.
0:18:21 > 0:18:22You don't want him talking about?
0:18:22 > 0:18:25We have been recording you order the last few months offering people
0:18:25 > 0:18:26jobs in fictitious companies.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28I don't know what you're talking about.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30Are you aware that what you're doing is an incredibly serious
0:18:30 > 0:18:31fraud, Mr Phillips?
0:18:31 > 0:18:33I don't know what you're talking about.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36Do you know how many people I've spoken to who had been
0:18:36 > 0:18:38affected by your fraud, who have lost thousands
0:18:38 > 0:18:39and thousands of pounds?
0:18:39 > 0:18:41What you have to say to them, Mr Phillips?
0:18:41 > 0:18:43No answer, I don't know what you're talking about.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46I've never seen a pernicious kind of fraud as like you
0:18:46 > 0:18:47are perpetuating.
0:18:47 > 0:18:49I'm not going to talk to the BBC.
0:18:49 > 0:18:50I think he is scum.
0:18:50 > 0:18:52I can't believe he is getting away with it.
0:18:52 > 0:18:54I don't know how we can sleep at night.
0:18:54 > 0:18:56I don't know if he hates people.
0:18:56 > 0:18:57He is a horrible human being.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59Since our investigation, John Phillips has gone underground
0:18:59 > 0:19:03leaving behind a trail of damage for his victims.
0:19:03 > 0:19:05October is Black History Month, which, amongst other things,
0:19:05 > 0:19:07offers the chance to celebrate the way black people have shaped
0:19:07 > 0:19:12our capital's culture.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15In north London there is a small but very special shop that started
0:19:15 > 0:19:17life as the UK's first black publishing house.
0:19:17 > 0:19:27It is now celebrating its 50th anniversary.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31It sits just across the road from the Piri Piri Chicken
0:19:31 > 0:19:41and next door to the dry cleaners.
0:19:41 > 0:19:46You would walk past it without noticing it.
0:19:46 > 0:19:48But here, in Finsbury Park, the tiny book shop
0:19:48 > 0:19:50is of huge significance.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53New Beacon Books has since 1966 quietly gone about this business
0:19:53 > 0:19:57of pushing black culture into the mainstream.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01Not only was it the first black publishing house and book-sellers,
0:20:01 > 0:20:05in this country but it started at a time when there was a very real
0:20:05 > 0:20:13need for what it did.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16If you look at the first few books we published,
0:20:16 > 0:20:19they were political, radical in the sense
0:20:19 > 0:20:28that they were coming from a Caribbean anaesthetic.
0:20:32 > 0:20:34It was quite simply an oasis in a dessert of knowledge
0:20:34 > 0:20:36about black history and culture.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40New Beacon was the brainchild of this man, a poet,
0:20:40 > 0:20:41trade unionist and activist.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44It published and sold books written from black communities all over
0:20:44 > 0:20:45the world ever since.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47John's partner, Sarah White, started the shop with him
0:20:47 > 0:20:48and still runs at now.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50It started in our bed sitting room.
0:20:50 > 0:20:52We had a book service, would you say.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56You wouldn't call it a book shop, it was a row of books on a shelf
0:20:56 > 0:20:57in our bare living room.
0:20:57 > 0:20:59We gradually built up a collection of books of black interest
0:20:59 > 0:21:05and we used to take them around.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08We had a motorbike and we used to take them around on the motorbike.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10We didn't get a shop front or anything like that
0:21:10 > 0:21:17for a long time.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21By 1973, they had managed to buy the property they are still
0:21:21 > 0:21:26in and open a proper shop.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29It meant for the first time Londoners could browse and buy books
0:21:29 > 0:21:35that they otherwise might never have got the chance to read.
0:21:35 > 0:21:37It wasn't fashionable to carry books by black writers.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41The idea of going into book shop and being readily able to pick up
0:21:41 > 0:21:44books about the Caribbean or written by black authors was not an easy
0:21:44 > 0:21:46thing to do.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49So this book shop, this publishing house, filled a massive gap
0:21:49 > 0:21:59where that was concerned.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12The book shop also houses the George Padmore Institute,
0:22:12 > 0:22:13founded by John 25 years ago.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17It is an archive storing material that tells of the experience
0:22:17 > 0:22:19of Afro-Caribbean in Britain and Europe.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22The documents they hold often relate to radical change and include
0:22:22 > 0:22:28groups like the once vilified Black Panthers.
0:22:28 > 0:22:30New Beacon worked closely with the Panthers selling
0:22:30 > 0:22:34books at meetings.
0:22:34 > 0:22:37I was a Black Panther.
0:22:37 > 0:22:39And it was actually in the Black Panthers
0:22:39 > 0:22:44where I discovered black literature and my interest developed
0:22:44 > 0:22:46and I founded New Beacon.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49It played a significant part in my life because not only did
0:22:49 > 0:22:51I discover a whole new range of books about Africa,
0:22:51 > 0:22:53history, slavery, I discovered a lot of poetry from Africa
0:22:54 > 0:22:57and the Caribbean, you know.
0:22:57 > 0:23:07It opened up a whole new world for me.
0:23:12 > 0:23:19Linton Crazy Johnson's ground-breaking Reggie poetry
0:23:19 > 0:23:22was hugely popular and gives us a greater insight into the black
0:23:22 > 0:23:24politics of the time, thus creating a greater togetherness
0:23:24 > 0:23:26and he reckons that is exactly what this tiny book
0:23:26 > 0:23:27shop was all about.
0:23:27 > 0:23:28Integration.
0:23:28 > 0:23:31We, the newcomers, adopt and adjust themselves to the way
0:23:31 > 0:23:33of life of the country.
0:23:33 > 0:23:42And the people that were over here already get to find out about us.
0:23:43 > 0:23:48New Beacon played a significant part in others getting
0:23:48 > 0:23:49to find out about us.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52The book shop was able to take that idea of integration even further
0:23:52 > 0:23:55by taking its books into schools and libraries for the first time.
0:23:55 > 0:23:57Our children were not being given access to anything
0:23:57 > 0:24:00about their own lives or their own history.
0:24:00 > 0:24:02One of the things that we did, that New Beacon did,
0:24:02 > 0:24:05was to make books available to libraries and to make books
0:24:05 > 0:24:06available particularly to teaching centres,
0:24:06 > 0:24:10professional development centres for teachers.
0:24:10 > 0:24:20We were getting quite a lot of orders from libraries.
0:24:23 > 0:24:29When libraries starting buying it was in the 80s,
0:24:29 > 0:24:36this is part of a Government response to the riots.
0:24:36 > 0:24:38It was an attempt to create a new middle-class.
0:24:38 > 0:24:40So you suddenly have actually government money,
0:24:40 > 0:24:43so the libraries have a pot of money to buy Afro-Caribbean collections.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46I do not believe that multicultural education as it came to be known
0:24:46 > 0:24:49would have been possible but for the work that this book shop
0:24:49 > 0:24:51and others later like it actually did.
0:24:51 > 0:24:52But it also did something else.
0:24:52 > 0:24:56It encourage young people, British-born, to write.
0:24:56 > 0:25:06It encouraged them to see themselves as capable of becoming authors.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11So from a very modest beginning of a few books in a bedroom,
0:25:11 > 0:25:16we get inspiration, integration and education.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18Not bad things to be remembered for after 50 years
0:25:18 > 0:25:24and still very quietly going about its business.
0:25:30 > 0:25:35New Beacon Books, what an amazing little place.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38That's it for this week's Inside Out.
0:25:38 > 0:25:41Don't forget if you have missed any of the show you can catch up
0:25:41 > 0:25:46on the iPlayer or head to our website.
0:25:46 > 0:25:47Thanks for watching.
0:25:47 > 0:25:52See you next time.