17/01/2014 BBC London News

Environment Agency, of the im I Environment Agency, of the impact on

Environment Agency, of the im I That's all from the BBC News at Six.

We can now join the BBC's news teams where you are.

Tonight on BBC London News: Thousands of commuters are left

stranded after huge problems with power lines at St Pancras station.

There is no information, apart from when you get here. I have to find

another route. The disruption is expected to

continue for the rest of the evening.

Also tonight, the legal row which has seen the government blocked from

turning a London school into an Academy.

Two rivers in Surrey burst their banks, causing more flooding misery

for homeowners. Houston, this is a mission specialist Ryan Stone. I am

off structure and drifting. Do you copy?

The Hollywood blockbuster made in London. We speak to the man behind

the film's Oscar`nominated special effects.

Good evening and welcome to the programme.

Thousands of commuters have had their journeys cancelled or

disrupted because of major problems at St Pancras Station. Tonight many

passengers have been left stranded because of limited services due to

problems with overhead power lines. Elsewhere, there's been disruption

on lines to and from Gatwick because of flooding in the Surrey area. More

on this from Sarah Harris who joins us from St Pancras Station.

Yes, the shutters behind me tell the story of what has happened at St

Pancras today. I overheard one of the staff asking if it was Friday

the 13th. It has been that kind of day, with everything that could go

wrong going wrong. It all started going pear shaped early this

morning. A record of one commuter's difficult journey into work, taken

on their phone. 1700 people in total had to complete their commute on

foot after overhead power cables came down near Hendon just after

7am. It has left First Capital Connect services north of St Pancras

suspended all day and tonight, a delay to the start of many a

weekend. There is no information until you get here. I have to find

another route. It is a disaster. I have to get the Victoria line now

and get the bus. It is going to take me much longer. It will be three

hours longer than it should be. Not very good when you want to get home.

It has been here really quiet, with no First Capital Connect trains

running until tomorrow morning at the earliest. This overhead cable

came down at 7am. Why, at 7pm, is it not fixed? There is significant

damage to the overhead lines, damage to all four lines of track coming

out of Hendon. Network Rail have engineers on`site but the damage is

significant and we will be working through the night to get it fixed.

It was not just routes to the north of the station that were hit.

Flooding meant trains between Haywards Heath and Gatwick were

delayed up to 45 minutes tonight, with more disruption expected.

Unfortunately, with the rain we have had, all of the previous rain has

been gathering in arable land and above the tunnel and it loaded and

overpowered the pumps this morning. With the train is not running this

morning, a disastrous day for St Pancras businesses. No one in the

mood for flowers. We will throw them in the bin. I don't know why it

takes so long to fix the trains. We don't know when they will come back

and it could be dangerous for our business. Go to King's Cross. That

will be the best option for most tonight and it will certainly be a

longer journey home. Another option would be to take one

of the limited services out towards Nottingham or Sheffield, stopping at

Luton, and then working back south. I should tell you, in the last few

minutes Network Rail have told me they believe the damage to the

overhead cables was vandalism, so the police are now investigating.

Thanks for that. You can get regular travel updates on our radio station.

Lots more to come, including the missing tourist who disappeared on

the Tube and hasn't been seen for three days.

The government's to appeal a High Court ruling which has stopped it

from turning a troubled school into an academy. It comes after Barking

and Dagenham Council successfully challenged a move to give Warren

Comprehensive in Romford academy status. Here's Karl Mercer.

Stereotypical characteristics, key arguments. This year nine media

class at Warren School this morning, having a discussion on heroes and

villains, appropriate in a week when the school took on the government in

the High Court. Everybody remember, the evidence is the key thing. The

evidence is the key thing. The school is in special measures after

inspectors labelled it inadequate. The government wants to force it to

become an academy. The local council challenged that in court, and it

won. It says staff should be allowed to carry on working with a

neighbouring school to raise standards. Our argument is that this

is a particular instance. I absolutely understand the Secretary

of State needs to have powers to intervene where schools are not

progressing, but it is our view that this school is progressing. It is

our view that the other school is helping the school progress because

it has the same make up. The school says things are improving and points

to GCSE results and the number of pupils getting five a star to C

grades as evidence. In 2012, 39% of pupils were getting those grades. In

2013, that had risen to 55%. Warren School is not the only one to

have run into controversy over being forced to become an academy. These

were pupils at Downhills Primary in Haringey last year, protesting

before their school was changed over. There have been similar

protests at Roker Park in Croydon and Camden Junior School in Sutton

in the last year. The government told us it wanted to make Warren

School an academy because it had been failing pupils for ten years.

In that last decade, it said, the school had been in special measures

twice. It said it will appeal the High Court judgement and said the

government was determined that pupils at Warren School finally get

the education it says they deserve. That appeal has gone in. The

politics around Warren School continues, as does the work of

pupils, for whom today was just another Friday in class.

Thames Valley Police has been criticised by the human rights

charity Amnesty International after the force revealed it had almost

doubled its use of Tasers last year. Figures show its officers deployed

the electric stun guns nearly 120 times, compared with just over 60

times in 2012. Amnesty says Tasers should be used sparingly.

Passengers who were caught up in the disruption at Gatwick Airport on

Christmas Eve are being encouraged to get in touch with a committee of

MPs. The Transport Select Committee wants to hear from those who'd been

due to travel from the airport's North Terminal, which was affected

by a power cut. The police watchdog says it wants to

hear from some of the key witnesses in the shooting of Mark Duggan

who've so far declined to speak. The IPCC also wants to stop police

officers from conferring in the aftermath of fatal shootings. Our

special correspondent Kurt Barling joins me.

Key witnesses. Are we talking about police officers? In a situation with

a fatal incident involving police officers, they will be among the

important key witnesses. The point of an IPCC investigation is to get

the broadest pic are possible, without police having their witness

statements tested, it is difficult to do that. There are also concerns

about how the police responded to intelligence which led them to stop

Mark Duggan in the way they did, and the delay to the inquest was up to a

year, says the IPCC, because the police did not want to be

interviewed by them. The IPCC are apparently calling for changes to

the rules about how officers record evidence. This is a controversial

practice. There is a fear that the ability of officers to confer with

each other masks transparency, contaminates, potentially, evidence.

The IPCC also says they want to change the way in which they secure

the scene of an incident straight after it happens. Remember, this is

geared towards increasing public confidence of the accountability of

the officers concerned, and the transparency of the investigation.

This has to run in parallel with what the police are doing to try and

restore public confidence through new engagement measures, as they

suggested last week, with a new senior police officer. Thank you.

A charity claims that a growing number of Tube stations have been

inaccessible to disabled passengers because of staff shortages.

Transport For All says last year, lifts were unavailable at least 150

times because of a lack of staff. Meanwhile London Underground says

it's investing millions of pounds to improve access. Tom Edwards,

reports. Carolyn Lucas uses her scooter to

get around, and lifts in Tube stations are absolutely vital.

Sometimes, though, they are closed when staff aren't available to

supervise them. That leaves her stranded and extremely frustrated.

Your day is wrecked if there is no lift. It's OK if occasionally the

lift breaks down. That happens all the time. But to actually put the

lift out of action because there is no staff to supervise it is pretty

Killiney aggravating. In fact, a Freedom of information request found

that last year lifts were closed 162 times due to staff shortages. That

has troubled in four years. In total they were shot for 500 hours. West

Compton closed its lift the most, 40 times, due to staff shortages. Then

would Lane, where they were closed 27 times. The publication of these

figures is timely. London Underground wants to cut 950 station

staff, and to close all ticket offices. That is opposed by

pensioner and disability groups. And now transport unions are planning a

strike on the 4th of February. Disability groups say they want more

staff, not fewer. This is a cut of staffing levels and it will have a

disproportionate effect on disabled and older people, mainly because it

is disabled and older Londoners in particular who need staff

assistance. London Underground says millions is being invested in

accessibility and the changes will help. We will have more visible

staff on stations, platforms and ticket areas. Of course, sometimes

we do have issues where we have a problem with our lifts, whether we

have an incident and staff have to go and manage the incident, but we

quickly resolve that and get stations up and running as quickly

as possible. Nonetheless, the fear is that further staff cuts will mean

more restrictions on where disabled travellers can go.

Flooding has brought misery to homeowners in Surrey today after two

rivers burst their banks. Juliette Parkin spent the day in Hawley near

Gatwick am aware residents have been hit by a series of floods.

The front drive, flooded again. With water seeping into this home for the

second time in a matter of weeks. We feel absolutely gutted. This is just

over three weeks since the last time that it happened, so it really is

upsetting everybody. You really don't know what to say. You get no

help from anybody again. This was the start of the clear up operation

just after that Christmas floods. You are getting back to square one,

and then you are back to this again. The problem is, are we going to keep

getting this through the course of the year? Today, they called an

emergency meeting with the Environment Agency and council, who

failed to turn up. Residents field drainage here is inadequate, are

worried about new housing plans, and feel they have had little help.

There are issues because it is not unadopted road, which may help you

in trying to come up with a solution as well. Today, the council told us

that the flooding is on a private road, and although it is not their

responsibility, they say they have helped with sandbags and pumps. It

has been frustrating. The Environment Agency came this morning

and we asked if they had any pumps. They said, we have just come to have

a look, and that was it. So it has been up to us. For now, it is the

case of pumping water into already swollen ditches, and hoping it stays

at a Still to come: We speak to the man

behind the special effects for a Hollywood blockbuster made in

London. And I'm in Barnet visiting Saracens

ahead of a weekend where they bid to become the only London Rugby club to

make it through to the quarterfinals of the Heineken Cup.

The family of an elderly tourist has made an appeal to find him after he

disappeared whilst travelling on the tube. 63`year`old Vasile Belea from

Romania was separated from his son at Stockwell station and hasn't been

seen for three days. Emma North joins us from Stockwell now. Vasile

Belea came over from Romania to spend Christmas with his son and his

son's new wife. This is what he looks like. He is about six foot

tall. He's in his 60s. He has grey hair. He told his that he was in

paradise during his stay in London. On Tuesday afternoon, Mr belay and

his son travelled into the centre of town. They went to Stockwell

station, when they went to the northbound platform of the Victoria

line. Vasile Belea's son got on the tube, the door closed, and he did

not get on. By the time his son came back, the filly belay himself had

disappeared. We have a picture of what he looked like at Stockwell. ``

Vasile Belea had disappeared. He had ?30 in cash on him. He speaks no

English. His family say there is no reason why he wanted to disappear.

He is perfectly happy, and mentally, he is bright as a button. They are

astonished at his disappearance. To him, I would tell him in

Romanian... That means, just talk with someone, with the police, with

anyone, and for anyone who sees him, help him to get in touch with us.

Just call the police or everyone. Everyone is aware. In him back to

us. What you police have to say? It is a very simple message from the

police. Called 999 if you seek the filly belay. The cause has been

taken up across the social media as well. Twitter and Facebook are

covered with pictures of him. There is a message that stood out early

on. It says, London, please find this man now. Thank you.

It is a busy weekend of sport. Sara is here with something a little bit

special. That's right, it is the Special One.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has been speaking to the BBC's Football

Focus programme ahead of this Sunday's Premier League match with

Manchester United. The Portuguese boss told presenter Dan Walker that

he thought sports broadcasters employed too many

Liverpool`supporting pundits, and there is a lack of Chelsea voices. I

think they are honest. I think they do a professional job. When I listen

or watch some of them, I think they teach people, they teach ordinary

people how to read the game, how to understand the game. I think they

are doing a fantastic job. In the middle of that, when your heart is

red when your heart is blue, or when your heart is black`and`white

striped, you cannot hide it. And they don't hide it. When it becomes

a doubtful situation, they cannot hide their heart calling. But I

think that's normal. I just think a couple of Chelsea pundits in the

middle! And you can hear that full interview

with Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho on Football Focus tomorrow on BBC

One at midday. Now some cricket. Despite England

losing again to Australia in the second one`day international by just

one wicket, there was one English performance to smile about.

Middlesex batsman Eoin Morgan reached 106, only the second century

by England since they arrived in Australia. Despite the left`handers'

efforts, Australia's lower order rallied to take the win, with Morgan

eventually retiring with a tight calf.

Now onto Rugby Union, and earlier today, the Harlequins captain Chris

Robshaw was reappointed England skipper for the Six Nations. The

27`year`old flanker first led his country in the same tournament two

years ago, and has captained England in 19 of their last 22 Tests.

Meanwhile, this weekend, Saracens are the only London club who can

qualify for the quarter finals of the Heineken Cup ` club rugby's top

European tournament. They face Irish side Connacht. But as the

competition approaches the so`called business`end of the season, the very

future of the tournament remains in doubt. I went to Sarries' training

in Barnet to find out more. There are Rugby club on a mission.

Currently top of the table in the Aviva Premiership, Saracens have

some impressive European business tomorrow. They welcome Irish club

Connacht, needing a passage to this year's quarterfinals. It was great

to get to the semifinals last year, but we want to get there again this

year. We want to will `` we want to move forward every year. Connacht

did fantastically well earlier in the season, so we know we have a

huge game. All to play for. Despite all the excitement and anticipation

surrounding this weekend's fixtures, there's still a cloud hanging over

this competition, with the very future of England clubs playing in

the European fixture next season in. The Heineken cup is made up of

clubs from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France and Italy. The

English clubs haven't signed up to next season because they are adamant

they will not sign up to a competition organised by the

European rug cup. This should have been sorted out ages ago. It's a

great competition and people want to play in it. Is it about money,

power, or just a level playing field? I think it is about power.

Money was sorted out. You can sort everything out with common sense,

but it's lacking here. Only this week the chairman of European Rugby

cup appealed for conciliation for the tournament to continue next

season. It might be the most sought`after trophy in European club

rugby, but underneath lies uncertainty.

This weekend, Wembley Arena hosts the start of netball's International

Tri`Series tournament. Two sisters from London, Sasha and Kadeen

Corbin, have both been selected for the England squad. The series of

matches are part of England's preparations for this summer's

Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. We definitely would like to be

there. If we could do the same thing in 2015, when we play in the world

Championships, that would be a perfect end.

And you can hear more from the Corbin sisters tomorrow on Saturday

Sports Day, BBC One at 12:45. That's all the sport. Back to you Alice.

Thank you. Now, it's been described as the best

space film ever made. Gravity, starring Sandra Bullock, has been

nominated for a whopping ten Oscars. And it's the result of some

pioneering work by a special effects team based here in the capital, who

boldly went where none had gone before to produce its breathtaking

scenes. Wendy Hurrell explains. It's the highest grossing Best

picture nominee at this year's Academy Awards, having made $256.3

million at the box office. Shot at Shepperton, with sound effects from

Pinewood, and then postproduction in Soho. Gravity is a very London

blockbuster. Neal called Bald is the special effects supervisor. He knows

a thing or two about winning Oscars. He got one for Gladiator. For this

film, he rewrote the special effects rule book. You were responsible for

hanging Sandra Bullock from lots of wires. That was our brainwave. It

seems to work. When I spoke to her on the red carpet at the UK

premiere, this is what she thought of it. People would leave and go to

lunch and forget they'd left me hanging! I was by myself, but you

never felt that everyone would abandon you. They will always

concerned about you. It led to the amazing sense of floating in space.

There is no up and down. You are everywhere. The camera had to be

able to go everywhere, or appear to. Neal designed, for director Alfonso

Cuaron, a special light box. Amidst all the glitz, there's great

humility from this Londoner. We were in front of the Who's Who from

Hollywood and the British film industry. Everyone was coming up and

shaking hands that you would never meet in your wildest dreams. So you

are there at the Academy Awards! What a contrast. That's right.

Record`breaking at the box office, now up for ten industry awards,

including Best visual effects for Framestore based here in Soho.

Gravity has been a weighty success, and we will find out just how much

at the Oscars on March the 2nd. Let's take a look at the weekend

weather. Yes, all eyes to the heavens to see

if there is any more rain in prospect. It has been an improving

cross crept as we've gone through this afternoon. From the satellite,

you can see that we have rain ringing the United Kingdom, and that

is the story for much of the weekend. It gives us some mixed

fortunes, but there are good reasons to be optimistic for the forecast in

the London area. This rain is pushing towards us throughout the

night tonight. This evening, we start dry, then the rain were coming

in the early hours of tomorrow morning. Patchy at first, heavier by

tomorrow morning. Temperatures holding up as we go through

overnight tonight. First thing tomorrow morning we will start with

it, but it is always tracking north. As it clears away, things are set to

improve through the rest of the day. Largely dry for the rest of the day

tomorrow, always hanging onto a bit of cloud, but we could see some

brightness, although there will be cloud to the west. For most of us,

dry with a bit of brightness coming through. Temperatures around nine or

10 Celsius. Tomorrow night, that rain comes back from the west,

clearing to the north and the east as we go through to the early hours

of Sunday morning. Again, an improving picture as we start

Sunday. Cold out to the west because the skies are trying to clear

there. We could see a bit of mist and fog, which could be slow to

clear out to the west. The remnants of the cloud and rain clearing to

the east for the first half of Sunday morning, but then things

start to improve in the afternoon again. Some brightness coming

through by the end of the day. Is it cooler on Sunday, but through

daylight hours this weekend, quite a bit of dry weather.

Thank you. The main headlines. Police in

Edinburgh say they're investigating a potential sighting of the missing

three`year`old, Mikaeel Kular. Hundreds of volunteers have helped

to look for Mikaeel, who hasn't been seen since Wednesday night.

Labour leader Ed Miliband says high street banks face a day of reckoning

if he winds the General Election next year. He's outlined plans to

limit their share of the market, and to force them to sell branches to

two new banks. President Obama's announced changes

to the way the US gathers intelligence. In a speech he said US

agents should no longer be able to store details of millions of calls,

texts and emails. Thousands of commuters have had

their journeys cancelled after problems with overhead power lines

north of London. Tonight there's a limited service operating out of St

Pancras, leaving many passengers stranded. That's it. RB back later.

From everyone on the team, good night.