0:00:00 > 0:00:00That's all from the BBC News at One so it's goodbye from me
0:00:11 > 0:00:20Good afternoon and welcome to BBC London News, I'm Sonja Jessup.
0:00:20 > 0:00:22There's a warning the capital could face a crime wave
0:00:22 > 0:00:24if the police don't take motor crime more seriously.
0:00:24 > 0:00:28That's the stark view of the AA, after BBC London has learned how few
0:00:28 > 0:00:30reported crimes of theft from motor vehicles result in prosecutions.
0:00:31 > 0:00:31Alex Bushilll joins me.
0:00:36 > 0:00:44What do the figures tell us?Let's be clear, this is not figures of
0:00:44 > 0:00:49theft of motor vehicles but theft from vehicles, said things like
0:00:49 > 0:00:54airbags all laptops, things from the passenger seat getting stolen. These
0:00:54 > 0:00:57figures showed the level of prosecutions is pretty low. They
0:00:57 > 0:01:08confirm last year 53,000 reported offences were lodged, but of those
0:01:08 > 0:01:12only 796 cases resulted in persons being proceeded against. As a
0:01:12 > 0:01:18percentage, that means only 1.5% of the total resulted in effectively
0:01:18 > 0:01:22charges being brought. This plays into the current debate where the
0:01:22 > 0:01:27Met are being very upfront about how they are not going to police,
0:01:27 > 0:01:29investigate low-level crimes, citing motor crime as one of the examples.
0:01:29 > 0:01:35I have spoken to a builder in Croydon who, like so many others,
0:01:35 > 0:01:38have experienced this crime first-hand, thousands of pounds
0:01:38 > 0:01:42worth of tools taken from his van outside of his house which
0:01:42 > 0:01:45interestingly had CCTV of the suspect stealing from him, and he
0:01:45 > 0:01:50said the police did not do anything, no investigation whatsoever. We have
0:01:50 > 0:02:01spoken to the mat, as for a comment, we are waiting to hear from them,
0:02:01 > 0:02:04but this was the builder's response. It is a free for all, the thieves
0:02:04 > 0:02:07know at the moment they will not be prosecuted, it is advertised on the
0:02:07 > 0:02:10radio, TV that the police will not prosecute these thieves, so it is a
0:02:10 > 0:02:13free for all, they know they can go out, even if evidence is provided to
0:02:13 > 0:02:17the fact that you can see that these are the people that are the
0:02:17 > 0:02:22assailants, the police absolutely will do nothing about it.What is
0:02:22 > 0:02:25the Met's response more generally about policing motor crime?They
0:02:25 > 0:02:30said they will do something about it but only where there is the DDB or
0:02:30 > 0:02:33evidence they can pursue. In a statement they said there can be
0:02:33 > 0:02:37limited opportunities to identify the perpetrators of theft, so it is
0:02:37 > 0:02:44not worth their time, basically, to investigate every report of crime,
0:02:44 > 0:02:48so they go on to say that the introduction of CCTV can help them
0:02:48 > 0:02:54to identify offenders. That is very little reassurance to motoring
0:02:54 > 0:02:58groups I have been speaking to, like the AA. The president of the AA told
0:02:58 > 0:03:01me today it is not good enough and more needs to be done.They are not
0:03:01 > 0:03:07investigating enough crimes, so there could be a spate of crimes,
0:03:07 > 0:03:10catalytic converters being stolen from one area, and we have knowledge
0:03:10 > 0:03:15that it is maybe just one gang doing it. If you took that gang off the
0:03:15 > 0:03:22street, you would clean up crime in one large area.The Mets say they
0:03:22 > 0:03:26are doing everything they can to keep our streets safe but these
0:03:26 > 0:03:29figures tie into the wider debate about what we could expect the
0:03:29 > 0:03:35police to police.Alex, thank you. As I'm sure you are away, it is
0:03:35 > 0:03:38Black Friday, the West End expected to be keeping with shoppers spending
0:03:38 > 0:03:45record amounts.
0:03:45 > 0:03:47But has it taken off, or are Londoners more interested
0:03:47 > 0:03:51in searching online for a good deal rather than hitting the high street?
0:03:51 > 0:03:52Frankie McCamley is on Oxford Street for us.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56How busy is it?Things have picked up compared to what we saw this
0:03:56 > 0:04:01morning. We were on Oxford Street at 7am, two hours early, when one of
0:04:01 > 0:04:06the stores opened its doors, and, as you can see, it wasn't a very big
0:04:06 > 0:04:10rush, there were not the big queue is expected from years gone by. One
0:04:10 > 0:04:17man was queueing to come in and collect a pre-ordered laptop but
0:04:17 > 0:04:22things are picking up. I am joined by Carl Monk from the new West End
0:04:22 > 0:04:27Company. Has it been a flop? No, this morning was quiet but we still
0:04:27 > 0:04:33expect 156 million to be spent over Black Friday this weekend, up 8%, as
0:04:33 > 0:04:36domestic shoppers come to make the most of their pounds ahead of the
0:04:36 > 0:04:40Christmas shopping period will stop how important is it for London to
0:04:40 > 0:04:45get the shoppers out on the street? Incredibly important, it is our core
0:04:45 > 0:04:49market in the West End and we do everything we can to work with
0:04:49 > 0:04:54retailers to drive Londoners to shop and spend here.Thank you. We have
0:04:54 > 0:05:06had some figures in that say that most deals in London grabbed a this
0:05:06 > 0:05:09morning but research says this might not be the best day to pick up those
0:05:09 > 0:05:16deals so the advice is to stick to your shopping list and do research.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18The rise in online shopping is being blamed as one
0:05:18 > 0:05:28of the reasons traffic jams in the capital are getting worse.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32Figures from the Department for Transport suggest the average
0:05:32 > 0:05:35speed of traffic in the City of London fell below 7mph last year.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37Ford has applied to Transport for London to run six
0:05:37 > 0:05:39commuter bus routes.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41The US carmaker already runs a service in four American cities,
0:05:41 > 0:05:44where passengers can book a place on its 15-seater minibuses
0:05:44 > 0:05:48via a smartphone app.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51We all know there are beautiful walks to take in and around
0:05:51 > 0:05:54the capital by day.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56But one Londoner has written a book that argues we can best
0:05:56 > 0:05:59understand our city, and ourselves, if we walk
0:05:59 > 0:06:01in the middle of the night.
0:06:01 > 0:06:11Wendy Hurrell has more.
0:06:11 > 0:06:16# London by night is a wonderful site...
0:06:16 > 0:06:23When the sun goes down over our city, another world wakes up. One of
0:06:23 > 0:06:28night buses, night workers, and like walkers.I started walking at night
0:06:28 > 0:06:32because I did not like taking taxis and wasn't keen on night buses so I
0:06:32 > 0:06:37would walk through the city and began to realise it was a completely
0:06:37 > 0:06:41different environment, there was a different ecology to the city, and I
0:06:41 > 0:06:44became more and more fascinated by the people who walk about in the
0:06:44 > 0:06:50night. You do see figures whose presence is very furtive and the
0:06:50 > 0:06:54night, the darkness, the shadows do bestir one people, even if they are
0:06:54 > 0:06:58up to something quite innocent, a certain kind of a new and Mrs Tariq
0:06:58 > 0:07:05and suspiciousness. The greatest night walk of all was Charles
0:07:05 > 0:07:09Dickens, a truly Olympian night walk. Wonderful glimpses of London
0:07:09 > 0:07:15at night in much of his fiction. It certainly looked pretty different,
0:07:15 > 0:07:19the presence of all the car traffic and buses makes a huge difference,
0:07:19 > 0:07:25but there is this wonderful light, albeit not Gaslight, coming from the
0:07:25 > 0:07:28lamps along the river, this beautiful yellow light shimmering on
0:07:28 > 0:07:33the surface of the Thames, so in some ways I think that some of the
0:07:33 > 0:07:37magic of the 19th-century city and night down on the river is still
0:07:37 > 0:07:47here. # Lovers love London by night.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58It does look lovely but you may need to wrap up warm if you are going for
0:07:58 > 0:07:58a night-time walk.
0:07:58 > 0:08:00Let's get the weather now - here's Lucy Martin.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07Feeling cooler than yesterday but it will feel colder still as we move
0:08:07 > 0:08:11into the weekend. Plenty of dry, bright weather and some sunshine on
0:08:11 > 0:08:14the way as we move through the next few days, despite the cold
0:08:14 > 0:08:18temperatures. Through this afternoon, largely dry and bright,
0:08:18 > 0:08:20there will be sunny spells developing with light winds,
0:08:20 > 0:08:25temperatures reaching a maximum of around 10 Celsius. As we go through
0:08:25 > 0:08:28tonight it will stay largely dry, clear skies as we move through the
0:08:28 > 0:08:39night, just the chance of one or two isolated showers, particularly for
0:08:39 > 0:08:41south-west London, but most people staying dry and with temperatures
0:08:41 > 0:08:43falling away we are looking at a fairly widespread frost. Rarely the
0:08:43 > 0:08:46temperatures will be colder than this. A cold and frosty start
0:08:46 > 0:08:52tomorrow, plenty of sunshine, patchy cloud bubbling up at times, and
0:08:52 > 0:08:55again mostly dry but north-west London could see the odd isolated
0:08:55 > 0:08:59shower. Highs of around seven Celsius per day brisk north-westerly
0:08:59 > 0:09:03wind means it won't feel particularly warm. A chilly start of
0:09:03 > 0:09:07the day on Sunday, touch of frost bursting, good spells of sunshine
0:09:07 > 0:09:10and a brisk north-westerly breeze, temperatures in the single figures.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14A spell of rain as we move into Monday allows temperatures to
0:09:14 > 0:09:17briefly increase but will turn cooler again as we move into
0:09:17 > 0:09:18Tuesday. Have a good day.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22So that's it for now, but I hope you can join Asad Ahmad later -
0:09:22 > 0:09:24he'll be here with our 6.30pm evening programme.
0:09:24 > 0:09:25Enjoy your afternoon.
0:09:25 > 0:09:32Bye-bye.