16/03/2018 London News

and on BBC One we now join the BBC's

news teams where you are.

Tonight on BBC London News:

Passengers on the District Line

train describe the fireball that

forced them to run for cover

when Ahmed Hassan's home-made bomb

exploded seriously injuring 30

people.

Suddenly pandemonium broke out on

the platform. I don't think there

was a loud bang, just the flash and

the flame ball.

Also tonight, the nursing students

who face giving up on their courses

after having their loans stopped.

250 tonnes of mostly plastic,

dragged from the Thames every year.

And the problem is getting worse.

80 years aboard this

historic warship.

HMS Belfast prepares

to celebrate a big birthday.

Good evening and welcome

to the programme.

I'm Victoria Hollins.

Ahmed Hassan plotted

to cause carnage on a Tube

train filled with 93 commuters

on their normal morning journey.

He left the bomb on board

the District Line train,

getting off one stop before Parson's

Green.

It was there the partial explosion

forced the passengers to run

for cover from a fireball that

rolled through the carriage.

Dozens of them suffered

injuries, many in a stampede

to escape the scene.

Our reporter Marc Ashdown is in west

London for us this evening.

It was just an ordinary Friday

morning last September at about

8:20am when a District line train

pummelled into Parsons Green

station, packed with commuters and

schoolchildren. An improvised device

exploded, sending a Flash fire ball

through the carriage. It was what is

known as a bucket bomb, full of bits

of metal and it was only a miracle

that it fails to detonate properly.

30 people were injured but it could

have been much worse. I spoke to one

Londoner who was on board.

As the train stopped, suddenly

pandemonium broke out on the

platform. I don't think it was a

loud bang, just the flash and the

flame ball, and a crowd of people

charged towards the exit. I had no

idea what was going on.

What did you

think?

We had had a feud terror

attacks, obviously. The London

Bridge attack had not been that far

before this. My first thought was,

is anyone running around with a

machete or a gun, as at London

Bridge? Where should I go? What

should I do? It became clear fairly

quickly that there was no threat of

anything like that.

Pretty scary

though.

Yes, for the few minutes

before we knew what was going on,

whilst everyone was panicking,

shouting and screaming. People are

getting crushed on the stairway.

Lots of people were helping each

other, particularly those injured on

the stairs trying to get out of the

platform. People were helping each

other and comforting people. A

neighbour of mine was on the same

train, a scout leader, and his first

reaction was to try to help the

people who had been burned and were

panicking. He got a little group of

people on the platform to look after

them. Soon after the incident,

everyone was determined to carry on

as normal. I have been watching the

trial going on. When you get to

Parsons Green and the announcement

comes up, Parsons Green, you become

very aware of what happened. What if

it had gone off? All those nuts and

bolts and snails and the amount of

explosive material that was there,

the thought that went into packing

all of that metal around it, a lot

of people could have been badly

injured.

Has it changed you, or are

you determined to carry on?

If we

let ourselves get terrified by what

might happen, you don't get on with

normal life. You have to carry on

and hope that good triumphs over

evil.

Joining me is Councillor

Stephen Cowell on, the Labour leader

of Hammersmith & Fulham Council. I

saw you down here on the day, and it

was about London is being resilient

and supporting each other.

I was

down here in about 15 minutes and

was encouraged to see the police on

full alert, security services

tracking the suppose it terrorist

and people pulling together. There

were ladies handing out cups of tea.

Later, an Italian restaurant owner

handed out pizza. Shops were handing

out water. It was London coming

together and saying, this is not

going to happen to our city.

We were

hit by several terror attacks last

summer. You think people are more

vigilant?

They have to be vigilant.

But we have shown we have the best

security services in the world. We

are tracking many of these people

and the fact that that attack was

not successful is not just down to

the skill of the security services.

It is also down to the background

work that goes on throughout much of

the time.

He was a lone wolf

attacker. We have to be vigilant

every moment of everyday.

We have

seen attacks in Brussels, Paris,

Berlin, Boston. What is important is

that society stands strong and faces

down these terrorists and says, we

are not going to let them change our

saw the way we live. That is what

you saw last September, when the

terrorists thought they could change

our lives. They didn't, because we

are better than that.

The message is

that security services are doing all

they can to keep the city safe but

each of us needs to be vigilant.

Lots more to come including:

A new insight into our ancient past,

thanks to preparations

for a tunnel on HS2.

Hundreds of nursing

students have been told

not to expect any more payments

from the Student Loan Company

for the rest of the year,

after the company claims

it overpaid them.

Some students say they might not be

able to continue their studies,

and will be left struggling to pay

bills and rent.

Many had queried their initial

payments earlier in the year

and been told there

wasn't a problem.

Charlotte Franks reports.

They are on the front

line of our hospitals,

caring for the sick and injured.

It's a profession that can be

rewarding and pressured,

and in London the low salary can be

a struggle, with the

high cost of living.

Despite this, students

like Emma have still chosen

to train as a nurse.

I love the interaction and I find it

enjoyable to work with such

a variety of people.

I knew I would get the NHS bursary

and receive payments

from Student Finance England,

so that is what I have

been relying on.

But she and as many as 800 other

nursing students in London will stop

receiving their student loan

following an overpayment error

by the organisation.

There was a moment of panic

where I was not sure if I would be

able to continue the course.

If I can't afford my rent,

I can't stay in London.

It was really scary to even be

thinking that this far

into my degree I might have

to defer, or quit.

Many students say they questioned

the overpayment at the time

but were given assurances

the sums were correct.

The Royal College of Nursing say

they have spoken to the student

loans company who have confirmed

they have known about this

mistake since January.

We are calling for these

overpayments to be written off

with immediate effect.

It is through no fault of their own.

They were told they had

nothing to worry about.

We are asking for the debt

to be written off.

Some students have said

they will have to put the course

Some students have said

they will have to quit the course

if this is not resolved.

This is not the first time

the student loans company has been

the focus of media scrutiny.

In the past, it has had to deal

with failed payments,

bailing students out and claims

the firm was near meltdown.

This body is responsible

for handing

billions of pounds of public money.

The fact that the people being hit

by this are a key part of our NHS.

We don't need an incompetent

administration system demanding

they pay back money they should not

have been given in the first place.

The company told us

they are investigating how the error

occurred but they have refused

to write off the payments.

The concern is that at a time

when London is facing

a severe nursing shortage,

there could be hundreds of students

who might not qualify

because they can't afford to.

We asked the Department for

Education for comment but have not

received a response.

Two days ago the

government's so called

Integration Strategy told us

learning English was the key

to people getting on better.

Today, a new plan from the Mayor.

Yes, he says, language is important,

but building better communities

is about much more than that.

Here's Karl Mercer.

At this age, you are not worried

about much more than your next toy,

maybe your next friend,

and maybe just a little bit

about performing for the cameras.

And then the Mayor comes

along with a plan.

Hello, what's your name?

You're the same height as me,

so can I have a photograph with you?

The Mayor chose this mother

and baby club in Camberwell

to launch his so-called

Social Integration Strategy.

He wants more of this sort of thing,

where people of all classes,

races and ages can meet,

where friendships can be formed.

This is the group that

made me feel complete,

because it's a place that I can go

when I need it, and I know

they will help each other.

And I found friends there.

A lot of the children are the same

age, so we are doing similar things,

so it brings us together and it's

a really diverse group.

It's literally opened up the world

of Camberwell mums to us,

that we wouldn't have met otherwise.

But the Mayor's integration strategy

is launched just two days

after central government

launched their own one

with slightly different emphasis.

There is a responsibility on us

to be active citizens.

There is a responsibility on us

to learn the language

so we can talk to each other,

apply for a decent job, but also

to get to know our neighbours.

And one of the things that

worries me is the isolation

and loneliness many Londoners feel,

particularly older Londoners.

We've got to find ways to bridge

the divide between older

and younger Londoners,

between Londoners from different

economic backgrounds,

different ethnicities.

It's very important for me

that my children feel that they can

have friends from all over.

So it's very, very important in this

society now for our children to be

able to relate to one another,

and to know that those

differences cannot prevent us

from working together

and building better communities.

The Mayor's plan comes

with a lot of good intention

but a relatively small pot of money.

It's a lot to do with encouraging

more stuff like this rather

than actually paying for it.

The long-standing Mayor of Newham

has been defeated in a leadership

battle for the Labour Party

in the east London borough.

Sir Robin Wales had been in the role

for more than 20 years

but faced opposition

from within his own party.

He'll be replaced as Labour's

candidate for elected mayor

by councillor Rokhsana Fiaz.

Every year 250 tonnes of mostly

plastic is pulled out

of the river Thames.

The Port of London Authority says

the issue of plastic bottles

in particular ending up

in the Thames is getting

worse year on year.

And it's now having

an impact on marine life.

Here's our Environment

Correspondent Tom Edwards.

Scooped out of the Thames.

This is the type of rubbish they

regularly pull out of the river.

The majority of the debris is now

disposable plastic bottles.

They still call this

the drift wood service,

they used to mainly pull

floating wood out.

Now the main problem

causing their collectors is plastic.

You can see from the actual

surface of the water,

mainly the plastic bottles

of various type, bits of straw,

plastic cups, and also

bits of plastic bag.

Tania works for the port

of London authority.

She says the amount of plastic

is increasing and it

will have an impact on marine life

in the Thames, the estuary

and the North Sea.

There is a lot of concern around it

being in the sediment

and what animals are feeding on.

We are starting to see

through studies that some

of the crabs and fish are starting

to eat it and it is

filling their stomachs

so they are not able to feed.

We are working with academics along

the Thames as to how that

transfers into the fish,

birds and mammals so we have

more seals and porpoises

using the Thames, how that

might affect then.

might affect them.

Most of the plastic that

finds its away in has

been used only once.

Some is dumped.

Other smaller bits come

through the sewage system.

The experts have measured how

many plastic bottles

are going in to collections

and it is about 15 every hour.

They pull out about 250 tonnes

of waste every year.

And that is just a fraction

what goes into the river.

These tiny white spots

are polystyrene that has

broken down in the river.

This is a snail that more typically

would live in the upper ends

of the tidal Thames so Teddington

way, and that is obviously been

disturbed and brought down this far,

scooped up and caught up

in the debris but also

on the pieces of plastic.

Now the authorities want

people to think much more

about using plastic.

And crucially, how

they get rid of it.

It's difficult to imagine

what the earth would have been

like 56 million years ago.

Dinosaurs were extinct,

the UK was tropical and the land

where London sits was under a sea.

But now, a new discovery made

while preparing to dig tunnels

for the high speed train link HS2

might give us a totally new insight

into how our island used to look.

Caroline Davies reports.

These are some of the creatures that

stalked the earth millions of years

ago, but they weren't only in what

became Africa or America. Some might

have been in Ruislip. Until now,

scientists knew that millions of

years ago a subtropical sea covered

much of the south of England. They

didn't know where it stopped. But a

discovery made 33 metres below my

feet might help give them a clue.

Before digging the tunnels, the team

behind HS2 have been drilling holes

to see what lies beneath. They were

expecting to find gravel but instead

they found a layer of rare mud.

Geologists think this was the edge

of a prehistoric coastline,

surrounded by dense wooded marsh.

They have called it the Ruislip bed.

As a geologist it is very exciting,

because every new piece of

information helps to recreate an

environment that we only have bits

of.

The HS2 team have been gathering

evidence about Britain's Earth along

their route. The North halt tunnel

is due to go through this land. The

team say it will not hold up

construction, but should they be

drilling through it? You are going

to drill a great big hole in this.

Are you not going to damage it?

We

will only be taking away a small

chunk of material out of quite a

large expanse. It will not

irreparably damage it.

Bees lived in

the subtropical sea that covered

southern England.

Doctor John Todd

is an expert on this period. He says

studying something about the world

56 million years ago has more

important than we might think.

It

was a time of rapid climate change,

similar to what is occurring now. If

we can understand the response to

that rapid rise in temperature, we

can predict what will happen on

earth in the future.

Scientists hope

that this patch of mud will make

this period a little clearer.

The family of a young boy

from Carshalton say they need

to find £80,000 to fund treatment

before he loses his

hearing altogether.

Benji Wayne needs cochlear

implants, but the NHS

won't fund it because it says

the three-year-old doesn't qualify.

Paul Murphy Kasp has the story.

Benji runs around like any other

three-year-old but since six weeks

old he has worn hearing aids

because of a genetic

condition called Connexin 26.

He is completely deaf

in his right ear and the hearing

in his left ear is failing.

His doctors decided he needed

cochlear implants to be able to hear

properly but while he still has

limited hearing, the NHS

won't pay for them.

We're so incredibly frustrated.

Some families don't decide

to implant their child

and that's absolutely fine,

but we feel, because of the expert

advice we've got from the brilliant

Implant Centre, that that

would give him the best chance

of acquiring language

which we feel he deserves.

With Benji unable to talk properly,

his family have been

learning sign language

to try to communicate with him.

The NHS told his mother he won't be

eligible for cochlear implants

until he's completely deaf

and now his parents fear that

by the time he gets them,

the ongoing support would end up

costing the taxpayer more.

NHS England say they fund cochlear

implants for patients who need it

most based on government funding

however they said that doctors can

apply for individual funding

for those they feel have strong

cases but that they have

to treat everyone fairly.

And Benji's doctors have

told his mum he fits that criteria.

They sent off a really strong

application which showed

why he deserved it.

We don't understand why there isn't

a priority to have that one-off

spending of this operation in order

to avoid lots of future

spending for Ben.

Now experts want the rules to be

relaxed to allow more people

to reap the benefits.

The guidelines were written nearly

ten years ago and it's very clear

from the research evidence both

from the UK and overseas

that there are children with less

severe hearing losses

who would benefit more

from a cochlear implant than they do

from their hearing aids.

The government is in the process

of reviewing the guidelines around

cochlear implants but Benji's

parents worry any change

will come too late for him.

Paul Murphy Kasp, BBC London News.

It's been a momentous

day for AFC Wimbledon.

The club founded by fans

when the original Wimbledon moved

to Milton Keynes is a step closer

to having its own brand new stadium.

This morning demolition work began

to clear the site that

will eventually become home

to the Dons.

Chris Slegg reports.

Three, two, one...

When you've waited this long...

KLAXON SOUNDS.

What's a few more seconds?

Dodgy klaxon sorted,

demolition could begin.

Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium

is being ripped down

to be replaced by this,

an 11,000-seat stadium for AFC

Wimbledon with the potential

to expand to 25,000 seats.

It's a massive day, isn't it?

It turns something from plans

on paper and hopes and dreams

into a piece of physical reality.

AFC Wimbledon currently play

in Kingston but the aim has

always been to return

to their home borough.

Kingsmeadow has been very good

for them and it has been part

and parcel of the club's history

now as such.

But to come to a new stadium,

which is a massive thing,

and their own home,

they will own it, they will be able

to decide everything about it.

It's taken a long time

for anything to happen here.

AFC Wimbledon got planning

permission back in December 2015.

But five months later the then

mayor, Boris Johnson,

called the plans in.

That decision was reversed

when Siddique Khan took up

residence at City Hall,

even though he had opposed

the redevelopment when he was the MP

for Labour in Tooting.

Now there has been opposition

from local residents.

One of the concerns whether the road

network around here can cope

with 11,000 fans coming to this site

every other week.

We are very confident we can appease

those people who have those

worries about transport,

about flooding, about

the need for more schooling

and more GP practices.

All that was addressed in

the tumultuous planning application.

If all goes to plan,

AFC Wimbledon will be

in their new home in time

for the start of the 2019-20 season.

Chris Slegg, BBC London News.

One of the most famous

sights on the Thames

is celebrating her 80th

anniversary this weekend.

HMS Belfast is one of Britain's most

significant surviving World War II

warships and from tomorrow visitors

will be able to take part in special

activities to mark the anniversary.

The bottle is broken by determined

hand and the new Southampton class

cruiser slides down the slipway

to take her place among Britain's

rearmament achievement.

It was launched in

Southampton back in 1938.

Built in the shipyards

of Northern Ireland,

the battleship HMS Belfast soon set

sail for war.

As the young man, Fred Wooding

from Bedford worked below deck.

He sailed to the Far East and was

there as the Korean War began.

So we would send up the ammunition

by hoist from way down

in the bowels of the ship.

You know, and if you hear the guns

go off, you would do if the guns go

off, you just ignored it and carried

on with what you're doing.

You've got a job to do.

During World War II HMS Belfast

escorted the Arctic convoys

to the Soviet Union and fired some

of the first shots

in the D-Day landings.

This weekend the ship

celebrates its 80th anniversary

and veterans such as Fred will be

meeting the public on board.

The focus very much is on the men

who lived and served

here and what it was like for them

when the ship was mined,

when she was on the Arctic convoys

in the worst journey in the world

according to Churchill,

and at D-Day as well so we're really

conscious that some of the stories

she tells are really difficult.

And our veterans have very vivid

memories of those and that's

what we try to engage the public

with, to bring them into contact

with those incredible stories.

Most people have served

here loved the ship.

It's something special to them.

This is very special to me,

a very special ship.

Had hard times on board,

had some good times.

But yes, it was good.

Veterans such as Fred Hope

the history of this special ship

will echo across future generations

and the people who sailed

in it are remembered.

Let's join Ayshea Buksh who's

on board the ship this evening.

Good evening from the main deck of

HMS Belfast. The ship was due to be

scrapped in the 1970s despite that

significant active service but

thankfully it was saved and it is

now owned by the Imperial War Museum

and wannabe curators is here with

me. -- one of the curators. Why was

it so important that the ship was

saved?

The Imperial War Museum is

Britain's National music of war and

confidence and the museum wanted to

save a gun turret from the Royal

Navy Chris -- cruiser. It would be a

symbol of the war at sea. During a

visit to Portsmouth to see is

possible ships, the idea was floated

at saving an entire ship and Belfast

was in fantastic condition and a few

years later the museum was able to

open it to the public.

It is one of

account, how do you hope in the

future it will be remembered and

what is it significant for future

generations question it is a

wonderful time capsule in Maritime

and world history.

We think the stories of the group

will continue to be a fascinating

thing as long as Britain remained an

island!

Many thanks. The veterans

will be back on board tomorrow

morning for a weekend of anniversary

celebrations. 'S

thank you.

Now with that all important weather

forecast here's Phil Avery.

That is a leader is all change? --

fair to say it is all change?

There is a bit of a change, I hope

you have been able to enjoy the

taste of spring in the past the

birthdays. It was in Blackheath and

also at Twickenham on the Thames.

14.6 degrees I have been told today

but look at this. No longer the low

pressure dominating, Saturday and

Sunday it is all the same the

easterly drawing in cold air from

Scandinavia. This is the night, no

cloud, that is just the rain which

eventually becomes snow. Look at the

temperatures, we have been around

its degrees but only up to three

degrees. And look at this, that is

quite a bit of snowfall in the

morning on the first part of the

afternoon. Pretty continuous, up to

four centimetres with more on the

high ground. More showery in the

afternoon, those are the maximum

temperatures. It was 14 degrees

today but three degrees tomorrow.

From mid afternoon onwards there is

an amber warning from the Met Office

for snow and ice in a lot of our

area, through Saturday evening and

into Sunday morning. These are the

snow showers and there are more of

them. A few more centimetres and

late in the afternoon I think it is

all over. It is still bitingly cold

but just a bit of brightness coming

in, the snow showers are probably

moved on and coming into the new

week we will have a slow but sure

improvement in the temperatures but

watch out in the short term.

Thank you.

That's it.

I'll be back later during the ten

o'clock news, but for now let's

leave you with a lovely view of HMS

Belfast celebrating

its 80th birthday.

From everyone on the team,

have a lovely evening.

Goodbye.