12/02/2018 London News

So it's goodbye from me.

Tonight on BBC London News:

An undercover investigation.

I don't think it's real, man.

Nothing in this shop is made out of

an animal.

We reveal how real animal fur

is wrongly being sold

as fake fur at shops

and stalls across London.

None of these are being labelled

as being made of animal fur.

I think the parallel is

if vegetarian burgers, if they found

that were made with real meat, there

would be an outcry.

Now a Parliamentary inquiry

is launched and our

investigation will be

used as evidence.

Thousands of passengers

face travel disruption

after a unexploded bomb

closes City Airport -

residents in the area also forced

to leave their homes.

They've obviously got it under

control, otherwise they would move

us all out, and being in London, you

know, World War II bombs, you will

find them wherever they are going to

be digging up stuff.

A controversial shake-up

of the way London is policed

as the force needs to save money.

What are you doing here? This is my

little sister, Sandra.

And on a council estate

near Tower Bridge some household

names gather for their latest film -

we'll be speaking to them.

Good evening and welcome

to the programme.

I'm Victoria Hollins.

A BBC London investigation

has revealed how real

animal fur is wrongly

being sold as fake.

This programme secretly

filmed at shops and market

stalls across London -

we were told the garments had

synthetic fur on them.

But in fact tests show mink,

rabbit and fox were being sold.

Animal rights charities say imported

animal fur is being farmed on such

a scale abroad that it's cheaper

to buy than faux fur,

leaving some consumers

'sleepwalking' into buying

the real product.

Alex Bushill investigates.

Our investigation starts here,

Camden market, one of the most

famous markets in the world.

Armed with a secret camera,

we joined the crowds

looking for a purchase.

A coat with a fur trim.

Definitely fake fur, yeah?

Yeah, fake one, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Because of the price it's

a fake one, of course.

Yeah, but I don't want to buy

it if it's real fur.

No, no, no, real is

very expensive, sir.

Real is very expensive.

100%, yeah?

Yeah, 100%.

100% fake fur?

110%.

This is the coat that

we've just bought.

It even has a label on it

saying 100% polyester.

So, no animal fur here then?

Only one way to be sure.

Doctor Phil Greaves is the country's

leading microfibre expert

so we asked him to run all the tests

needed to find out for sure if this

was real fur or faux fur.

What is it?

It's animal fibre.

Because it's got the structural

features that only

animal fibres have.

It's got an external area of scales,

internal structure,

pigment within the fibres.

It is of two coats and the fibres

taper towards their tips.

So that's 100% certain?

100%.

In all, we bought garments

from 17 stalls and shops

from across London, from Stratford

to Shepherd's Bush market.

From bobble hats, to key rings

and shoes with pom-poms.

Again and again, we were sold

fake fur that turned out

actually to be real fur.

I don't think it's real, man.

I know that.

Nothing in this shop

is made out of animal.

Fake fur.

So it looks real, but

they're is not real.

So it looks real,

but they're not real.

And again in Shepherd's Bush market.

Take me to court.

Take you to court, yeah?

Take me to court.

Take me to court,

but it's not, 100%.

And then in Stratford,

again we were misled.

This time the fur she sold us

even had traces of cat.

This is synthetic, it's not real.

Real can't be for this price.

It's interesting how many of those

stallholders said at that price

it has to be fake fur.

Real fur, they say, is expensive.

Well, not any more.

According to the Humane Society,

an animal rights charity,

that is a common misconception.

They say in fact real fur can

now be so much cheaper

than sympathetic fur.

I think a lot of people will think

that real fur is expensive

and would look at a £10 bobble hat

and not think for a second

that it could be real fur.

And we just encourage

people to be careful not

to sleepwalk

into buying real fur.

The charity's even gone

undercover themselves,

filming this footage

of what they describe

as battery fur Farms in China.

In the cages, row after

row of raccoons dogs.

The Humane Society has long

campaigned to highlight the issue

of cheap imported real fur,

which, they say, is now produced

to such an industrial scale at farms

like this that the price has dropped

to rock bottom.

So, back in London, what of those

who had mis-sold to us?

We asked everyone who sold us

real fur as faux fur

to explain themselves.

Some simply didn't comment,

like these two, so we don't know

if they themselves were victims,

duped by their suppliers.

Others like this lady said

she was shocked and that she relied

on the label and was assured

by her supplier it wasn't real fur.

She's now removed

the items from sale.

Others like this stallholders said

they'd wrongly assumed

it was man-made, and had never

intended to mislead.

Which all leads to one

inescapable thought.

If so many of the shops and stalls

that sell fur don't really know

what they're selling,

how on earth are we, the consumer,

to know what the fur trim

on our coat or the bobble on our hat

is really made of?

This report will now be submitted

as evidence to a Parliamentary

inquiry looking at the issue.

Lots more to come, including...

Three London aid workers

share their first hand accounts

of working inside world's largest

refugee camp in Bangladesh.

Up to 16,000 passengers

have had their travel

plans disrupted after City Airport

was closed for the day

because of an unexploded

Second World War bomb.

The 500 kilogramme device

was discovered in the Thames,

close to the runway.

Work to make it safe

will take until tomorrow.

Some residents have been forced

to leave their homes

while it's carried out.

Tolu Adeoye has spent

the day nearby.

Grounded. Every single flight out of

London City Airport, following the

discovery of a World War II bomb

nearby. The 500 kilograms German

device was found by divers at the

King George V doctoring work to

expand the airport at around 5am

yesterday morning. By 10am the

airport was shut. Passengers were

told they could not travel today but

still we met some arriving at the

airport who hadn't heard the news.

Now we tried to go to the airport,

but we were informed in now that

there is no way inside, because

there is... I don't know!

The

unusual sight there of a completely

empty runway. Flights normally would

be taking off and landing around

every half an hour but 261 have been

cancelled. Some have been moved to

neighbouring airports, Southend and

Stansted, but still widespread

disruption for passengers. Today the

airport CEO apologised to the

thousands affected by the problems.

Yes, there has been a lot of

disruption and that is very

unfortunate and obviously we

apologise for that, whoever we are

working very closely with the Met

and the Navy and felt it was the

right and responsible thing to do,

to effectively close the airport and

have this device, the unexploded

bomb, removed from the dock.

The

disruption caused wasn't limited to

air travel. A 240 metre cord and was

put in place by the authorities,

affecting the DLR, with some roads

also closed off. The exclusion zone

meant some residents were advised to

leave their home and moved to

emergency accommodation, should they

wish to.

If it was that bad they

would have moved us all out, so I

don't think it is that major because

the obviously have it under control

otherwise they would move us all

out, and being in London, World War

II bombs, you will find them

wherever they are going to be

digging up stuff.

Indeed thousands

of bombs were dropped on London

during the Blitz. They do turn up

from time to time. This one was

discovered in Brent last year. The

police and the Navy are working to

remove the latest discovery.

Unfortunately there are a lot that

still remain from previous wars.

Complacency certainly doesn't exist

within the military and the Royal

Navy ensures that every device,

every bomb, and every munition is

treated in the same way, so

therefore to ensure the public is

safe at all times.

Up to 16,000

passengers are thought to have been

affected by today's closure.

Thousands will be hoping the airport

is up and running by tomorrow

morning. Tolu is at the airport now

with the latest. Tolu?

Yes, outside

are very much still close London

pot-mac station. Still cordons in

place and in fact more people are

being advised to leave their homes

as the police and Navy carry on with

this operation. We understand the

bomb is being moved onto a boat and

moved away from the docks this

evening but there should be good

news in the morning. The airport

expects to be open as normal, which

will be welcome for many including

Tottenham fans who were hoping to

travel to Milan, head of the

Champions League match against

Juventus tomorrow, but they say this

disruption was necessary to make

sure people are kept safe. The

advice is still to check before you

travel from airport back tomorrow.

Tolu, thanks

A major shake-up of the way

the capital is policed

was announced today as the Met

warned of significant

financial challenges.

Officer numbers are expected to drop

to as low as 27,000.

The main reform will see 12 large

police units replacing

the old system where each

borough had its own team.

Karl Mercer reports.

She's been the head of the Met for

less than a year but Cressida Dick

Passing out parades like this one

last April may be one of

the pleasures of the job,

but making cuts certainly isn't.

And that's what the Met

has announced today,

cutting 1500 jobs and cutting its

current structure from 32, to just

12 borough commands.

We're trying to position

ourselves to operate within

the budget that we've got.

Clearly there's a big

debate around what the

right number of police

officers is for London,

but in terms of what

we're doing now, we're

making sure that with

the number of officers

we can afford over the coming years,

we are able to address

the priorities that Londoners want

us, we believe,

to address, particularly around

violence, and we are able to do that

within the budget that we have.

The new setup was trialled

in Barking and Dagenham and here,

as across London, the local police

station is set to close

although it's open at the moment.

The council leader he says

the changes need careful handling.

The Met are trying to do

the best they can do

with the money they've got.

They are taking it out of front line

services and out the buildings,

where victims of crime used to go

and feel secure.

The Met's facing tough

financial times,

it must save £325 million

in the coming years.

This move will save just

over £70 million of that

target.

It says a big drop in police

numbers can't be ruled out.

The difficult decisions the Met have

taken today enable them to plan

for the future with less resources.

We know there's going to be 30,000

police officers by April and we know

that by 2021 it could be

significantly less.

We hope that this

will future-proof the

Metropolitan Police Service for

the coming years to enable them to

deliver a better service

with less resources.

Scotland Yard has already closed

or has plans to close more

than 100 police stations, leading

to fears that the only place left to

save money is by cutting

police numbers.

We're down to the bone -

there's nothing else we can sell and

I don't think there's any other way

we can raise any money, and when you

talk about the Metropolitan Police,

I think about 76% is salary and

therefore you will have to reduce

numbers to fit within the budgetary

requirements.

The money challenges

for the commission come as the

capital is facing big challenges

over youth and sex crimes.

She'll be judged on delivering

better with less.

Karl Mercer, BBC London News.

Next, we head to the world's

largest refugee camp

which is 5000 miles

away in Bangladesh.

Three London aid workers travelled

there and filmed their efforts

to help some of the hundreds

of thousands of Muslim Rohingya's

who have fled persecution

in their home country.

Chris Rogers has been

looking at their video

diaries piecing together

their heart-breaking mission.

A warning you may find

some images distressing.

Our London aid workers

are heading into the world's

largest refugee camp.

This is home to more than 800,000

Rohingya Muslim refugees.

Escaping persecution

in Buddhist-dominated Myanmar.

Dr Ramiz Momeni,

Genevieve Jones-Hernandez

and Sarah Wade have travelled

the world, helping refugees.

But nothing can prepare them

for what lies ahead.

All of which they capture on camera.

I've had a few comments here

and there, obviously asking if I'm

doing the right thing,

leaving a toddler behind

for a period of time.

But ultimately he is surrounded

by family, friends.

I work for a charity

because I want to help

the people who really need it.

Their journey begins and the gateway

to the camp where newly arrived

refugees receive basic aid.

What it is that they receive

here is a bag with a bucket

and I guess some

building essentials.

But the Humanitas Charity

are heading deep into the camp,

a two-hour trek, where there is no

aid, to set up a medical centre.

Word spreads, help has arrived.

The team prioritises

women and children.

Their mother could not make the trip

so she had to pass her baby

onto her bigger baby to bring here.

The baby is ten and a half days

and hasn't been breast-fed.

On

There are so many babies, newborns,

don't have any food, starving.

She was prescribed vitamins,

but just for her, not for the baby.

Honestly, it's like the baby's...

Dying.

So we've just organised

for her to go and get

referred because she needs

to go to a hospital,

and for that she need

to have her ID card.

They are just in incredible

pain with these sores

all over their heads and really dry

and cracked skin

all over their body.

So we were literally rubbing

them down with vaseline.

This is a newborn baby,

born yesterday and they tied

the umbilical cord with just

a piece of rope.

Today, like, it's been nonstop.

the

They're shivering,

coughing, throwing up.

I think we were expected to turn up

and to be working alongside a lot

more organisations or volunteers.

We worked in the Syrian refugee

crisis and it was full

of organisations and volunteers

and people on the ground

and I think we expected this

to be slightly similar,

and it isn't.

Her pulse is very low.

We're just rushing to the hospital

with these newly arrived Rohingyas

with severe dehydration.

There is absolute lack

of aid for these people.

Every day, more refugees arrive,

in biblical numbers.

All of these people,

tired, sick, hungry,

and yet to reach their final

destination in this camp

and set up home.

After three weeks and around

80 patients a day,

it's time to head home.

It's not so much as a difficult

thing to be here.

I think it would be more

of a difficult thing to leave,

knowing that we are leaving these

people in such a dire situation.

You can see more on that story at

7:30pm on Inside Out.

Still to come.

Are you scared of dying?

It is one

thing being scared of dying, it is

another to be scared of living.

Some of Britain's best known

actors gather on a council

estate in east London

for their latest film.

After a day of sparkling winter

sunshine, today things look a bit

different tomorrow, cloud and rain

from the West, strong wind. The

details are on the way.

Transport for London's bike hire

scheme expanded today into Brixton.

But it now has hi-tech

rivals on the streets.

Bikes that don't need

docking stations and you

unlock with your phone.

And they have big expansion plans.

So what is the future

of bike hire in London?

Here's our transport

correspondent Tom Edwards.

This is how you can now easily see

Brixton, by hire bike.

Lambeth Council has paid

£700,000 for seven docking

stations and 200 bikes.

This is now the southernmost

tip of the TFL scheme.

What this does is to give them

access to inexpensive cycle hire.

Brilliant.

They come in, have a coffee,

have more than a coffee,

they can lock their bikes and move

onto next station.

So we see the bikes as a big feature

that's going to cause people

to dwell, as we expect it to bring

new visitors in.

The green line shows you within that

area where you can hire bikes.

But the bike hire market

is changing due to these.

Dockless hire bikes.

You use an app to activate

the bike and they don't

need docking stations,

you can leave them anywhere.

There are three different schemes in

London which cost councils nothing.

We don't require any funding

from TFL or from the boroughs

so the recent expansion of the TFL

scheme into Brixton has cost

£700,000 to council taxpayers.

We don't require anything so that

money could be used for other

cycling infrastructure or cycling

initiatives around London.

The first dockless project, oBike,

had their bikes seized

after they didn't talk

to the councils.

They're no longer in London.

City Hall, though, thinks there

is room for both types of scheme.

It's fantastic that other

operators are coming in.

The caveat to that is that they have

to provide a good experience

for people using their bikes.

We want people to enjoy

cycling around the city.

If it's not a good experience then

people won't do it again.

It also has to be delivered safely.

We don't want bikes cluttering

the pavements and getting in the way

of traffic and causing problems.

These dockless schemes are expanding

rapidly so you'll see more

dockless bikes in London,

part of the drive to get more

Londoners onto two wheels.

The inside of the roof collapsed

down to the basement. Builders had

been working on the property

although no one was inside at the

time. No reports of injuries but the

houses on either side were

evacuated.

Currently less than 10% of football

coaches in London are women.

And far fewer girls

than boys play the sport.

Well, now the search

is on for 100 new female coaches,

to show girls that football

is for them too.

From Wembley Emma Jones

can tell us more.

So here are a few facts for you.

Almost 90% of all boys in London

between the age of 14

and 15 play football.

In contrast, only 35%

of girls of that age do,

and of all the coaches in London,

almost 7% are women.

Well, that's something the London

FA is hoping to change

here at Wembley today.

There are a number of perceptions

about football being for boys,

and it's a boys' sport,

but by creating female role models

and coaches and showing

the opportunity for girls to be able

to play together in a community

environment led by female coaches

is a real opportunity to break

down those barriers.

The search is now on for 100

new female coaches in London.

The aim?

To get them to coach 1000 girls

between the age of seven and 11,

and hopefully teach them that it's

OK to be both a girl

and a footballer.

However many great role models we've

got, we still have young girls

in primary schools telling us,

you know, I'm not supposed

to get hot and sweaty,

and boys won't like me

if I look like that.

And, you know, whatever

is causing that, it's

something we need to address.

London's female football fans don't

have to look far for inspiration.

Chelsea's Emma Hayes

was the first manager to lift

the women's FA Cup at Wembley,

while Sarah Wiltshire,

who also plays under a female coach

at Tottenham Hotspur Ladies,

says the idea that football

is a boys' game is changing.

I don't think it's like that now.

I see, you know, young boys not

thinking anything of young

girls playing football,

and I think that's really really

good, and I think that it

will only get better.

And these new coaching courses

offered by the London FA are just

part of a larger drive to get more

women and girls into football

across the capital.

Emma Jones, BBC London News.

A clutch of Britain's finest actors

star in a new film -

shot in part - on a council

estate near Tower Bridge.

Finding Your Feet stars

Imelda Staunton, Celia Imrie,

and Joanna Lumley among others

and its about a middle-aged snob -

who finds romance in

the most unlikely place.

Wendy Hurrell has more.

In her posh Surrey home,

Sandra puts on a party

for her husband's retirement

and looks forward to

a new life with him.

I've been planning our retirement

for the last 35 years.

Except those plans come

to an abrupt stop.

What's going on?

We were just...

It's not what it looks like.

So, Imelda Staunton's character

moves in with her sister,

living in quite different

surroundings on an East

London council estate.

And there, Biff, played

by Celia Imrie, convinces her

to join in on her dance classes.

They eventually lead to a flash mob

performance in central London.

We are all of an age where,

you know, you'd think we wouldn't be

doing stuff like that

but there we were, out

in Piccadilly Circus at midnight

in December, frozen.

Sort of like guerilla filming,

we went out and started dancing.

"Go, do it now!"

It will rain any

minute, which it did.

How important did you think

it is that films such

as this one are made,

when there are central female

characters of a more mature age?

You've cornered the market.

I'm trying to get into her market!

Her audience, I need her audience!

I watched again, one of my most

favourite films, All About Eve,

and I saw Betty Davis

being interviewed before

and she was saying that her life

was, you know, parallel to the film.

Because a woman of 40,

she's just turned 40,

three months ago, that's it.

For women, for actresses

in those days, that was it.

So I'm thrilled to be

able to say that I think

things are changing,

I really do.

Finding Your Feet is in in

cinemas from next Friday.

Go on, give it to him!

What a cast. Now the weather, it has

been a lovely day?

What a cast. Now the weather, it has

been a lovely day?

Yes, winter sunshine all around and

I wish it would last two tomorrow.

Something different on the way. This

victory from our weather watcher in

Twickenham, what a beautiful end to

the day with those largely sunny

skies. This frontal system in the

Atlantic is going to change things,

sliding from the West, bringing rain

and ahead of that, notice the

isobars squeezing together showing

that the wind is starting to

strengthen. The weather front is

waiting in the wings. At the moment

it isn't too bad, some clear skies,

a few showers from the South as we

go through the evening. Most of them

will stay to the south of the

Thames. It is going to turn quite

chilly, a widespread frost despite

those increasingly strong southerly

winds. Tomorrow if you are out and

about early there will be some

sunshine but the wind will be

strengthening all the time, cloud

from the West and then rain. Hints

of something wintry over the high

ground, maybe some sleet with the

rain. It will be cold. But something

brighter from the West as we go to

the end of the afternoon. Wednesday

looks very similar, bright start and

the cloud thickening up, winter

strengthening and rain from the

West. A hint of something wintry

over the higher ground. Temperatures

generally a bit higher, 6-8 degrees.

Further ahead, on the face of it,

fairly unsettled, low-pressure

driving the weather as we head

towards the end of the week but

we'll see cold air over northern

parts of the country but in the

south, a bit milder. Wet weather for

the next couple of things and then

things look more settled and dryer

and temperatures may get up into

double digits. Just some rain to get

through first.

Now the main headlines.

The Deputy Chief Executive

of Oxfam has resigned,

following allegations

that the charity tried

to cover up a sex scandal

involving its aid workers.

The Government has threatened to cut

millions of pounds of funding.

The three British tourists killed

in a helicopter crash

in the Grand Canyon have been named.

Becky Dobson, Stuart Hill

and Jason Hill died on Saturday.

Three other British passengers

are still in hospital.

That's it, I'll be back later for

the ten o'clock news. For now,

whatever you're doing, have a lovely

evening. Goodbye.