19/07/2017 London News


19/07/2017

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Welcome to BBC London News.

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I'm Claudia-Liza Armah.

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New figures out today reveal that not only London universities

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have the worst drop-out rate in England.

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But those students are more likely to be black or from poorer families.

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The University Partnerships Programme Foundation found

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on the whole, nearly one in ten drop out during their

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first year of study.

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Something it says needs to be tackled,

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as Sonja Jessup has the story.

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Well, here in London, of course, we boast some

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of the world's top universities, such as here at UCL but it seems

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that across the capital, although we are very good

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at attracting students to university, we're really not

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so good at retaining them.

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In fact, one in ten drop out during their first year.

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We can find out more about these findings by speaking

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to the report's author, thank you for joining us.

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Why do you think so many students are dropping out?

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I think there are three sets of factors.

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The first issue was about who's studying in London.

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We know the population of students there's actually a high of black

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students in most universities.

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Other research tells us that black students are more likely

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to drop out than average.

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That is partly an issue of who is going into university.

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The second set of factors are around the institutions themselves

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so if you look at national student survey, you look at what students

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say about the universities they going to and the courses

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they are studying, you see a lower satisfaction score on average

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for London universities than for other universities outside London.

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There is an association between lower satisfaction scores

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and higher drop out rates.

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And then there's a third set of factors which are very important

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but probably harder to get to the bottom of, which are around

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the affordability of London.

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We also know that students who live in London also have to commute

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longer distances to go to university so they may be able to spend less

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time on their courses.

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So, what do we do about this?

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How do we address this problem?

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I think first point is to hold the government to account.

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So, we suggest there should be a target specifically

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on ethnic minority groups, so we bring that down to the average

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score in terms of dropout rates.

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We also think there's something the Mayor of London could do,

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so it might be around housing, it might be around facilities

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that universities have and the planning consent.

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It might be around transport connections.

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There's also a lot universities themselves can do.

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OK, thank you very much.

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So, lots of challenges for universities to consider if they

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want to address these issues.

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And if they want students not just to sign up but also

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to state on their course.

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More details are emerging on the cladding used

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on Grenfell Tower.

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Burning cladding on the tower could have released 14 times more

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heat than a key government safety test allows.

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According to research by the University of Leeds,

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its plastic core would have burned "as quickly as petrol."

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The contractors who fitted the cladding and insulation say

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they both passed all regulations.

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Hundreds of passengers landing at Gatwick Airport are being left

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stranded after the company they parked their cars

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with appears to have gone bust.

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Gatwick First Parking, is not an approved

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meet-and-greet parking company.

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Police have been receiving reports over the last few days of people

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unable to collect their cars.

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Ian Palmer reports.

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Frustration at the car pound.

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The baby was with us.

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He's an eight-month-old baby so trying to keep him asleep

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while we're waiting around at Gatwick at stupid

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hour this morning has been a tough 24 hours.

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Gatwick First Parking is a meet and greet company.

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The firm went bust leaving customers stranded without their vehicles.

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Libby, who went to Gatwick last Saturday, at 11 at night.

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She, her husband and twins had no way of getting home to Kent.

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Two screaming one-year-olds.

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Hungry one-year-olds.

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Finally, we decided we needed to get a taxi because we just

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needed to get home.

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So we got in a taxi, ?130 later we got home.

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Two hours almost later as well, got home at 2:30am.

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It is not known how many people are affected but Sussex police have

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told us they have at least 150 cars.

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People coming back late at night, they've got children,

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they want to get home, they've got long journeys,

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they ring this company to get their car back to travel home

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and, of course, there's no answer.

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The website's shut down.

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They can't get hold of anybody.

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And they are really stuck, what can we do at this time of night?

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Of course, they're calling Sussex police.

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Whereas, as I say, this is a civil matter, and we're very hands tied,

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to a certain extent.

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Anyone affected by Gatwick First Parking going bust is being advised

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to contact trading standards.

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We are working with Sussex police and Gatwick airport itself.

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Hopefully to try and resolve this issue, get consumers their keys back

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and then hopefully they can return home safely.

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The Augustin family have a disabled daughter.

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They need their car because it has specialist equipment inside.

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This seat is for my disabled daughter.

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Without it, she struggles to sit.

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In the end, this was just a car but the seat was what really

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she needs on a daily basis.

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So that's really bad.

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Mr Augustin will now return home to Kent with the family car

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but there are flights arriving at Gatwick or the time.

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And on those planes will be more Gatwick First Parking customers.

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Ian Palmer reporting there.

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The BBC has been unable to contact Gatwick First for comment.

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Now, when's the last time you used a red phonebox?

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Well, a growing number of companies are renting them

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to use as office space, mobile repair shops

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or even coffee shops.

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There are already 20 in the capital.

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And it's giving firms a chance to be in prime parts of Central London,

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for a fraction of the price, as Nicola Ford found out.

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It's a shop in a prime London location but there's no place

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to make a cup of tea or go to the loo, and the customers

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definitely can't come in.

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That's because the shop is in a disused red telephone box.

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It's where Farwad spends 7.5 hours a day repairing mobile handsets.

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The advantage is you never bored.

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Because you are sitting in the street.

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Looking at people.

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The disadvantage is sometimes the noise and cars,

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and the pollution.

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This phone box lies on the old Brompton Road in between

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Harvey Nichols and Harrods.

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So, how does it feel to work in one of London's most

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recognisable landmarks?

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You start to be iconic as well if you work in an iconic

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place, you are iconic...

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Too!

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For the founder of the mobile repair company Love Fone it makes sense

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for them to work out of disused phone boxes.

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I guess it's funny that, you know, obviously the mobile phone has made

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the phone box obsolete.

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So we are now bringing them back into service.

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It is the next revolution, the next form of life

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for these phone boxes.

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And with rent at ?300 a month, it is cheap compared to the average

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rent in Knightsbridge.

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But one question remains - what do they do when they need the loo?

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We have a good agreement with some local pubs.

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Yeah, they let us use the loo.

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And we fix their phones for free.

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Well, after the overnight storms and lightening,

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is today going to be a bit calmer?

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Here's kate Kinsella.

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Good afternoon.

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Well, the storms last night you'd have thought may have

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cleared the air somewhat.

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Unfortunately, that's not the case.

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Let's look at some pictures from last night.

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Hundreds of flashes of lightning created some very beautiful pictures

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from our weather watchers.

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The post-storm pictures more like this.

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Lots of standing water first thing this morning but it's been very warm

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so that's all evaporated away, bright spells this afternoon but it

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will remain pretty warm and humid.

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There is quite a lot of cloud, it's thinning,

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not necessarily breaking, though, so you may get some hazy

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brightness out there.

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If the sun comes out, the temperature will shoot up.

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In the meantime, temperatures between 23-26.

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Just feeling very sticky, warm and humid.

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Overnight tonight, looks like a dryer affair

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compared to last and.

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Still the chance of one or two showers, nothing

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too significant but, again, it's going to be quite a warm

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one, the minimum around 17.

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So, a warm, humid start tomorrow, some showers moving through.

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Now, these are a cold front and that gradually moves away eastwards

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through Thursday morning.

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Behind it, it clears slightly, we get some brighter and sunny

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spells but it introduces some much fresher air.

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It will feel pretty cool tomorrow afternoon compared

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to today, around 23.

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For Friday, we've got some low pressure to the west of the UK,

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starting to fling some weather fronts towards us.

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That's going to make the weather changeable heading into the weekend.

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Looks drier for Friday but then a showery regime as we head

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through Saturday and Sunday and it is going to feel

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quite a bit fresher.

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And there'll be more on last night's weather at 6:30pm.

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If you have any pictures or videos you can tweet them to us at BBC

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London News or email us.

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But for now that's it from the lunch team.

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Goodbye.

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