Tube station shut and offices evacuated as police probe 'suspicious vehicle'

Pic:Hundreds of office workers stand in the street behind police cordon 
Staff reporter(wp/es):

Hundreds of workers were cleared from offices and a Tube station was shut while police officers investigated a suspicious vehicle in north London.

The Met police were called to reports of a "suspicious vehicle" on Ballard Lane in Finchley Central around 10am.

A cordon was set up in order to keep members of the public at distance and the road has been blocked in all directions.

Finchley Central station, on the Northern Line, was also evacuated and closed down while the operation was carried out.

Witnesses reported seeing huge crowds of people being led from their offices. Natalie Bowen wrote: "Alleged bomb scare in Finchley Central - they've evacuated lots of buildings and there's police and fire engines.

She added: "Lots of people milling about on Ballards Lane, Finchley - police cordon is blocking off road as far as Joiners Arms."

British Transport Police confirmed the station was closed "due to a police incident in the vicinity".

The cordon was reportedly lifted at around 10.45am.

Young boxer Kuba Moczyk dies after suffering tragic knock-out in first fight

Pic:Kuba Moczyk died in hospital
Staff reporter(wp/es):

A young boxer has died after being knocked out in his first fight.

Kuba Moczyk, 22, fell unconscious after a single punch during the final round of a boxing match in Great Yarmouth on Saturday. 

He was taken to James Paget University Hospital where he was unresponsive in intensive care with a bleed on the brain, and died on Wednesday evening. 

His twin sister Magdalena Moczyk had set up a GoFundMe page called "Wake up Kuba" in order to raise £20,000 for specialist treatment abroad. 

She managed to raise more than £4,000 before he died surrounded by family.

On the page she wrote that the pair's birthday was just days away on December 4, adding "my heart bleeds just thinking of it".

Heavyweight champion Tyson Fury told local boxing events promoter Leon Docwra he was "devastated" by the news, while friends revealed their shock on social media and paid tributes. 

Mr Docrwa, 41, said he had trained Mr Moczyk three years ago, and remembered him as a "happy, smiling" person who "did not have a nasty streak in his body".

Of the fight he said: "It was a big thing for him to do. He plucked up courage and got lots of support and everyone was cheering him on.

"And that was his first and final fight."

He said he believed Mr Moczyk's opponent was just 17 years old. 

A minute's silence will be held in the 22-year-old's memory at an event in Gorleston-On-Sea on Thursday night which Fury is due to attend, he added.

Lidl becomes first UK supermarket to pay workers London living wage

Business reporter(wp/es):

Lidl has announced it will pay the voluntary Living Wage of £8.45 an hour and £9.75 in London to thousands of its workers.

The supermarket giant said it was the first British supermarket to announce it will pay the voluntary rates, which will be paid from March to 5,500 employees, a quarter of its UK workforce.

The rates are higher than the national Living Wage of £7.20 an hour, which the Chancellor announced in his Autumn Statement will go up to £7.50 next April.

Lidl board director Nan Gibson said: "We recognise the contribution of each and every colleague within the business and we feel it's important to celebrate our achievements together.

"So it fills me with pride that our colleagues are amongst the best paid in the supermarket sector, and it's absolutely deserved for the commitment and value they bring to the company every day."

Christian Hartnagel, Lidl UK chief executive, said: "This announcement comes at a time when our business is going from strength to strength.

"It is one of many commitments that we will be making to our colleagues in the near future."

Lidl, which has 640 supermarkets in the UK, said its investment in the new rates would cost £3 million.

It added that it received a 20 per cent increase in job applications after announcing a year ago that it would be paying the voluntary wage rates.

Katherine Chapman, director of the Living Wage Foundation, said: "Lidl's commitment to pay their staff the new real Living Wage rates is fantastic news and an acknowledgment of what we have always believed and advocated - that it is possible to pay the real Living Wage if you are a supermarket in the UK.

"We would love to see Lidl go further and signal their long term commitment by accrediting with the Living Wage Foundation to guarantee that all sub-contracted staff such as cleaners are paid the real Living Wage.

"This will also reassure workers that their wages will rise in line with the cost of living every year.

"Retailers such as IKEA, Oliver Bonas, Burberry and Majestic Wines have already signed up as Living Wage Foundation accredited employers but the title of becoming the first Living Wage accredited supermarket is still up for grabs."

Essex fire service worker sacked for pregnant woman slur after rescue

Staff reporter(wp/es):

A fire brigade worker has been sacked for a slur on a pregnant woman whose car became stuck in a flooded road.

The disgraced employee was fired for his comment, posted on social media, after Sherry Doran and her young son became trapped in 1.2 metres of water in Essex.

Fire crews had to smash both the rear and passenger windows to rescue the trapped pair from the car in Buttsbury Wash, near Ingatestone.

But people started posting offensive comments about Ms Doran on Facebook and a worker with Essex County Fire and Rescue Service also shared an offensive message.

A spokesman for the fire service said the employee was an agency worker and not a firefighter.

Sherry Doran, who lives in Suffolk, told the BBC she did not know the area and people suggesting she would put her children in danger was "extremely hurtful".

She said: "Sadly, a small number of people have used social media reports as a platform to make unfair judgements and comments towards me.

"In response to them, the only thing I can say is I went through years of heartbreak and painful treatments to bring my child into this world and I would die before I let any harm come to him or the baby that I'm currently carrying."

A Essex fire service spokesman said: "We recently took immediate action against an agency worker who displayed behaviours against our service values.

"The use of derogatory language against members of our public is something we will not tolerate."

Student stabbed outside South Harrow Tube station loses fight for life

Pic:Hussein Ahmed
Crime reporter(wp/es):

A student who was dragged from his bike by a gang of thugs outside a Tube station and stabbed in the chest has died in hospital, police said today.

Hussein Ahmed, 19, who was thought to  be studying at Uxbridge College, was attacked near South Harrow station.

His family, from Edgware, had maintained a bedside vigil in hospital but allowed his life-support machine to be turned off yesterday. He was the 12th teenager to be stabbed to death on the streets of London this year and the second this month.

The Metropolitan police today said its investigation had become a murder inquiry as it appealed for witnesses. Four men, aged in their late teens and early 20s, have been bailed until early December after being arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. 

The attack happened about 5.10pm last Friday outside Kebabish takeaway on Northolt Road. A post mortem was being held today at Northwick Park hospital mortuary in Harrow.

The teenager, who had two brothers and five sisters, was described by friends as a “lovely, enthusiastic young man with a smile permanently etched on his face” who played for a local football team and was never involved in gangs. 

A close friend who gave his name as Kadzo, 17, said: “Hussien was like an older brother to me. There’s absolutely no reason why anyone would want to hurt him. He wasn’t involved in the violence of the street, he had no interest in it. 

“His ambitions were to earn money and to look after his family. He was a peacemaker and had a clean, humble heart... We will always feel his presence his smile was contagious, always making jokes. He just got caught up in the wrong place.”

College friend Xhei Molla said: “He doesn’t deserve what happened and it’s truly devastating.”

Another friend said: “His life was taken from him by knife violence, he didn’t deserve that, he wasn’t involved in anything like that. A mother has lost her son because someone thought it was OK to carry a knife.”