17/11/2017 London News

news teams where you are.

Have a good afternoon.

Welcome to BBC London News.

I'm Victoria Hollins.

It was a fire that

changed firefighting

and safety on the Underground.

Tomorrow marks 30 years

since the Kings Cross fire.

31 people, including

a firefighter, died when a smoker

dropped a match into the steps

of a wooden escalator that led from

the Piccadilly Line to the ticket

hall of the Underground Station.

Here's our Transport

Correspondent Tom Edwards.

Thousands use this escalator every

day, and many don't know this

is where the worst fire

in the history of the Tube started.

This is escalator

four at King's Cross.

A lit match ignited grease,

eventually creating a huge fireball.

Stuart Button is now retired,

but nearly 30 years ago he was one

of the first firefighters to arrive.

It was travelling faster

than they could walk.

So what we did was,

we were hurrying up ourselves

to get out of the station,

we were hoovering up people, really,

really, saying to people,

"Get out."

Just two minutes after they arrived,

the fire had flashed over

and engulfed the ticket hall.

It was then that we heard,

or started hearing all the screams.

I thought, there must be loads

and loads of people down there,

just scream after scream.

30 years on and this official report

still makes terrifying reading.

It describes how this station full

of commuters turned into a furnace.

It also outlines how the response

from the emergency services

was hampered due to a breakdown

in communication, and there

was a lack of knowledge

of the station layout.

The following inquiry led to huge

changes to the Tube and the Fire

Service's safety regimes.

Among the many recommendations,

wooden escalators should be removed,

smoking should be banned,

and heat detectors and sprinklers

should be installed.

And, crucially, the emergency

services should be able

to communicate with each other

underground.

Most of the recommendations have

since been implemented.

These type of exercises

are now part of training.

And legislation ensures

minimum staffing levels

on deep-line stations.

Although a new radio

system was only introduced

after the 7/7 bombings in 2005.

There isn't a month goes

by in my job that we don't reference

the King's Cross fire.

It had such a phenomenal

and beneficial effect

on the organisation,

so out of a desperate tragedy,

good things have actually come.

With cuts due on the Tube,

the unions say they'll resist

anything that they think

could compromise safety,

and these changes only happened

after the deaths of 31 Londoners.

It's emerged that universities

in London are raking in millions

of pounds in student library fines.

Figures obtained by the BBC show

that 21 universities

in the capital made more

than £3 million over the past

three academic years.

King's College London tops the list.

It's finally here - tonight,

Children In Need takes place.

Every year thousands of young

people here in London

are helped by the money raised

through your generosity

and by fundraisers.

One of those charities is Rewind,

at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith.

It's helped dozens of young people

at risk of exclusion from school

through theatre and drama skills.

Here's how the money

has helped them.

Yeah, and then we've got a first

contestant, and then a run-in.

Rewind is a 10-week project working

specifically with young

people between 11 and 16,

mainly focused on those

who are having difficulty in school,

who might be at risk of exclusion

or having difficulties with

attendance and things like that.

They would work with a director

or a practitioner on a script,

or they might devise a piece

of theatre on their own,

then over the next two

or three weeks shape that

into what would then

become a performance.

We're going to smash it.

Going to smash it.

My name is Ahmed, I'm 13,

I've been coming to the Rewind

project for seven weeks.

I enjoy this a lot.

To be fair, it feels better

when I have a school week

and then go here on Friday,

it's the best day of the week,

then on Monday come back

to school refreshed.

OK, this is our theatre,

come and take a seat.

The money from Children In Need

allows us to create interventions

into their lives that help them

get back into school,

help them with attendance,

and really change a path that they

might have been going down.

So today we are going

to talk about power...

It's an amazing experience to look

at a particular young person

that starts with us, is scared

of coming into the theatre,

or just doesn't know what's

going to happen, and watch them

change and grow over ten weeks

to become these confident,

brave, incredibly artistic young

people, and for them to be

so proud of the work

that they make, too.

That work, for me,

is the little bit of gold dust.

We know, fundamentally,

that we're changing lives,

and it's an incredible thing to be

a part of.

Well, we've just found out Pudsey

has arrived at our special

location for tonight's broadcasts -

we'll be live from Warner Brother's

Tours in Hertfordshire,

where Pudsey will be joined

by some special guests.

Arsenal and Tottenham

meet in the North London

derby tomorrow lunch-time.

One man who knows what life

is like on either side of the divide

is George Graham, who was

manager at both clubs.

It is 100 years since English

football produced an occasion like

this...

Such was the drama of

Arsenal's 1989 win over Liverpool it

has been turned into a documentary.

They picked their opponents in the

last seconds of the season.

George

Graham was their manager. What it

has, to beat Liverpool at Anfield by

two clear goals. Liverpool dominated

English football at that time, and

rightly so, they were the best team

with the best players. But I had to

do my job and sell the idea of going

up there to beat them 2-0, I had to

sell it to the players.

Arsenal are

no longer quite the force they were

under Graham or in the early Arsene

Wenger years, so what is missing?

I

would say they have just dipped from

the standards they set themselves. I

would say they have just edged

slowly away. With the ball, they are

fantastic.

Without the ball, not so

great. Tottenham finally finished

above Arsenal for the first time

last season since 1995, do you think

the power in north London has

finally shifted?

I don't think so,

not yet, but I think it is on its

way unless Arsenal up their game

plan, and I think there is every

chance now that Tottenham could do

it, could do it. They've got an

outstanding manager, one of the

best, but the next hurdle really for

them is to win some silverware.

Tomorrow's north London derby is

eagerly awaited, even though it

can't quite top 89 for attention.

It felt pretty cold this morning,

let's check on the weather.

It felt pretty cold this morning,

let's check on the weather.

Yesterday we saw 15 degrees but

today we are in too much colder air.

Rulli below freezing, lots of

sunshine around, we will continue to

see that sunshine and blue skies for

the rest of the day, possibly more

hike out coming and going at times.

The wind is light, it will be dry

and temperatures will be between

seven and as high as maybe 10

Celsius in central London. Through

this evening and overnight

temperatures will drop readily at

first and then we will see more in

the way of

cloud spread in from the west at

times, so temperatures possibly not

quite as low, looking at starting

the day tomorrow with Apache frost,

three or four Celsius for many of

the towns. Tomorrow, a cloudy day

but still feeling quite chilly. We

will see plenty more cloud spreading

from the West, still feeling cold,

outbreaks of light, patchy rain and

drizzle through the afternoon,

possibly the odd heavy burst at

times but mostly very light, many

places staying dry. Temperatures not

quite making it a double figures. A

nice day on Sunday, more in the way

of sunshine, some rain on Sunday

night introduces milder air in time

for next week, when there will be

outbreaks operate at times.

That's about it from me.

Asad Ahmad will be here

with our 6.30pm evening programme.

But for now, from us all,

a very good afternoon.