26/02/2018 London News

Here on BBC One, it's time

for the news where you are.

Good evening from BBC London News.

The parents of three teenagers

killed by a drunk driver are angry

that he could get a lesser sentence

- after he pleaded guilty

to causing their deaths

by dangerous driving.

The boys were on their way to a 16th

birthday party in Hayes when the car

ploughed into them last month.

Helen Drew reports.

Three great friends -

Josh McGuinness and George Wilkinson

were both 16 and Harry Rice was 17.

They were walking to

a friend's birthday party

in Hayes when they were hit by a car

that mounted the pavement.

All three died at the scene.

Devastated.

We just...

Devastation.

I couldn't put it

into words how we feel.

There is no words.

Ripped us apart.

It's affected everyone,

not just us, hundreds

of friends, because that

is

how nice the boys were.

The driver was 28-year-old

Jaynesh Chudasama,

who today pleaded guilty to three

counts of causing death by

dangerous driving.

The Old Bailey heard he was two

and a half times the drink

driving limit, as well as having

traces of cannabis in his system.

He was doing 71mph

in a 60 when it is

thought he tried to overtake another

car and lost control of this Audi.

The maximum sentence for causing

during the last by dangerous driving

is 14 years in prison.

We are not very happy,

we would have preferred

it going to a trial,

because at this rate,

having pled guilty, he can get

a

third of off his sentence.

We don't feel that is

sufficient enough time

served for the lives of two

16-year-old and one 17-year-old boy.

The local community is devastated

and today the judge said even more

lives could have been lost.

When the three boys

were hit they were

walking with two friends and towards

another three friends, they

were all standing close together.

The judge said this could have

easily have been something that

killed eight people instead

of three, and she may well consider

that when sentencing.

There was a passenger

in the car with Jaynesh

Chudasama and both men

ran from the scene.

Two of the friends who were there

but not hit ran after the men

and managed to drag the driver back

to the scene where he was taken to

hospital and later arrested.

The judge will sentence him

for the deaths of Josh,

George and Harry on the 9th March.

More now on the freezing conditions

in and around the capital -

or the so-called 'beast

from the east'.

Weather warnings have been

in place today but the snow

and ice is forecast to get

worse into tomorrow.

Chris Rogers reports from Essex

which is expected to be one

of the worst hit areas.

Nearly every commuter heading

into London from Essex

tomorrow is relying on this.

100 tonnes of salt to be spread

onto the roads of Essex

every time they go out.

That is going to be

three times tonight.

They have already done a run

of seven, the next one is at one

o'clock in the morning.

Then at four o'clock in the morning.

Then they start all over again

when the snow falls.

And it will keep falling.

Creating an endless

battle to beat the ice.

65 gritters, all with names

such as Gritney Spears

and Alexander The Grit,

aim to keep 2000 miles

of road ice free and get

London's workforce moving.

We can never say that there

will never be a problem,

but certainly, we are doing our best

to make sure that the conditions

on the road are as good

as they can possibly be.

It is the white stuff that fell

on London and the Home Counties

throughout the day that poses

the biggest threat tonight,

as Arctic temperatures

endanger not only the roads,

but the rail tracks, too.

We have got guys out on the track

making sure that sets of points

do not get clogged with snow,

which means they can move

backwards and forwards.

We have the conductor rail heating

on which stops ice falling

on the conductor road

and we have our anti-ice trains.

Network Rail closing mainline routes

early tonight and a reduced

timetable tomorrow to get the trains

out and de-ice the tracks.

While commuter chaos is expected,

nothing can be worse than having

nowhere to go and nowhere to live.

When the weather is this cold,

our work is even more

important than ever,

because sleeping rough is pretty

awful at any time of the year,

something that should not happen,

but at this time of year, it can be

a matter of life and death.

Emergency shelters like this one

in Hackney are offering beds

throughout the winter,

part of the Mayor's

strategy to save lives

during London's harsh winters.

Chris Rogers, BBC London News.

And you can of course get the very

latest weather and travel updates

during our breakfast tv bulletins,

on BBC Radio London and on Twitter

by following @BBCTRavelAlert.

It's not just wedding preparations

that are underway in Windsor

as the town gets ready for the royal

event of the year.

As Sarah Harris reports -

as well as a business and tourist

boost, it's expected to add

to the town's regal brand.

The castle is the symbol

of the Windsor brand -

weekend home to the Queen and soon

to be venue for the

international wedding of the year.

According to one economist,

the event is a much-needed financial

boost in uncertain times -

worth tens of millions of pounds.

If you look at the boost

of the wedding in

Windsor and in London,

it's going to be huge.

But the real boost is to Britain PLC

and all the brands in

terms of intangibles, it is very

difficult to quantify that,

but clearly a lot of jobs and a lot

of

economic activity is going to come

from this celebration.

And it's that celebration,

plus the eyes of world

being on Windsor that's leading

to the production of the town's very

own Monopoly board.

Brand experts see it

as a golden opportunity to be

associated with the Royal milestone.

It was always a case of when not

if for Royal Windsor to gets its

own official Monopoly board.

We were going to do

it in a year or two.

A certain event taking place in two

months made it irresistible for us

and our mission is to make this

board a love letter for Royal

Windsor and showcase

it to the world.

Sending that message round the world

requires an infrastructure update.

Engineers are working to ensure that

communication cables

running underneath the cobbled

streets here are state of the art to

cope with demand.

Just higher broadband

speeds for all the

broadcasting as well.

So beforehand it was copper.

Fibre optics is a lot faster.

For many businesses based

in the historic town west of London,

the ceremony is the Monopoly

equivalent of passing go and

collecting 200 - not

just down to tourism,

but because of what a modern royal

couple's wedding brings

to the Windsor brand.

It worked for plastic bags -

but would a 5-pence charge

for a takeaway coffee cups encourage

Londoners to ditch the disposable?

One coffee chain is trialling

the idea tin the capital to reduce

the number of cups that end

up in landfill.

Ena Miller has more.

For some, a takeaway coffee

is the perfect start to the day.

For others, it has been the trigger.

I have got a megaphone and I am

not afraid to use it!

To wage war on waste.

So how big is the problem?

Two and a half billion coffee cups

were thrown away every

year, but less than 1%

of that is recycled.

MPs have been calling for a 25p levy

on bought in takeaway cups

and Starbucks says it is listening.

Thank you.

So for the next three months,

36 stores in London will charge

customers an extra 5p.

This is more about making a change

in people's behaviour

than it is about charging

people too much.

What our customers have been telling

us now for quite some time,

they want us to do something,

both about reuse and recycling,

so there is no excuse really.

If you come in, you're

going to get charged for a cup

or you will get rewarded for reuse.

So the idea of the campaign

is to change people's behaviour.

It worked for supermarkets

when they introduced the 5p

charge on carrier bags,

but will it work for coffee cups?

Would you pay in order to change

behaviour in buying takeaway coffee?

If five pence was added,

50p was added or £1?

Definitely £1 or 50p would stop me.

5p, probably.

I would just think it was too little

to really change my mind, 50p maybe,

but definitely a pound.

The money raised will go to charity.

It will go towards the building

of a second recycled boat,

that would be moored in west London

and it would enable local young

people to go out on the boat

and collect plastic out

of the River Thames and recycle that

plastic towards more bills.

In three months' time,

we will see if 5p can really

persuade people to drink and think

about the waste their

coffee produces.

Emma Miller, BBC London News.

Time for that all-important

weather forecast now,

so I'll say goodnight and leave

you with Louise Lear.

Hello. We have got snow showers to

the east of London.

The amber

warning means be prepared for

disruption and that is down through

Kent. Essex, Kent and Sussex is

where we could see up to ten

centimetres may be accumulating

toward stop and that will cause

issues if you are competing to

London. Keep abreast of the forecast

first thing in the morning and be

prepared for some disruption.

Further north and west, the clear

skies were a sunshine will be, but

it will be bitterly cold, -5 or -6

and it will stay bitterly cold

throughout the day. The risk of snow

showers here and there, driving in

on the north-easterly wind. Some

further west but it looks as though

most of the disruption is likely to

say to the extreme south and east. A

cold afternoon, wrap up warm. Now,

as we move out of Tuesday into

Wednesday, still the risk of snow

showers to come but I want to draw

your attention to the circulation,

low pressure moving through Thursday

and Friday and could bring more

significant spill across central and

Southern England. Keep watching the

forecast for updates. Looking ahead,

there is light at the end of the

tunnel as we move towards the

weekend,