:00:06. > :00:16.Hello, I'm Matthew Wright. You're watching Inside Out London. Here's
:00:16. > :00:20.
:00:20. > :00:25.We are on the trail of criminal gangs stealing petrol to order.
:00:25. > :00:32.the price of fuel has gone up, the number of thefts of fuel from
:00:32. > :00:38.vehicles and other scams has increased fivefold. We asked would
:00:38. > :00:43.making forced marriage a criminal offence, really help girls at risk?
:00:43. > :00:49.My dad is this massive Guy and I believe he is capable of hurting me,
:00:49. > :00:52.so badly, but I could die. Over six years, we've been
:00:52. > :00:55.following the ups and downs of the Eastenders most affected by the
:00:55. > :01:02.Olympics. Now, with the Games almost here, just how have their
:01:02. > :01:12.lives been transformed? I suppose I will be sitting at home watching
:01:12. > :01:23.
:01:23. > :01:33.the Olympics thinking, Usain Bolt You've got to admit, the Olympic
:01:33. > :01:38.site looks pretty awesome. But our first story is about something
:01:38. > :01:40.completely different. Petrol. Anyone who's filled up at a service
:01:40. > :01:43.station recently will need no reminding that petrol prices are
:01:43. > :01:49.pretty steep at the moment. A situation that's driving a surge in
:01:49. > :01:51.fuel thefts. The police have been recording a rise in what they call
:01:51. > :01:59.bilking, where drivers zoom off from petrol stations without
:01:59. > :02:04.settling their bill. Now, organized criminal gangs have been developing
:02:04. > :02:06.more sophisticated ways of bilking to order. Operating a kind of
:02:06. > :02:16.underworld concierge delivery service. We sent Wendy Hurrell to
:02:16. > :02:21.
:02:21. > :02:27.The problem of petrol thefts at forecourts is becoming critical for
:02:27. > :02:31.garage owners. Many of these places are family businesses. They are not
:02:31. > :02:38.massive oil drilling corporations. They are franchisees. And the
:02:38. > :02:42.profit they make on the fuel they sell is actually very small. With
:02:42. > :02:46.profits at 5p a litre on fuel sales, they have to sell a lot of petrol
:02:46. > :02:49.to make up for thefts. And customers are also finding it very
:02:49. > :02:59.tough to afford their weekly fill up, which leads some to make off
:02:59. > :03:00.
:03:00. > :03:08.Most sites are getting at least one drive off a week. That's nearly
:03:08. > :03:11.�400 a month. They are filling up the tanks and driving off and then
:03:11. > :03:16.you don't see them for a while. And then a week or two weeks later,
:03:16. > :03:19.some more turn up. All of a sudden it'll hit you. And you'll get three
:03:19. > :03:23.or four drive offs in a week. And they are not small amounts. They
:03:23. > :03:26.are big amounts. Over the last year, Dan, who is a beat officer in
:03:26. > :03:29.Reading, has seen a crime wave emerging. Hello, sir. My name's Dan
:03:29. > :03:31.McGraw. I'm from Thames Valley Police. I'm just here to
:03:31. > :03:35.investigate the bilking you've reported? Some garages on his patch
:03:35. > :03:40.are seeing a surge in bilkings. Which pump did they take the petrol
:03:40. > :03:43.from? Pump seven. At this Esso garage, the manager has called in a
:03:43. > :03:49.drive off. The customer has left without paying for �80 worth of
:03:49. > :03:56.fuel. It's all captured on CCTV, is it? Fantastic. So he's made no
:03:56. > :03:59.attempt to pay whatsoever. I'll run this through the database. I'll run
:03:59. > :04:03.the plates and find out who it is registered to and where he lives.
:04:03. > :04:09.The driver of the white BMW may or may not have known what he was
:04:09. > :04:14.doing. Either way, he's joined the ranks of the nation's bilkers. Bile.
:04:14. > :04:20.Bilingual. Bilk. To balk, thwart. To cheat or deceive. Especially to
:04:20. > :04:25.avoid making payment. So it's a bit like not paying your bill at a cafe.
:04:25. > :04:30.What actually makes bilking a crime? With this type of offence,
:04:30. > :04:33.there has to be evidence of intent. If there was no way to prove intent
:04:33. > :04:39.at the time, then it is very difficult to prove that a crime has
:04:39. > :04:49.taken place. What do bilkers actually do? One of the tactics
:04:49. > :04:53.
:04:53. > :04:57.they are using at the moment is the use of stolen number plates. And
:04:57. > :05:00.what you will see is that a person or a persons will steal a set of
:05:00. > :05:05.number plates from a vehicle and use them to steal fuel. Normally
:05:05. > :05:09.they stop at a pump. Most of them will probably look at the nearest
:05:09. > :05:12.point from the exit, furthest away from the point of sale so the
:05:12. > :05:16.cashiers can't see them. They will hide from the CCTV system. Act as
:05:16. > :05:19.though they are going to pay and then jump back in the car. And then
:05:19. > :05:26.obviously drive away without making payment. As the price of fuel has
:05:26. > :05:29.gone up, we've seen it has increased five-fold. It shows that
:05:29. > :05:34.this trend of stealing fuel is much more cost effective for the
:05:34. > :05:37.criminal. The victims are not just garage owners. They are also
:05:37. > :05:41.drivers like John Francis who found that his number plates were being
:05:41. > :05:48.used by bilkers. And that he personally had to find the money to
:05:48. > :05:51.replace them. You never believe it's going to happen to you. Let's
:05:51. > :06:01.face it, it's nothing short of a mugging if it happens to a
:06:01. > :06:04.pensioner. You presumably did not get that money back? No, I didn't.
:06:04. > :06:07.It's 30 odd pounds out of my pension. To avoid your plates being
:06:07. > :06:10.stolen, you can have anti-theft screws fitted for free. We can
:06:10. > :06:20.normally do a car number plate, front and rear, in around two
:06:20. > :06:20.
:06:20. > :06:26.minutes. This is the normal one. Very clever. Petrol retailers are
:06:26. > :06:30.finding that these criminal gangs are really quite brazen. And that
:06:30. > :06:32.CCTV doesn't put them off. In Greater London, there were 12,000
:06:32. > :06:37.reported bilkings in the last year, costing garages over a million
:06:37. > :06:44.pounds. And as petrol is such an expensive commodity, more organised
:06:44. > :06:48.criminals have become involved. Lee runs a busy petrol station in
:06:48. > :06:53.Slough with a garage and a small shop. A year ago, he noticed a
:06:54. > :07:00.surge in drive offs. And the cars involved were unusually posh.
:07:00. > :07:05.Bilking has traditionally been a problem in our business. What we
:07:05. > :07:08.were finding was that the number of bilkings just escalated. And the
:07:08. > :07:15.type of customers that we were seeing that were bilking were with
:07:15. > :07:17.brand new cars. The scale and number of these crimes at Lee's
:07:17. > :07:22.garage and others in Slough indicated to Thames Valley Police
:07:23. > :07:27.that there was a serious and organised gang involved. So they
:07:27. > :07:30.launched Operation Colt to catch them. Welcome to Operation Colt.
:07:30. > :07:34.It's an investigation into offences of thefts from motor vehicles.
:07:34. > :07:37.Predominately number plate thefts. I'll introduce you to the team
:07:37. > :07:42.leaders that are going to take you to hopefully make lots of arrests
:07:42. > :07:48.and seize lots of vehicles. Why did bilking suddenly pop up on your
:07:48. > :07:51.radar? We noticed a big rise in the theft of number plates. They were
:07:51. > :07:56.going from all over Slough. So we set up an operation to see why that
:07:56. > :08:05.was. How prolific were these guys? Very prolific. This is both of them
:08:05. > :08:10.coming into a garage with a Range Rover. The vehicle had stolen
:08:10. > :08:14.number plates. You'll see that on the vehicle, the sun visor is over
:08:14. > :08:20.the driver's face. That was a feature in a lot of the CCTV
:08:20. > :08:30.footage. He has got his back to the cameras. In all, we calculated
:08:30. > :08:36.something in the region of �40,000 in thefts around the Slough area.
:08:36. > :08:39.And away they go. They leave the garage. They remove the stolen
:08:39. > :08:43.plates as soon as they can. Over six months, Neil Penfold and his
:08:44. > :08:45.accomplice Wajid Ali Khan stole petrol to order nearly 300 times.
:08:46. > :08:48.After months of surveillance and undercover research, simultaneous
:08:48. > :08:58.raids were planned in Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, involving more
:08:58. > :08:59.
:08:59. > :09:05.The bilkers, Penfold and Khan, were caught red handed. Penfold was
:09:05. > :09:08.actually filling a car when the police cornered him. And eventually
:09:08. > :09:12.what were they charged with? Both males were charged with conspiracy
:09:12. > :09:19.offences. Mr Penfold was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment and Mr
:09:19. > :09:26.Khan to nine months on each count. With these two bilkers arrested,
:09:26. > :09:28.the crime rate dropped in Slough and the surrounding areas. In the
:09:29. > :09:35.Operation Colt raids, police also arrested 13 clients that Penfold
:09:35. > :09:39.and Khan had supplied stolen petrol. And 15 cars were seized. It later
:09:39. > :09:42.transpired that the clients had been paying half price for the fuel.
:09:42. > :09:49.But no charges were brought because they maintained they had no idea
:09:49. > :09:51.that the fuel had been stolen. a number of them, they were seeking
:09:51. > :09:54.a bargain rather than knowingly buying stolen petrol. After
:09:54. > :10:00.consultation with the CPS, it was felt that it wasn't in the public
:10:00. > :10:03.interest to charge these individuals. But now the fear is
:10:03. > :10:13.that, with petrol prices at an all time high, other gangs will also
:10:13. > :10:21.
:10:21. > :10:25.Now then, still to come on tonight's show. What about these
:10:25. > :10:31.children from Carpenter as primary? Back in 2006, the Olympic games had
:10:31. > :10:37.not hit home for them. Six years later, it's a different story.
:10:37. > :10:40.want to get 10 Olympic ticket and see how the Olympic Stadium looks.
:10:40. > :10:44.For most people, marriage is a cause for celebration. A joyful
:10:44. > :10:47.occasion that brings families together. But for a small minority
:10:47. > :10:51.of young women in the capital, it's something that can end up
:10:51. > :10:53.destroying family life. Every year, the Government's Forced Marriage
:10:53. > :10:59.Unit issues hundreds of protection orders against parents who are
:10:59. > :11:02.trying to make their children marry against their will. And now the
:11:02. > :11:06.Home Office is deciding whether to change the law to make forced
:11:06. > :11:16.marriage a criminal offence here in England. But would that really help
:11:16. > :11:20.
:11:20. > :11:23.those most at risk? Shay Grewal Marriages where parents dictate
:11:23. > :11:33.their child's future partner are a feature of a number of different
:11:33. > :11:35.
:11:35. > :11:37.It is a practice that is particularly common in some of the
:11:37. > :11:40.more conservative parts of the Asian community.
:11:40. > :11:45.It almost always involves daughters, and becomes forced when they are
:11:45. > :11:48.coerced into the marriage against their will. The Prime Minister
:11:48. > :11:50.described it as little more than slavery.
:11:50. > :11:55.Women who refuse to comply often find themselves rejected by their
:11:55. > :12:00.families and treated as outcasts. And I know from personal experience
:12:00. > :12:09.a little of what that can feel like. When I decided to marry my husband,
:12:09. > :12:13.Sunny, my mother couldn't agree with my choice. Oh, my gosh. Look
:12:13. > :12:19.at you. She felt it was up to her to decide
:12:19. > :12:23.on the most suitable life partner for me. And she's never forgiven me.
:12:23. > :12:26.This is my favourite picture, when my dad walked me in.
:12:26. > :12:33.My in-laws have made me feel very welcome and I now live happily with
:12:33. > :12:35.them. But my mother and I have not spoken for over eight years.
:12:35. > :12:39.Asian girls can find themselves under huge cultural pressure when
:12:39. > :12:46.it comes to whom they marry. And for some young women, it turns
:12:46. > :12:52.their lives into a living hell. High, Anita, lovely to meet you.
:12:52. > :12:55.Let's go and have a chat. I was 16 and I was a normal kid. I
:12:55. > :12:59.just wanted to play football and netball and stuff like that, so I
:12:59. > :13:06.didn't think about sex and stuff like that. So when I was forced
:13:06. > :13:10.into this marriage, I didn't even know what would happen.
:13:10. > :13:14.Anita was forced to marry her cousin, 10 years her senior.
:13:14. > :13:17.When I was flown out to Kashmir for this family holiday, I could see
:13:17. > :13:21.that everything was organised. relatives were greeting me as if I
:13:21. > :13:25.was going to be their daughter-in- law. That is when it became a shock.
:13:25. > :13:28.And once in India, she felt there was no way out.
:13:28. > :13:32.You are just sort of on autopilot and you have to go with the flow.
:13:32. > :13:36.Because what was the alternative? If I was to scream and shout and
:13:36. > :13:42.say I didn't want it, I probably wouldn't be here today. My dad is
:13:42. > :13:46.just this massive guy. Everyone is scared of him just when he walks
:13:46. > :13:54.into the room and I believe he is capable of hurting me so badly I
:13:54. > :13:59.In 2010, the Government's Forced Marriages Unit provided advice and
:13:59. > :14:05.support for around 1,500 cases like Anita's. But many more victims
:14:05. > :14:08.simply don't come forward. As the law stands at the moment,
:14:08. > :14:16.forcing someone to marry against their will is considered a civil
:14:16. > :14:19.issue - and isn't actually a criminal offence.
:14:19. > :14:24.I am surprised that the number of people who don't know that
:14:24. > :14:34.nationally in Britain, there is a consultation going on as to whether
:14:34. > :14:37.
:14:37. > :14:40.to make forced criminal -- forced marriage a criminal offence or not.
:14:40. > :14:43.Had I really done something so terrible that my parents could
:14:43. > :14:48.disown me? Had they really stopped loving me? Was it such a crime to
:14:48. > :14:51.want my own life? For all the thousands of cases we
:14:51. > :14:54.are seeing reported, we are making a dent in reporting, we are not
:14:54. > :14:57.seeing any prosecutions and civil law is not strong enough has a law
:14:57. > :15:02.to send out that very strong message, that here in Britain, a
:15:03. > :15:11.civilised society, we are not going to tolerate forced marriage. Why
:15:11. > :15:14.are we tiptoeing around it? Because it is cultural? Because it is
:15:14. > :15:17.different? It is abuse. Anita managed to escape from her
:15:17. > :15:20.forced marriage after returning to England.
:15:20. > :15:24.She had contacted the Home Office to try and stop her ex-husband
:15:24. > :15:27.getting a Visa to join her and her father had found out.
:15:28. > :15:31.There came a point during this time that I managed to leave the house
:15:31. > :15:35.and run. I didn't have anything with me. I can't even remember if I
:15:35. > :15:39.had my shoes on me, I just ran because I didn't want to be hurt. I
:15:39. > :15:43.kept running down this field and I wasn't sure if he was behind me or
:15:43. > :15:47.not. But I kept going for a while and suddenly, I felt this hand you
:15:47. > :15:52.know just grab me by the neck and my hair and it was obviously my dad.
:15:52. > :15:58.And he just dragged me home. I called one of my aunts, and she
:15:58. > :16:02.just said just pack your bags, you need to try and get out. The weird
:16:02. > :16:05.thing about it was my mum came into the room, saw me packing and was
:16:05. > :16:09.folding clothes with me and putting them in the suitcase. And then she
:16:09. > :16:11.left at one point and then came back and said, "Are you going? I
:16:11. > :16:15.think you should leave". But the argument for criminalising
:16:15. > :16:17.forced marriage isn't completely clear cut.
:16:17. > :16:20.Creating a stand-alone legislation may not necessarily be the absolute
:16:20. > :16:25.answer to address the root causes of this form of violence against
:16:25. > :16:27.women. Criminologist Dr Aisha Gill has
:16:27. > :16:34.recently carried out a survey of councils, voluntary organisations,
:16:34. > :16:37.and lawmakers. 57% of the respondents basically
:16:37. > :16:39.said that if a specific legislation was introduced, it would be really
:16:39. > :16:46.difficult for victims to come forward, because often in these
:16:46. > :16:48.cases the perpetrators are your parents. Forced marriage can be
:16:48. > :16:50.prosecuted under common assault cruelty to persons under 16, child
:16:50. > :17:00.abduction, kidnapping harassment, threats to kill, blackmail, false
:17:00. > :17:05.
:17:05. > :17:08.imprisonment and - in the most extreme cases - murder.
:17:08. > :17:10.There is an argument that actually there needs to be zero tolerance
:17:10. > :17:14.when it comes to changing the mindsets of these perpetrators.
:17:14. > :17:18.What would you say to that? There is a problem, I recognise
:17:18. > :17:23.that and I think the message that I have is that I don't think we have
:17:24. > :17:28.exhausted existing legislation to respond to this violation.
:17:28. > :17:31.Put your bags underneath, please. What most people can agree on is
:17:31. > :17:34.that there needs to be a greater raising of awareness in our
:17:34. > :17:37.classrooms. Can you just leave me alone? Why do
:17:37. > :17:41.I have to marry him? I don't know him.
:17:41. > :17:44.How dare you betray me, your own husband. You betray me.
:17:44. > :17:50.This course of lessons has been developed by the children's charity
:17:50. > :17:53.Plan UK, and is being piloted here at the Hornsey School for Girls.
:17:53. > :17:56.I think that it is really unjust that they are being forced to do
:17:56. > :17:59.something against their will. Marriage should be based on love,
:17:59. > :18:02.not on culture or tradition or what your parents think.
:18:02. > :18:05.I am not sure, maybe you should have your parents' consent when it
:18:05. > :18:08.comes to marriage, but you can't be forced to marry someone you don't
:18:08. > :18:11.want to devote your life to. I think the girls have shown that
:18:11. > :18:15.they have understood forced marriage a lot more and they have a
:18:15. > :18:18.lot more idea of what they can do. Make sure you think before you act
:18:18. > :18:21.it out. When I think back over the 20 years
:18:21. > :18:24.that I have been teaching, it makes me think, I wonder whether or not a
:18:24. > :18:28.student that went off the roll, could that have been forced
:18:28. > :18:31.marriage? So it has heightened my own awareness that this is an issue
:18:31. > :18:34.of child protection. I love my friends. I love my exams.
:18:34. > :18:37.Why do I have to marry a guy I hardly know?
:18:37. > :18:40.If you know someone who is being forced to marry, you will know kind
:18:40. > :18:43.of what to do and how to help them with that.
:18:44. > :18:46.I think we feel less afraid to discuss it with whoever we need to
:18:46. > :18:52.discuss it with, because of the confidence and support and
:18:52. > :18:57.different ideas we have got in the Educating both children and adults
:18:57. > :19:05.is clearly important. But how do you educate people who are stuck in
:19:05. > :19:07.a cultural mindset, like my mother? Before doing this programme, I
:19:07. > :19:14.wasn't sure that criminalising forced marriage was the answer. But
:19:14. > :19:18.it is Anita's harrowing story that has now convinced me that it is.
:19:18. > :19:22.this was illegal 10 years ago, it would have definitely prevented my
:19:22. > :19:27.parents from acting the way they did. It would have encouraged me to
:19:27. > :19:31.speak up and say, this is illegal, you can't do this. It may well take
:19:31. > :19:36.a few years for us to get used to this, but it will work eventually.
:19:36. > :19:40.I am convinced it will work. If you'd like more information on
:19:40. > :19:45.the issue of Forced Marriage, then visit our website. The address is
:19:45. > :19:51.bbc.co.uk/insideout. Just click on London. Don't worry if you missed
:19:51. > :19:54.that, I'll give it to you again at the end of the programme.
:19:54. > :20:01.Since London won the Olympic bid back in 2005, this part of the
:20:01. > :20:03.capital has undergone a massive physical redevelopment. And as well
:20:03. > :20:08.as the dramatic changes to the landscape, the communities living
:20:08. > :20:10.and working here have also experienced huge upheavals. For six
:20:10. > :20:15.years now, we've been closely following the ups and downs of
:20:15. > :20:19.those most affected by the Olympics. And with the Games now almost here,
:20:19. > :20:24.we caught up with them to find out just how their lives have been
:20:24. > :20:27.transformed. The sealed envelope with the name
:20:27. > :20:31.of the winning city... I can vividly remember the day of
:20:31. > :20:35.the announcement. We were all huddled in one of the offices in
:20:35. > :20:38.front of the television as they opened the envelope and said...
:20:38. > :20:43.London! CHEERING.
:20:44. > :20:47.Everybody else screamed and shouted. And I looked across at my brother
:20:47. > :20:49.and I think we were both ashen- faced, thinking "What do we do
:20:49. > :20:52.now"? And the reason for Mitchell's
:20:52. > :20:58.displeasure? Well, he's managing director of Tyrone Textiles, a net
:20:58. > :21:04.curtain company started by his dad in the '70s. In 2005, business was
:21:04. > :21:09.booming. But there was just one problem.
:21:09. > :21:12.We were based on the Olympic site, on the actual stadium footprint. I
:21:12. > :21:16.would believe that from my office, I would have been on probably lane
:21:16. > :21:19.seven or eight. For Mitchell and his employees, the
:21:19. > :21:26.clock was ticking. A compulsory purchase order was served on the
:21:26. > :21:29.business, giving them just two years to leave and find a new home.
:21:29. > :21:32.As soon as the Olympics was announced, the property values shot
:21:32. > :21:39.up all the way around London, whilst the values that they were
:21:39. > :21:42.offering us remained static. And with prices rocketing, there
:21:42. > :21:47.was no guarantee they'd be able to afford new premises in the same
:21:47. > :21:53.area. We're very concerned for our
:21:53. > :21:58.business and the disruption it's going to be caused.
:21:58. > :22:01.And it's not just businesses that have been affected by the Olympics.
:22:01. > :22:05.Since the countdown to the 2012 Games began, life at Carpenter's
:22:05. > :22:08.Primary School in Stratford has been anything but ordinary.
:22:08. > :22:12.Famous people have come to our school.
:22:12. > :22:15.I've met Kelly Holmes and Seb Coe. Over the last six years, the
:22:15. > :22:19.children have had a ringside view of the Olympic site and have
:22:19. > :22:22.captured it all on film. We're going from School to Holden
:22:22. > :22:27.Point, to the viewing gallery for the Olympic site, and the children
:22:27. > :22:35.are extremely excited. But we'll see what they make of it, we'll see
:22:35. > :22:38.what their reaction is. I can see the Olympics.
:22:38. > :22:42.Yeah? You can see the Olympics already? Where? Show me. There.
:22:42. > :22:48.Really? Over there? What do you think happens at the
:22:48. > :22:51.Olympics? What happens at the Olympics, do you know?
:22:51. > :22:57.Carpenter's Primary is the closest school to the stadium and as work
:22:57. > :23:00.began, it was the first to feel the effects.
:23:00. > :23:06.They've been digging a tunnel that's gone right underneath our
:23:06. > :23:09.school. So this is really the beginning, if you like, the first
:23:09. > :23:12.project that they can really see the Olympics is really going to
:23:12. > :23:15.affect them. Where's the tunnel going to go?
:23:15. > :23:20.yards away from the school, we have this giant conveyor belt where all
:23:20. > :23:23.the soil from the tunnel being dug is thrown up. And the quality of
:23:23. > :23:27.air the kids were getting, the dust levels, have gone up - and the
:23:27. > :23:31.noise levels as well. As the building work picked up pace,
:23:31. > :23:36.its effects began to be felt throughout the community.
:23:36. > :23:39.This is Len Bannister from Waltham Forest. He's a keen rambler and
:23:39. > :23:47.back in 2006 he started hiking around the Olympic Park Site, and
:23:47. > :23:50.instantly fell in love with it. The great thing about this area,
:23:50. > :23:53.before the Olympics were even thought of, was there was a nice
:23:53. > :24:00.little quiet nature reserve which very few people ever visited, but
:24:00. > :24:06.which was a haven for wildlife. But it was a wonderfully quiet,
:24:06. > :24:15.pleasant place with lots of insect life. The river ran alongside it,
:24:15. > :24:18.it was overgrown, lots of weeds and a very wide variety of plant life.
:24:18. > :24:25.As Len filmed his video diary, he realised that what he was recording
:24:25. > :24:29.might not be there for much longer. I was very, very concerned about
:24:29. > :24:32.the fact that it seemed to me obvious that this was going to be
:24:32. > :24:36.totally destroyed. And as work on the 500-acre site
:24:36. > :24:42.progressed, Len's worst fears seemed to be coming true.
:24:42. > :24:45.Well, here I am having another one of those moments. Having walked
:24:45. > :24:55.along this path with all these good intentions, I'm told that this path
:24:55. > :24:58.
:24:58. > :25:03.is closed until 2008, and I'm not It's Friday 15th June, 2007. The
:25:03. > :25:07.sands of time have finally run out for Tyrone Textiles.
:25:07. > :25:15.The day has come, we're finally moving out. It's been a long two
:25:15. > :25:19.years. Mitchell's clearing out his office today, so we're just about
:25:19. > :25:22.to go and see how he's getting on. There's a few boxes here. How are
:25:22. > :25:28.you getting on with the clearout? Oh, it's very depressing, going
:25:28. > :25:34.through 30 years of my life. My mind was in turmoil. It was a
:25:34. > :25:38.sad day, the place was desolate. We cleaned it out, had to take every
:25:38. > :25:43.nut and bolt out of the place, that was part of the conditions.
:25:43. > :25:53.For the last time I'm shutting the door on Stratford. Bye-bye, you've
:25:53. > :25:57.
:25:57. > :26:01.Every time we seem to come back after a holiday, there's another
:26:01. > :26:04.building gone up. It's amazing how things are developing so fast.
:26:04. > :26:10.It's now just five months until the Games and the building work is
:26:10. > :26:12.nearly done. It's affected the lives of all our video diarists -
:26:12. > :26:15.but not always in the way they expected.
:26:15. > :26:19.The urban wilderness Len fell in love with has been landscaped out
:26:19. > :26:22.of existence. What will he make of it now?
:26:22. > :26:27.My concern about the ecological aspects of the development have
:26:27. > :26:33.proved to be ill-founded. What's going on here is a real experiment
:26:33. > :26:38.in ecological development. You can see an area now which was my, if
:26:38. > :26:46.you like, my little nature reserve. Now vastly superior, it's going to
:26:46. > :26:49.attract far more wildlife. The only thing I would add is it's a bit
:26:49. > :26:53.more cosmetic, but from the point of view of the plants and animals,
:26:53. > :26:57.I think it's going to be a raging success.
:26:57. > :27:00.And what about Mitchell Green and his family-run business? Did the
:27:00. > :27:05.compulsory purchase order really mean it was curtains for Tyrone
:27:05. > :27:10.Textiles? We're very lucky. We found a site
:27:10. > :27:15.in Enfield and it was built to our specifications. Everything really
:27:15. > :27:20.worked out fantastic. We're in a new home, the staff are all happy.
:27:20. > :27:24.As far as the business is concerned, it was a real blessing in disguise.
:27:24. > :27:29.So it's a thumbs up from Mitchell and Len, but what about the
:27:29. > :27:33.children from Carpenter's Primary? Back in 2006, the Games hadn't
:27:33. > :27:36.really hit home for them. What do you think happens at the
:27:36. > :27:41.Olympics? Six years later and it's a
:27:41. > :27:50.different story. I really want to get an Olympic ticket and see how
:27:50. > :27:53.the Olympic stadium looks. What happens at the Olympics? In Loads
:27:53. > :27:56.of people are going to be winning things, and it's really important.
:27:56. > :27:59.The way the athletes never give up, even if they're tired, they just
:27:59. > :28:01.keep on running for their country and their pride. It brings the
:28:01. > :28:04.whole community together and it shows everyone what Stratford's
:28:04. > :28:12.made of. The whole world is coming here to
:28:12. > :28:14.Stratford, coming to our little bit I suppose I'll be sitting at home
:28:14. > :28:24.watching the Olympics thinking, oh, Usain Bolt's in lane eight, he's
:28:24. > :28:25.
:28:25. > :28:28.I have swayed from someone who was very annoyed to someone now who's
:28:28. > :28:33.looking forward to one of the greatest developments, as far as
:28:33. > :28:36.East Londoners are concerned, since Epping Forest.
:28:36. > :28:41.And that's all from the current series of Inside Out London. We'll
:28:42. > :28:44.be back on air in the autumn. If you missed any of tonight's
:28:45. > :28:48.programme and want to catch up on the iPlayer, or want more