05/03/2012 Inside Out London

Hello, I'm Matthew Wright. You're watching Inside Out London. Here's

We are on the trail of criminal gangs stealing petrol to order.

the price of fuel has gone up, the number of thefts of fuel from

vehicles and other scams has increased fivefold. We asked would

making forced marriage a criminal offence, really help girls at risk?

My dad is this massive Guy and I believe he is capable of hurting me,

so badly, but I could die. Over six years, we've been

following the ups and downs of the Eastenders most affected by the

Olympics. Now, with the Games almost here, just how have their

lives been transformed? I suppose I will be sitting at home watching

the Olympics thinking, Usain Bolt You've got to admit, the Olympic

site looks pretty awesome. But our first story is about something

completely different. Petrol. Anyone who's filled up at a service

station recently will need no reminding that petrol prices are

pretty steep at the moment. A situation that's driving a surge in

fuel thefts. The police have been recording a rise in what they call

bilking, where drivers zoom off from petrol stations without

settling their bill. Now, organized criminal gangs have been developing

more sophisticated ways of bilking to order. Operating a kind of

underworld concierge delivery service. We sent Wendy Hurrell to

The problem of petrol thefts at forecourts is becoming critical for

garage owners. Many of these places are family businesses. They are not

massive oil drilling corporations. They are franchisees. And the

profit they make on the fuel they sell is actually very small. With

profits at 5p a litre on fuel sales, they have to sell a lot of petrol

to make up for thefts. And customers are also finding it very

tough to afford their weekly fill up, which leads some to make off

Most sites are getting at least one drive off a week. That's nearly

�400 a month. They are filling up the tanks and driving off and then

you don't see them for a while. And then a week or two weeks later,

some more turn up. All of a sudden it'll hit you. And you'll get three

or four drive offs in a week. And they are not small amounts. They

are big amounts. Over the last year, Dan, who is a beat officer in

Reading, has seen a crime wave emerging. Hello, sir. My name's Dan

McGraw. I'm from Thames Valley Police. I'm just here to

investigate the bilking you've reported? Some garages on his patch

are seeing a surge in bilkings. Which pump did they take the petrol

from? Pump seven. At this Esso garage, the manager has called in a

drive off. The customer has left without paying for �80 worth of

fuel. It's all captured on CCTV, is it? Fantastic. So he's made no

attempt to pay whatsoever. I'll run this through the database. I'll run

the plates and find out who it is registered to and where he lives.

The driver of the white BMW may or may not have known what he was

doing. Either way, he's joined the ranks of the nation's bilkers. Bile.

Bilingual. Bilk. To balk, thwart. To cheat or deceive. Especially to

avoid making payment. So it's a bit like not paying your bill at a cafe.

What actually makes bilking a crime? With this type of offence,

there has to be evidence of intent. If there was no way to prove intent

at the time, then it is very difficult to prove that a crime has

taken place. What do bilkers actually do? One of the tactics

they are using at the moment is the use of stolen number plates. And

what you will see is that a person or a persons will steal a set of

number plates from a vehicle and use them to steal fuel. Normally

they stop at a pump. Most of them will probably look at the nearest

point from the exit, furthest away from the point of sale so the

cashiers can't see them. They will hide from the CCTV system. Act as

though they are going to pay and then jump back in the car. And then

obviously drive away without making payment. As the price of fuel has

gone up, we've seen it has increased five-fold. It shows that

this trend of stealing fuel is much more cost effective for the

criminal. The victims are not just garage owners. They are also

drivers like John Francis who found that his number plates were being

used by bilkers. And that he personally had to find the money to

replace them. You never believe it's going to happen to you. Let's

face it, it's nothing short of a mugging if it happens to a

pensioner. You presumably did not get that money back? No, I didn't.

It's 30 odd pounds out of my pension. To avoid your plates being

stolen, you can have anti-theft screws fitted for free. We can

normally do a car number plate, front and rear, in around two

minutes. This is the normal one. Very clever. Petrol retailers are

finding that these criminal gangs are really quite brazen. And that

CCTV doesn't put them off. In Greater London, there were 12,000

reported bilkings in the last year, costing garages over a million

pounds. And as petrol is such an expensive commodity, more organised

criminals have become involved. Lee runs a busy petrol station in

Slough with a garage and a small shop. A year ago, he noticed a

surge in drive offs. And the cars involved were unusually posh.

Bilking has traditionally been a problem in our business. What we

were finding was that the number of bilkings just escalated. And the

type of customers that we were seeing that were bilking were with

brand new cars. The scale and number of these crimes at Lee's

garage and others in Slough indicated to Thames Valley Police

that there was a serious and organised gang involved. So they

launched Operation Colt to catch them. Welcome to Operation Colt.

It's an investigation into offences of thefts from motor vehicles.

Predominately number plate thefts. I'll introduce you to the team

leaders that are going to take you to hopefully make lots of arrests

and seize lots of vehicles. Why did bilking suddenly pop up on your

radar? We noticed a big rise in the theft of number plates. They were

going from all over Slough. So we set up an operation to see why that

was. How prolific were these guys? Very prolific. This is both of them

coming into a garage with a Range Rover. The vehicle had stolen

number plates. You'll see that on the vehicle, the sun visor is over

the driver's face. That was a feature in a lot of the CCTV

footage. He has got his back to the cameras. In all, we calculated

something in the region of �40,000 in thefts around the Slough area.

And away they go. They leave the garage. They remove the stolen

plates as soon as they can. Over six months, Neil Penfold and his

accomplice Wajid Ali Khan stole petrol to order nearly 300 times.

After months of surveillance and undercover research, simultaneous

raids were planned in Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, involving more

The bilkers, Penfold and Khan, were caught red handed. Penfold was

actually filling a car when the police cornered him. And eventually

what were they charged with? Both males were charged with conspiracy

offences. Mr Penfold was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment and Mr

Khan to nine months on each count. With these two bilkers arrested,

the crime rate dropped in Slough and the surrounding areas. In the

Operation Colt raids, police also arrested 13 clients that Penfold

and Khan had supplied stolen petrol. And 15 cars were seized. It later

transpired that the clients had been paying half price for the fuel.

But no charges were brought because they maintained they had no idea

that the fuel had been stolen. a number of them, they were seeking

a bargain rather than knowingly buying stolen petrol. After

consultation with the CPS, it was felt that it wasn't in the public

interest to charge these individuals. But now the fear is

that, with petrol prices at an all time high, other gangs will also

Now then, still to come on tonight's show. What about these

children from Carpenter as primary? Back in 2006, the Olympic games had

not hit home for them. Six years later, it's a different story.

want to get 10 Olympic ticket and see how the Olympic Stadium looks.

For most people, marriage is a cause for celebration. A joyful

occasion that brings families together. But for a small minority

of young women in the capital, it's something that can end up

destroying family life. Every year, the Government's Forced Marriage

Unit issues hundreds of protection orders against parents who are

trying to make their children marry against their will. And now the

Home Office is deciding whether to change the law to make forced

marriage a criminal offence here in England. But would that really help

those most at risk? Shay Grewal Marriages where parents dictate

their child's future partner are a feature of a number of different

It is a practice that is particularly common in some of the

more conservative parts of the Asian community.

It almost always involves daughters, and becomes forced when they are

coerced into the marriage against their will. The Prime Minister

described it as little more than slavery.

Women who refuse to comply often find themselves rejected by their

families and treated as outcasts. And I know from personal experience

a little of what that can feel like. When I decided to marry my husband,

Sunny, my mother couldn't agree with my choice. Oh, my gosh. Look

at you. She felt it was up to her to decide

on the most suitable life partner for me. And she's never forgiven me.

This is my favourite picture, when my dad walked me in.

My in-laws have made me feel very welcome and I now live happily with

them. But my mother and I have not spoken for over eight years.

Asian girls can find themselves under huge cultural pressure when

it comes to whom they marry. And for some young women, it turns

their lives into a living hell. High, Anita, lovely to meet you.

Let's go and have a chat. I was 16 and I was a normal kid. I

just wanted to play football and netball and stuff like that, so I

didn't think about sex and stuff like that. So when I was forced

into this marriage, I didn't even know what would happen.

Anita was forced to marry her cousin, 10 years her senior.

When I was flown out to Kashmir for this family holiday, I could see

that everything was organised. relatives were greeting me as if I

was going to be their daughter-in- law. That is when it became a shock.

And once in India, she felt there was no way out.

You are just sort of on autopilot and you have to go with the flow.

Because what was the alternative? If I was to scream and shout and

say I didn't want it, I probably wouldn't be here today. My dad is

just this massive guy. Everyone is scared of him just when he walks

into the room and I believe he is capable of hurting me so badly I

In 2010, the Government's Forced Marriages Unit provided advice and

support for around 1,500 cases like Anita's. But many more victims

simply don't come forward. As the law stands at the moment,

forcing someone to marry against their will is considered a civil

issue - and isn't actually a criminal offence.

I am surprised that the number of people who don't know that

nationally in Britain, there is a consultation going on as to whether

to make forced criminal -- forced marriage a criminal offence or not.

Had I really done something so terrible that my parents could

disown me? Had they really stopped loving me? Was it such a crime to

want my own life? For all the thousands of cases we

are seeing reported, we are making a dent in reporting, we are not

seeing any prosecutions and civil law is not strong enough has a law

to send out that very strong message, that here in Britain, a

civilised society, we are not going to tolerate forced marriage. Why

are we tiptoeing around it? Because it is cultural? Because it is

different? It is abuse. Anita managed to escape from her

forced marriage after returning to England.

She had contacted the Home Office to try and stop her ex-husband

getting a Visa to join her and her father had found out.

There came a point during this time that I managed to leave the house

and run. I didn't have anything with me. I can't even remember if I

had my shoes on me, I just ran because I didn't want to be hurt. I

kept running down this field and I wasn't sure if he was behind me or

not. But I kept going for a while and suddenly, I felt this hand you

know just grab me by the neck and my hair and it was obviously my dad.

And he just dragged me home. I called one of my aunts, and she

just said just pack your bags, you need to try and get out. The weird

thing about it was my mum came into the room, saw me packing and was

folding clothes with me and putting them in the suitcase. And then she

left at one point and then came back and said, "Are you going? I

think you should leave". But the argument for criminalising

forced marriage isn't completely clear cut.

Creating a stand-alone legislation may not necessarily be the absolute

answer to address the root causes of this form of violence against

women. Criminologist Dr Aisha Gill has

recently carried out a survey of councils, voluntary organisations,

and lawmakers. 57% of the respondents basically

said that if a specific legislation was introduced, it would be really

difficult for victims to come forward, because often in these

cases the perpetrators are your parents. Forced marriage can be

prosecuted under common assault cruelty to persons under 16, child

abduction, kidnapping harassment, threats to kill, blackmail, false

imprisonment and - in the most extreme cases - murder.

There is an argument that actually there needs to be zero tolerance

when it comes to changing the mindsets of these perpetrators.

What would you say to that? There is a problem, I recognise

that and I think the message that I have is that I don't think we have

exhausted existing legislation to respond to this violation.

Put your bags underneath, please. What most people can agree on is

that there needs to be a greater raising of awareness in our

classrooms. Can you just leave me alone? Why do

I have to marry him? I don't know him.

How dare you betray me, your own husband. You betray me.

This course of lessons has been developed by the children's charity

Plan UK, and is being piloted here at the Hornsey School for Girls.

I think that it is really unjust that they are being forced to do

something against their will. Marriage should be based on love,

not on culture or tradition or what your parents think.

I am not sure, maybe you should have your parents' consent when it

comes to marriage, but you can't be forced to marry someone you don't

want to devote your life to. I think the girls have shown that

they have understood forced marriage a lot more and they have a

lot more idea of what they can do. Make sure you think before you act

it out. When I think back over the 20 years

that I have been teaching, it makes me think, I wonder whether or not a

student that went off the roll, could that have been forced

marriage? So it has heightened my own awareness that this is an issue

of child protection. I love my friends. I love my exams.

Why do I have to marry a guy I hardly know?

If you know someone who is being forced to marry, you will know kind

of what to do and how to help them with that.

I think we feel less afraid to discuss it with whoever we need to

discuss it with, because of the confidence and support and

different ideas we have got in the Educating both children and adults

is clearly important. But how do you educate people who are stuck in

a cultural mindset, like my mother? Before doing this programme, I

wasn't sure that criminalising forced marriage was the answer. But

it is Anita's harrowing story that has now convinced me that it is.

this was illegal 10 years ago, it would have definitely prevented my

parents from acting the way they did. It would have encouraged me to

speak up and say, this is illegal, you can't do this. It may well take

a few years for us to get used to this, but it will work eventually.

I am convinced it will work. If you'd like more information on

the issue of Forced Marriage, then visit our website. The address is

bbc.co.uk/insideout. Just click on London. Don't worry if you missed

that, I'll give it to you again at the end of the programme.

Since London won the Olympic bid back in 2005, this part of the

capital has undergone a massive physical redevelopment. And as well

as the dramatic changes to the landscape, the communities living

and working here have also experienced huge upheavals. For six

years now, we've been closely following the ups and downs of

those most affected by the Olympics. And with the Games now almost here,

we caught up with them to find out just how their lives have been

transformed. The sealed envelope with the name

of the winning city... I can vividly remember the day of

the announcement. We were all huddled in one of the offices in

front of the television as they opened the envelope and said...

London! CHEERING.

Everybody else screamed and shouted. And I looked across at my brother

and I think we were both ashen- faced, thinking "What do we do

now"? And the reason for Mitchell's

displeasure? Well, he's managing director of Tyrone Textiles, a net

curtain company started by his dad in the '70s. In 2005, business was

booming. But there was just one problem.

We were based on the Olympic site, on the actual stadium footprint. I

would believe that from my office, I would have been on probably lane

seven or eight. For Mitchell and his employees, the

clock was ticking. A compulsory purchase order was served on the

business, giving them just two years to leave and find a new home.

As soon as the Olympics was announced, the property values shot

up all the way around London, whilst the values that they were

offering us remained static. And with prices rocketing, there

was no guarantee they'd be able to afford new premises in the same

area. We're very concerned for our

business and the disruption it's going to be caused.

And it's not just businesses that have been affected by the Olympics.

Since the countdown to the 2012 Games began, life at Carpenter's

Primary School in Stratford has been anything but ordinary.

Famous people have come to our school.

I've met Kelly Holmes and Seb Coe. Over the last six years, the

children have had a ringside view of the Olympic site and have

captured it all on film. We're going from School to Holden

Point, to the viewing gallery for the Olympic site, and the children

are extremely excited. But we'll see what they make of it, we'll see

what their reaction is. I can see the Olympics.

Yeah? You can see the Olympics already? Where? Show me. There.

Really? Over there? What do you think happens at the

Olympics? What happens at the Olympics, do you know?

Carpenter's Primary is the closest school to the stadium and as work

began, it was the first to feel the effects.

They've been digging a tunnel that's gone right underneath our

school. So this is really the beginning, if you like, the first

project that they can really see the Olympics is really going to

affect them. Where's the tunnel going to go?

yards away from the school, we have this giant conveyor belt where all

the soil from the tunnel being dug is thrown up. And the quality of

air the kids were getting, the dust levels, have gone up - and the

noise levels as well. As the building work picked up pace,

its effects began to be felt throughout the community.

This is Len Bannister from Waltham Forest. He's a keen rambler and

back in 2006 he started hiking around the Olympic Park Site, and

instantly fell in love with it. The great thing about this area,

before the Olympics were even thought of, was there was a nice

little quiet nature reserve which very few people ever visited, but

which was a haven for wildlife. But it was a wonderfully quiet,

pleasant place with lots of insect life. The river ran alongside it,

it was overgrown, lots of weeds and a very wide variety of plant life.

As Len filmed his video diary, he realised that what he was recording

might not be there for much longer. I was very, very concerned about

the fact that it seemed to me obvious that this was going to be

totally destroyed. And as work on the 500-acre site

progressed, Len's worst fears seemed to be coming true.

Well, here I am having another one of those moments. Having walked

along this path with all these good intentions, I'm told that this path

is closed until 2008, and I'm not It's Friday 15th June, 2007. The

sands of time have finally run out for Tyrone Textiles.

The day has come, we're finally moving out. It's been a long two

years. Mitchell's clearing out his office today, so we're just about

to go and see how he's getting on. There's a few boxes here. How are

you getting on with the clearout? Oh, it's very depressing, going

through 30 years of my life. My mind was in turmoil. It was a

sad day, the place was desolate. We cleaned it out, had to take every

nut and bolt out of the place, that was part of the conditions.

For the last time I'm shutting the door on Stratford. Bye-bye, you've

Every time we seem to come back after a holiday, there's another

building gone up. It's amazing how things are developing so fast.

It's now just five months until the Games and the building work is

nearly done. It's affected the lives of all our video diarists -

but not always in the way they expected.

The urban wilderness Len fell in love with has been landscaped out

of existence. What will he make of it now?

My concern about the ecological aspects of the development have

proved to be ill-founded. What's going on here is a real experiment

in ecological development. You can see an area now which was my, if

you like, my little nature reserve. Now vastly superior, it's going to

attract far more wildlife. The only thing I would add is it's a bit

more cosmetic, but from the point of view of the plants and animals,

I think it's going to be a raging success.

And what about Mitchell Green and his family-run business? Did the

compulsory purchase order really mean it was curtains for Tyrone

Textiles? We're very lucky. We found a site

in Enfield and it was built to our specifications. Everything really

worked out fantastic. We're in a new home, the staff are all happy.

As far as the business is concerned, it was a real blessing in disguise.

So it's a thumbs up from Mitchell and Len, but what about the

children from Carpenter's Primary? Back in 2006, the Games hadn't

really hit home for them. What do you think happens at the

Olympics? Six years later and it's a

different story. I really want to get an Olympic ticket and see how

the Olympic stadium looks. What happens at the Olympics? In Loads

of people are going to be winning things, and it's really important.

The way the athletes never give up, even if they're tired, they just

keep on running for their country and their pride. It brings the

whole community together and it shows everyone what Stratford's

made of. The whole world is coming here to

Stratford, coming to our little bit I suppose I'll be sitting at home

watching the Olympics thinking, oh, Usain Bolt's in lane eight, he's

I have swayed from someone who was very annoyed to someone now who's

looking forward to one of the greatest developments, as far as

East Londoners are concerned, since Epping Forest.

And that's all from the current series of Inside Out London. We'll

be back on air in the autumn. If you missed any of tonight's

programme and want to catch up on the iPlayer, or want more