23/01/2017 London News

Anyone using London airports this morning may have found

themselves in travel chaos - as thick fog caused

dozens of flights to be cancelled or delayed.

The Met Office issued a severe weather warning for the capital.

Our Transport Correspondent Tom Edwards has the latest.

This was City Airport this morning as thick fog disrupted many flights.

At the terminal, delays and cancellations, as passengers

like John Pye were bussed to other airports to get flights.

I'm flying to Luxembourg today, my flight was at 8am.

I'm being told we are being transported to Stansted by bus

I suppose everybody is in the same boat with this fog outside.

I'm a bit aggravated, but I suppose everybody is.

City airport, like many others, said it had to cancel flights

as air-traffic controllers need to leave more space between planes.

Behind me is the runway here at City Airport.

You might just be able to make out a few of the runway

It's now just after 11am and the fog here is still bad.

Thames Clippers couldn't run at all first thing.

This was the view from the DLR in east London.

This was Heathrow, which also suffered thick fog.

It had to cancel 100 flights, about 8% in total.

City Airport had to cancel 65, about 25%.

At Gatwick, flights were also disrupted.

One BBC reporter was stuck on a plane for over two hours.

As passengers changed their minds about going to Belfast.

Well this flight is now two and a half hours late,

and still nowhere near taking off as far as I can tell.

The problem started with the fog which delayed the flight by two

hours but then as passengers decided they wanted to get off,

presumably because it wasn't worth making the journey,

Gatwick seems to have found they don't have the staff to escort

So there are further delays, which means more passengers seem

to want to get off the plane, which means there

And at the moment no sign of departing whatsoever.

Passengers are being advised to check before travelling.

The airports say the weather is now improving.

But more fog is forecast for tomorrow morning.

Now how would you feel about The Houses

Well according to a new poll, 1 in 4 of people asked thought

the cost of restoring the building was so high,

it would be better off being sold or bulldozed!

Well Sonja Jessup is there with more on how people feel

Well, even on a foggy day, the Houses of Parliament,

this Grade One listed historic building, still looks fairly

That is, of course, if you ignore the rather unsightly

And the problem of course is, is that the Palace of Westminster

They've got problems with asbestos, ageing electrics, fragile stonework,

and of course this all comes with a huge bill, up to ?4 billion,

And it could take up to eight years to complete.

Now, in research carried out by YouGov and published

in The Times newspaper today, they discovered that one in four

people questioned thought that was all too expensive.

They thought the whole thing should either be sold off

So, what do Londoners down here and tourists,

It's an institution, it's an icon of Britain.

I think it's absolutely money well spent.

You don't get a lot of these historical buildings.

I just don't think they could build anything for that money that

So what are the options for this refurbishment?

Last year a committee of MPs and peers recommended that both

Houses of Parliament should be vacated completely for six years

A makeshift Commons chamber could be built in the courtyard of Richmond

house and peers would sit in the QE2 conference centre.

Another plan would see the Houses of Parliament partly vacated,

MPs moving into the Lords for example while repairs are

That is thought to be a lot more expensive.

A Commons vote on whether to go ahead with a full move out,

or just for Parliament to partly move out, is expected soon.

Detectives are investigating a number of alleged hate crime

incidents targeting the Jewish community

In one case a brick covered in swastikas was thrown

through the window of a home on Hillside Gardens in Edgware.

Police are also examining three other incidents in the area.

At this stage it's not known whether they're all linked.

Police are stepping up their appeal for help in connection to a sex

They're hoping releasing this image of a man they would like to speak

It happened when the schoolgirl was out jogging on Carshalton High

Now, it's a game where players on opposing sides take turns

at trying to hurl a ball down a court and score a goal

It's designed to be played by blind and visually impaired athletes.

Goalball is a Paralympic sport which many might have seen

for the first time during the London Games.

But at the moment, the capital only has one club that plays the sport.

But as Emma Jones reports, there are now plans to change that.

This is the London Elephants Goalball Club.

It's currently the only club of its kind in London.

But with more funds now being invested by Sport England,

The numbers that have turned up here are so exciting,

and people are travelling quite a long way to come

So our plan is over the next hopefully couple of years is to have

five clubs in Greater London, you know, simply south, north,

Many people got their first taste of the sport at the London Paralympics,

and the belief is those games have left a lasting legacy.

The main thing just being awareness and also just the number

of opportunities opened up, in terms of funding

2012 kind of activated a lot of that money,

and goalball has definitely benefitted from that.

Graham Drew's new guide dog has given him more

independence and confidence, and he says when he started

to lose his sight, goalball offered him that too.

It's a massive problem with visually impaired people,

that there's a huge reduction in the amount of

For example, I used to be a pretty avid runner,

and then the day I ran straight into somebody and knocked them off

the path, it beame something I wasn't really able to do any more.

When I found this, this was fantastic.

Now the club is looking for new members, and Goalball UK

is confident there'll be plenty of interest in new

It's one of best places to live, in terms of accessiblity for people

So I'm sure people are crying out for it.

So once we manage to get some more teams going,

If everything goes to plan, the London Elephants will have

London rivals in just a few years' time.

Now as I said it was a very foggy start to the day.

Let's take a look at the rest of today's weather,

It was another very cold start the week. Temperatures at 8am, Gravesend

at -5, most places at minus two. Widespread frost and a lot of talk.

With those temperatures where they were, freezing fog. Really tricky

conditions throughout the morning. Through the afternoon, one or two

fog patches and because of those temperatures will struggle. It will

feel cold even if the fog lifts. Temperatures barely moving. You make

it a little bit of clearance on fog, it will lift but mostly into a great

picture. Maximum temperatures three or four Celsius in London. Chilly

overnight, a lot of clout with breaks in it but you will see all

this white signifies the mist and fog reforming fairly quickly. Dense

mist and fog and with the potential to freeze with the temperatures

dropping below zero. Another cold and frosty start tomorrow and foggy.

And the fog is likely to freeze throughout tomorrow morning. Very

slow to clear. You may get bright spells in the afternoon the further

east you are but many places hanging onto fog for much of the day.

Maximum temperatures getting up to five Celsius. Through the rest of

the week, cloud and foggy conditions around for Wednesday morning and

overnight Wednesday and Thursday. Things clearing a little through

Thursday and we should see a little more sunshine. Thanks.

Riz will be here with our 6:30 evening programme.

But for now, from us all, a very good afternoon.

a free five-a-side tournament that's for everyone.

For more information, go to the Get Inspired website.

If they have a fear of water, God help them.