05/03/2018 London News

were left critically ill in hospital

with suspected poisoning.

That's it.

Now on BBC One, it's time

for the news where you are.

Welcome to BBC London News,

with me, Victoria Hollins.

Ministers have been urged to launch

a public inquiry after thousands

of homes across the capital

were left without water.

Homes, hospitals and schools

across London were affected.

Tonight two Labour MPs from south

London called for action.

This is a national crisis

in our water industry,

and it is clear that the industry

is not fit for purpose.

At the very least one would have

thought there would be some

kind of public inquiry.

People will be interested to know

whether they will get compensation

for what has happened.

Well one company serving a large

swathe of London is Thames Water.

They've been working today

to try to restore supplies.

Marc Ashdown sent this report

from Balham in south London.

First in line for water this

morning, mum of three Sara.

She's had to walk a mile

here to collect bottles.

At the moment, everyday life

is virtually impossible.

The simple washing-up,

the sewage and literally cooking,

as well, because I can't

cook without water.

The boiling and washing.

And three kids.

And three kids as well,

is definitely quite hard.

As you can see,

nothing's coming out.

Dozens of schools and nurseries have

been forced to close,

leaving parents with a childcare

headache, but without water

it's simply not safe

to have 70 children here.

All the children's

meals are done on site.

We have babies ranging from nine

months and children up to five

years, so you can imagine

the children going to

the toilet, they're learning

how to toilet train.

We need water for food,

for washing the plates,

for the dishwasher, in every aspect

of the nursery, we need water.

This care home has transported

water from 40 miles away.

Two days without it and growing

anger at the lack of information

or support from Thames.

Very frustrating.

I was disappointed,

very disappointed.

Certain services, like care homes,

hospitals, should have some form of,

they should have some form of plan

for people in those areas,

because we cannot afford

to function without water.

Thames has apologised and in this

video blames last week's extreme

cold which thawed so quickly,

it led to cracks in older pipes.

It is estimated around 12,000

people have been affected,

from Streatham and Herne Hill

to Cricklewood and Hampstead.

A car park in Balham -

one of four impromptu water

distribution centres set up around

London.

Thames say they've already given out

200,000 litres of bottled water.

By the end of today,

they are expecting that

to be more like 600,000.

They have just started rationing it

here, so they are giving out one

pack of six 1.5 litre bottles

per household, because at the moment

they're struggling to

keep up with demand.

How are mums with prams,

elderly, disabled expected

to carry bottles of water?

You could be better

at that and you could be

better at communication,

which is what a lot of customers

are also angry about.

That's true.

What you see on some of the video

there, our bottled water stations,

that's not all that's happening.

Clearly for those vulnerable

customers who can't come to us,

we are running water out to them

and we are constantly replenishing

stocks throughout the day.

Communicating, we could be better.

It's been very difficult to try

and get the right messages to such

a broad coverage of area,

but we are trying very hard

to get better at that.

Marc Ashdown, BBC London News.

Well with me now is Tolu Adeoye.

Tolu, so what is the latest -

are water supplies back?

And what has the government

said about this?

Not quite. Some have water, some do

not. It has been a tough time for

thousands of Londoners, not only in

south London but also in north

London. We heard from Thames Water

and the latest is that they have

advised that the number of customers

without water or experiencing low

pressure is steadily reducing and is

now below 5000. The best place for

updates is on Twitter. Affinity

water is another company, they deal

largely in north London, Barnett is

one of their areas and

they say have water but they may

experience no pressure. Greenford is

also having problems. The advice for

people with what is to use it

sparingly. Take a shower instead of

a bath. As the government said

anything? We heard for some Labour

MPs calling for an enquiry. The

government said they have nothing

for us. A lot of people will be

worrying about this rolling into the

third day and they will be hoping to

wake up tomorrow and be able to have

a hot shower.

I bet they will. Thank

you very much. The rail company

responsible for the service that

left hundreds of commuters stranded

has apologised and offered

compensation. South East and says

passengers could have been killed

when they forced open doors and

climbed from the carriages on two

live tracks. Here is our transport

correspondent, Tom Edwards.

Stranded and frustrated,

commuters on Friday night forcing

open the doors on nine trains

and walking down the tracks.

Some had been stranded for hours.

Stuck on a train, just outside

Lewisham station. Obviously it is a

little bits no way. Looking forward

to getting home and having a nice

cup of tea. You can see everyone

waiting on the train for

instruction. We have had the

go-ahead from the police. It looks

like there is a train right in front

of us. We have been here for a long

period of time.

Today, South Eastern said it had

to cut the power or passengers

could have been electrocuted.

Do you understand their frustration

in getting out, taking things

into their own hands?

I absolutely do understand

peoples' frustrations.

Really difficult conditions,

stuck on trains, you know, however,

the safest place for people to be

is on the train.

We wanted to try and get trains

moving as quickly as we could.

The safest way to do that was to get

everyone on board the trains,

re-energise the network

and to get moving.

Unfortunately, we were not able

to do that, because for a period

of three hours, we had people

on the tracks.

Some passengers say a lack

of information just

confused the situation.

In these conditions,

I would ask passengers

to stay on the train.

That is our safest option of getting

you moving, getting you home,

is to stay on the train and bear

with us while we get it

back up and running.

Today, the rail company apologised,

offering compensation.

Do you regret running trains?

We were very conscious that we had

tens, if not hundreds of thousands

of people in London who we have

brought in and we needed to try

and find the best way

we could to get them home.

There will now be investigations

into what happened.

This was an extremely serious

incident that could have

been much, much worse.

Tom Edwards, BBC London News.

Scotland Yard has defended

the intelligence database it uses

to map criminal gangs -

describing it as "a vital tool

in the fight against violent crime".

A Freedom of Information request

by this programme has revealed that

80% of those on the Gangs Matrix

are black - prompting allegations

from some of racism.

A charge the Met denies

saying it includes victims

as well as perpetrators.

Alex Bushill has this

exclusive report.

To understand knife crime,

just ask the children who have

to live with the threat

of it every day.

This is the Brookfield

Club in Peckham.

One of the kids here

was stabbed to death last year.

Diego and Rashida knew him well.

It just feels that our friends can

be arrested or can kill somebody,

and our friends can be killed.

It makes me feel sad,

because they are just

losing their life over stupidness.

Sometimes it makes me feel scared,

but such is life, really.

"Such is life".

Well, it is certainly

true that there's been

a recent spike in stabbings.

The Met says its gangs

matrix is a crucial tool.

It's an intelligence led

database that identifies 200

active gangs in London.

What's controversial, though,

is that the matrix also lists 80%

of all gang members as black,

which has triggered

accusations of racism.

How did they get on the matrix

in the first place?

It could be that their cousin

is on the matrix, they go

to football with someone on the

matrix, or they just live next

door to someone on the matrix.

If you are black and you are in

a group of more than two or three,

then you are automatically

in a gang, because the definition

is so loose and so problematic,

so it's also like racial profiling

around a problem that they are

going to be in a gang

because they happen to be black.

In response, the Met says two

separate pieces of intelligence

are needed to put you on the matrix,

and that it can't be racist

as it identifies gang members

who are also victims.

If you are a young black man

in London, you can be the subject

of violence as a victim,

and be in a gang, and you will be

on the matrix, and we will look

to divert individuals away

from a life of crime,

that are on the matrix.

Looking at your custody record,

you're 21 years of age,

and you're unemployed at the moment.

Is that right?

And that's where programmes

like Divert come in.

Informed by the matrix,

the Met can and do seek to divert

young criminals at the point

of arrest while in custody,

away from a life of gang violence.

We've had people that have been

brought in for the possession

of firearms, we've had people that

are very high harm offenders,

and we've got them

at the right moment.

We've got them at that

moment where they've

gone, enough is enough.

For some, that still doesn't answer,

though, why the matrix suggests

so many more black men are in gangs.

That's why the Mayor of London

is now working with the Met

to review how the matrix works

and whether it needs changes.

Alex Bushell, BBC London News.

That's it for now from me,

but lets find out what the weathers

up to with Darren Bett.

Thank you very much.

Good evening.

We have some sunshine today,

it felt much more like spring.

We have seen milder conditions

arriving over the past few days.

And tomorrow, whilst

it will be mainly dry,

I suspect there will be a good deal

of cloud around.

Now, there has been some rain not

far away, earlier on in the evening.

That wetter weather is moving

northwards, and we are essentially

going to be left with a good deal

of cloud overnight.

Very light southerly breeze

and with enough cloud,

temperatures should hold at around

three or 4 degrees, if it

breaks, those temperatures

will be a little lower.

But a fair bit of cloud,

I think, for Tuesday.

Whilst it will be dry,

I think it will brighten up

more towards the south

and east of London.

We could trigger one

or two showers here,

but for the most part,

it will be dry.

For the most part,

it will be cloudy.

Those temperatures around 11

or 12 degrees, similar

to what we had today.

Let us take a look at the outlook.

What we are going to find is,

there will be some further showers

over the coming few days,

quite a wet start to the weekend.

Reasonable temperatures getting back

into double figures.