08/02/2018 London News

Lizo Mzimba, BBC News.

Here on BBC One it's time

for the news where you are.

Welcome to BBC London News

with me Chris Rogers.

First tonight: A former shop owner

who illegally sold dangerous

skin lightening products -

has been fined thousands of pounds,

following an investigation

by this programme.

Banaras Hussain pleaded guilty

to ten offences and was given

a suspended sentence.

Officers at a London council went

undercover to gather evidence

of his under-the-counter business,

and seized thousands of products.

Tarah Welsh reports.

When an undercover researcher tried

to buy band skin whitening products

from this store in Peckham in 2015,

this is what happened.

They offered us the

biggest pot they have.

But look, former director,

Banaris Hussain, gets it

from under the counter.

When we asked for a receipt,

he ripped the name of

the company from the receipt.

He knew what he was doing was

illegal.

illegal.

Earlier that year and the year

before that he had been convicted

for a similar offence but that

would not stop him,

when the council raided the shop,

this is what they found.

A semi-hidden storage area,

no ceiling to it, you have to get

in there on your hands and knees,

and there was lots of

steroid -based products.

One of those was that

which we bought before.

Products containing this chemical

can damage the liver, nervous system

and have a number of negative

effects on the skin. From this shop

alone two and a half thousand

potentially dangerous products were

seized by the Southwark trading

standards department. People selling

face going to prison for up to two

years. This man was handed a 15 week

suspended sentence and ordered to

pay costs and fines of almost

£26,000. The footage from our

investigation was used as part of

the prosecution case. We filmed you

selling these products in your shop

two years ago, we wondered if you

will stop now, you've been convicted

four times.

Completely stopped,

happy?

What would you say to the

people who may have been harmed

using your products.

Who got harmed?

They cause liver damage, skin

problems, organ failure.

No comment.

The sentence sends a message to

those people who want to sell

illegal products to members of the

community that our team, trading

standards, will prosecute them and

bring them to justice.

This isn't a

problem just here in Southwark.

According to London trading

standards in 2000 1615 businesses

across the capital were fined more

than £168,000 for dealing in unsafe

cosmetic products. While there is

still demand for such cosmetics,

we're likely to see more convictions

from those profiteering from selling

them.

Campaigners have failed to block

a controversial £2 billion

housing scheme planned for north

London.

But despite the High Court ruling -

the development may not go ahead

anyway because of a political row.

Marc Ashdown has been

following the legal battle

with Haringey Council.

Lots of twists and turns in this.

The heart of it is straightforward,

how do you solve a housing crisis?

Hangai has thousands of people on

the waiting list. The current

council had a plan to build 6000

more homes but with a public-private

partnership. It's called the

Haringey development vehicle, it

would have been building homes with

a private developer. It angered

left-wing members of the party,

Jeremy Corbyn supporters, the all

powerful momentum group who are dead

against it. Campaign is to get to

the High Court. The High Court judge

backed the council is aborted their

plan and blew out of the water all

the arguments against it. Certainly

not for now. Infighting has led to

Claire Cockburn resigning, claiming

bullying, sexism and intimidation at

the hands of Corbyn supporters. Last

night the council passed an

amendment kicking it all into the

long grass. These clips sum up where

we are.

I have no pleasure in

proposing this amendment because I

still believe I believe it's only

today and it may be popular, the HDV

is the best solution available

because politics means engaging in

the world as it is rather than the

world as we may want it to be.

I'm

hoping now there is a real listening

to the local community and I think

that's what the Labour Party is

doing. The feeling I was getting

when I was up there is people

weren't confident this scheme would

deliver them the secure homes they

need. That is why there needs to be

a real reconsideration.

Bit of a

mess isn't it?

It is, it's gone

beyond, some say, one council in

London symptomatic of the deep

divisions in the Labour Party. Could

we see more centrist versus

left-wing clashes in the run-up to

the local elections in May.

Possibly. It leaves Haringey with a

major housing problem. We saw a

judge backing this plan saying it

was perfectly fair and legal. The

Shadow Chancellor saying people in

the area don't really want it. A

more Corbyn supporting council were

coming in May. The people will want

to see housing built. It's a tricky

one.

Thanks for that.

It's not your usual Museum exhibit -

but part of a giant fatberg found

under the streets of Whitechapel has

gone on display at

the Museum of London.

The toxic lump was one

of the largest ever found,

and is going on show

because of it 'historical

significance'.

Wendy Hurrell has more.

September last year.

One of the biggest fatbergs

in the world was found

in the Victorian sewers below

Whitechapel.

It was 250 metres long.

The Museum of London

wanted a piece of it.

Here it is, the last remaining part

of the Whitechapel fatberg,

safely encased in not one,

but two very thick glass boxes.

The oils have been aired ride,

so it's almost like a rock now.

In its greasy grip things like

sweetie wrappers are sticking out.

It also hatched its own flies.

And no one knows what's

going to happen to it next.

Because nobody has ever tried

to preserve a fatberg before.

It's very experimental,

low-temperature storage, freezing,

storage in formaldehide.

And we slowly worked the options

and ruled all of those out.

It stops letting off toxic gases

now, the smell in case

you were wondering...

Dry fatberg has a bit more

of a smelly toilet sort of smell.

These fatbergs have been

found all over London

and all over the world.

And I think it's a really good way

of putting it on display

and starting a difficult

conversation about what

are we doing, what are

we doing to our city?

Do we need to look at our own

actions and think about how we might

have to do things differently?

It'll be on display

at least until July.

A stark reminder of our issues

with waste in the metropolis.

And starting a difficult

conversation about what are

we doing, what are we doing

to our city?

16 The firefighters

at Paddington Red Watch were some

of the first on the scene

at the Grenfell Tower

fire last June.

Now 9 of them have decided to run

the London marathon to raise money

for the victims and their families ,

in full firefighters kit

and breathing apparatus sets.

Regular marathon runner

Sophie Raworth has been talking them

about the night of the fire.

71 people died that night.

The fire crews who repeatedly queued

up to go into the burning tower

managed to save the lives

of 65 others.

It was quite chaotic.

We were there 13 hours.

Even on a big job you get relief

for five hours later,

another crew will come and relieve

you from another station.

But we didn't want to go anyway,

we wouldn't have left anyway.

The enormity of it only hit us,

hit me personally, after,

a few days later when I'd seen

what had happened.

You wouldn't be human if it didn't

affect you in anyway.

What kind of response did you get

from the community afterwards?

It was quite overwhelming.

The thanks and applause we got.

Was quite something else, really.

So the fact they did appreciate us

was sort of difficult to deal with,

because we don't really

get that day-to-day.

What happened that night affected

them also deeply that nine

of the Grenfell Tower firefighters

are now training to run

the London Marathon to raise money

for the victims and their families.

And they're not making it

easy for themselves.

You're going to run 26.2

miles with this on?

Oh my God.

How much does this way?

30.

30 kilos.

That's like carrying

a sort of small kid.

Not even a small kid,

but a nine-year-old

child on your back.

It all means extra training,

running around the fire

station in between shifts.

The money raised will be split

between three charities,

want help firefighters,

two others at the heart

of the Grenfell community.

We're not doing it for our own

personal gain, we want

the story to be about them.

Trying to raise as much money

for them as possible.

Firefighter Martin Gillam

finishing that report there.

Firefighter Martin Gillam

finishing that report there.

That's it for now from me,

but lets find out what the weathers

up to with Chris Fawkes.

Thanks a lot. The day started off on

a promising note with a fair bit of

sunshine, the cloud over a little

bit but not before this weather

watchers snap was caught. Thanks for

sending it in. Whether on the

change, a weather front moving in

overnight and tomorrow morning as

well, bringing rain and cold air

following. We're looking at rain

arriving before long. It would be

quite heavy, the wind picking up for

a time. The cloud and rain keeping

temperatures up. Those between three

and six Celsius. Tomorrow morning

it's rain should move away fairly

quickly, the sky brightened up for

time. That cold air moving in, we'll

see some sunshine but also some

wintry showers blowing in on a brisk

and chilly north-west wind.

Temperatures struggling through the

afternoon, while in central London 5

degrees. It'll feel cold but

forecast to get a little bit milder

as we look at the outlook for the

next few days. Rain on