06/04/2017 London News


06/04/2017

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Good evening and welcome to BBC London News,

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They were once thought to be the greener choice for drivers,

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but the pollution diesel cars emit means they could soon be paying

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an extra 'toxin tax' to drive in the capital.

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Now the Mayor has written to the Prime Minister,

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asking her to help diesel drivers who were encouraged to buy

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their vehicles with tax incentives and lower costs.

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But the mayor wants to make it more difficult to drive

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He says our toxic air leaves him no choice.

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But it's not welcome news to drivers like Saffy,

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I went diesel because of economic reasons,

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They tend to do more miles than a petrol car,

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I thought they were better for the environment.

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We were led to believe that diesel was the way forward and many

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The mayor's plans include the T charge - drivers of the worst

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polluting cars would pay an extra ?10 in the Congestion Zone.

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Today, he wrote to the Prime Minister calling for the government

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The total cost, thought to be more than ?500 million.

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The mayor recognises he's in a difficult position.

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On the one hand, he says it's vital to clean up the capital's air.

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On the other, he is under pressure not unfairly penalise London's

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drivers who were once encouraged buy diesel cars.

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And encouraged by the mayor's own party.

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It was a Labour government who lowered the tax on diesel

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at a time many believed it was greener.

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I think it's a good thing for politicians

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Now the experts say that diesel is responsible for a lot of the air

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I don't want to leave families worse off, I don't want to leave

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I'm saying, the government has got to step up and help.

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But some are worried whether they will get

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Most cars at this dealership in Willesden are diesel,

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because they say that's what most customers still want.

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At the moment a lot of our vehicles are diesel.

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Obviously if Sadiq Khan is looking at a scrappage scheme it'll

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affect us in the long run, because we could have diesel

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vehicles we can't sell and customers who are very concerned.

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The mayor agrees the message to consumers must be clearer,

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but says it is now over to the government to play its part.

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He wants drivers discouraged from using diesel, but not punished

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We heard the Mayor asking for the government's help.

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It's a possibility. The reason Sadiq Khan is pushing hard on this is

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because London is one of the most polluted cities in Europe. More than

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9000 people die early as a result of pollution, caused by diesel

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vehicles. If Sadiq Khan wants them scraps, but it's tough for him, but

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it's Labour that encouraged us to buy diesel in the first place. So he

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needs the help of a Tory government. Theresa May has signalled in the

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last few days she doesn't want to see the owners of diesel cars

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punished. So the signs are looking good. But she's got big things

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coming up this year, Brexit and soap it's not known how much of a

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priority this is for her. The indications are that diesel cars are

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going to be on our roads for some time yet.

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A woman from St Albans accused of knocking down and killing

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a 70-year-old cyclist has been cleared of careless driving.

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Michael Mason was knocked off his bike on Regent Street

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and died three weeks later from a brain injury.

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The case, brought by a cycling charity, is believed to be

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the first to be paid for through crowd funding.

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The Prime Minister has used the launch of her party's local

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election campaign to attack Labour for its handling of the Ken

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Theresa May said the Jewish community had been betrayed

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A Labour Party, which just this week revealed the depths

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to which it has now sunk, betraying the Jewish community

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in our country by letting Ken Livingstone off the hook.

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It could not be clearer that the Labour Party is now a long

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way away from the common centre ground of British politics today.

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An Essex council is heading to the High Court to stop

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the construction of two illegal travellers' sites.

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The Hovefield camps are less than two miles from Dale Farm -

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which cost Basildon Council millions of pounds to clear six years ago.

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The travellers at the new site say they have nowhere else to go,

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Green belt land in Basildon, which the council says should

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Last month, people living nearby on Hovefields Avenue

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Tarmac was laid, and mobile homes appeared.

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That's despite an injunction by the High Court back in October,

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banning any further development on two specific sites.

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If you develop an area, you have to have infrastructure,

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The council has to agree, you cannot just set up,

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be it a caravan, a house, a bungalow, just where you think

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you will, because you have decided to develop.

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It matters not that they are Travellers, it's just an individual

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or a group of people cannot develop illegally.

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Basildon Council is now taking legal action.

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On this one, we've had injunctions down for a number of months now

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which have been breached, and that is a criminal offence.

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The unauthorised development is just three miles away

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from the Dale Farm Travellers Site in Wickford.

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There are two separately-owned pieces of land in question,

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one is west of Hovefields Avenue, the other is known as

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And, if nothing's done, some people fear a repeat of this,

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the chaotic clearance in 2011 of the part of Dale Farm that had

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been illegally occupied and developed by Travellers

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80 families were evicted from unlawful plots,

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the process costing Basildon Council more than ?4 million.

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Six years on, and Dale Farm, to the right of the existing legal

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site, is slowly returning to green belt.

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But those who work with Travellers say there aren't

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People have to exist, and they have to have a place to live.

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They can buy their own property, they can put in for planning

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permission, but sometimes that takes years to go through.

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And in the meantime, 99.9% of Gypsy and Traveller

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Lawyers for Basildon Council will come here to the High Court

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tomorrow to ask for an order giving them permission to go onto the land

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west of Hovefields Avenue, to undo some of the recent

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developments, and restore the site to how it was in October

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when the injunction banning further development was issued.

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Although, it could be just the start of a long

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Refugees should be treated with respect and sympathy -

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that's the message from Kurdish leaders in Croydon, after a teenage

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asylum seeker was severely beaten there last week.

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Members of his community have been visiting him in hospital and told

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us how he's grateful for people's support.

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With a broken spine, fractured eye socket

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and a bleed on his brain, Reker Ahmed had trouble recognising

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But when he did, he told them what was going through his mind

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He thought he was really going to die.

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That's what he said, he thought he is gone.

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You could see from his face when he was trying to move,

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that he was in quite a bit of pain and agony.

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His left eye, he couldn't quite open it, it was black and blue.

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The 17-year-old had been settling well into his local community.

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He had fled the regime in Iran last year.

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What is it that drove Reker to the UK?

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There's a huge repression and oppression against

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So he fled from the persecutions and oppression over there,

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He's been living there, and for something like this

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to happen to a refugee who has gone through so much suffering

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13 people have been charged in connection

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The teenager was beaten and kicked by a gang as he waited

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Since then, more than ?50,000 has been raised to help him.

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When I actually conveyed the message to say that the British people

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were well behind him, that they were totally

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against this attack, it put a big smile on his face,

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and he actually lifted his hand and put it on his

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So he did really appreciate that, and that was something I think that

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I hope that he's going to make a steady recovery, and this will not

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cause him any further complications as a result of this attack.

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But nevertheless, I think this will stay with him

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You could see from the extent of the injuries to his face

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and body, he will never forget about this attack.

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That's it for now from me, but let's find out what

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Three more days and days to come and temperatures will be on the rise.

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After a quiet day today we have sunshine, sky clear tonight.

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Temperatures dip away. It will be a chilly start, a chilly start to what

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should be a lovely day with long spells of sunshine. The sun will be

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up quite quickly in the morning. It will be a lovely morning. A bit

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chilly, like winds, some sunshine could compensate. Patchy cloud in

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the afternoon. 16-17, very nice. The wind direction will change as we go

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into the weekend. The south-easterly breeze develops. With that comes

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some slightly warmer air. Temperatures on Saturday rising a

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touch or two. Another decent day with patchy cloud and sunny spells.

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The outlook, temperatures continuing to rise into the weekend. We'll see

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Hello. There was some warm sunshine around today, but it's set to get

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even warmer this weekend. 18 Celsius in London this afternoon. This was

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the scene in Chiswick, much quieter than it was on Sunday for the boat

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race. Under the cloud for

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