24/11/2017 London News

into Monday, a little bit more mild,

but overall it will stay cold.

That's all from the BBC News at Six,

so it's goodbye from me,

Coming up on the programme tonight:

so it's goodbye from me,

We're live in Oxford Circus

where shops and the Tube

station were evacuated

following reports of gunshots.

What happened?

I'm not sure, I don't

know.

Police say there is no

evidence of a gun being fired.

Also tonight:

We have new figures which show

that thefts from cars

are rarely investigated,

prompting warnings of a crime wave.

A Black Friday boom in online

deliveries, but what does it mean

for pollution levels in London?

Growing calls to make

upskirting illegal -

where pictures are secretly taken up

woman's skirts.

And exploring our city after dark.

The author who wants us to take

more midnight strolls.

Good evening.

Welcome to Friday

evenings BBC London News.

I'm Asad Ahmad.

Within the past couple of hours,

Oxford Circus was bought

to a standstill after

reports of gunshots.

But police say there's no evidence

of shots being fired,

nor of any casualties.

It sparked panic at the Tube station

and surrounding area

on one of the busiest shopping

days before Christmas.

Karl Mercer is there.

Yes, a couple of police cars behind

us but the buses are starting to run

along Oxford Circus and if you swing

the camera around, it looks pretty

much like a normal evening at Oxford

Circus. People queueing for the

tube. It was very different two

hours ago when these police cars

arrived. There are just a couple

left now. There were reports of

shots potentially being fired and

people started to panic, running out

of the tube station and up and down

the streets nearby as police came to

the scene, as they have practised

too many times already this year.

Chris Rogers was caught up in it.

One of the busiest shopping days in

one of the country's busiest

shopping districts. Everything the

emergency services rehearse and plan

for, put into action just moments

after reports of gunfire.

Keep on

moving. Stop taking photos, keep on

moving.

Lockdown in Oxford Street.

As we moved towards the scene to

investigate, thousands of shoppers

were being pushed back. It is

unnerving. As the cord and gets

wider, shop by shop, department

store by department store, people

are evacuated and moved on. People

are scared, emotional, curious. But

orderly. Then, panic.

What happened?

All of a sudden,

people that were on the streets

being moved up Regent Street.

They

suddenly turned around and ran back

and it was a lot of panic, women

falling on the pavement, people

pushing and shoving. We think they

were startled by barriers being

moved, which perhaps people mistook

the gunshots. As you can imagine,

everybody is very nervous. There are

people crying, people very upset,

reacting to any sound. The police

went into the crowd, slowed them

down and move them in a more orderly

fashion to safety round the corner.

It was basically a mad panic. We are

told to be vigilant and the

emergency services clearly take no

chances. We have been pushed further

down Regent Street away from Oxford

Circus station. For a while, press

were allowed to film the evacuation

but now we are being pushed right

back, for our own safety. At the

moment there seems to be a lot of

panic, a lot of people scared and

people not knowing what is going on.

We are told to keep calm and carry

on, and we famously do so. But what

I witnessed today was the tension

and panic among many that lies close

beneath the surface. Chris Rogers,

BBC London News.

As I was saying earlier, what Chris

was reporting showed how quickly the

police respond to events these days.

We have had three terror attacks in

the capital this year and there is a

well practised scheme, where police

will go to the area. Armed police

were deployed, but significantly not

the counterterror police, and the

Metropolitan Police did not issue

the run, hide and tell message alert

that they put out when they fear

there has been a terrorist attack.

But it is not just emergency

services and police on high alert.

It is also many Londoners, and when

something does happen there is a

sense of panic. We caught up with

some of those who were here earlier.

It was a chaotic scene. I stopped a

couple and tried to find out what

was going on. Many people did not

know, they were just running because

everybody was. I found a group of

girls who had stopped, crowded into

a restaurant. They were in tears and

they said they had heard there had

either been a shooting on the tube,

someone had heard what they thought

was a gunshot, or they thought was a

fire. You could just see that panic

was spreading and everybody was

frightened because of recent terror

incidents being fresh in people's

minds. Everybody wanted to get away

as quickly as they could.

A lot of

confusion, very busy on Black

Friday. Pretty tense. About two

minutes ago we had a surge of people

sprinting across Oxford Street in

panic. I don't know what they were

reacting to but people were very

much on edge.

I was standing by the

tube station to go down and they

shouted to evacuate. Then a bunch of

armed police ran past us and went

down with guns. There must have been

at least 15 armed police running

down and everybody started running

away, screaming and shouting, and

they have just started evacuating

people. Nobody knows what is going

on but it does not sound positive

for everybody. Stay away from this

place and be safe.

You can see the

sense of panic there from people,

but police were very quick in

putting out messages on Twitter and

social media platforms, trying to

reassure Londoners. They put out a

message about an hour after the

first reports of shooting saying

that police had not located any

trace of suspects, evidence of shots

fired, nor any casualties. Things

have now returned to normal, just

two hours after there was panic on

these streets. Now, just a view

police cars left. Buses are on in up

and down the street as usual and the

tube stations are back open again.

Stay down there, because we will

come back to you later for any

updates.

So that's our main story

this Friday evening.

But this is what's

still to come tonight.

Computer software helping patients

with schizophrenia to come

face-to-face with the voices in

their head.

A new therapy, developed

at the Maudsley Hospital in south

London, allows patients suffering

from schizophrenia to come

face-to-face with the voices

they hear in their head.

A computer helps them create

the face to the voice

and copy what the patient hears.

James Gallagher has been speaking

to the programme's developer.

Stupid...

Look at you.

Threatening voices fill the heads

of schizophrenia patients.

A quarter of them can't

even escape them with

medication.

A new experimental therapy

is bringing patients

face-to-face with their

imaginary tormentors.

You're pathetic, rubbish.

You're a waste of space.

This avatar is being controlled

by psychiatrists at the Maudsley

Hospital in London.

They have worked with the patient

to match the voice.

You wouldn't say yes

and you wouldn't say no either.

And you just tell me

which is the best.

And the look of their

hallucinations.

Patients then spend six sessions

learning how to stand up to their

avatar.

Tell him you don't want to hear this

rubbish any more if he

comes in with his usual statements.

You're a waste of space.

Go away.

Pathetic.

Professor Tommy Craig developed

the therapy and has done

trials on 150 people.

He said it produced

rapid and lasting

improvements with patients having

fewer frightening hallucinations.

I think it's the

business of bringing

it from a voice that is

detached and you have

no control over, into

this

experience that is immediate,

and you control.

So you get power and it loses power.

Experts say the trial,

published in the Lancet psychiatry

is impressive, but patients

will still need to take medication.

This treatment is

specifically designed

for those with treatment resistant

in auditory and verbal

hallucinations and voices.

So you wouldn't be looking to use it

routinely, I guess unless

the patient particularly wanted this

kind of approach.

The other thing to consider

is that this is quite a

high-tech approach,

which so far is only

available in a couple

of

centres in the UK.

Making an avatar of your

imaginary voices is still an

experimental therapy.

Further trials are now needed

to see if it becomes

a powerful new way of

treating schizophrenia.

If your car gets broken into,

chances are the police won't take

amy action against the perpetrator.

And we've obtained figures

which show that even if they do,

there are very few criminals that

are actually convicted.

Well, there are tens of thousands

of thefts from cars every year

and a motoring organisation warns

that if police don't start treating

the crime more seriously in London,

we could be about to face

a crime wave.

Here's Alex Bushill.

How seriously should

we expect the police

to take this sort of crime?

How much should the

police, well, police?

The Met have now said that

because of budget cuts,

cutting car crime isn't as much

of a priority and they

will only investigate

if there is video evidence.

According to Seb Stevenson,

they won't then either.

The last thief, he took

this tool box twice.

The same tool box, he took it twice.

He has had his van outside his

Croydon home broken into many times.

That's why he has CCTV on his house.

But when he caught a thief

on camera, he says the police

still did nothing.

It's an absolute free for all.

The thieves know at the moment

they will not be prosecuted.

It's advertised on the radio and TV

that the police will not

prosecute these thieves.

It's a free for all.

They know they can go out,

even if evidence is provided

to the fact that you can see

that these are the people

that are the assailants.

The police absolutely

will do nothing about it.

That's why he has put up this poster

to try to find the thief.

He no longer bothers reporting

anything to the police.

BBC London can reveal that

in the capital there were just over

53,000 reported offences of thefts

from motor vehicles,

of which 796 were proceeded against.

That means only 1.5% of these

crimes actually lead

to charges being brought.

For neighbouring forces

it wasn't much better.

Thames Valley Police

managed only 1.8%.

Surrey Police, 0.6% of all

reported crimes resulted

in anyone being charged.

So what was the Met's response

to the criticism that this is now

a free for all for criminals?

In a statement they said...

For the AA, it is deeply worrying

so few are being convicted.

They want a dedicated car crime unit

that the Met closed five years

ago to be reinstated

and they have this warning.

We do know they have

other priorities as well.

Things like terrorism,

which we understand.

However, once the criminals know

these crimes will not be

investigated, it can then lead

to a crime because people basically

know they will get away with it.

What's more, it's not just phones

and laptops being nicked,

as these photos show,

airbags and steering wheels are too,

with worrying implications.

If airbags are being stolen,

a proportion of those

are going into cars that will crash,

and the airbags have gone off.

The airbags have been put in,

but they won't work.

Somebody could buy a car in good

faith and it will have an airbag

that if there is a crash,

it will not go off.

These latest crime figures

are controversial, as is any

decision to no longer investigate

all car crime.

But then who said budget

cuts would be easy?

This is what's coming up:

When the sun sets, another London

comes to life. One writer tells us

of the discoveries we can make when

we take a walk at night.

No surprises, it's going to be a

cold weekend. Talk of wintry

showers, but will we get any? Join

me later for the details.

Pollution created by delivery vans

is increasing rapidly in London.

Figures show that the number

of miles driven is up

from nearly 2.5 billion

miles five years ago,

to 2.6 billion miles in 2015.

That's an increase of more than 10%.

And it's led to fears that

a boost in online sales

during Black Friday will only

add to that figure.

Here's Tom Edwards.

This is a distribution centre

in Basildon in Essex.

In this huge warehouse,

this retailer will process around

100,000 items today.

So out of Basildon today we will be

delivering to 263 stores.

We pretty much double our capacity

at this time of year so we make

certain customers get the products

they need when they need them.

As internet shopping gets more

popular, the problem is deliveries

create congestion and pollution.

TfL says one in five vehicles

in the capital are now vans,

and that's increasing.

One delivery firm thinks these

could be the solution.

They are electric bike trailers.

They are being trialled in Camden.

They hope it will reduce

the need for diesel vans.

London faces a significant emissions

and congestion challenge.

One of the solutions is for us

to develop methods whereby we can

replace conventional diesel

collection and delivery vehicles

with cycle solutions.

That's what this

project will deliver.

Another solution is to stop

personal deliveries to work.

Transport for London

banned its employees

from receiving them last work.

-- last year.

It has seen an 80% drop in parcels.

We think a lot of employers

can follow our example,

and I think they will.

Big public sector bodies and big

private employers, employing

thousands of people sometimes.

They can follow our example

and do their bit to reduce

congestion in this great city.

A number of companies are now

said to be considering

personal delivery bans.

On London's congested roads,

tackling our deliveries is now seen

as part of the solution.

Minicab hailing at Uber is going to

appeal at the Supreme Court against

the decision which designated

drivers as workers for rights such

as holiday pay. Earlier this year it

was denied that the workers were

actually self-employed.

There's a growing call

to specifically make the act known

as "upskirting" illegal.

It's when someone takes a photo up

the skirt of an unsuspecting woman,

and it could be done on the Tube,

train or even on the street.

Here's Poppy Begum.

It's a problem that more

and more celebrities say

they are falling victim to.

Upskirting - it's when somebody

takes a picture up a person's dress

or skirt without their consent.

Just took pictures up your

skirt from behind you.

Did he do it just now?

Yeah, did you see that?

But it's not just the rich

and famous who have

been affected by it.

It happened to freelance

writer Gina Martin.

He was holding his phone,

he was on WhatsApp.

And there was a picture,

and it was up a girl's skirt,

right between her legs,

up her crotch.

And I just knew it

was me straightaway.

So I...

You knew it was you?

Instinctively?

I could tell, because

of what I was wearing.

So I grabbed the phone,

checked it was me, to make sure.

And then I started shouting at him.

And then we got into a scuffle.

Because upskirting isn't a sexual

offence, her case was dropped.

The British Transport Police

are aware of the issue and have been

patrolling the network looking

for unwarranted sexual

behaviour like this.

What sorts of sexual assaults

do you see on the tube

on a day to day basis?

Most of the ones we see would be

contact on the tube while standing.

Sadly a lot of people just accept

that it may be the norm

and that's not we want.

We want people to report to us.

Reports of upskirting to the BTP

have almost doubled in the last four

years with 71 reported

crimes in 2016.

But upskirting isn't just

happening on the tube.

This 13-year-old girl,

who didn't want to be identified,

was upskirted at school.

I come home and I get

a notification on my phone.

I went on it and there

were three messages from him.

One was a photo, and it was

a photo up my skirt.

I started to cry.

I just curled up in a ball.

I didn't want to talk to anyone.

I wanted to be by myself.

I was so violated and betrayed,

especially since I thought of this

person as my friend.

There is now a campaign started

by Gina Martin to make

upskirting a sexual offence.

Walking through London at night

opens your eyes to many things

which you might otherwise miss,

which is why Charles Dickens

was a huge fan of doing just that.

You just need to read

his opening line from

The Old Curiosity Shop to know that.

But there's a Londoner

around today who believes

we could all still benefit

from wandering the streets at night,

and Wendy Hurrell has

been speaking to him.

# London by night is

a wonderful sight.#

When the sun goes down

over our city, another

world wakes up, one

of

night buses, night workers

and night walkers.

I started walking at night just

because I didn't like taking

taxis and was not keen

on night buses either.

So I'd walk through the city,

and I began to realise

that it was just a completely

different environment.

There was a different

ecology to the city.

I became more and more

fascinated by the kind

of people who walk

about in the night.

# Deep in the dark that

envelops the park.#

You do see figures

whose presence is very

furtive and the night,

the darkness, the shadows

do bestow upon people,

even if they are up to

something quite innocent, a certain

kind of allure and mystery and

suspiciousness.

How do you feel walking

through London at night,

particularly when everyone

else has gone home?

Well, the solitude does begin

to affect you in strange ways.

It does begin to create

slightly dreamlike effects.

I think the whole sensorium

of the city at night, the fact

that it is monochromatic, you are

moving in shadows from areas of

relative light under

lamps to darkness...

# Down by the Thames,

lights that sparkle like gems.

The greatest night walker

of all was Charles

Dickens, a truly

Olympian night walker.

Certainly it looked

pretty different.

The presence of all the car traffic

and the buses makes a

huge difference.

But there's this wonderful

light, albeit not

gaslight, coming from

the lamps along the river.

This beautiful yellow

light, shimmering on the

surface of the Thames.

So in some way is, I think

that some of the magic

of the 19th century city at night

down on the river is still here.

# I'll always love London by

night.#

No question London is so beautiful

at night. If you're thinking of

going for a stroll after watching

that at midnight tonight, we can

find out what the weather will be

like.

I would advise anyone going for a

walk at this time of year to a

woolly hat and some comfortable

shoes, and a big coat. Just like I

do over the top of my suit. We have

had a lot of cold weekends over the

last month or so. A lot of dry

weather around this weekend and some

sunshine around as well. That

picture was taken by one of our

weather Watchers, a lovely picture

today in London across the Thames.

The sun dropping. A fair bit of

cloud. It wasn't blue sky by any

means. We had this area of cloud

stuck across the south-east for a

while, but the rain has pretty much

kept away. The cloud is thinning

now. Clear skies overnight. It will

be dry and the temperatures will

drop, a colder night than last

night. These are the temperatures as

you move towards the north. You will

find temperatures of -2 and minus

three degrees. The picture on

Saturday, it will be bright with a

cold start. Spells of sunshine but

more clout in the afternoon. The

chance of some showers heading into

Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.

Temperatures lower than today. The

wind will be stronger and it will

feel colder. The wind continuing to

blow through the evening and

overnight. Blowing away any of those

showers and we will have clear skies

once again. Maybe not quite as cold

because there will be more breeze,

but nevertheless it looks like a

pretty frosty time for many of us. A

lot of dry weather and sunshine to

greet the day on Sunday. Showers may

be clipping Stevenage, but on the

whole it will be dry with sunny

spells. Those temperatures might be

a fraction higher, but still 8

degrees and it will be cold through

the weekend. Let's look further

afield. A bit of orange on the

weather front which will bring rain

to start the new week. But then

colder air coming back in and the

wind will change direction again to

more of a northerly so we will end

up back where we started this

weekend. This is the picture on

Sunday. Lots of sunshine on Sunday.

A nice but cold day. Monday will be

wet for most of the day. The rain

could be quite heavy as well. Then

the wind direction changes and it

will become colder again, but drier

with some sunshine. After Tuesday we

could see some wintry showers.

Now back to our main story tonight,

the evacuation of Oxford Street Tube

station after reports of gunshots.

Karl Mercer is there with an update.

Karl Mercer is there with an update.

Hard to believe that anything

happened here to add a half hours

ago, just after 4:30pm. People going

into Oxford Circus tube station, but

they weren't, because it was shut.

All that's left now of the police

action is a solitary police car. At

the time police were brought here

after reports of gun shots being

fired on Oxford Street. It turned

out that wasn't the case. But we saw

mass panic with people were read,

running in all directions. Others

were kept in shops. -- people were

worried. People were kept up-to-date

all the time and the Mayor of London

issued a statement in the last ten

minutes also thanking the

Metropolitan Police and fire brigade

and the British Transport Police on

behalf of Londoners and reiterating

the advice that he Met gave saying

they had found no casualties and no

evidence of shots being fired on

Oxford Street this afternoon. He

said it was extremely important that

Londoners remain vigilant and didn't

panic. STUDIO: Karl Mercer at Oxford

Circus, thank you for that important

update.

Just before we go, let me remind

you of the day's main stories making

the BBC headlines tonight.

At least 235 people have

been killed in Egypt,

and more than 100 injured,

after a gunman detonated a bomb

and stormed a packed mosque

at the end of Friday prayers.

It happened in the

north Sinai region.

Theresa May has been holding talks

with EU leaders in Brussels.

It's her first meeting with them

since the government agreed

to increase the amount of money

it's offering the EU

as part of a Brexit settlement.

Major companies have

suspended their advertising

on YouTube after it emerged that

people have been leaving sexually

explicit comments next

to videos posted by children.

Adverts for major brands like Mars

and Cadbury have been appearing

alongside some of the videos.

BBC London has obtained figures

which show only very few charges

are brought against criminals

who steal from cars.

Out of more that 50,000 reported

offences, around 99%

went undetected.

That's it.

There's more about the situation

at Oxford Circus on the BBC

News Channel, on our Twitter

feed and Facebook page.

And I'll have the latest

for you at 10:30pm.

Have a good evening.