29/01/2018 London News

We talked to those who have had

their

Welcome to BBC London News

with me Victoria Hollins.

Your daily commute could be

damaging your hearing.

That's the claim from a scientist

at University College London,

who says noise levels

on the underground are,

in places, equivalent to those

found at a rock concert.

BBC London has measured

zones one and two,

to reveal the loudest lines.

Transport for London say

they are monitoring levels

and insist "long term" damage

is highly unlikely.

Gareth Furby has this

special investigation.

Meet Roberta. She is now wearing

earplugs whenever she travels on the

London Underground.

It is definitely

not good for your hearing.

But could

this be true? Could the noise levels

be bad for unprotected ears. To get

some idea I measured ten lines in

central London using calibrated

sound meters and on some lines there

is no doubt it can get very loud.

This is the Victoria line and it is

absolutely deafening. And here we

are on the Northern Line and I have

to shout. Can you hear me? It took

one week to get all the measurements

and as the results started coming in

I had to wear hearing protection.

The data was uploaded to a computer

at the UCL ear Institute and

analysed.

The Central Line has

allowed this section out of all of

the Tube lines and it gets as loud

as almost 110 decibels. That is

approximately as loud as going to a

gig.

The three loudest sections were

on the Central Line from Liverpool

Street to Bethnal Green, on the

Northern Line from Camden Town to

Euston, and on the Jubilee line from

North Greenwich to Canary Wharf.

Also on average the Victoria line is

the loudest followed by the Jubilee,

Northern and centralised at or above

85 decibel is.

If this was a work

environment it would be considered

so loud that you would have to wear

ear protection. These measurements

show the truth is sufficiently loud

to warrant further investigation and

it could be loud enough to damage

people's hearing.

We would like the

results to be collected so they

could see for themselves that many

noises are way above healthy levels

and perhaps do their own data

collection as well.

Transport for

London says noise levels on the Tube

are monitored and they are below

those set by the Health and Safety

Executive whose guidance suggests

such levels are highly unlikely to

concern any body.

There are parts of

the network that are noisier than

others. But you would have to be

exposed for a significant period of

time for it to cause any damage. We

are looking at things like quieter

tracks fastenings so we will replace

the rails, which is designed to give

a smoother journey and a quieter

journey.

But one acoustics expert

says a change to the train design

could help.

We can do it on trains,

so we should be able to do it with

underground carriages, creating a

pleasant experience and a quieter

experience.

Even the Transport for

London says it is highly unlikely

there will be any effect, the UCL

expert who analysed our datasets

passengers hearing this day in, day

out, could think about taking

precautions.

For people using the

noisier airlines regularly and for

long journeys it would be worthwhile

using hearing protection.

And you can find more

details about the noisiest

parts of the tube, on our

website - bbc.co.uk/london.

A High Court judge has ruled that

doctors can stop providing

life-support treatment

to an 11-month-old boy from Peckham

against his parents' wishes.

Isaiah Haastrup suffered severe

brain damage after being deprived

of oxygen at birth.

Staff from King's College Hospital

argued that giving him further

treatment was "not in his best

interests" and that he should be

moved off a ventilator and given

only palliative care.

The leader of Windsor and Maidenhead

council will remain in his post

after surviving a no-confidence vote

tonight. He had called for

aggressive begging to be tackled

before the royal wedding in May

claiming it painted the town in an

unfavourable light. He said the

comment referred to anti-social

behaviour and to people who were not

genuinely homeless.

behaviour and to people

who were not genuinely homeless.

A man has been remanded in custody

after appearing in court

in connection with a car accident

that killed three

teenagers in West London.

The boys, aged between 16 and 17,

were on their way to a birthday

party when they were struck by a car

in Hayes on Friday evening.

Frankie McCamley reports.

Jaynesh Chudasama arriving

at Uxbridge magistrates' court

this morning spoke only

to confirm his name,

age and address as some victims'

family members holding tissues

watched from the public gallery.

The 28-year-old is charged

with three counts of causing death

by dangerous driving.

It was on Friday evening

when the group of teenagers

were travelling to a 16th birthday

party, but when they got

to this bus stop a black Audi

travelling down this road hit

three of them.

Despite paramedics' best efforts

they died at the scene.

All school friends,

the young men have been named

as 16-year-old Josh McGuinness,

George Wilkinson, also 16,

and 17-year-old Harry Rice.

At the crash site today the tragic

news was still sinking in.

James played football with the boys

from the age of seven.

All three of them were the funniest

boys you would ever meet.

They always had smiles

on their faces, always happy,

always causing mischief around

the football club.

They were quality boys.

Christopher also knew

one of the victims.

It is horrible to think

that it has happened that

people have caused this,

that young lads just their lives cut

short, just to think families

and friends have lost young people

who had so much to live for,

it is just horrible.

The Academy the three attended has

released a statement expressing

shock and sadness felt by the loss

of their students, thanking

the community for their support

in the days after the crash.

And following an appeal from police

to find a second suspect believed

to be in the vehicle,

a 34-year-old was arrested yesterday

evening after handing himself

into a police station.

Jaynesh Chudasama has been remanded

in custody and will appear before

the Old Bailey next month.

In around 20 years' time one

in five jobs in cities

like London could be at risk

because of the rise of robots.

Retail, customer service

and warehouse jobs are among those

most at threat of being lost,

according to the Centre for Cities.

The think tank has predicted huge

changes in the way we work

because of technological advances,

but not all of it is bad news.

Here's our Political

Correspondent Karl Mercer.

It is what you might call

a traditional skill.

It is hard work and it is hot work.

At this steel fabricators' in west

London there is much call

for this sort of skill.

Business is good so the men

here are busy, but change

is coming to this industry.

Across the workshop

it sets the future.

It does not look much but this

machine costs £500,000,

bought last year it is changing

the pace and the nature

of work here.

We are looking all the time

for two main reasons.

One is that automation allows

for much better lead times

and better accuracy,

so quality goes up.

And the other thing is it is more

difficult to find skilled people

who want to do the job.

More automation has

meant the workers here

have had to retrain.

When I'm working here

I am just a welder.

Now I am cutting, so I am going up.

Is that better because the machines

mean you don't have to do

all the kind of hard work?

Yes, of course.

That is much better for me.

That is something a new report

from a think tank called Centre

for Cities says many will now

have to do.

It predicts automation could cost

London 900,000 jobs in the next ten

years but says the city is well

placed to cope.

I think it is a gentle prod

that we need to change things.

It is a recognition that

when we think about automation

and globalisation it will create

winners and losers amongst our

cities up and down the country

and if we do things now,

we can maximise the upsides and deal

with some of the downsides.

It is not just manufacturing jobs

that may be under threat.

Those in the service industries may

have to adapt as well.

Many of the orders here now go

direct to the factory floor so those

on the front desk may see changing

roles as well.

A lot of stuff we have

to discuss here because

the margin of error is huge.

One tiny mistake and it

causes a lot of problems.

So you think humans

still have a future.

They definitely do I hope.

Otherwise we would be

extinct by now!

That's it for now from me,

but lets find out what the weather's

up to with Tomasz Schafernaker.

up to with Tomasz Schafernaker.

Hello, I have already been replaced.

I am an automatic weather box. I

will tell you what the weather is

doing for the rest of the week. It

is clear out there right now and the

temperatures are dropping away. A

touch of frost on Tuesday morning

and for most of us it is looking

fine. Tuesday will be nice and sunny

with light winds, much better than

yesterday. Then it is all change on

Wednesday and we have a weather

front moving, in fact two for the

price of one, swinging across the

UK. It really is going to be a windy

day. In the morning it will bring

rainfall and in the afternoon it

will be brighter but probably I

would not be surprised if a few

wintry flurries sweep through the

capital. On Thursday it is still a

pretty cold day. The wins will be

blowing fairly hard, temperatures

roundabout eight Celsius with a

chance of a few showers. On Friday

and at the weekend it is looking a

bit better with sunshine around and

temperatures around 8 degrees. The

weekend outlook looks like we have

got some rain coming on Friday

night, but it will still be quite