:00:20. > :00:30.Good evening and welcome to BBC London News.
:00:31. > :00:33.A Dutch woman who lives in Surrey says it's ridiculous
:00:34. > :00:36.that the Home Office has told her she must leave the UK.
:00:37. > :00:38.Monique Hawkins who is a software engineer and has two children
:00:39. > :00:41.with her British husband applied for British citizenship after the EU
:00:42. > :00:45.She says the error is a serious concern, as she -
:00:46. > :00:47.like many Europeans living here are feeling uncertain
:00:48. > :00:52.Monique Hawkins left the Netherlands to live in the UK 24 years ago.
:00:53. > :00:54.Since then, she's married a British man, Robert,
:00:55. > :00:59.And she was content with her rights as an EU citizen living here,
:01:00. > :01:04.I decided to apply for permanent residence, because I felt I needed
:01:05. > :01:07.to have some proof that I was allowed to live here.
:01:08. > :01:08.Amid all the uncertainty following the vote.
:01:09. > :01:11.But Monique says she was met by a wall of bureaucracy.
:01:12. > :01:13.Her application ended up being rejected on a technicality.
:01:14. > :01:16.The letter actually said that I now had to make arrangements
:01:17. > :01:19.But if I could produce the right documents,
:01:20. > :01:27.I'm a British citizen, I'm married to someone
:01:28. > :01:30.I had an expectation that the process would be pretty
:01:31. > :01:33.straightforward and I've been very surprised how complicated it is.
:01:34. > :01:35.The Home Office says the rights of EU nationals are unchanged
:01:36. > :01:37.while Britain is a member of the European Union.
:01:38. > :01:40.It says the onus is on those seeking permanent residency to submit
:01:41. > :01:47.as much evidence as possible in support of their application.
:01:48. > :01:55.A group which campaigns to preserve the rights of EU citizens in the UK
:01:56. > :01:58.says these are worrying times for many people.
:01:59. > :02:01.We've got a situation where we need to secure the future
:02:02. > :02:03.of these 3 million people, as soon as possible.
:02:04. > :02:06.We need to make the bureaucracy work for them as well.
:02:07. > :02:08.That's just a sad example that it's just not working.
:02:09. > :02:10.Monique's hope for her second application will be successful,
:02:11. > :02:13.but for many EU nationals, there is a question mark
:02:14. > :02:16.over their future and they will be watching how Brexit negotiations
:02:17. > :02:25.The Government is facing pressure to hand over responsibility
:02:26. > :02:29.for suburban rail services to Transport for London
:02:30. > :02:32.after a new poll showed commuters support the proposal.
:02:33. > :02:35.Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has been accused of 'putting
:02:36. > :02:39.politics ahead of passengers' when he opposed the idea.
:02:40. > :02:41.The Mayor's Office argue it would provide a better service.
:02:42. > :02:51.2016 hasn't been easy for commuters on the railways.
:02:52. > :02:55.It seems not on's gone by without strikes, delays and
:02:56. > :02:59.cancellations, with passengers bearing the brunt of disruption.
:03:00. > :03:01.On Thames Link this morning, this was
:03:02. > :03:03.the picture at Elstree and Borehamwood station.
:03:04. > :03:06.Trains late and some cancelled altogether.
:03:07. > :03:11.The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, wants
:03:12. > :03:16.TfL to take control of rail services from 2018.
:03:17. > :03:18.The plan was agreed by the then mayor, Boris Johnson
:03:19. > :03:22.But earlier this month, the new Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling,
:03:23. > :03:24.rejected the idea, saying it would be unfair
:03:25. > :03:30.We are asking the government to independently review
:03:31. > :03:32.the business case, and actually, let's see
:03:33. > :03:33.the Department for Transport's analysis.
:03:34. > :03:36.We fear that the opportunity for improving the rail
:03:37. > :03:38.services for hundreds of thousands of Londoners is slipping
:03:39. > :03:46.And we would like the Prime Minister to step in and actually
:03:47. > :03:48.have this business case independently reviewed.
:03:49. > :03:54.And the idea appears to be gaining support among the public.
:03:55. > :03:56.1000 people were asked if they thought that Transport for
:03:57. > :03:59.London should have more or less control than they currently do over
:04:00. > :04:04.58% agreed TfL should have more control.
:04:05. > :04:06.Just 14% of those surveyed backed the Transport
:04:07. > :04:13.And more than half think that Mr Grayling made the wrong decision.
:04:14. > :04:16.And what about taking the rail network out of private hands
:04:17. > :04:19.The unions want the railways renationalised and nearly
:04:20. > :04:22.half think it would have a positive effect on rail services.
:04:23. > :04:24.If he can improve them, if he feels he can do
:04:25. > :04:29.I think take them over, can't get any worse.
:04:30. > :04:32.It's not going to be difficult given that there is basically no trains
:04:33. > :04:38.Got to be better than the state it's in at the moment.
:04:39. > :04:41.The Department for Transport says the mayor's business plan for
:04:42. > :04:43.the south-eastern train routes provided no extra capacity in peak
:04:44. > :04:46.And there was no funding identified for improvements to
:04:47. > :04:50.These would come at a cost to Londoners.
:04:51. > :04:54.But commuters hoping for a better New Year might
:04:55. > :04:56.be disappointed, with planned strikes on the Southern network
:04:57. > :04:59.on New Year's Eve and the threat of industrial action on the tube.
:05:00. > :05:05.Now, Christmas 1940 was a Christmas week like no other.
:05:06. > :05:08.It was feared that London could be destroyed by bombing
:05:09. > :05:12.Now a letter has been discovered which was written by one
:05:13. > :05:15.of the firefighters after the worst night of the Blitz.
:05:16. > :05:24.It seemed to be impossible for us ever to get the fires out.
:05:25. > :05:26.It was spreading from one place to another.
:05:27. > :05:29.Fire from enemy planes rained down on the city of London.
:05:30. > :05:36.But I'm afraid there were quite a few firemen that never came back.
:05:37. > :05:39.There were so many buildings that crashed down and the poor devils
:05:40. > :05:50.David's father was one of the firefighters battling
:05:51. > :05:55.to save his capital city as the bombs came down.
:05:56. > :05:58.He wrote to his wife about the events of that night.
:05:59. > :06:00.She'd been evacuated to the North of England
:06:01. > :06:02.with her young sons, the letter has only
:06:03. > :06:05.We were clearing out my mother's bungalow, when she died.
:06:06. > :06:08.And we came across a drawing, a sort of a bureau,
:06:09. > :06:11.and there were loads of Christmas cards and goodness knows what.
:06:12. > :06:14.We managed to read it and I must admit
:06:15. > :06:16.that both my wife and I welled up a bit.
:06:17. > :06:19.Because it really takes you back to the times, as they were, then.
:06:20. > :06:22.When you read the letter, I think it was just
:06:23. > :06:29.Now, the letter is safely protected in the archive
:06:30. > :06:41.Now let's check on the Weather with Chris Fawkes.
:06:42. > :06:50.In the run-up to the new years bongs there will be a lot of cloud around
:06:51. > :06:54.but it should stay dry. We will have a process of things counting over
:06:55. > :06:57.tonight. Clear skies in place and the moment but we are starting to
:06:58. > :07:02.see some fog patches forming and frost developing. Things could get
:07:03. > :07:07.sleepy on untreated roads and pavements for a time tonight. --
:07:08. > :07:18.slippy. Claudio Bravo moving from the West should help lift the fog
:07:19. > :07:21.into mist and fog -- cloudier weather. There will be more clout in
:07:22. > :07:25.the sky compared to what we've had over the last few days. Not many
:07:26. > :07:31.breaks but occasional breaks possible by the afternoon. In terms
:07:32. > :07:35.of temperatures, rise of five to seven Celsius, so not exactly
:07:36. > :07:40.toasty. Things will get milder over the next few days with temperatures
:07:41. > :07:42.in double figures on Saturday. For New Year's Day colder air coming
:07:43. > :07:45.back in and temperatures dropping at we should see sunshine returning.
:07:46. > :07:49.Thanks. We'll be back at the
:07:50. > :07:52.later time of 11:10pm, until then, from all the team,
:07:53. > :08:18.have a lovely evening. Temperatures have dropped away
:08:19. > :08:24.shortly and we have seen some fog, particularly through the Midlands.
:08:25. > :08:30.We do have some clout drifting in from the west. By the end of the
:08:31. > :08:33.night, towards the East Midlands as well. Further north, more of a
:08:34. > :08:39.breeze from the south-west, bringing in a weather front. Keeping the
:08:40. > :08:43.temperatures at seven or 8 degrees. Freezing or just below to the
:08:44. > :08:48.south-east corner. Fog will live to low cloud and generally speaking a
:08:49. > :08:52.lot more cloud than we saw today. Northern Scotland is the focal point
:08:53. > :08:56.for wet and windy weather. Confined to the north and west of Scotland
:08:57. > :09:01.where temperatures will be quite mild, ten or 11 degrees for Glasgow,
:09:02. > :09:03.Belfast. Ricky Chile in the south-east corner with low cloud