07/02/2018 London News

windy as we look towards the end of

the week.

That's all from the BBC News at One

- so it's goodbye from me -

Welcome to BBC London News.

I'm Katharine Carpenter.

where there isn't enough money

to pay the mortgage.

That's how the finances of Transport

for London have been described

in a leaked internal email obtained

by BBC London.

It lays bare the challenges caused

by budget cuts, with staff in one

division being told they need

to look at ways to cut costs.

Here's our transport

correspondent Tom Edwards.

This is where Transport for London

is based in Southwark,

and this organisation is wrestling

with cuts and trying

to balance its budget.

We've been given an internal staff

e-mail where managers say TfL

will make a loss next year

of £968 million.

This e-mail spells out in black

and white TfL's financial position,

and it's not pretty.

For example, it says

after day-to-day operating costs,

there's not enough money

to pay for renewals.

That's planned repairs on things

like roads to make them last longer.

And there's not enough money to pay

interest on money borrowed.

It goes on to say if this

was a household budget,

there wouldn't be enough money left

over to pay the mortgage

or get the car serviced.

Already, bus services

will see a cut of 7%.

Many senior managers have left.

Extra Tube trains

have been cancelled.

Insiders say staff are angry.

The e-mail blames the cut

on the Government grant,

which at one time was £700

million a year.

It also blames a decrease

in passenger numbers

and a drop in the income

from the congestion charge.

It doesn't blame the Mayor's

partial fares freeze,

which will also cost £640 million.

It says that has actually cushioned

the fall in passenger numbers.

In the surface transport division,

though, which covers buses,

the Overground and the DLR,

the warnings are, "We are still

forecasting to miss our budget.

We need to reduce our

costs accordingly".

The e-mail says that TfL can

sustain its position in the short

term by using its savings.

However, there is a warning.

It says "This is clearly not

a sustainable position to be

in as an organisation".

They've been accustomed

to good times at TfL.

Now the taps are being turned off

slightly and they will have

to deal with that.

They do have options, but many

of those choices are difficult.

Today, TfL said its

budget is balanced,

it's investing record sums and it

will be able to deliver the cuts.

It says its efficiency programme has

already saved nearly

£200 million this year.

But commentators warn that TfL is

facing a perfect storm financially,

with many challenges ahead.

A man's been arrested on suspicion

of attempting to murder a police

officer following a high speed chase

on the M25 in Surrey.

Officers pursued the car

from Caterham at around

three this morning.

It left the motorway at junction 9,

where it was brought to a stop.

During the chase, the car drove

towards a Metropolitan Police

officer deploying a stinger device,

running over their foot.

A number of police vehicles were

also damaged during the incident.

Every police officer

in Tower Hamlets is to get training

on election law to try and prevent

a repeat of the scandal

that dogged polling

in the borough four years ago.

That election had to be re-run

after the mayor Lutfur Rahman

was ruled to have acted

illegally and corruptly.

Our political correspondent

Karl Mercer is with me.

It seems there's a determined

effort to avoid a repeat

for the 2014 election.

Yes, there is a sorry history of

electoral malpractice in Tower

Hamlets, exemplified last time when

Lutfur Rahman won the election but

then an election court ruled later

that he had won it illegally. So

police officers have put in a lot of

effort this time. We heard from the

London Assembly this morning, the

borough commander in Tower Hamlets,

saying what police are doing. From

now until March, 620 police officers

are going to be trained. They will

have two hour sessions on the

history of elections in the borough,

but also of community tensions and a

special bit on election law. Police

staff and detectives will be

trained, and on polling day itself,

there will be at least one police

officer on every polling station. We

were told police leave has been

cancelled for that day as well.

Plus

challenges for the local authority?

Yeah. They say they have learned

lessons from what happened before

and have put in new things. If there

are more than five voters registered

at one house, for example, they are

visiting them specially and making

sure it checked out. There are also

extra checks being done on postal

voting, which was one of the

significant issues identified by the

election court. So a lot of work is

being done, but there are no

promises that it will be

trouble-free.

The Prince of Wales and Duchess

of Cornwall have opened

a new electricity superhighway

supplying power

to the capital today.

Prince Charles went underground

to learn more about the seven year

project to rewire the capital via 20

miles of tunnels to

meet growing demand.

To mark the centenary

of women getting the right

to vote, we've been

speaking to some of the pioneers

who have lived through

the changes that followed.

At 101 years old, Mary Ellis

is the last surviving female pilot

from the Second World War.

Sarah Harris went to meet her.

She was born before women first got

the vote, and became an aviation

pioneer. Even at 101 years old, Mary

likes to visit Biggin Hill to see

the plane she flew solo during the

Second World War, much to the shock

of the male ground crew who

initially refused to take her to

check in.

We can't go, we are

waiting for the pilot. And I said, I

am the pilot! There was little me in

my navy blue and gold blazer, you

know. They wouldn't believe me. They

sent two men in to search the

aeroplane to make sure.

NEWSREEL: The third anniversary of

the Battle of Britain...

Female

pilots flew the planes from the

factories where they were made to

RAF bases, but that didn't keep them

out of danger.

Along came another

aeroplane beside me, with German

markings on it. And I thought, ooh,

my goodness. I hadn't seen one of

those before. And I waved him away

like that, and he waved to me like

that. I was so frightened. And

eventually, he did go. Thank

goodness.

Now Mary encourages other

young women to take up flying in a

world still dominated by men. She

says there's nothing quite like it.

Up in the air on your own, and you

can do whatever you like.

Now let's check on the weather,

with Kate Kinsella.

Still chilly out there.

Yes, and it

will stay cold, especially tonight.

Today, many of us woke up to a very

chilly start. We had a bit of snow,

mainly towards the east. In parts of

Essex, we had a dusting of snow. And

we had a bit towards the north of

London as well. But gradually, the

snow showers have been clearing away

and we have got sunshine. Despite

the cold weather, we are seeing

little glimpses of spring. Let's

hang onto those as we go through

this chilly afternoon. We have got

some sunshine and it is a nice

afternoon if you don't mind the

cold. The northerly breeze has

cleared the cloud away, so it is a

sunny afternoon, but chilly

temperatures. We are looking at a

maximum of six Celsius inside the

M25. If you factor in the wind, it

will feel colder. Tonight, the

temperature is set to drop right

down, a really cold night. A

bitterly cold start to tomorrow

morning, but a bright and sunny one.

Gradually tomorrow, we will start to

the cloud feeding in from the

north-west. So to turn grey, but

overnight, we pick up a

south-westerly wind. So it is not

going to feel quite so bitter. Then

another cold front overnight,

bringing with it a bit of rain as we

head into Friday morning. But the

less cold air does not stay long, as

it starts to feel chilly again by

the time we get to the weekend.

That's about it from me.

Riz Lateef will be here

with our 6:30 evening programme.

But for now, from us all,

a very good afternoon.