21/11/2013 Newsnight

Somewhere in Lambeth in south London, the details of what

detectives are calling an extraordinary case are slowly

starting to emerge. The specific remain vague, police say details are

being held back for operational reasons. What we do know is a couple

both in their late 60s were arrested at that house in south London

accused of keeping three women in a state of domestic slavery for

decades. The victims, now in a safe place are said to be traumatised.

The police are working out exactly what happened but say it is likely

to be a long drawn out process. At a press conference at Scotland Yard

the detective in charge of the case said the women all had controlled

lives and spent most of it indoors, but did have some limited freedom.

We have established that all three women were held in this situation

for at least 30 years. They did have some controlled freedom. The Human

Trafficking Unit of the Metropolitan Police deals with many cases of

servitude and forced Labour. We have dealt with cases where someone has

been held for ten years but never this long before. It was a number of

documentaries like this one on forced marriages that appeared to

trigger this news. One of the women in the house called the Freedom

Charity after seeing it. Police found her location and all three

women escaped. It has now emerged that a 69-year-old Malaysian woman,

a 57-year-old Irish woman and 30-year-old British woman were

rescued from the house a month ago. The 30-year-old has spent her whole

life in captivity. Officers are trying to establish whether she was

born in the house. All three women were highly traumatised and taken to

place of safety where they remain. They are in the care of a charity

who deal with people who are deeply traumatised. These are deeply

traumatised people and it is essential that we work sensitively

to establish the facts in this case. Detectives say although they are

aware of cases of people being held for up to ten years, they have never

seen a case quite like this before. The Metropolitan Police's Human

Trafficking Units receives reports of about 250 offences each year.

People working on the ground say the figure is rarely reported and the

real figure could be much higher. The Global Slavery Index estimated

between 4,200-4,600 slaves in the UK. Detectives at the National Crime

Agency think they encountered 2,225 potential victims of human traffics

in the UK. Exploitation for sex and work were most common amongst

traffiked People. Sex and petty crime for children. Campaigners say

human trafficking as a whole has been overlooked for too long in the

UK. The Government now plans to introduce a modern slavery bill next

year to tighten up the law. I can't go into details because I don't know

them, I can give you some clues, first of all I think slavery will be

made an offence with life imprisonment. Two is we are going to

have a commissioner, like an ombudsman who will be charged

directly to the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary to find out

what's wrong in this country and make a report every year to

parliament identifying what can be done to improve it. As far as I'm

concerned one of the most important things is going to be chasing

traffickers. Only 11 convictions for trafficking last year. 11, in this

country. OK there were other prosecutions but only specifically

for trafficking. The movement to abolish the slave trade in the 18th

century started here at this church in Lambeth. That was more than two

centuries ago, and feels like ancient history. Campaigners say

today's news is a shocking reminder that it isn't. We have the founder

of the Freedom Charity, which was first contacted by one of the women,

and helped negotiate their release. Frank Field is the chair of the

modern slavery review. Tell us how the women are? They are very

distressed about what's happened to them. But they are making steady

progress and I have spent a great deal of time with them now and I

think you know they are making as much progress as we can expect them

to. It has been very, very difficult for them. One of the women managed

to leave a message on your charity's 24-hour helpline? They spoke to one

of our professionals at the other end of the phone who realised the

seriousness of the call and immediately we started very

sensitive negotiations with the ladies about how we would manage to

get them out and manage their escape. What did she say in that

first call? The first call was actually saying that she had been

held against her will, and said it could, over 30 years she had been

held, and then it was a drip by drip kind of process of her revealing

information, and she just had one point of contact within the charity.

And it was pre-aranged when she would call and how it was done. It

was done very sensitively, I'm really fraud of Freedom Charity for

the work they have done over this. The woman was able to use a mobile

phone or landline? She was able to use a phone but in a secret way. The

people in the house didn't know she had that phone. You made

arrangements to contact them when the owners of the house were out? It

was done in a way so nobody would know they were on the phone. That

had to be done in that way, it was very secretive to ensure they

weren't putting any further danger on themselves at all. How alongside

the police did you help these women escape? Basically it was a process

of just over a week where there were lots of phone calls and they gained

the trust of the charity and by doing that they felt confident

enough to reveal enough information, and at this point we have contacted

the police they have got involved as well. They were on stand by, it was

a textbook rescue, they managed to walk out of the house. When the

owners were not there, clearly. When nobody was around they managed to

leave. You and the police were waiting for them? Yes, and we

managed to get them to place of safety where they are safe and

secure and they are getting everything they need right now. The

long-term worry is how this obviously has affected them and what

their futures will hold. They walked out with nothing? They have nothing

now and as a charity we are trying to support them the best we can.

What was that like when you first met them? It is incredibly humbling,

they threw their arms around me and thanked me for the work we have

done, and they met the person doing the initial negotiations with them.

It was a very, very emotional time. When we got the message that they

were outside the front door, the whole call centre erupted in cheers

and there were tears and everyone was incredibly emotional to know

that we had helped to rescue three ladies that had been held in such

horrific conditions. Can you tell us about those conditions, what had

they said been happening? They were held against their L the other

details, because obviously it is -- their will, the other details

obviously pending the trial, we have to be careful. In London you

wouldn't expect this to be going on, but it does happen. Let me bring you

in on that point, do you think this is part of the problem, we don't

really understand what slavery is in this country? No, we were talking

earlier about 200 years ago most people thought it was acceptable and

slaves were in shackles. And the great campaign was to change public

opinion that it wasn't acceptable. Now, apart from those who deal in

this evil trade the rest of the country I would think would be

appalled by thek cyst tense of this. What do you understand domestic

slavery to mean? It is not just domestic slavery, there will be

slavery in the sex trade, in labouring, in crime, in fraud and so

on, which is highly organised, let's hope this is not actually part of

one of those organised crime rings. Do you think this case emphasises

the need for further legislation? I think when you had a clip earlier on

from the police, they have made other statements saying what they

are looking for in the Bill so it will be used better, without the

uncertainties that there is at the moment. There is that angle but

there is another important angle. Although it was 30 years in

imprisonment this occurred in London. Where we have a dedicated

group of policemen who are to fight and counter modern day slavery. They

have spent quite a bit of time trying to build up contact and trust

amongst non-Government organisations. Like the Freedom

Charity which has been crucial. Now in other parts of the country there

is not that trust. So there is both the importance of changing the law

to make it more friendly to prosecution, and more friendly to

the victims of slavery, but there is also the job of how do we change

attitudes and policy that follows from that. One of the women who you

helped rescue is 30. Was she born in that house? She spent all her life

in captivity, basically. She was born there? We can't say if she was

born there. But she has spent her whole life there and known nothing

different. This is the first time she has had the freedom of movement

in being able to use a phone and experience some basic things in life

that all of us take for granted. Thank you both, sorry you wanted to

say something, quick final point? Key point is that we began our

evidence session its with victims of slavery and we will end with victims

of slavery, already they have made this very powerful case to have a

commission whose job is to raise public awareness. Of course there is

a need to change the law and change how policy operates, but there is

also a need for us to be more aware that amongst us, maybe not far from

us are people held in slavery. Thank you. Still to come, eventually.

Sometimes I press the button and I can see the lift coming but it goes

right past me, why does the lift hate me. It knows other people have

been waiting longer than you, what it is trying to do is minimise the

waiting for everyone. The Government promised that privatising parts of

the Probation Service would mean savings for tax-payers and new

innovative ways of managing offenders in the community, while at

the same time he pro-tectiing the public. A us -- pro-tectiing the --

protecting the public. After a Newsnight investigation we have

found that it is fraught with problems. Last year Serco won a ?35

million project in London to manage criminals doing community service or

payback. As we report, it is now seeming that the company can't

always open. It is a difficult balancing act, helping offenders

reintegrate while keeping the public safe. It is the role of the

Probation Service to maintain that balance. But controversial plans to

privatise parts of the service in England and Wales will threaten

that, say critics. The first major area of probation work to be handed

to the private sector has been in London, where we have discovered

serious failings. In October last year Serco took over the programme

for running community service across London in partnership with the

London Probation Trust. We spoke to people inside Serco and the Trust

and we have seen documentary evidence that raises concerns for

the safety of the public, the welfare of offenders and the

delivery of justice. The ?35 million contract Serco won means they now

have responsibility for community service projects on the ground. The

Probation Trust, which also tendered for the contract, still has

responsibility for offenders, assessing risk, monitoring progress

and imposing sanctions if offenders fail to comply with their sentence.

The day-to-day supervision of offenders rests with Serco, it is

this breaking up of the service that is causing concern. The Government

ran a competition for community payback in London. It admitted bids

from various organisations and ultimately Serco won with a

sub-contract with London Probation Trust, the main problem is it was

price competitive. Whoever bid and whatever the quality of the bids the

cheapest would always win. Serco and London Probation came in the

cheapest and now the cracks are starting to show. Newsnight has seen

a series of e-mails from the London Probation Trust's issue log,

offenders turning up to projects to find no superviser. Difficulty

getting through to Serco's control centre and attendance records wrong

and incomplete. Whistleblowers at Serco and the London Probation Trust

blame 40% staff cuts for pressures on the service. In our opinion there

are not enough projects or staff, the projects are oversubscribed and

anything oversubscribed causes problems. This was the Government's

blueprint for the future running of the Probation Service. They say the

way community service was run before Serco took over, didn't always

command public confidence. I will pay for success, I'm happy the

organisations working with me do well financially, but only if they

deliver results. The importance of keeping accurate records of

attendance is crucial to the smooth running of the Probation Service, if

an offender doesn't comply or fails in their community service officer,

the probation officer only as a short window to get them before a

judge. Without those documents the Probation Service can't help the

court enforce justice. In August the database where offender records were

stored and updated switched to a national database, during the

changeover records couldn't be updated for a week. Instead paper

records were kept, creating a backlog. We understand Serco

promised to have this dealt with by the end of August. It wasn't. There

was a backlog prior to that any way, obviously it did get worse, we did

have a week with no computer system, we in probation have been expected

to catch up with the missed work in that week. Serco just do not have

the staff to do it. We have received documents showing that between the

1st September and the 6th October, 1,362 records were not updated by

Serco. The Ministry of Justice estimate that is there are around

960 people starting community payback each month. It is not a drop

in the ocean. There was a change in IT systems and because of the bid

they put into the Ministry of Justice was so lean it doesn't

provide for any contingencies at all. If there is a change of IT or

you need extra resources they couldn't cope with it. This internal

e-mail shows that Serco were so overwhelmed with the backlog of

records, they asked London probation staff to assist with overtime. 362

records were still out of date in October. It is difficult for

probation officers to sanction offenders through called breach

proceedings. With the breaches if people fail to offend they get two

chances, the first time they get a warning letter, the second time they

get a breach letter. We have to get that into court, into the

prosecutors within eight days. That's the target. We're not getting

the information on a lot of cases until possibly four, five days after

they have missed. There are a lot of cases where there is no point even

sending them back to court, because it is not going to go through the

court procedures. This document shows since Serco took over the

contract, there have been consistent complaints of inaccurate and late

reporting, peaking in October this year. We have seen evidence showing

that right up until last week information collected by Serco used

to pend offenders back to court was incorrect. In a small number of

cases we are aware of, offenders have been sent back to court or

failing to do community service, only for it to be withdrawn or

thrown out of court, because the information was wrong. We're finding

it increasingly hard to enforce justice in these cases, because the

quality of the evidence often isn't there. We have to be sure that if

we're taking breach action against an offender that we have a robust

case. We are relying on Serco instead of our own information, that

information is often incomplete or late or of dubious quality. What's

more we have seen e-mails suggesting that prisoners on curfew who have

been electronically tagged may not have been monitored properly in one

borough of London, raising questions as to whether probation officers

knew where offenders had been. This is not part of the community service

contract, but the e-mail suggests that Serco had been sending

incidents of curfew breaches to the wrong mailbox at the probation trust

from September to October. The Ministry of Justice say they are

investigating. When Serco was awarded the contract last year, the

Chief Inspector of probation said it would be regrettable if work done

with offenders became fragments with more providers being involved. She

warrant it could increase the potential for communication

problems. The The one we are looking at is information accuracy and

timeliness... We took our evidence to a former Chief Inspector of

probation. What I have seen in your evidence is a pattern of inaccuracy,

it is difficult to judge as to whether these are isolated cases or

whether they are getting better or worse, but you have shown me

sufficient material that it calls in, it raises serious questions. In

my judgment there is a sufficient quantity of evidence here for

someone to be taking a very close look at it. The evidence we

discovered shows a private company has struggled to keep on top key

information, and they haven't been monitoring some offenders properly.

Those in the service say the breaking up of the community payback

scheme in London has had real consequences for the delivery of

justice. It comes as questions are already being asked about the

Government's wider plans for the privatisation of the Probation

Service. We contacted Serco they gave us this

What are the implications for the Government's plans to hand control

of Probation Services to more private firms and charters across

the country. Joining me Sue Hall chair of the Probation Chiefs

Association, and Max Chambers from the Policy Exchange think-tank. Sue

do you think there is a problem? Clearly the Allegations we have

heard are serious. It could be teething problems then? We are

talking about a contract 15 months in and inherited from London

probation trust as a going concern. Community payback in London is one

of 35 community payback schemes and the Government's plans will see next

year, not just 34 other community payback schemes, put out to

competition, but actually a much wider array of work with offenders,

probably about 70% of the case load that probation currently manages. To

move into that order of competition on the basis of very little

experience, very little evidence of the private sector being able to

manage probation work, competently, in the community, feels rash. Do you

think there is a problem? I'm not quite sure having just seen the

video how much that shows us about the wider implications. It doesn't

look like public safety was put at risk at all in the video. And what

we can be sure of as far as I'm aware, London Probation Trust and

the Ministry of Justice are pretty happy with the contract being run.

If supervision is deteriorating of the offenders doing the community

payback, potentially those offenders could be reoffending but no-one

would know? I think people would know, I mean reoffending rates are

published and are very transparent, published by the Ministry of

Justice. But the superviser, circumstance co-won't know -- Serco

wouldn't know? I don't think there is evidence of supervision

deteriorating and Serco as far as I'm aware are meeting and exceeding

their performance targets. I think it is difficult to draw wider

implications about whether the Government's reform, about reducing

reoffending not just about community payback, it is hard to draw those

links on the basis of an investigation that was

whistleblowers rather than the people managing the service. The

head of the London Probation Trust hasn't given you an interview, I'm

not sure if she's happy with the service. My understanding is MOJ and

the London Probation Service are happy with the contract as it is

run. It is with an efficiency of 37% as well as maintaining a good

standard of service. If we talk about reducing reoffending, case

loads supervised by the Probation Service at the moment have a good

track record of reducing reoffending. We have seen rates come

down over the last ten years. The rational of privatising the

Probation Service isn't because probation is a failing service.

There is a group of offenders within the system, the short-term prisoners

that currently are not supervised. It seems that the Government has

made the leap from need to go provide services from that Europe to

dismantling the Probation Service in order to provide the funding to do

so. That's a really huge leap, it is like bedding the farm on the throw

of a dice, that by doing this massive outsourcing you will provide

better result I don't think there is the evidence around it at the

moment, to give us confidence that will be so. In terms of the evidence

we have got two schemes that are running are payments by results

schemes. The Government is setting a clear objective and saying if you

cut reoffending we will pay you in full. If you don't we won't. That is

the incentive that Policy Exchange and the Government have been talking

about. One of those schemes in pet borrow, the reoffending results of

the cohort are 50 lower than the national -- 50% lower than the

national average. In Peterborough there is 15 months yet to run of

that, very, very early results on a very small sample. Can I put the

point that the NAPA representative made in the film, it is increasingly

hard enforce justice. Do you accept that? I don't accept that, I don't

think we saw from the IT issues that all probation trusts were having

that there is necessarily an issue around enforcing justice that is

exclusive to the private sector. I don't think that the investigation

proved that at all. What we're talking about is not just the

running of community payback but the running of probation supervision in

the round. What the Government is saying that the Probation Service

has not performed well enough in terms of producing reoffending. The

Government isn't saying that? The Government has said that. The

Government is saying that reoffending rates in relation to

under 12-month prisoners are too high, whom the Probation Service

doesn't supervise. They are suggest issing you do it in a different way,

and this contract costs tax-payers' ?25 million. If you were to

extrapolate from the costs of the London pay grabbing contract to how

much you would say down the country you would be Shahhedly mistaken.

There is -- you would be sadly mistaken. You couldn't make those

levels of savings across the country. Plans for privatisation

which are ill thought through, are being driven into quickly, that puts

the public at risk. If you have 70% of the case load and talking 190

,000, supervised by the private sector, models untried and tested

where there are even teething problems will put the public at

risk. I think the reforms are not being of A rushed way. There are

thousands of offenders not getting correct supervision and people

reoffending, we need reforms and we hope the Government will see them

through. P tonight the Ministry of Justice released a statement, public

safety has not been compromised in the delivery of this contract which

has provided one million hours of offender labour for London. Serco's

performance is improving month on month, they are meeting key targets

and outperforming the national average. 80% of offenders are now

successfully completing payback, # % above national average. All

offenders are deeply assessed. July figures show 90% of breach cases

were followed through by enforcement action by Serco. They are offering

enough placements to meet court demands in London. With innovative

ways of working there were some bedding issues at the initial stage

we are satisfied these have been resolved. We have asked the

probation trust to inform us where they have not received correct

paperwork that may have brought breached action. We will follow that

up with Serbing KOECHLT The Ministry of Justice holds contracts with

Serco and G 4. S and their investigation is on going.

How good a footballer was buy Lione Messi, top flight clubs are vying to

sign up an eight-year-old from Argentina, he has been watched on

social media from around the world. How can the sporting skills shown by

a primary school child be any measure of what sort of a footballer

he will be like as an adult. We have more. This is Claudio Nachafiel,

from Argentina and eight years old. Top clubs around the world are

fighting to sign him. And who can blame them. Prodigies have

mesmerised the world for centuries. The idea of young children zapped

with genius from birth. These kids from the Westway Sports Club in

London are hoping to be the next big thing in football. Does preordained

genius exist and why do so many called prodigies burn out. Ed Smith

is a former England international cricketer. Expectation works against

the enjoyment in sport, which is enjoyment and joy. Kids who mature

too early in expressing their talent don't develop the psychological

robustness to enable them to actually have that great career,

that perhaps they seemed predestined for. That is why there is evidence,

I think, that the late run can you preferable. In my own cricket career

I saw lots of people earmarked for greatness, get gradually overtaken

by people who were mentally better equipped for life at the top. These

kids are aiming high and the coaches are hoping to produce the next

sensation. Boys don't worry, heads up, come on. Of course some

supertalents like Lionel Messi, signed by Barcelona at 13, and Tiger

Woods, were standing out early. Others like Gary Neville flourished

rather later. Development seems to have a range of different at that

ject trees. Kevin Pietersen who plays his whatever number game, at

13 he was an offspinner Number Ten who was struggling to get into a

side in South Africa. There was nothing in his childhood that

suggested he was going to become one of the great batsmen of the modern

era. But it was his ability to make up his own mind and his ability to

be self-taught and not to have a track record of people having

tinkered with him too much, that enabled him, when he did, if you

like, get seized by ambition, to actually be in an optimal position

to make the most of it. Scouting operations have become increasingly

sophisticated. Premier League clubs are scrutinising players, deploying

data analysis and psychometrics on children as young as ten. The

pressure is ratcheting up, on players and parents. You can have a

10, 11, 12-year-old child who suddenly has up to that period had

their parents to guide them. All of a sudden you have agents involved.

You have got coach, you have got nutritionists and ologyists or

whatever, they all have an interest in that child. It changes the whole

dynamic. It goes from being something that is fun and enjoyable

and something to kind of do with your friends to being a full-time

profession. The temptation, all too often is to push too hard. But the

danger is if the young footballer or violinist is practising not for its

own sake but to please a parent or coach, they are far more likely to

burn out. The key in psychological terms is for the young performer,

the aspiring champion to care about what they are doing from the inside.

Even more the super talented excellence is a long journey.

Resilience is probably more important than early promise. But if

prodigies retain their joy and with a bit of God fortune, anything is

possible. David Cameron showed how much he cared about the environment

in 2006 by cavorting with huskies. The Hundred reports that David

Cameron has told aides to "get rid of the green crap", is this the sign

of David Cameron the moderniser or the right-wing populisim. We have

our guests with us to discuss this. What did Mr Cameron mean? That he's

realising that the priorities he outlined back in 2006 aren't really

relevant now and the green stuff has become a lot more expensive and

causing real pain in people's household budgets. His aim as Prime

Minister is to get cheap not green energy. He has made this choice. Are

you worried about the shift? It doesn't sound to me like the sorts

of worse that David Cameron uses, it sound much more like Linton Crosby.

You have to remember that there is nothing unconservative about

spending a small sum of money and helping the oldest and poorest to

insulate their homes. It is Conservative to support injuries

thriving throughout the recession, and now beg bigger than the car and

telecoms industries combined. Anti-green is antigrowth. In an age

where politicians are not trusted, it would be mad for one so known for

green policies to do a bolt. David Cameron is not very coherent? It is

when the facts change. You change your mind. The energy debate has

transformed since he got on the husky dogs a while ago. American is

cutting down its carbon by going for fracking, we should do that here.

Has it transformed because of what Ed Miliband said about freezing

energy prices? He was able to call out David Cameron and his energy

policies for jacking up bills. That is completely unacceptable, of

course Ed Miliband's bill but David Cameron is realising he has been

mugged by reality. The experience of Government has led him to revise

what was plan for getting elected, didn't quite work. In office he's

pivoting back, it is not so much moving to the right but to the

people. thepeople. 'S pragmatist? No, what you are seeing is he has

come under a lot of pressure from UKIP and certain sections of his own

party. There has been a reductive tendency within Government, which is

to go for the old fashioned policies that failed in the past under Hague

and Michael Howard, which is a narrow and fearful agenda which is

alienating young people and female voters, it isn't recruiting ethnic

minorities. If he's dropping the "green crap" won't that chime to

voters rather than undermining them?. It is undermining growth, why

would you do that because it makes no sense whatsoever. People are

worried about bills at the end of the month. One of the failures they

have is to tackle the big corporates. We have a problem with

capitalism in this country, not because there is too much, but there

is too little. We have crony capitalism able to get away with too

much. It is failure of regulation and complete myth to think that

these ideas are saying to concern energy which are very, very

conservative are the problem. That is the myth. Green policies have run

Germany into the found, it wasn't the same as we thought it was, we

does what any politician would do, chining his mind and quick. Is it a

vote winner? It is, he is giving help to those who need it most. The

polls show where they are at the moment isn't working. The polls show

if you reduce a lot of things like this and you appeal to the moderate

basis little it is over. The Conservative Party are challenged

because they are not winning over the younger voters because the brand

is so damaged. We weren't transformed in the election and

still not now. Theseth will do more damage to the Conservatives. The

Queen visited the shard in London today. We can assume she look a lift

to the top and probably didn't have to wait for it. Nor did she have to

wait for the lift when she visited BBC New Broadcasting House, and just

as well, staff have been grumbling about waiting times for the lifts

here since we move in. How many minutes do we average waiting for

lifts. We have been hanging around in one or two lift lobbies for a few

hours of his life, he won't be getting back. This report contains

some strobing. The world is increasingly an urban place, more

than half our planet's citizens live in cities. These cities are engines

of innovation and economic activity, they can be good for the planet too.

Because densely-packed cities thrive on bus, trains and subway systems

rather than cars. But all of this would be impossible without one of

the most underrated inventions of the past two centuries. It is the

lift, and if you will forgive a little self-obsession here at

Newsnight, we have been thinking a lot about lifts recently, we have

moved to New Broadcasting House, a brand new building, but there is a

problem with the lifts. It takes a long time for them to arrive. When

they do they are packed like sardines and you can't get on.

So how do engineers decide how many lifts go into a building, and how it

works. We have an office building where with people all wanting to get

to their desk. They are at work and want to get there. The hotel has

different timing periods and might need more. Why not put more lifts in

buildings so people don't have to wait any longer? The more you have,

they take up more space, that is less space for the office and less

rent for the landlord. There is more to the business of elevatoring than

choosing right number of lifts. That is not a bad start. A modern

elevator installation uses computer, monitoring, every lift call putten

to and co-ordinating the response of every lift in the building. That may

not sound like the world's toughest problem, there is a lot for the

computer to think about. In a tall building with 20 lift call buttons

pressed and eight lifts there are over a billion, billion different

situation for the computer to send the lifts off to respond. Since

nobody likes a sluggish lift, it all has to be done in a 50th of a

second. If only there was somebody we could turn to? Somebody who could

solve all of our elevator-based problems. Big or small. Dear lift

doctor, sometimes I press the button and I can see the lift coming but it

goes right past me, why does the lift hate me. The computer sees all

the calls and all the lifts and it knows there might be some other

people who have been waiting longer than you. It's trying to minimise

the waiting for everyone, while you wait for the next lift overall it

might be better for everyone. Dear lift doctor, I work in a busy

building, in the morning everyone comes in at the same time and we are

all hanging around in the lobby for an occasional lift to arrive and a

few us to get in. Help us. You have only one button on the ground floor,

so only one lift is sent and the others are brought back. It is good

to make sure all the cars are brought back. Dear lift doctor, the

problem is with the cafe and back. What can you do? You can give free

tea and coffee on the floors, then people don't make extra trips to the

cafeteri It is annoying to wait an extra minute for a lift. But a big

building with a poorly designed elevator system would keep you

longer than that. Five, ten minutes in a scraper the lifts have to be

perfect. Modern skyscrapers use a destination control system. We swipe

the card, enter our destination. Which in English you tell the

elevator the floor you need and it assigns you the correct elevator.

The system will group travellers together to a set number of floors.

So the benefits system is it will travel to that certain number of

floors without stopping everywhere. These are double-decker elevators is

that common snooty The new technology? Twin elevators,

similar to this but the cars are separated in the same cat but one

car operating independently from the other car. Same principle, moves

lots of people. One final element for the conscientious elevator

scientist to consider. These lifts aren't moving cargo, they are moving

people. And that means trouble. The BBC building managers at New

Broadcasting House complain there is nothing wrong with the lifts, it is

just that the users are doing it wrong. Apparently we overuse some

banks of elevators and underuse others. In the future our robot

over-Lords will take care of all of that. It may be that the security

card that you carry to get into the building will already have your

preferred floor coated into it, when you swipe your card through whatever

entry device like a turnstile. The turnstile will have a screen

embedded in it. You walk over to the elevator bank and get in, you won't

have to touch anything. Cities are getting bigger, buildings getting

taller, computers are getting faster and people are getting busier. That

can only mean one thing, the dawn of the new age of the intelligence

elevator is only just beginning. That's all for this evening, good