:00:00. > :00:15.And that is all from us for this evening. Now on BBC One,
:00:16. > :00:18.Good evening and welcome to BBC London News.
:00:19. > :00:22.The Mayor is being asked to explain why the extension of his bike hire
:00:23. > :00:26.scheme to south`west London is being done at tax payers' expense. It's
:00:27. > :00:30.emerged that no money is coming from the sponsors, Barclays, even though
:00:31. > :00:33.they get exclusive naming rights. Opposition groups claim the bank is
:00:34. > :00:37.in effect getting at least ?10 million worth of free advertising.
:00:38. > :00:45.Our political editor, Tim Donovan, reports.
:00:46. > :00:51.This was just before Christmas, another milestone, extending the bar
:00:52. > :00:57.`` bike to south`west London. If you assume the sponsors were helping to
:00:58. > :01:00.pay for it, think again. Thanks to a document unearthed under the Freedom
:01:01. > :01:04.of Information Act, we can see that the mayor's original intention was
:01:05. > :01:09.to get an extra ?10 million from Barclays bank to pay for this. But
:01:10. > :01:14.with a bank now pulling out of a hole sponsorship deal, the money has
:01:15. > :01:20.not and will not be paid. The new document makes clear that Barclays
:01:21. > :01:24.bank were expected to provide ?10 million in cash for the expansion,
:01:25. > :01:28.and actually they have provided nothing. Under the original deal,
:01:29. > :01:34.Berkeley agreed to pay up to 25 million over five years to fund
:01:35. > :01:40.stage one in central London and stage to in east London. ``
:01:41. > :01:43.Barclays. The mayor claimed he had secured ?25 million more from
:01:44. > :01:47.Barclays for the following three years to secure further expansion,
:01:48. > :01:50.but in fact he hadn't secured the money, meaning the south`west
:01:51. > :01:57.extension has gone ahead without ?10 million from Barclays. The fact that
:01:58. > :02:01.a big company like Barclays bank can get out of paying money that was
:02:02. > :02:07.Juana sponsorship deal while they are advertising is absolutely
:02:08. > :02:12.shocking. London's council taxpayers have ended up funding the expansion
:02:13. > :02:18.and low and behold, Barclays have still got their branding over the
:02:19. > :02:22.bikes. Transport for London said there was not extra money from
:02:23. > :02:25.Barclays because it had made a commercial decision not to extend
:02:26. > :02:35.its sponsorship. But, as the statement added, they do:
:02:36. > :02:51.The mayor's office had nothing to add today. There is a little under
:02:52. > :02:55.18 months to find a new sponsor. A mafia boss who's been on the run
:02:56. > :02:58.in London for 20 years has begun his fight against extradition. Domenico
:02:59. > :03:01.Rancadore had been living with his family in Uxbridge under the assumed
:03:02. > :03:03.name of Marc Skinner. He faces a seven`year prison sentence in Italy.
:03:04. > :03:08.Our home affairs correspondent, Guy Smith, reports.
:03:09. > :03:14.It waits above in Uxbridge in a very normal looking house. `` a quiet
:03:15. > :03:18.house. It is the last place to find a member of the Mafia. Italian
:03:19. > :03:25.police say the family of Domenico Rancadore was involved in extortion,
:03:26. > :03:33.and drug trafficking. He loved `` lived a double life here than in 20
:03:34. > :03:35.years. Neighbours say he was easy`going but security conscious.
:03:36. > :03:40.He always seemed very friendly. Thinking about him now, when he did
:03:41. > :03:47.move in, he built up the trees and put the big date at the front. We
:03:48. > :03:50.all thought he was Spanish. But his quiet suburban life ended here last
:03:51. > :03:54.August when Metropolitan police officers arrested him put up his Fat
:03:55. > :04:01.`` part had finally caught up with him. It is the past rooted here in
:04:02. > :04:05.Sicily. As a former teacher, he was known as the professor. He was
:04:06. > :04:11.acquitted twice in the Italian courts, but in 1999 was convicted in
:04:12. > :04:15.his absence of being a Mafia associate and sentenced to seven
:04:16. > :04:21.years. Now he faces extradition and being separated from his wife. But
:04:22. > :04:26.Domenico Rancadore's British lawyer says he has been misrepresented. He
:04:27. > :04:30.deliberately left Italy because he did not want to be a member of the
:04:31. > :04:34.Mafia. He did not want to be associated with the Mafia. Since he
:04:35. > :04:38.has returned to the UK committee has lived a blame free life. He is
:04:39. > :04:43.fighting extradition partly because of poor conditions in Italy but in
:04:44. > :04:48.prisons, where he now faces seven years. `` Italy's prisons.
:04:49. > :04:50.London has the worst air quality of any European capital, and today the
:04:51. > :04:53.European Commission launched legal proceedings against the UK for
:04:54. > :04:56.failing to deal with air pollution. The Commission says high levels of
:04:57. > :05:08.nitrogen dioxide can lead to serious illness and premature death.
:05:09. > :05:13.Victoria Graham reports. Cars, motorbikes, lorries and
:05:14. > :05:18.buses. Part of everyday life in a busy city, not least here in London,
:05:19. > :05:22.where battling pollution levels is a headache. Although you can't see it,
:05:23. > :05:27.it is all around us, particularly on a busy high street like this one.
:05:28. > :05:32.Although they are by no means the only culprit, Wandsworth Council
:05:33. > :05:36.found that buses significantly contributed to harmful nitrogen
:05:37. > :05:41.dioxide. So the mayor replaced some of the old buses with clean new
:05:42. > :05:46.ones. As it helped? They were part of the answer for Putney as they
:05:47. > :05:50.will be for the rest of London. Three quarters of London's Maine
:05:51. > :05:55.Road 's are actually well above the EU limits. That means there is
:05:56. > :06:00.premature deaths for over 4000 people in London every year. The
:06:01. > :06:05.gamut is facing fines in the millions for not lowering targets to
:06:06. > :06:08.lower levels. That could be passed on to local councils. The price is
:06:09. > :06:16.also higher for people like Adrianne. That is something that I
:06:17. > :06:22.do notice, in a polluted area. I do notice I get the tight chest. The
:06:23. > :06:24.government says it is investing heavily in transport measures to
:06:25. > :06:29.improve air quality around busy roads, and are working with the
:06:30. > :06:32.European commission to make sure this happens as soon as possible.
:06:33. > :06:37.The first deadline to lower this toxic gas has been and gone. Current
:06:38. > :06:42.plans estimate that for London, compliance with EU standards will
:06:43. > :06:46.only be achieved by 2025. That's it from me. Do have a very
:06:47. > :06:48.good night. Now, though, it's over to Sara, who's got the forecast for
:06:49. > :06:51.you. good night. Now, though,
:06:52. > :06:56.A chilly night to come through the night. Generally try, a couple of
:06:57. > :06:59.showers at the moment, but mostly we start with some dry weather
:07:00. > :07:03.tomorrow. You can see some showers tried to make their way in from the
:07:04. > :07:07.West. By the afternoon, they are starting to make progress. Top
:07:08. > :07:10.temperature of 10 Celsius. The shells get going through the evening
:07:11. > :07:21.tomorrow. Some places will avoid them. `` the showers. Largely drying
:07:22. > :07:25.out into Saturday. Saturday is a really nice day in prospect. A lot
:07:26. > :07:30.of sunshine around and feeling quite pleasant. We have the forecast for
:07:31. > :07:32.you in just the second. But here is the outlook. On Sunday, we have grey
:07:33. > :07:44.skies and a bit of drizzle, too. Good evening. You may have had the
:07:45. > :07:48.latest from the Met Office about the rainfall we have had this winter,
:07:49. > :07:52.the wettest winter on record. It is sometimes difficult to visualise the
:07:53. > :07:58.numbers. Let me explain how much rain we had. If you think about a
:07:59. > :08:00.stretch of land across the UK, we had about half a metre