24/04/2017 London News

cross-party moment to defeat pro-Brexit MPs in the election.

Four drivers have admitted falling asleep while operating

trams in Croydon where seven people were killed

A BBC investigation has also discovered a failure with a safety

device that wasn't reported to the regulator and three

The tram operators said they were satisfied the controls

were safe and that driver fatigue was monitored.

A speeding tram. No emergency braking. The disaster here where

seven people were killed, over 50 injured. Have you fallen asleep?

Yeah. It's happened to me once in ten years. How many drivers do you

think have fallen asleep in the cab? I would have to say most drivers

have at some point in their careers. He's admitting what many would

consider gross misconduct because of this. It's called the traction brake

controller or TBC, the driving lever that powers the tram. Inside, the

safety device known as the dead man's handle. This driver says when

he fell asleep, it didn't work. Was there an alarm? No. Was there any

emergency braking? No, none whatsoever. My hand remained on the

TBC. That was enough to keep the dead man's handle from being

activated. Why aren't drivers telling the operators what's going

wrong? If we were to come forward and say, excuse me, I fell asleep, I

think you would just be dismissed. Four drivers have told the BBC

they'd fallen asleep in the cab. Send it off to TfL. They asked us to

watch this footage again. A tram driver who appears to be asleep.

There's no alarm, no emergency brakes. Is he going to stop the

tram... He's in and out of the sleep. He's coming to and starting

to doze and coming to and starting to doze. Why was there no alarm, why

was there no braking? Well, because if he were to completely pass out,

if he were to completely lose consciousness, he'd relax his grip.

But it's OK just to slightly doze in and out like we saw on the footage?

No, of course it's not all right. The company who operates the trams

for TfL, tram operations Ltd says strive fatigue is monitored ant on

the driver safety device says it's satisfied the controls are fully

functional. We can also reveal at least three trams have been recorded

speeding since the derailment. One was travelling at 60 kilometres per

hour in a 50 zone. The operator told us it had increased speed checks

since the crash. It's changed my life. He did everything for us...

Still waiting for answers, the families of those who died. My

daughters are just devastated. What is the one question you want

answering? Why? Why? Investigators are trying to answer that question.

To piece together a disaster that changed so many lives. Ed Thomas,

BBC London News. Turning to the election; it's

expected to be a tough fight There's been speculation

the party is strategically targeting its resources by only

fielding candidates where Like in Rainham, where our

political correspondent It would be fair to say election

fever's not kicked in at the working men's club yet. Here, they don't

have a high opinion of politicians. This constituency was the most

pro-Brexit in the capital. That is good because it should be out of the

EU because they're trying to get people to pay out more money, people

who haven't got money. Out of Europe definitely. We are paying all that

money getting into it when that money could go to schools and

hospitals. Are there signs this area could give Ukip a chance of their

first London seat? You can see why Ukip might target this area, in the

EU referendum this constituency voted 70-30 in favour of Brexit.

Also, they came second here in the general election last time around.

With Brexit already under way, could they have missed their chance? Not

at all According To Peter Harris, runner-up here in 2015 and running

again. This time we could do it. We have an MP that's backed remain, he

backed Corbyn as well, nominated him for the leadership, and then we have

an electorate here which voted overwhelmingly to leave the EU. The

Tories too have high hopes here despite never having won this

constituency. I say I've believed in Brexit all my adult life. If you

want Brexit, you have to vote for Conservatives. This is the man

they're aiming to topple winning in 2015. He's aware of the challenge,

but keen to put issues other than Brexit at the front of the campaign.

Health, school cuts in terms of the schools across the whole

constituency, some of the infrastructure, housing issues, the

real meat and potatoes of a real campaign that should be front and

centre. It's a slight distraction Brexit but I take the point that a

lot of people voted for Brexit. People will have to work hard to

enthuse Chris and Brian if they want to get to Westminster.

And talking tactical manoeuvres, Tolu Adayoye is here.

Suggestions of Ukip withdrawing their candidate in Vauxhall?

Paul Nuttall suggested yesterday they wouldn't go up against Kate

Hoey Labour's current MP who's been there since 1989. She's got a huge

majority there. But, during the run-up to the referendum, she was a

leave campaigner which was obviously against what a lot of people voted

for in Vauxhall. So Ukip could look to prop her votes up if it comes to

it. For her part, she said she doesn't need the help of Ukip or

anyone else. Meanwhile, the Lib Dems were in Vauxhall today. They say

they are going to target that seat for that reason that people will

vote wanting to remain and their MP wanted to leave. They even put out

this leaflet saying essentially a vote for Kate Hoey was a vote for

Ukip. Now, Vauxhall isn't the only place where these kind of

discussions over whether to field candidates, so it will be

interesting to see what happens over the coming days.

The Metropolitan Police now has a dedicated unit

It hopes to improve the force's response to internet abuse.

Launching the hub today, the Mayor told us he's

Here's our Home Affairs Correspondent Nick Beake.

This lady is from Forest Gate in East London. She was invited to the

European Parliament in France for a debate on refugees. Her views were

forthright, calling for countries which once had empires to pay

compensation. To pay reparations to the countries they previously

colonised within the last 80 years. After that clip was posted, she

received a barrage of abuse. A lot more controlling and online abuse

from people I'd never met before, called me the N word asking me to

die, kill myself, exterminate all black people. And here is another

Londoner who's been targeted because of the colour of his skin. There are

people hurling abuse at me online thinking that there is a veil of

anonymity and thinking action won't be taken against them. Racial hate

crime went up 18% last year. Met figures show that 2-5% of offences

reported are carried out online. City Hall is concerned much Internet

abuse goes unreported. So the Mayor is setting up a police unit to

tackle it, the first of its kind. Millions of us are online these days

and an abusive message can be sent in seconds. This unit to target

online hate crime will comprise just five police officers, so there's a

limit to what they can achieve. Many people believe it's the big social

media companies that need to do more. Today bosses from Facebook and

Twitter came to a conference on hate crime at City Hall. The companies

insist they are trying to reduce abuse sent on their platforms and

are working with the police. But many campaigners want them to take

tougher action on those who spread hate online.

And I'll leave you with Elizabeth Rizzini for a check on the weather.

It might be the last week of April but it will feel very much as if we

are plunging back into winter. It was a nice day today. Lots of

sunshine around at first then as we headed through the afternoon, we had

thickening cloud and outbreaks of rain. That was a cold front. As you

would expect, behind that, there is much colder air.

It will be feeling much chillier and there'll be frosty nights as well,

gardeners take note. Tuesday and Wednesday, heavy showers, possibly

wintry over the higher ground. Then as we head towards the end of the

working week, temperatures will start to recover. Overnight, we've

got clear skies, temperatures falling away quickly.

The start of the day tomorrow, we'll have a widespread frost. You have to

be up early in the morning to see any of that frost. Lots of sunshine

around through the morning and the air feeling bracingly cold. Through

the afternoon, we are looking at heavy showers. We could get thunder

and hail from some of the showers, possibly a bit of sleep through the

tops of the Chilterns and over the Downs. Highs of 13. More showers but

also some brighter spells on Wednesday, still feeling cold. By

Thursday and Friday, it's cloudier but temperatures will start to pick

up once more. Over the weekend, temperatures will be back to where

they should be at this time of year. A dry start to the weekend but

because it's the Bank Holiday, of course, there'll be the threat of

some rain. More with the national some rain. More with the national

forecast now.