20/10/2012

Download Subtitles

Transcript

:00:14. > :00:17.Good afternoon from BBC London News, I'm Louisa Preston.

:00:17. > :00:19.Greenwich Council has been accused of appalling management of the

:00:20. > :00:25.�11.5 million refurbishment of two- foot tunnels under the Thames that

:00:25. > :00:34.still haven't been completed. The authority says there will be an

:00:34. > :00:40.independent investigation into what went wrong, as Sonja Jessup reports.

:00:40. > :00:44.This is what we have had and as you can see, it is filthy. It is rush-

:00:44. > :00:49.hour beneath the River Thames. But few commuters seemed impressed by

:00:49. > :00:54.the new look Greenwich foot tunnel. It is really badly lit, the cabling

:00:54. > :01:03.is exposed... At least when we visited, the new lift was working.

:01:03. > :01:07.But as this film shows, that is not always the case. Greenwich Council

:01:07. > :01:11.commissioned work on this tunnel but there were a grand over

:01:11. > :01:15.schedule and over budget. Closures caused serious disruption for

:01:16. > :01:19.hundreds of commuters. There have been occasions when I have turned

:01:19. > :01:24.up and without any prior warning this was not available and suddenly

:01:24. > :01:32.you are half-an-hour late. Going up and down those stairs for about 18

:01:32. > :01:35.months carrying the bike every day. Absolutely disgusting. It is �11.5

:01:35. > :01:41.million wasted. The council is now exploring legal action to try to

:01:41. > :01:45.cover its costs. It has apologised for unacceptable delays and says

:01:45. > :01:49.there will be an independent investigations into this and other

:01:49. > :01:53.products. I think it has been inadequate and appalling, some

:01:53. > :01:57.would say, and there need to be serious changes in the way these

:01:57. > :02:00.big projects are handled to stop money being wasted. The council

:02:00. > :02:05.says it is unable to reveal how much it will cost to finish the

:02:05. > :02:07.tunnels. It says the priority is to get the work done as quickly as

:02:07. > :02:12.possible. A rapist who avoided justice for

:02:12. > :02:17.nearly 25 years has been jailed. 54-year-old John William Good

:02:17. > :02:19.attacked a nurse in Uxbridge in 1987. A Metropolitan Police cold-

:02:19. > :02:22.case review in 2011 established the availability of DNA samples which

:02:22. > :02:25.could be tested after advances in forensic science.

:02:25. > :02:28.The London cable car is coming under scrutiny after a steep fall

:02:28. > :02:31.in passenger numbers since the Olympics. Figures for September

:02:31. > :02:34.showed the river crossing is running at less than 10% capacity.

:02:34. > :02:44.Labour London Assembly Member John Biggs says the link, which cost �60

:02:44. > :02:45.

:02:45. > :02:49.million to build, is not a serious transport solution. Two concerns,

:02:49. > :02:52.essentially it is a tourist pink and no problem with that but it was

:02:52. > :02:56.proposed as a transport solution and it is not really doing that.

:02:56. > :03:02.Secondly, something which would help people get onto it would be to

:03:02. > :03:06.reduce the fez because unless you plan in advance you can place it --

:03:06. > :03:09.pays �6.80 return. But Transport for London says the

:03:09. > :03:12.cable car has already exceeded its target of carrying 1.3 millions

:03:12. > :03:15.passengers in its first year. They say it is a good mode of transport

:03:15. > :03:20.for tourists but it can suit the regular commuter, too. We thought

:03:20. > :03:24.about local people so we have got a ticket which is just �1.16, the

:03:25. > :03:32.price of a cup of coffee, to travel on the Emirates Air Line if you are

:03:33. > :03:37.a regular user, and you can do that with Oyster pay as you go or a pre-

:03:37. > :03:40.bought a ticket. Some commuters are using it. If

:03:40. > :03:44.John Terry will stay as the Chelsea captain, according to the club's

:03:44. > :03:47.chairman, Bruce Buck. He also confirmed that Terry has been

:03:47. > :03:53.heavily fined after being found guilty by the Football Association