:00:00. > :00:12.Hello there. I'm Matthew Wright. You're watching Inside Out London.
:00:13. > :00:19.Here's what's coming up. Are councils using illegal parking
:00:20. > :00:23.tickets to get cash from drivers? Motivating and encouraging the staff
:00:24. > :00:28.to go out and penalise people and they only get paid well if they
:00:29. > :00:36.penalise people. That's the wrong way to run the structure. We find
:00:37. > :00:41.out why taxidermy is all the rage? It is creating a sculpture from
:00:42. > :00:45.living matter. You the want to get the guts out and then you have the
:00:46. > :00:50.raw materials to work on something quite beautiful hopefully.
:00:51. > :00:55.And the world famous Maida Vale Studios celebrate 80 years of
:00:56. > :00:58.recording history. The studio is so unique because nowhere else in the
:00:59. > :01:01.world has got so many artists coming through its doors every day. Some
:01:02. > :01:16.days we have six bands all in one go.
:01:17. > :01:24.Now, I reckon we've all heard about the millions some councils are
:01:25. > :01:32.raking in in parking fines. A sore point with many of us motorists. In
:01:33. > :01:37.our last series we revealed how two London councils, Camden and Ealing,
:01:38. > :01:41.have been setting ticket targets that could be illegal. We have
:01:42. > :01:43.discovered more councils appear to be doing the same. Keith Doyle has
:01:44. > :01:53.the story. The image might be tough and scary,
:01:54. > :01:57.but these bikers say they are really angels of mercenary, here on a
:01:58. > :02:01.mission to help. Today, they are alerting drivers to
:02:02. > :02:06.this mobile enforcement camera car in Camden.
:02:07. > :02:15.It is a trap. What we are actually doing today is assisting them in
:02:16. > :02:20.their goal of achieving 100% without penalties. They say tickets are
:02:21. > :02:28.written into the council contract and they say that means traffic
:02:29. > :02:33.wardens are unpressure to issue more and more fines. Please contact
:02:34. > :02:37.Camden Council. Camden Council told the BBC there
:02:38. > :02:41.are no targets in their contract and those hourly rates are there to help
:02:42. > :02:48.them to deploy the right number of staff, but that hasn't deterred
:02:49. > :02:53.these campaigners. There is nothing to suggest the parking enforcers we
:02:54. > :02:57.have seen today are not playing by the rules.
:02:58. > :03:01.Last September, we spoke to serving and former civil enforcement
:03:02. > :03:07.officers from Camden and Ealing. They told us the pressure to reach
:03:08. > :03:12.targets was so intense they would make the evidence up. Sometimes you
:03:13. > :03:18.have to go out and issue a dodgy ticket. They will leave blank pages
:03:19. > :03:26.in their pocket book. They will issue before an observation time.
:03:27. > :03:31.That's a shocking claim. How do you constructively create parking
:03:32. > :03:36.tickets? This traffic warden in a different borough is so disgusted by
:03:37. > :03:41.the dirty tactics, he agreed to show how it is done. Scared of losing his
:03:42. > :03:46.job, so he does not quantity to be identified. This is the hand`held
:03:47. > :03:50.computer. We use it every day. Graham is about to show us a trick
:03:51. > :03:55.for issuing fraudulent tickets. Number three is for constant
:03:56. > :03:59.observation. When you press, are you have to give five minutes
:04:00. > :04:03.observation to the vehicle. Graham says the trick is to pretend you are
:04:04. > :04:09.observing a car when you are not. Maybe the guy has parked for 30
:04:10. > :04:14.seconds or a minute, but you issue an instant ticket. By manipulating
:04:15. > :04:17.your hand`held computer, you can pretend that you have been looking
:04:18. > :04:25.at this car for five minutes when you haven't. You fool the computer.
:04:26. > :04:30.Some call it the cooking or boiling option. Graham claims thousands of
:04:31. > :04:34.tickets are being given illegally this way. Is there no way for the
:04:35. > :04:44.driver to prove that they are right and you are wrong? No. Graham told
:04:45. > :04:52.us it is down to targets and the pressure to issue enough tickets to
:04:53. > :04:57.get the bosses off your back. Andy is a butcher in Lambeth. Most days
:04:58. > :05:02.he goes to Smithfield Market and when he gets back, he passion
:05:03. > :05:06.outside to unload. What he is doing is lawful, but that didn't stop him
:05:07. > :05:11.getting a ticket. That particular morning we were unloading as normal
:05:12. > :05:17.and it was only when a passer`by notified us that a traffic warden
:05:18. > :05:20.was giving us a ticket. He apologised and told me he was knew
:05:21. > :05:25.and to challenge the ticket. Andy followed that advice, but Lambeth
:05:26. > :05:29.rejected his appeal, so he took the matter to the independent
:05:30. > :05:33.adjudicator. When I saw the paperwork, they said in the traffic
:05:34. > :05:36.warden's notebook entries, there was no evidence of me unloading, but at
:05:37. > :05:40.the same time they produced a photograph of me unloading. Andy is
:05:41. > :05:45.clearly visible at the back of the van and you can just make out what
:05:46. > :05:49.appears to be the wheel of his trolley. The adjudicator shook his
:05:50. > :05:54.head and ruled in my favour. What is going on here? Are councils really
:05:55. > :05:58.prepared to impose unfair tickets just to increase the number of fines
:05:59. > :06:04.and to make more money out of motorists? The law for councils
:06:05. > :06:11.could not be clearer. It is set out in the Secretary of State's
:06:12. > :06:22.guidance, penalties should never be based on the number of par parking
:06:23. > :06:28.tickets. Now we have got hold of more documents from boroughs from
:06:29. > :06:33.across the capital. Bromley Council made ?5.7 million profit from
:06:34. > :06:38.parking charges and fines last year. Up ?1 million on the previous year.
:06:39. > :06:43.Its contract with Enforce Company set an annual baseline of 72,000
:06:44. > :06:47.tickets. And for every Penalty Charge Notice over that number, the
:06:48. > :06:54.company gets a performance payment of up to ?20 per ticket. Hackney had
:06:55. > :07:02.a parking sur plus of ?7.9 million. Up to 2 million from the year
:07:03. > :07:05.before. Here traffic wardens are ranked into different bands
:07:06. > :07:12.according to their hourly ticket rates.
:07:13. > :07:18.Lambeth made a stonking ?12 million profit, more than double the surplus
:07:19. > :07:24.made 12 months earlier. It employs NSL which it requires to issue over
:07:25. > :07:27.200,000 tickets per annum. We showed the contracts to one of Britain's
:07:28. > :07:35.top commercial litigation lawyers. This appears to be serial breach of
:07:36. > :07:38.Government guidance by a series of councils, clearly, cleverly drafted
:07:39. > :07:43.by lawyers to circumvent the Government guidance on the subject?
:07:44. > :07:47.In your professional legal judgement, what do you think of the
:07:48. > :07:52.contracts? Disgraceful. Unacceptable. Arguably unlawful.
:07:53. > :07:56.That isn't the way the parking authorities see tr. In response to
:07:57. > :08:02.our story, they pointed out the number of tickets issued is falling.
:08:03. > :08:37.Lambeth Council told us: Hackney insisted it sets no target
:08:38. > :08:44.for the issue of Penalty Charge Notices or gives the contractor any
:08:45. > :08:51.incentives for its officers to issue more than they feel necessary.
:08:52. > :08:54.So, who has got it right? We are taking our evidence to the
:08:55. > :08:59.top. This is the Government department that deals with local
:09:00. > :09:02.authorities. Let's see what the minister thinks of the contracts?
:09:03. > :09:05.These look like the wrong contract to me. Motivating and encouraging
:09:06. > :09:09.the staff to go out and penalise people and they only get paid well
:09:10. > :09:14.if they penalise somebody. That's the wrong way to run the structure.
:09:15. > :09:18.A court may view these contracts are illegal. Do you want that to be
:09:19. > :09:22.tested? Well, as I say, I think they seem to be illegal in the sense that
:09:23. > :09:26.it is illegal for a local authority to use parking revenue to supplement
:09:27. > :09:30.this general revenue account. Our lawyers will look at that as well.
:09:31. > :09:35.It would be right to see this tested in law. We played the minister of
:09:36. > :09:41.our traffic warden showing us how to input false information to give out
:09:42. > :09:46.false tickets. So you are just pretending you have seen the car.
:09:47. > :09:48.That's unacceptable. It is disgraceful behaviour, but it does
:09:49. > :09:51.go to the point we have been discussing where people are feeling
:09:52. > :09:54.they are under pressure because the whole structure of how they are
:09:55. > :09:59.being paid. The structure of contract, of how the council is
:10:00. > :10:03.operated is encouraging them to issue notices. Just to issue more
:10:04. > :10:08.notice. That's wrong and it should stop. Can I leave you with the
:10:09. > :10:14.contracts? You promise you will take action? We will take these and get
:10:15. > :10:18.straight into them. It looks like he is off. These
:10:19. > :10:24.officers have decided the attention is too much.
:10:25. > :10:29.While the lawyers decide what steps to take next, these campaigners have
:10:30. > :10:35.their own way of helping motorists avoid tickets.
:10:36. > :10:42.Keith Doyle reporting there. Now, still to come on tonight's show:
:10:43. > :10:46.Elton John played here and I recorded him here. I have to say
:10:47. > :10:50.that in those days he was not particularly well`known as Elton
:10:51. > :10:57.John and in fact, even the last session I did here, we referred to
:10:58. > :11:03.him as Reg. London has always set fashion trends
:11:04. > :11:08.and right now the latest must have accessory is a nice piece of
:11:09. > :11:11.taxidermy. Celebs from Kate Moss to Derren
:11:12. > :11:14.Brown have been snapping up pieces for their homes, and no trendy
:11:15. > :11:17.gastropub is now complete without a stag's head mounted behind the bar.
:11:18. > :11:20.But as well as buying the stuff, more and more of us are sitting down
:11:21. > :11:26.and having a go at creating some ourselves. So we sent a rather
:11:27. > :11:28.squeamish Ian Lee to find out more. Some viewers may find some of the
:11:29. > :11:39.images in the report disturbing. A few years ago, decorative stuffed
:11:40. > :11:46.animals were the kind of things that many of us associated with creeky
:11:47. > :11:48.old Sherlock Holmes dramas, but things have been changing fast and
:11:49. > :11:58.many Londoners are falling in love with the art of taxidermy.
:11:59. > :12:02.Alexis Turner has been dealing in taxidermy for 20 years and has
:12:03. > :12:07.written a book celebrating its current revival. When I was a kid,
:12:08. > :12:11.taxidermy was seen as weird and very, very uncool, but that's
:12:12. > :12:16.changed a lot, hasn't it? It has changed enormously, yeah. Even in
:12:17. > :12:19.the last sort of, really in the last 10 years, but in the last five
:12:20. > :12:25.years. Pubs were getting rid of taxidermy in the 70s and the 80s and
:12:26. > :12:29.90s, now pubs and restaurants have revitalised and it is clean and
:12:30. > :12:35.sharp and it is designed. If you go into the Barbican, you have got a
:12:36. > :12:39.great big back bar wall of very smartly cased taxidermy. If you look
:12:40. > :12:43.at the high street storks the department stores, you will probably
:12:44. > :12:52.notice it in numerous shop windows. What caused the change? Fashion
:12:53. > :12:56.designers like Alexandra McKean and Damien Hirst. That gave it
:12:57. > :13:00.acceptability and brought it into the public domain. It must be an odd
:13:01. > :13:04.thing to walk into someone's house and there on the coffee table, there
:13:05. > :13:09.is an owl. You go in the bathroom and there is a stuffed penguin? They
:13:10. > :13:17.have shot up in value and things that were thrown out are now
:13:18. > :13:22.commanding large sums at auction. A giraffe could be ?15,000 or ?20,000.
:13:23. > :13:27.I will take two, please. I have got two. For taxidermy to become cool
:13:28. > :13:32.again, it had to do more than just wait for the fashion pendulum to
:13:33. > :13:35.swing back in its favour. It had to sefr its links with hunting and
:13:36. > :13:44.trophy collecting. I think people thought that animals might be killed
:13:45. > :13:49.for the purposes of taxidermy. But now, it is completely different. All
:13:50. > :13:56.the specimens that taxidermists deal with are road kill, natural death,
:13:57. > :14:04.cars and cats are the biggest killers. It is very regulated.
:14:05. > :14:07.People aren't just forking out for taxidermy to display in their homes
:14:08. > :14:11.and businesses, more and more Londoners are signing up for
:14:12. > :14:18.taxidermy courses to learn how to stuff things themselves.
:14:19. > :14:23.Over in Hackney, this cure osity shop holds classes for those who
:14:24. > :14:27.fancy learning how to stuff ethically sourced dead hamsters. We
:14:28. > :14:39.run a series of beginners taxidermy classes. There is several a month
:14:40. > :14:47.and they range from mice guinea pigs. We really can't put enough of
:14:48. > :14:53.them on. They sell out immediately. M It is really kind of nice sealing
:14:54. > :14:59.the anatomy of the animal first and they are frozen and they don't smell
:15:00. > :15:04.or anything. I'm really enjoying it. I think people automatically assume
:15:05. > :15:07.that taxidermy is for people who don't like animals. I have always
:15:08. > :15:11.loved animals and always had animals and it is extending its life further
:15:12. > :15:16.and in a really beautiful way, I think.
:15:17. > :15:20.You go beyond being a living creature, it is now dead. It is no
:15:21. > :15:27.more. So what you are doing is creating a sculpture from natural
:15:28. > :15:31.matter. So you just want to get the guts out and get rid of that and
:15:32. > :15:34.then you have the raw materials to work on something quite beautiful
:15:35. > :15:40.really. Courses like this are springing up over the capital. I
:15:41. > :15:48.head on down to Borough to get a masterclass from the tutor at the
:15:49. > :15:52.London Taxidermy Academy. I am finding this horrible to deal with.
:15:53. > :16:03.Do you need a strong stomach? Because it is frozen, everything is
:16:04. > :16:07.intact. Most of the people who come to my classes say I am really
:16:08. > :16:12.nervous, I am really squeezy and as soon as they sit down and touch the
:16:13. > :16:19.animal, all the worries vanish and they become enthralled by it and
:16:20. > :16:22.absorbed. There is a resurgence. Particularly in the last year of
:16:23. > :16:28.young people coming in and wanting to learn it to inform their
:16:29. > :16:35.practise, whether that's fashion, art, we get milliners and surgeons.
:16:36. > :16:42.A lot of people fall down. The sewing scares them. I am not good at
:16:43. > :16:45.sewing, I would have to get my mother`in`law to come and do this
:16:46. > :16:51.for me as I did with a button the other day. The technique is being
:16:52. > :16:57.recovered in classes like these had their heyday in the world of Queen
:16:58. > :17:01.Victoria. Stuffed birds and animals were the on real way for members of
:17:02. > :17:06.the public to get up close and personal with the natural world. One
:17:07. > :17:12.of the capital's best collections can be found in the museum in Forest
:17:13. > :17:16.Hill. There was all sorts of collecting going on. Different parts
:17:17. > :17:20.of the empire. Amazing and intriguing animals were brought back
:17:21. > :17:24.from Africa and innia. Thousands of people `` India. Thousands of people
:17:25. > :17:29.flocked to see these animals. It started off a craze really for all
:17:30. > :17:35.sorts of different strands of taxidermy, displaying birds in domes
:17:36. > :17:42.for example. The prize specimen is a stuffed walrus which ended up bigger
:17:43. > :17:46.than any living walrus I have ever seen. He is overstretched and over
:17:47. > :17:52.stuffed than you might see a walrus in the wild. He lost his wrinkles
:17:53. > :17:55.because the taxidermists didn't have any reference material at the time.
:17:56. > :17:59.They probably didn't have a photograph to look at or many
:18:00. > :18:03.sketches and they had to do their best really.
:18:04. > :18:07.London's latest embrace of taxidermy has been welcome by some of those
:18:08. > :18:14.who help drive the revival in the first place. Artist Poly Morgan has
:18:15. > :18:21.been creating taxidermy art works for 20 years with some fetching six
:18:22. > :18:25.figure sums. When I started doing it, people would want to know where
:18:26. > :18:28.I got the animals from. I the don't get that. They take it for granted
:18:29. > :18:34.that I'm not killing animals. I hope it is educating everyone and
:18:35. > :18:38.preventing people thinking taxidermists as these weirdos in the
:18:39. > :18:43.basement somewhere. The public's appreciates helps Polly find the raw
:18:44. > :18:52.materials for her art works. People will call me and say they have found
:18:53. > :18:59.something. This ganet is from Liverpool. A woman kindly posted it
:19:00. > :19:04.to me. We have an owl. Someone contacted me via Facebook. A
:19:05. > :19:09.fisherman shot this dead because it was catching his fish. Like many of
:19:10. > :19:13.the Londoners discovering taxidermy now, Polly finds the practise
:19:14. > :19:17.rewarding. From the second I started doing it, I was hooked. It satisfied
:19:18. > :19:23.so many interests of mine. It span froms science to art and the whole
:19:24. > :19:31.spectrum really. It is interesting to see where people are going to
:19:32. > :19:38.take it next. A lot more happened in the contexts than in taxidermy. I'm
:19:39. > :19:46.interested to see what people will do with it really.
:19:47. > :19:52.Recording music is a doddle these days. All you need is a bedroom, a
:19:53. > :19:55.computer, microphone and away you go! Which might explain why so many
:19:56. > :20:01.of the capital's recording studios have been closing down, but there is
:20:02. > :20:10.one legendary institution that's going strong, the BBC's very own
:20:11. > :20:18.Maida Vale Recording Studios. This year, they are celebrating their
:20:19. > :20:27.80th birthday. # Close your eyes #
:20:28. > :20:31.These instruments belonged to the BBC Symphony Orchestra and are being
:20:32. > :20:36.unloaded into the Maida Vale Studios as they have been since 1934.
:20:37. > :20:42.But for many years, the studios have recorded the very best of modern
:20:43. > :20:47.rock and pop, renowned worldwide. The studio is so unique because
:20:48. > :20:50.nowhere else in the world has so many artists coming through its
:20:51. > :20:54.doors. Some days we have six bands in one go. Of often people will walk
:20:55. > :21:00.past our studio and they will look in and think, " Look at that huge,
:21:01. > :21:08.great orchestra." I remember Kylie popped her head in one day. We are
:21:09. > :21:11.sitting here in the studio where The Beatles recorded. It sounded ten
:21:12. > :21:15.times in that room than we heard it before.
:21:16. > :21:29.Once in through the door, you quickly discover this place is a
:21:30. > :21:36.maze of corridors, but they lead to rooms oozing with musical history.
:21:37. > :21:40.Studio one has recorded memorable works since Sir Adrian Boult
:21:41. > :21:53.conducted the orchestra at Maida Vale in the 1930s.
:21:54. > :21:57.Today, Strauss is in the house! For us, there is a lot of history
:21:58. > :22:03.here in this building. The people who have conducted the orchestra
:22:04. > :22:07.here. People like Stravinsky and Toscinini and there is a lot of
:22:08. > :22:11.history. The list and range of world`class artists that have come
:22:12. > :22:21.through these doors is extraordinary.
:22:22. > :22:28.Richard Strauss, whose music we have been rehearsing today, he was here
:22:29. > :22:35.using the kettle drums that we're using in the orchestra still to this
:22:36. > :22:40.day. Prokofiev conducted the orchestra. It is a whose who of who
:22:41. > :22:44.is great in music. As radio listeners tastes broadened,
:22:45. > :22:49.it was realised that Maida Vale couldn't survive on classical music
:22:50. > :23:00.alone and had to expand. So it opened its doors to what was loosely
:23:01. > :23:05.termed popular music. By the time The Beatles queued with
:23:06. > :23:08.everyone else in the canteen for their lunch, there were seven
:23:09. > :23:12.studios operating most days of the week with superstars in and out all
:23:13. > :23:17.the time. We have derigged for most of the
:23:18. > :23:24.rock and pop bands over the years. Bing Crosby when he made his famous
:23:25. > :23:34.recording in Studio 3, that was with the Radio Orchestra. Some of the
:23:35. > :23:43.mike stands go back to the 50s. The stands haven't changed much.
:23:44. > :23:46.# Take me out tonight # Where there is music and there is
:23:47. > :23:51.people # Many of heard of this place though
:23:52. > :24:00.because of one man, John Peel. His sessions were recorded here right up
:24:01. > :24:09.until his death in 2004. Bands like Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd and the
:24:10. > :24:13.Smiths walked through these doors. Peel hunted out new music and as
:24:14. > :24:19.well as getting the really well`known bands in here, we got
:24:20. > :24:23.bands no one had ever heard of who evolved into public icons. Elton
:24:24. > :24:30.John played here and I recorded him here. I have to say in those ays, he
:24:31. > :24:34.was not particularly well`known as Elton John and on the last session,
:24:35. > :24:41.even the last session I did here, we referred to him as Reg. This place
:24:42. > :24:46.isn't just about a past when rock music was still called contemporary,
:24:47. > :24:50.the legacy lives on. Radio 1 records live bands here. Today, it is the
:24:51. > :25:01.turn of the much talked about and fancied Mount Kimbe.
:25:02. > :25:06.Maida Vale is the band's first proper studio session. It will be
:25:07. > :25:12.the first time they get to play in a real studio and here we get to
:25:13. > :25:17.document a band as they perform together. It is like taking a
:25:18. > :25:23.snapshot of a band's history. Bands like Coldplay who just played in a
:25:24. > :25:28.pub and somebody booked them to come in and over the years they turn into
:25:29. > :25:34.absolute megastars. Experiences like this are massive for any artist. I
:25:35. > :25:38.mean from our prospective, we try not to think too much about, you
:25:39. > :25:43.know, the stuff that's been recorded in this room and all that, but it is
:25:44. > :25:48.unavoidable when you are walking down the corridors and there is
:25:49. > :25:52.photos of the greats on the wall. BBC Radio was very important to me
:25:53. > :25:55.growing up and I live somewhere which was very out of the way and
:25:56. > :26:00.there was no real music scene so that was my musical education. It
:26:01. > :26:03.was something great to be inside something that's really positive to
:26:04. > :26:07.come out of that kind of system, you know. These studios played a big
:26:08. > :26:12.part in many of our musical he hadications. I remember ``
:26:13. > :26:17.educations. I remember Hawk Wood live on John Peel. Down the
:26:18. > :26:25.corridor, the double base player surprised me with her response, I
:26:26. > :26:30.was expecting Handel. I knew before Maida Vale long before I knew there
:26:31. > :26:35.was an orchestra here. I grew up listening to Radio 1 and the Maida
:26:36. > :26:40.Vale studios and that added a few extra smiles when I got the job here
:26:41. > :26:50.with the orchestra, this mythical studio and working here. That love
:26:51. > :26:55.of different types of music from the past seems to sum this place up as
:26:56. > :27:05.Strauss is rehearsed down one end of the building and Mount Kimbie cut a
:27:06. > :27:10.few grooves, a 19 piece Bulgarian choir record, you can't help, but
:27:11. > :27:14.think this place might be unique. It is such an important building for
:27:15. > :27:18.music in this country. It resonates with music and history and for every
:27:19. > :27:22.band that comes into this place, they are adding to that history.
:27:23. > :27:26.When you spa he can to people from other countries, they rave how great
:27:27. > :27:36.it is and you realise it is something we are lucky to have.
:27:37. > :27:49.Happy 80th birthday, Maida Vale. Do you knee what, I would loved to
:27:50. > :27:55.have been there to witness that John Peel session. Before we go, let's
:27:56. > :27:58.look at what's coming up next week: With London's house prices
:27:59. > :28:03.rocketing, many are desperate to get a foot on the property ladder. One
:28:04. > :28:08.place I went to, I think there were 130 viewing in one session. We are
:28:09. > :28:13.finding the best way of doing it is offering before seeing the property.
:28:14. > :28:20.With so many cash rich Chinese investors, are the decks stacked
:28:21. > :28:27.against first`time buyers? ?300,000, ?400,000, people can afford it here
:28:28. > :28:33.and they can afford to pay cash as well.
:28:34. > :28:36.And that's all from Inside Out London. If you missed any of
:28:37. > :28:43.tonight's show, catch up on the iplayer. Thanks very much for
:28:44. > :29:13.watching. See you next week. Jude Law has given evidence at the
:29:14. > :29:18.phone hacking trial. The court heard a family member had sold stories
:29:19. > :29:23.about him. A former reporter said he discussed intercepting phone calls
:29:24. > :29:28.between two newspapers. Anger over flooding, a government minister has
:29:29. > :29:31.been heckled by residents in Somerset.
:29:32. > :29:36.He promised an action plan. Dave Lee Travis has told the court
:29:37. > :29:42.he is not a sexual predator. He said he has a cuddly nature towards women
:29:43. > :29:43.and denies indecent assault charges. Bill Roach has been