23/01/2018 London News

quite windy, but starting to feel

colder.

Welcome to BBC London News.

I'm Sarah Campbell.

A gas leak which closed two London

rail stations and caused

an evacuation around The Strand has

now been repaired.

Around 1500 people had to be

evacuated from a local

hotel and nightclub.

BBC London's Charlotte

Franks has the story.

They might spend on a conference

room floor. People evacuated and

sent here to the royal Horse Guards

hotel near embankment in the early

hours of the morning following a

major gas leak at Charing Cross

station. Megan and her colleagues,

in London for a conference, were

staying at another hotel down the

road when they were told to leave.

We all went down the stairs and be

realised something more serious was

happening Barnett pulled fire drill

or a pulled fire alarm. The streets

were cordoned off. We did not know

with a gas leak, lots of us were

worried it might been something more

serious, like an attack.

It was pretty disconcerting, I

looked at the window and they

already had all the police lines and

everything was cleared out of the

hotel, they were just evacuating the

hotel.

Nobody really knew what was

happening.

Emergency services were

called to The Strand at around 2am,

where it is thought large amounts of

gas leaking from behind Charing

Cross station.

Roads in the area was sealed off and

a hundred metre cord was put in

place.

Called at 2am to a gas leak

from a side street. We had to

evacuate the nearby Heaven

nightclub, over 1000 people

evacuated from by, and evacuated

people from the Charing Cross hotel.

There was no time to collect

personal belongings for some.

I

don't have my money, I did not grab

my contacts, luckily my colleague

had extra glasses so I have been

able to see and read my phone, if I

did not have these glasses I would

be pretty blind right now.

The gas company responsible repaired

the leak towards the end of the

morning of the court and was lifted

some hours later. Charing Cross and

Waterloo East reopens after being

closed all morning.

At this stage it is not known what

caused the leak, but the gas company

says it will be the focus of an

investigation.

After little sleep, Megan and her

colleagues decided to make the best

of the day ahead and go to work,

even if some of them were still in

their pyjamas.

Gun crime in London is on the rise

and its victims and offenders

are getting younger.

That's according to a new report

by the London Assembly.

The report also highlights

the concern that guns

are being bought over the dark web

and brought into the UK from abroad.

Our Home Affairs Correspondent Nick

Beake spoke to a trauma surgeon

at the Royal London Hospital.

We are one of London's four major

trauma centres, we will see about

700 victims of knife or gun crime

every year, and just under 100 of

those gunshots. But has increased

for the past two years.

How bad is

the problem now?

Violences

essentially endemic in London,

across London. Violence, whether my

violence, gun crime, domestic

violence is just increasing

year-on-year and is affecting more

and more people, who are becoming

younger and younger.

The scale of gun crime by you see

and treat?

It used to be that guns

were Raya and in the arms are

professionals, often people would

never make it to hospital. -- it

used to be that guns were rare. We

have seen a much wider use of guns

across the younger population and

have had to deal with more and more

gunshot injuries. The level of

violence in London is deeply

concerning, the fact that young

people are exposed to this level of

violence in their day-to-day lives

and feeling at risk and scared about

it is a big problem for society.

A London MP has called for serial

rapist John Worboys to be

barred from London when he's

released from prison.

The black cab driver was jailed

in 2009 for drugging

and sexually assaulting passengers.

The Justice Secretary says Worboys

release is an operational matter,

but the concerns of victims should

be a priority.

A new photograph has been released

of an unknown man who collapsed

in Central London on Boxing Day

and remains unconscious.

Detectives say this man had

suffered a heart attack,

and he's now in an induced coma.

But as he wasn't carrying any

identification, police haven't been

able to trace his family.

The future of Thames Valley Police's

mounted unit will be decided today.

A meeting is being held to decide

whether to scrap it.

The unit helps maintain public

order at football matches

and other big events.

It could now be cut as part

of almost £100 million worth

of savings the force has had to make

in recent years.

A juvenile monitor lizard was found

in the baggage sorting area

of Heathrow Airport.

It's not known where the reptile

started its journey,

but it is believed to be

a Bengal variety.

The reptile is being kept

at a specialist centre close

to the airport until it is found

a new home.

Long queues at the supermarket till

could be a thing of the past.

A new checkout system

which promises to revolutionise

shopping is being trialled

in Holloway, north London.

Lara Lewington from the BBC's

technology show Click has

been giving it a go.

Well, it's time for a rather

unconventional shopping experience.

The first thing I'm going

to do is get my bag out.

This North London convenience store

is trialling a prototype instant

check-out with the finished product

being prepared for it is

debut later this year.

Because when it comes to actually

checking out the RFID tags that sit

on all the products will be

instantly scanned in one go,

you can just put everything

in here straight away,

although it does sort of feel wrong

and something sweet.

So, I have everything

I need in my shopping bag,

but I can't leave just yet.

In fact, this is the fun bit.

It's time for the instant check-out.

I've popped down my bag full

of items and immediately what's

in that bag seamlessly comes up

on the screen.

At this point you get

out your smartphone,

where you should have already

downloaded the app and have your

payment details securely stored,

you need to make sure

that your Bluetooth is turned

on and at that point

you simply tap the reader.

A process so quick that

even if the store becomes busy,

a queue is unlikely to develop.

So now, I can actually leave!

But what have the public

been making of this?

It was really quick.

It was excellent.

I found that really, really cool.

One thing that I struggle with self

check-outs is finding the barcode

and scanning it and it's really

annoying and the fact that I just

put it on there, done.

IBM's long-term hope is for this

technology they've created to be

rolled out across all areas

of retail, along with suitable

sized check-out areas

and the repositioning of shop

assistants to actually assist

you around the shop.

Meanwhile yesterday's launch

of Amazon Go's cashierless Seattle

store provides a place

where customers can scan their phone

on arrival and after being tracked

by cameras and sensors to see

what they pick up, have their Amazon

account instantly charged,

but whilst this sort of convenience

may appeal to some, you can't,

of course, please everyone.

You liked it, but on balance

you prefer a person.

I'd still prefer a person.

Fascinating.

Now let's check on the weather

with Kate Kinsella.

Good afternoon.

Well, it has been a rather grey day

today, but the good news is we have

had the temperature on our side.

So despite the rain that we saw this

morning and you can see

here, and all the cloud,

the temperature is holding.

Up in double figures this afternoon,

so really quite mild

for this point in January.

It is, however, still going to be

quite breezy, and that breeze

is going to continue to strengthen

as we head to the night as well.

So back to this afternoon,

south-westerly breeze blowing

some showers through,

just one or two, but drier than this

morning, some brighter

spells mixed in there.

The temperature likely to get to 12,

maybe even 13 Celsius.

Now, into the evening and overnight,

the temperature's not

going to drop too far,

but coming dry through the middle

part of the night, what we're

watching very closely is the wind.

That's going to strengthen

significantly as we head

to the early hours of tomorrow

morning, becoming quite gusty.

The minimum temperature,

though, as I mentioned,

not really dropping.

Ten, 11 Celsius.

So staying mild and

in double figures.

Now, this cold front bringing

the rain moves through tomorrow,

and associated with that rain,

some very squally winds.

Gusts of potentially 30, 40 mph,

maybe even stronger.

So a wet and windy

Wednesday on the cards,

but it's still quite mild,

the temperature, tomorrow afternoon.

Might just stay around 13 Celsius.

Now, overnight tomorrow back

cold front slips away

south and eastwards.

The wind falls a bit lighter but it

also means we get some cold air

moving in behind it.

So as we head into Thursday it

will feel a bit cooler.

Not dramatically, but just

a little bit fresher.

But we should see the return

of some sunshine.

A chilly night, though,

Thursday into Friday.

That's about it from me.

Riz Lateef will be here

with our 6:30pm evening programme.

But for now, from us all,

a very good afternoon.

And you can keep up with updates on

the BBC website, of course.