12/02/2018 London News

police and from the authorities.

Join me now on BBC Two.

Good evening from BBC London News -

I'm Victoria Hollins.

A BBC London investigation has

revealed how real animal fur

is wrongly being sold as fake.

This programme secretly

filmed at shops and market

stalls across London -

we were told the garments had

synthetic fur on them.

But in fact tests show mink,

rabbit and fox were being sold.

Animal rights charities say imported

animal fur is being farmed on such

a scale abroad that it's cheaper

to buy than faux fur.

Alex Bushill investigates.

Our investigation starts here -

Camden Market, one of the most

famous markets in the world.

Armed with a secret camera,

we joined the crowds

looking for a purchase.

A coat with a fur trim.

This is the coat that

we have just bought.

It even has a label on it

saying 100% polyester.

So, no animal fur here, then.

Only one way to be sure.

Dr Phil Greaves is the country's

leading microfibre expert,

so we asked him to run all the tests

needed to find out for sure if this

was real fur, or faux fur.

What is it?

It's animal fibre, because it's got

the structural features that

only animal fibres have.

It has got an external margin

of scales,

internal medullary structure,

pigment within the fibres.

It's of two coats and the fibres

taper towards their tips.

So that's 100% certain?

100%.

In all, we bought garments

from 17 stalls and shops

from across London, from Stratford

to Shepherd's Bush market.

From bobble hats, to key rings

and shoes with pom-poms.

Again and again, we were sold fake

fur that turned out,

actually, to be real fur.

And again, in

Shepherd's Bush market.

It's interesting how many of those

stallholders say that at that price

it has to be fake fur.

Real fur, they say, is expensive.

Well, not any more.

I think a lot of people think that

fur is expensive and would look

at a £10 bobble hat and not think

for a second that it

could be real fur.

And we just encourage people to be

really be careful not to sleepwalk

into buying real fur.

So, what of those who

had mis-sold to us?

We asked everyone who sold us

real fur as faux fur

to explain themselves.

Some simply didn't comment,

like these two, so we don't know

if they themselves were victims,

duped by their suppliers.

Others like this lady said

she was shocked and that she relied

on the label and was assured

by her supplier it wasn't real fur.

She has now removed

the items from sale.

Which all leads to one

inescapable thought.

If so many of the shops and stalls

that sell fur don't really know

what they're selling,

how on Earth are we the consumer

to know what the fur trim

on our coat, or the bobble

on our hat is really made of?

Alex Bushell, BBC London News.

That report will now be submitted

as evidence to a Parliamentary

inquiry looking at the issue.

Up to 16,000 passengers have

had their travel plans disrupted

after City Airport was closed

for the day because of an unexploded

Second World War bomb.

The 500 kilogramme device

was discovered in the Thames,

close to the runway.

It has now been removed,

and flights are expected

to resume in the morning.

Tolu Adeoye has spent

the day nearby.

Grounded - every single

flight out of London

City Airport following

the

discovery of a World War II

bomb in water nearby.

The 500 kilograms German device

was found by divers at

King George V Dock during work

to expand the airport at around 5am

yesterday morning.

By 10pm the airport was shut.

Efforts were made to advise

passengers they could not

travel today but still we met some

arriving at the airport who haven't

heard the news.

Now we tried to go to the airport

but we were informed

now that there's no way.

The unusual sight there

of a completely empty

runway, flights normally would be

taking off and landing around every

half an hour.

But 261 have been cancelled,

some flights have been

moved to neighbouring airports,

Southend and Stansted, but still

widespread disruption

for passengers.

Today the airport CEO apologised

to the thousands affected

by the problems.

Yes, there has been a lot

of disruption and that's very, very

unfortunate, and obviously

we apologise for that.

However, we, working very

closely with the Met

and the Navy, felt

that it was the

right thing to do,

the responsible

thing to do, to

effectively close

the airport and have

this device,

the unexploded bomb,

removed from the dock.

The disruption caused wasn't

limited to air travel.

A 214-metre cordon

was put in place by the

authorities affecting

the DLR, with

some roads also cordoned off.

The exclusion zone meant

residents were

advised to leave their

home and move

to emergency accommodation,

should they wish to.

I don't think it's that major

because they've obviously

got it under control,

otherwise they would move

us all out, and being

in

London, World War II bombs,

you're going to find them

wherever they're going

to be digging up stuff.

So, there is a lot of

ordnance unfortunately

that still remains

from previous wars.

Complacency certainly

doesn't exist within the

military and the Royal Navy ensures

that every device, every bomb and

every munition is treated

in the same way.

That report from Tolu Adeoye.

With the latest from City Airport,

Chris Rogers joins me now.

In the last few minutes the Royal

Navy bomb disposal unit have entered

the airport through these gates,

shot across the runway, and that is

because we have just been told the

World War II bomb is on the move,

they managed to get it onto a

flotation device and it's just

behind me on the other side of the

runway. They had to wait for high

tide to get it through the lock

system and into the River Thames and

over the course of the next seven

hours it will slowly make its way

towards the estuary where it will be

dropped to the sea bed tomorrow

morning and they will be a

controlled explosion. If all goes

well this airport will be open and

resuming flights from

6:30am in the morning but despite

Stansted and Southend Airport

stepping in today to me on some

extra flights for stranded

passengers, they could still be a

knock-on effect, so the advices,

check with your own line before

coming here tomorrow. As it stands,

the bomb is on the move to a place

of safety and there is a long night

ahead for the Royal Navy. For now,

Chris, thank you very much, at City

Airport.

A major shake-up of the way

the capital is policed was announced

today as the Met warned

of significant financial challenges.

Officer numbers are expected to drop

to as low as 27,000.

The main reform will see 12 large

police units replacing

the old system where each

borough had its own team.

Our political correspondent

Karl Mercer reports.

She's been at the head of the Met

for less than a year but Cressida

Dick is having to make

some very tough calls.

Passing out parades like this

one last April may be

one of the pleasures of the job.

Making cuts certainly isn't.

And that's what the Met

has announced

today, cutting 1500 jobs

and cutting its current structure

from 32 to just 12 borough commands.

We are making sure that

with the number of

officers we can afford

over the coming years,

we are able to address

the priorities that Londoners want

us, we believe, to address,

particularly around violence and we

are able to do that

within the budget that we have.

The new setup was trialled

in Barking and Dagenham.

But here, as across London,

the local police station is

set to close, although it's

open at the moment.

The council leader here says

the changes need careful handling.

The Met are trying to do the best

they can do with the money

they've got.

The fact is they are now taking it

out of front line services

and they are now taking it out

of the buildings where victims

of crime used to go and feel secure.

The Met's facing tough

financial times.

It needs to save 325 million

in the coming years.

This move will save just over

£70 million of that target.

It says a big drop in police

numbers can't be ruled out.

The difficult decisions

the Met have taken today

enable them to plan

for the future with less resources.

We know there's going to be 30,000

police officers by April and we know

by 2021 it could be

significantly less.

Scotland Yard has already closed,

or has plans to close more

than 100 police stations, leading

to fears the only place left to save

money is by cutting police numbers.

We are down to the bone.

There's nothing else we can sell,

and I don't think there's any other

way we can raise any money.

And when you talk about

the Metropolitan Police,

I think about 76% is salary,

so therefore you are going

to have to reduce numbers to fit

within the budgetary requirements.

The money challenges

for the commission, as the capital's

facing big challenges over

youth and sex crimes.

She'll be judged on delivering

better with less.

Karl Mercer, BBC London News.

That's it for now from me, but let's

find out what the weather's up

to with Susan Powell.

We saw sunshine today but there was

still a chill in the air, not so

much sunshine to come tomorrow or

Wednesday, Oort cloud, wind and rain

and for the end of the week it

should look dry and brighter and

feel milder. At the moment the sky

is largely clear but this is what is

waiting in the wings for tomorrow. A

few showers around into the small

hours of Tuesday but generally

talking about clearing skies, that

will mean a patchy frost forming

first thing on Tuesday, temperatures

in towns and cities just above

freezing but in rural areas they

will sit just below. Through the

morning the cloud piles in quickly

followed by the rain, wet by the end

of the rush-hour, the rain tending

to taper off by mid-afternoon with

some white mixed in, yes, there

could be sleet and snow for a time,

feeling chilly, temperatures five or

6 degrees. The skies clear overnight

Tuesday into Wednesday, chilly

evening if you head out and about.

First thing on Wednesday, maybe

early brightness, but very quickly

the next weather front comes in with

Oort cloud, rain and white skipping

across, a risk of some snow

particularly across the highest

ground, chilly as well, temperatures

of seven or eight. The weather front

again on the move quickly pushing

into the weather continent on

Thursday, we are left with clear

skies and this is the outlook