17/07/2017 London News

Good evening. I'm Victoria Hollins.

It was four weeks ago today that one man died and ten people were injured

in a terrorist attack near Finsbury Park Mosque,

in what the Head of the Metropolitan Police said "was quite clearly

Today, the Mosque's Chairman has called for stronger

He says that since the attack they've received a surge

Recall behind me is going out for evening prayers right now. Four

weeks ago it was extremely busy here. It was Ramadan with many

people coming out of the Finsbury Park mosque after evening prayer.

Many were heading up to the high Street. That was where, just after

midnight, a van was driven into a crowd of people.

Everyone was emotional, and it was tough for people,

Sadiq Yusuf witnessed the attack and did his best

There was a guy still underneath the van who we needed to move.

Luckily a lot of people came out of restaurants and houses nearby

and lifted the van so we could get one of the victims underneath.

Some people were conscious, some unconscious.

Yassin was hit by the van, suffering a broken leg.

There is a lot of chaos, a lot of worry and a lot

Everybody was so scared of what happened.

While Islington Council has been praised for its support

of the community, racist crime targeting Muslims has risen.

According to Met police figures, in the weeks before the Manchester

bombing there were on average 17 Islamophobic hate crimes

There was a clear spike following the London Bridge attack

And in the weeks following the Finsbury Park attack there have

still been 81 hate crimes reported every week.

The chairman of the mosque showed us a file of letters full

of poisonous vitriol, all delivered here.

You will have a river of blood, for example.

And we will make sure you get hurt and your community gets hurt.

Expect bombs and other things in your centres,

He discussed the need for stronger deterrents with the Prime Minister

when she visited the mosque after the attack.

Tougher penalties for those found guilty of hate crimes and more

We're not asking to catch every perpetrator who has

sent a letter like that, because we know it's impossible.

But we expect something to be done about some

to the bottom of it and find out who's behind it.

We take Islamophobic hate crime and all kinds of hate

We allocate cases to experienced detectives, and they do

whatever they can in terms of their investigative abilities

to support the victim, to chase the suspect,

and again to bring the suspects to justice.

The Home Office say they've given ?1 million to help mosques

improve their security and are working with relevant

agencies to make sure tougher sentences are handed down

But as these small handprints from local schoolchildren show,

there is hope this community can slowly heal.

I have spent quite a bit of time round here in the last month and

generally the atmosphere is pretty positive. But work continues behind

the scenes to heal the emotional and physical scars. To that end, I

understand victim support workers will be going into the mosque for

the first time next week. Meanwhile, 47-year-old Darren Osborne has been

charged with terrorism related murder and attempted murder. He is

due to appear on Thursday at the Old Bailey for a second preliminary

hearing. There are fears that stress

and exhaustion among London's bus drivers

is contributing to a rise 25 people were killed

either on or by Just to warn you, you

might find the pictures at the beginning of this

next report shocking. Here's our Transport

Correspondent Tom Edwards. This man is just moments

away from the impact. He survived but was badly injured

in the incident in Beckton. And in Ladbroke Grove,

a bus mounted a pavement. Today's report says the capital's

buses could be Major safer. Ten years ago Sarah Hope's mother

died after being hit by a bus. Her daughter lost her leg

in the same incident. She wants operators to reduce

the stress on drivers. We had a terrible incident

in our family and it was caused by a bus driver having road rage,

which is unforgivable, and it must But since that happened,

and since I have been working on my campaign to help bus drivers,

I have learned quite a lot about the stresses and strains

that they are under. And I think we need to really think

about them and what they actually physically do every day,

which is more than driving a bus. 25 people have been killed

on or by buses in the last two Today's report found an emphasis

on punctuality over safety, with drivers facing long hours,

which compromises their ability. The one thing is making sure

the contracts incentivise safety as well as punctuality,

but we also need to make sure Transport for London's

own management having their bonus regime safety

at the heart of it. We need to make sure the life

of drivers is better, and that means making sure they can

have their meal breaks, making sure they don't drive

for 16 hours at a time, because if they are tired,

they may make mistakes. In extreme cases, this incident

shows the behaviour from passengers drivers also sometimes have

to deal with. Bus driving is one of the most

stressful transport Joanne Harris has been

a driver for ten years. Most drivers are doing 12 hour days

and then getting forced overtime 13 and a half hours of all-out

stress, with all those people on board, is not a good combination

for road safety. TfL welcomes the recommendations

and says it's taking It's aiming for no deaths

involving a bus by 2030. But campaigners are calling

for much quicker action. A debate is taking place

in parliament on the growing It follows a big rise

in the number of such assaults. Earlier the Mayor,

Sadiq Khan, called for One victim, who had acid

squirted in face and eyes, has been speaking to BBC London

about his ordeal. And a warning there are

some flashing images They started pushing me about,

calling me racial abuse. Imran, a father of five,

was attacked with acid in November Minutes after he thought he had

avoided a fight here with a large Minutes later he ran

into two of them again. I tried putting my window up

but they have got to my car here and I have realised one of them

had a bottle of Lucozade on him. As I have looked, he has literally

thrown it onto my face. I couldn't see

anything straightaway. I was in pain, and it was

burning and everything. This is how he looked at the time,

but he says his excellent physical It's not physical that's

the problem, it's mental. I can't get it out

of my head, even now. Following five acid attacks

in less than an hour and a half last week,

Sadiq Khan today called I think we should be talking

about life sentences We should be looking at the most

severe sentences when people have used acid like a life changing

and life-threatening weapon. But that hasn't happened

in Imran's case. He says his attacker

is still on the streets. Staring at me, laughing

at me, smiling at me. It's simply that he

is laughing at me. But I could have done something

myself, but I've got kids. That's the only

reason that stops me. It should be classed as attempted

murder or something, Sadly, an agonising increase

in cases like Imran's means that That's it for now from me, but let's

find out what the weather's It looks like it'll be a pretty

interesting week ahead in the weather. It'll start hot and humid

and then we'll see thunderstorms developing before it cooler and more

settled before the end of the week. A warm night tonight, only 16 or 17

degrees by the end, and tomorrow morning some medium and upper level

cloud, but a dry start to a dry and warm day. Windy, wind from the

south-east with humid air, bringing it up to the upper 20s in one or two

spots. Tomorrow evening, we will see showers and thunderstorms spreading

north through the region. There could be heavy downpours but by the

end of the night most will clear away and it's another warm one, 18

degrees for many on Wednesday morning. A southerly breeze on

Wednesday, some showers around but I think we will avoid most of them.

You might catch one or two, but 25 degrees once again. We will not see

those temperatures at the end of the week with a cold front moving

through on Thursday. It will introduce fresh air. Some rain on

Thursday, mostly early in the day. Drying up in the afternoon with

temperatures coming down, 21 and 22 at best. On settled on Friday. Cloud

and outbreaks of rain. Also windy and it will not feel like 20

degrees. At the weekend, it will be quite unsettled with showers around.

It's not all doom and gloom with drier interludes. Here's

It's not all doom and gloom with drier interludes. Here's Ben with

the national picture. Good evening. What goes up must come down. So the

saying goes. That certainly applies to the temperatures. Sunspots cut up

to 27 degrees and tomorrow we could get even warmer with some spots up

to 29. The middle of the week will bring a change. Thunderstorms will

be sparked off and as they clear away, that's when the temperatures

take a tumble all the way down to around 20 degrees at best for most

places by