09/11/2017 London News

policy and not ambition. Join me now

on BBC Two.

Welcome to BBC London News

with me, Louisa Preston.

Families, survivors and emergency

workers all attended

a special service today,

a year on from the

Croydon tram crash.

A memorial was unveiled to remember

the seven people that died

when the tram overturned.

51 people were injured,

and as our transport correspondent

Tom Edwards reports,

the crash has had a lasting

impact on them and also

on the safety of tram travel.

They laid flowers to remember seven

south Londoners who a year ago

boarded a tram and didn't come home.

There has not been a minute of any

hour of any day in this last year

he has not been in our thoughts.

One family's suffering

shared by a community.

Bereaved families, survivors

and those who live in New Addington.

A year may have passed

but emotions are still raw.

Sometimes I cry and nobody

knows how to feel.

Two or three days before today

I have had a lot of flashbacks.

I had one this morning

like I was on the tram again.

Since that day I have

not been on a tram.

On a cold and drizzly morning I saw

some amazing people do some

truly courageous things.

A difficult day for the emergency

services, who a year ago battled

in horrendous conditions.

Everyone was working so hard

together to do the best

that we could for the people

on the tram.

A number of our staff

are members of this community.

They have worked for

the Ambulance Service for a number

of years and I think they have felt

the impact of that

as much as the people

who were directly involved.

I remember thinking to myself,

he's going a bit quick.

Matthew still doesn't remember

what happened in the crash.

He suffered a severe head injury.

It's been a tough 12 months.

I still suffer from a bit

of depression, memory loss.

I have trouble with remembering

things a lot, mood swings.

My wife has said.

He's not worked as

an HGV driver since.

He was on board the tram when it

overturned, travelling at 46 miles

an hour on the corner

where the speed limit was 13.

Unusually investigators have already

made recommendations.

The report into this incident

is nearing completion.

As yet we still don't know why

the driver was speeding on this very

tight corner here.

The early indications

from the investigators

are that they will recommend some

kind of automatic mechanism

to prevent speeding and also

a system that will be able to detect

if the driver isn't

paying attention.

Since the crash it's emerged that

a number of drivers had fallen

asleep at the controls.

TfL has now installed this

equipment on all the trams.

It uses infrared to detect

if a driver is falling asleep.

Warning signs and further speed

restrictions are also now

in place on tight corners.

Solicitors say they want any more

recommendations to be

implemented quickly.

I think the detail will be important

for them to understand exactly

what happened and how it happened

and then the next step is to make

sure this never happens again.

The legacy from this has got to be

that this does not happen again.

As I've always said it's

important that trams

are treated more like trains

than they are like buses.

That's a key feature and I hope

those lessons have now been learned.

As that work continues,

this plinth and another to be

installed near the crash site

will be permanent memorials,

so those who died will

be always remembered.

Tom Edwards, BBC London News.

Jeremy Corbyn is calling

on the Prime Minster to fund

the retro-fitting of sprinklers

in all high rise social housing,

following the Grenfell Tower fire.

The Labour leader said the blaze

was an "avoidable tragedy"

and the government should invest

£1 billion to make

social housing safer.

Our political correspondent

Karl Mercer reports.

Croydon likes to show off what it's

doing in its tower blocks.

By the end of next spring,

1300 in 25 blocks over ten storeys

high will have had this

done to them.

Sprinklers are being retrofitted

into the old blocks.

As you can see,

it is newly fitted...

It's about reassuring residents.

But it comes with a £10

million price tag.

Croydon, like other

councils, Grenfell changed

absolutely everything.

On the first day we were looking

at our housing stock.

We decided the best way forward

was retrofitting sprinklers

in our tallest blocks.

The Labour Party today called

on the government to foot the bill,

£1 billion across the country.

We weren't able to ask

its leader a question,

he wouldn't do an interview,

but he did say this.

Retrofitting of sprinkler systems

is a basic demand but one that

will save lives if the government

decides to make it happen.

Grenfell was an avoidable tragedy.

It did not have to happen.

It would not have happened

if adequate precautions,

including sprinklers,

were in place.

Croydon has written to the

government twice asking for money,

and twice it has been told it

will not get any.

The government would not

be interviewed today,

but they said that nothing was more

important than keeping people safe.

They said they'd commissioned

a review of fire safety.

They went on to say that they had

been clear that where a local

authority has concerns about funding

essential fire safety measures,

they should contact us

as soon as possible

to discuss their position.

Croydon says it will foot

the bill for its sprinklers.

But other projects may

have to be sacrificed.

Karl Mercer, BBC London News.

The family of a woman from north

London, who is being held

in Iran, are demanding

that the Foreign Secretary travels

to the country to assure her safety.

It comes after Boris Johnson claimed

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

was there to teach journalists -

something her family denies.

His comments have now been used

in an Iranian state broadcast

about Nazanin's case.

Tolu Adeoye joins us with more.

What more can you tell us?

This

report aired yesterday on Iranians

state TV, it was seen by members of

Nazanin's family. It claims Boris

Johnson's comments last week

amounted to an unintended admission

of Hugill. She is serving a

five-year sentenced, allegedly

accused of trying to topple the

government. Her family has

maintained she was on holiday but

the report says Mr Johnson's

suggestion she was training

journalists had dealt a blow to that

claim. Mr Ratcliffe said this

broadcast increased the anxiety for

the family.

Watching the film and watching

their daughter being paraded

on Iranian TV as a spy,

and Boris Johnson revealed these

campaigners have been lying

and that's why they were so cross

is terrifying for them.

It's a roller-coaster of feeling,

goodness, where is this going to end

and the fear would be that now state

media is saying and has confirmed

that she will be in court next week

and goodness knows what happens.

Mr Johnson is currently in

Washington on Foreign Office

business. He has already admitted

that his comments could have been

clearer. He told MPs on Tuesday that

the UK Government has no doubt that

she was on holiday in Iran and he's

also told the Iranians Foreign

Minister there was no justifiable

basis for further legal action

against her. But clearly Mr

Ratcliffe does not feel that goes

far enough. He wants Mr Johnson to

go to Iran, meet the Foreign

Minister in person and do all he can

to get Nazanin home. He says he

wants his wife home for Christmas.

Thanks very much.

Hundreds of families living

in a south London tower block have

been left without heating and hot

water for nearly a week.

The gas supply for 360 homes

in Stockwell has been turned off

because of safety concerns,

as Sonja Jessup reports.

Even with the help of her electric

heater, Joyce is wearing

a coat inside her home.

She's had no gas supply

for nearly a week.

It's making life

very difficult here.

We have one resident

who is nearly 90.

On this floor alone

we have two young babies.

We need to be warm.

We are paying for this, we shouldn't

be in a state like this.

This is one of four tower blocks

in Stockwell with no communal

heating, around 360 homes.

The supply turned off

due to safety concerns

after a potential leak was found.

Residents say it's like

living in an icebox.

I have one-year-old twins and I'm

having to double up on blankets

and put the blow heater on all night

which costs a lot of money

but I don't want my kids

to get sick because of it.

Residents are advised to use

immersion heaters but many say

they cannot afford it.

Residents are frustrated

because they say two years ago

they were left without heating

and hot water for 11 days

after the boilers failed

and they stopped working again

one year later.

The housing association has

apologised and said its consulting

with residents about replacing

the heating system.

This is a very huge,

complicated process and we have good

to get this right but we are working

tirelessly and have been

for the past week to make sure

we bring the heating back on.

Today temporary boilers

have been installed.

Residents were told they would be

running by Saturday

but are worried about whether this

could happen again.

That's it for now from me,

so I'll say goodnight and hand

you over to Chris Fawkes

for the weather.

We're looking at cloudy conditions

to take us through the night. These

weather fronts to our north-west are

heading our way. They'll bring thick

cloud and by the Andrew night

threaten an occasional spit of light

rain or drizzle. There could be a

few mist patches for a time.

Overnight lows down to 4-7. Tomorrow

it's an improving weather picture.

There could be some patchy outbreaks

of rain to start off with, the

clouds will break up and we'll see

some sunshine. The chance of a bit

of

rain early in the morning. It clears

away quite nicely. Then comes the

sunshine. We will get plenty through

the afternoon but the winds turning

to a north-westerly direction. The

north-westerly winds, combined with

temperatures lower than today, it

will feel cooler. The afternoon high

about 11 Celsius. The weekend, some

rain around on Saturday but Sunday

and Monday, drier and brighter