24/11/2017 London News

Now on BBC One, it's time

for the news where you are.

Have a very good night.

Good evening.

I'm Asad Ahmad.

There was panic on the streets

of the West End this afternoon,

as shoppers reported hearing

gunfire.

Many who were taking advantage

of one of the busiest

shopping days of the

year ran for cover.

The police response was swift,

but officers said there was no

evidence of a weapon being fired.

Tonight, shops along

Oxford Street, including

the department store John Lewis,

shut their doors early.

Our reporter Chris Rogers

was in the area

in the immediate aftermath.

It's one of the busiest shopping

days in one of the country's

busiest shopping districts.

Everything the emergency services

rehearse and plan for put

into action just moments

after reports of gunfire.

Keep on moving!

Keep on moving!

Lockdown in Oxford Street.

We were having dinner

at a restaurant, so we sat

at a window, and then we looked

and everybody started

panicking and running,

so we were like, what's going on?

The police came, and everybody

started panicking,

and then everybody had to lay down

on the ground and they had

to make sure we were safe.

As we move towards the scene

to investigate, thousands

of shoppers are being pushed back.

It's unnerving.

As the cordon gets wider,

shop by shop, department store

by department store,

people are evacuated and moved on.

People are scared, emotional,

furious, but orderly.

-- Kia Reus -- curious.

Then, panic.

What happened?

All of a sudden, people

that were on the street

are being moved up Regent Street,

and they suddenly turned

around and ran back.

There was a lot of panic,

women falling on the pavement,

people pushing and shoving.

We think it was startled

by barriers being moved,

which perhaps people

mistook for gunshots.

We are told to be vigilant,

and the emergency services

clearly take no chances.

The cordon has just got even bigger.

We are being pushed further

down Regent Street, away

from Oxford Circus station.

For a while, press were allowed

to film the evacuation.

Now we are being pushed right back,

we are told, for our own safety.

At the moment, there seems

to be a lot of panic,

a lot of people scared,

and a lot of people not quite

knowing what's going on.

We are told to keep calm and carry

on, and we famously do so.

But what I witnessed today

was the tension and panic among many

that lies close beneath the surface.

Do we know anything more about what

sparked the alarm?

Nope, still

confusion, but we just heard from

the British Transport Police, who

say their officers and the

Metropolitan Police were called at

4:37pm over reports of shots being

fired and officers were quickly on

the scene. They say officers believe

there was an altercation between two

men on the platform and they'd now

like to speak to these people and

they have released CCTV images. They

believe they have information about

the incident and circumstances

around it. They also want to speak

to anybody at the station at the

time. We have spoken to a lot of

people, and many are adamant that

they heard gunfire. Police still

insist there was no evidence of a

gun being shot at the scene. They

haven't found a suspect. There was

one casualty, and we clearly saw

more in the panic that followed.

Sadiq Khan has praised the emergency

services for their rapid, and well

rehearsed response.

A leading motoring

organisation is warning that,

if police don't start treating

thefts from cars more seriously,

London could be on the

brink of a crimewave.

It comes as BBC London

found that almost 99%

of thefts from vehicles don't

result in convictions,

and often aren't even investigated.

Here's Alex Bushill.

How seriously should

we expect the police

to take this sort of crime?

How much should the

police, well, police?

The Met have now said that,

because of budget cuts,

cutting car crime isn't as much

of a priority and they

will only investigate

if there is video evidence.

According to Seb Stevenson,

they won't then either.

The last thief, he took

this tool box twice.

The same tool box, he took it twice.

He has had his van outside his

Croydon home broken into many times.

That's why he has CCTV on his house.

But, when he caught

a thief on camera, he says

the police still did nothing.

It's an absolute free-for-all.

The thieves know at the moment

they will not be prosecuted.

It's advertised on the radio and TV

that the police will not

prosecute these thieves.

It's a free-for-all.

That's why he has put up this poster

to try to find his thief.

He no longer bothers reporting

anything to the police.

BBC London can reveal that

in the capital there were just over

53,000 reported offences of thefts

from motor vehicles,

of which 796 were proceeded against.

That means only 1.5%

of these crimes actually led

to charges being brought.

So what was the Met's response

to the criticism that this is now

a free-for-all for criminals?

In a statement they said:

For the AA, it is deeply worrying

so few are being convicted.

They want a dedicated car

crime unit, that the Met

Once the criminals know these crimes

will not be investigated,

it can then lead to a crime

because people basically know

they will get away with it.

What's more, it's not just phones

and laptops being nicked.

As this photos shows,

airbags and steering wheels are too,

with worrying implications.

If airbags are being stolen,

a proportion of those

are going into cars that will crash,

and the airbags have gone off.

The airbags have been put in,

but they won't work.

He says potentially

putting lives at risk.

These latest crime figures

are controversial, as is any

decision to no longer investigate

fully all car crime.

But then who said budget

cuts would be easy?

That's it for now from me,

but let's find out what

the weather's up to with Stav.

the weather's up to with Stav.

Good evening. A cold and frosty

night leading into a cold weekend,

but for many of us it should be dry

with some trying. Tomorrow is

looking good across the board but

cold, five or six at best, and with

a strong north-westerly wind to make

it feel even colder. Similar on

Sunday, after a cold and frosty

start a bit of cloud building up

across western areas later. Next

week is going to remain cold.