16/07/2017 London News

Now on BBC One it's time for the news where you are.

Good evening, welcome to BBC London News.

The London School of Economics is facing the prospect of legal

A group of postgraduates are crowdfunding to raise money

to pay for legal fees in what they allege is a breach

They claim Sidney Webb House, a block of halls near

Borough Market, became over-run by rats, contaminated

with mould and have suffered issues with maintenance.

Mice, damp and mould. Student at the London School of economics took

these photos of their university rooms at Sidney Webb house in

borough. They said that the students became ill. I had headaches and

problems and I went to the doctor. The doctor said you have to change

or room immediately. Base at least 15 students have gone to hospital

because of the problems created from the conditions but more were

affected. There have been skin infections which I never had. I

could not walk basically. I had to go to the emergency section of Guy

's Hospital and I had surgery. Headaches, problems getting to

sleep, waking up with a very dry throat. These are all symptoms

related to mould exposure in the air. Students were initially offered

?100 as a goodwill gesture but many rejected it. Now they are looking to

take legal action against the university. Accommodation is

difficult but universities have a responsibility to their students as

anyone does. They must be able to live in reasonable conditions. This

is Sidney Webb House. It is under refurbishment. LSE said they were

aware of the complaints and they are investigating. They also say pest

control was sent in. Students say this is not how they planned to

spend their time in London. The LSE is academically and socially

challenging and engaging. To spend our time talking about mice, rodents

and mould in our house, is something we did not sacrifice so much to come

here to do, but circumstances have forced us to take it upon ourselves.

They are now fund-raising for their campaign and waiting to hear back

from the university. A 16-year-old boy is in a critical

condition after a collision between a police car and a moped

being ridden by three teenagers. It crashed into the marked police

car in South Park Road in Wimbledon. The moped was being monitored

by a police helicopter at the time, as it was believed to have been

involved in an earlier All three were arrested at the scene

and two large knives were recovered. It's destroying native

species on river banks, Introduced in the 1800s as a garden

plant, the Himalayan Balsam smothers almost all other plant life

growing around it. Now conservationists have found

a novel way of dealing with it and raising funds at the same time

as Yvonne Hall explains. The Himalayan Balsam brought

to the UK by Victorian explorers. Now it is spreading across river

banks, gardens and allotments, It really overshadows everything

and that has a knock-on effect The only way to get rid

of it is pulling it up by hand. Here, next to the River Stort

in Hertfordshire, conservationists and volunteers are trying to destroy

hundreds of plants And each plant can shoot 800

seeds up to 22 feet away. Normally once the Himalayan Balsam

is clear from the river banks A while ago, conservationists

were talking to the owners Between them, they came up

with a plan to do something much Then, add them to alcohol,

juniper, orange and lime, a few more ingredients and turn

the invasive species into gin. The whole idea for us

was to develop a gin, that rather than be using botanicals

which were farmed or forested, we would use something that

would basically be thrown away. The trust indicated they have

these clearing projects. The Himalayan Balsam was one

of the effectively rogue plants and we were looking for a way to use

it in a gin, and then have a gin we could use to raise

money for the trust. And purely in the interests

of investigative journalism, Definitely getting notes

of invasive species there. It is a tough life. It has been a

mixed bag this weekend, let's see how the rest of the weather is

looking. There were bright skies first thing

this morning as this Weather Watcher's picture proved

before everyone arrived at Wimbledon, and there will be more

of that during the week. Very warm and sunny

starting tomorrow. It may be that the sunshine turns

more hazy through the afternoon, but it will feel very warm

in central London, up to 26 degrees. There might be lightning

in the clouds Tuesday night into Wednesday and the risk

of an isolated heavy shower but it will freshen up

as we go through the week We'll be back just after

the national News at 10 tonight. Good evening. Most of us got to see

at least some Sunday sunshine and we will be taking some of that with us

into the start of the new week. That was the scene across Northern

Ireland