Large knife seized and two arrested after police chase in north London

Crime reporter(wp/es):

Two men were arrested and a large knife was seized following a police chase involving a Mercedes in north London.

Officers traced the reportedly stolen car before the suspects made off on foot in Belfast Road, near Stoke Newington station, on Sunday.

The driver was spotted entering a building on the street and he and another man was arrested at the scene.

Dramatic pictures from the incident show a smashed up dark blue Mercedes with a punctured tyre.

Police released an image of the weapon seized, which they say is a 13-inch blade.

Hackney Police said on Twitter that the knife was recovered “following a vehicle pursuit and foot chase.”

The pair were arrested on suspicion of theft of a motor vehicle, criminal damage, failing to stop and possession of an offensive weapon.

A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said: “They were taken to an east London police station where they remain in custody.”

“Enquiries continue.”

Thousands of London drivers caught using mobiles at wheel despite tougher penalties

Pic:Police caught the equivalent of one driver every seven minutes illegally using their mobile at the wheel
Staff reporter(wp/es):

Thousands of drivers were caught illegally using their mobile phones on London's roads following a major crackdown.

Police in Britain penalised almost 6,000 motorists, more than a third of them in the capital, in the four weeks after tough new penalties for the offence came into force.

More than 200 drivers a day were caught using their phones at the wheel, the equivalent of one every seven minutes.

Campaigners claimed the "worrying" findings suggest people are ignoring repeated warnings about the dangers of using phones while driving despite a string of publicity campaigns and the risk of harsher sanctions.

From March 1, those who fall foul of the rules have faced receiving six points on their licence and a £200 fine - up from the previous penalty of three points and £100.

The changes mean new drivers risk losing their licence for sending a single text.

Calls for efforts to curb illegal mobile phone use intensified in the wake of a string of high-profile cases and research indicating that it is widespread.

Figures obtained by the Press Association following Freedom of Information requests show forces recorded 5,977 instances of the offence the four weeks after the clampdown was rolled out alongside a nationwide police campaign.

The actual figure is likely to be higher as seven forces did not provide figures and some cases may not have been logged at the time FOI responses were issued.

The Metropolitan Police registered the highest number at 2,037, meaning more than 70 drivers were caught using a handheld phone on London's roads each day.

Thames Valley Police recorded the second-largest total at 478, followed by Police Scotland (339), Hampshire Police (280) and Cheshire Police (224).

Incidents reported by police after the tougher penalties were introduced include:

•  A man spotted doing his online banking while driving along the M5 motorway near Birmingham
• A driver on his phone while behind the wheel of a school minibus with 10 children on board in Manchester
• Norfolk Police stopped a woman who was responding to a message about her lost puppy being found
• A foreign lorry driver fined for texting on a bright pink mobile phone while travelling along the M2 in Kent
• A 7.5-tonne lorry driven around a roundabout in Bournemouth by a man using his phone

The RAC Foundation described the increased penalties as "a start", but warned the figures for March suggest "the key message still isn't sinking in".

Steve Gooding, director of the motoring research charity, said: "Driving is a safety-critical activity that requires our full attention. Hands need to be on the wheel and eyes looking out of the windscreen, not down at the phone screen."

The new figures sparked calls for more investment in traffic policing to compliment the tougher penalties.

There have been falls in the numbers of drivers handed fines for using handheld mobiles in recent years amid reductions in full-time dedicated roads policing officers.

Jack Kushner, a spokesman for road safety charity Brake, described the number of drivers "selfishly using their mobile phones behind the wheel" as concerning.

"Driver distraction is a growing menace and it's worrying that drivers don't seem to be getting the message," he added.

The charity wants the £200 fine to be "significantly increased" to deter offenders.

Twenty-two people were killed and 99 seriously injured in accidents on Britain's roads in 2015 where a motorist using a mobile was a contributory factor, Department for Transport figures show.

Police say they want to make using a mobile while driving as "socially unacceptable" as drink-driving.

National Police Chiefs' Council lead for roads policing Anthony Bangham said: "Drivers need to understand that this is not a minor offence and you will be prosecuted under new, tougher penalties."

He said forces are committed to tackling the behaviour, adding: "Encouraging results from recent campaigns show how effective new tactics and innovative approaches can be."

British Airways boss apologises for 'catastrophic' IT failure that caused havoc for 75,000 people

Staff reporter(wp/es):

IT failure which caused chaos for thousands of travellers, but insisted it was down to a “power surge” rather than outsourcing of jobs.

BA flights were brought to a halt at Heathrow and Gatwick on Saturday with 75,000 people affected by the three days of disruption.

The firm was accused of greed after the GMB union suggested the disruption could have been prevented if the beleaguered airline had not cut "hundreds of dedicated and loyal" IT staff and contracted the work to India in 2016.

But the airline's chief executive Alex Cruz said this was not the case, adding that a full investigation would be conducted into the failure which affected 75,000 passengers.

He told Sky News: "I can confirm that all the parties involved around this particular event have not been involved in any type of outsourcing in any foreign country.

"They have all been local issues around a local data centre who has been managed and fixed by local resources."

Mr Cruz said: "On Saturday morning at around 9.30 there was indeed a power surge that had a catastrophic effect over some communications hardware which eventually affected all the messaging across our systems."

He added: "We will have completed an exhaustive investigation on exactly the reasons of why this happened. We will, of course, share those conclusions once we have actually finished them.

"We have no evidence whatsoever that there was any cyber attack of any sort."

Mr Cruz apologised "profusely" for the hardship caused to customers and insisted a similar incident would never happen again.

He further offered assurances that no customer data or any list, including terror watch lists, had been compromised by the glitch.

Mick Rix, national officer for aviation at the union, said at the weekend: "This could have all been avoided.

"In 2016 BA made hundreds of dedicated and loyal IT staff redundant and outsourced the work to India.

"BA have made substantial profits for a number of years, and many viewed the company's actions as just plain greedy."

BA has said it will run a full schedule at Gatwick on Monday and it intends to operate a full long-haul schedule and a "high proportion" of its short-haul programme at Heathrow.

However, the airports advised passengers to check the status of their flights before travelling.

On Saturday night travellers spent the night sleeping on yoga mats spread on terminal floors after BA cancelled all flights leaving the London hubs, while disruption continued into Sunday with dozens more services from Heathrow axed.

The IT outage had a knock-on effect on BA services around the world, while passengers who did get moving on the limited number of flights to take off from the UK reported arriving at their destinations without their luggage.

The disruption also hit transport systems on the ground, with hundreds of travellers flooding London's King's Cross station in hope of boarding a train north instead.

Experts predict the knock-on effect could continue for several days and BA is facing huge compensation costs, with reports suggesting the bill could top £100 million.

Mr Cruz said the airline was "committed" to following all compensation rules.

British Airways: turmoil continues after IT failure grounds flights

Staff reporter(wp):

Disruption from a major British Airways IT failure that affected more than 1,000 flights on Saturday has continued into a second day, leaving more passengers stranded.

After all the airline’s flights from Heathrow and Gatwick were grounded on Saturday, services resumed but with cancellations and delays.

By 11am, 36 flights from Heathrow had been cancelled and 36 had departed, the BBC reported. There were no cancellations at Gatwick but passengers experienced delays of about 30 minutes.

Both airports advised passengers to check the status of their flights after terminals became congested on Saturday with travellers hoping to get away for the long weekend and half-term school holiday.

Welsh international table tennis player Chloe Thomas, whose 7.30am flight to Germany for the World Table Tennis Championship in Düsseldorf was cancelled at the last minute after she arrived four hours before the scheduled departure time, described chaotic scenes.

“It’s chaos, people are running about all over the place trying to rebook,” she said. “There’s no one to help, no leadership. There are lots of people everywhere. There’s nowhere to sit, so people are just lying on the floor, sleeping on yoga mats.”

She said airport staff had handed out the mats, as well as thin blankets, for people who were stuck there overnight. She added that one of the shops had already sold out of food. Passengers faced long lines to check in, rebook or find lost luggage.

Melanie Ware, who flew in from Los Angeles and was trying to get to Venice on her honeymoon, told Sky News: “We rebooked for Venice for tonight, which they also have cancelled now. So we have no way of getting out of Heathrow and they haven’t compensated us for anything, and we’re stuck and this is the worst honeymoon ever. British Airways has ruined our honeymoon.”

King’s Cross station in London was packed with people trying to make their way north, with travellers queuing out of the doors and on to the platform for the 9am train to Edinburgh.

Those that could not get on ran to the doors of the next service at 9.30am when the platform was announced, but were met with a warning from the train guard that seats could not be guaranteed for all passengers.

Some passengers lucky enough to board one of the few flights taking off on Saturday later found their luggage had not made it on to the plane with them.

Terry Page, 28, from London, flew from Heathrow to Fort Worth, Texas, where he and about 50 other passengers were told they would have to wait until Monday before being reunited with their bags.

BA, which is facing huge compensation costs as a result of the disruption, was unable to say how many flights would be cancelled or how for long the disruption was likely to continue. Experts predict the knock-on effect, with many planes not in the right place, could continue for several days

The airline said it was aiming to operate a near-normal schedule at Gatwick and the majority of services from Heathrow on Sunday.

A spokesman said: “Our focus is on updating customers and doing what we can to get them to their destinations as quickly as possible.”

The glitch is believed to have been caused by a power supply issue and there is no evidence of a cyber-attack, the airline said. It has denied a claim by the GMB union that BA’s decision to outsource hundreds of IT jobs to India last year was behind the problems.

There were issues with its online check-in systems in September and July last year, causing severe delays for passengers.

Cancelled flight? Know your rights

Passengers have some rights under EU law to claim compensation for delayed or cancelled flights for services that departed within the EU or were operated by a European airline.

Delays of more than three hours for short-haul flights (up to 1,500km or 930 miles) get compensation of €250 (£218); while the figure is €400 for medium-haul trips (1,500km to 3,500km).

For long-haul flights (more than 3,500km), delays of between three and four hours have compensation set at €300; for delays longer than four hours the figure is €600.

Airlines are required to give passengers food and drinks for delays of more than two hours, as well as hotel accommodation for overnight delays and transfers.

Police release CCTV pictures of Manchester bomber

Pic:Greater Manchester police handout of of Salman Abedi taken from CCTV footage of the night of the Manchester Arena attack.
Crime reporter(wp):

Pictures of the Manchester bomber on his way to the arena where he carried out Britain’s worst terrorist attack in 12 years have been released by police. CCTV footage shows Salman Abedi, 22, shortly before his suicide attack on an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester arena on Monday night.

The CCTV images show Abedi in glasses, wearing a black puffa jacket, baseball cap, jeans and trainers and carrying the rucksack containing the device that killed 22 people and injured 119 others.

Police believe he assembled his deadly bomb in a rented Airbnb flat in a mansion block on Granby Row in the city centre, near Canal Street. The flat is one of 17 locations searched by forensic experts in the past few days. Fourteen searches were continuing on Saturday night.

Detectives know that Abedi returned to the UK from Libya on 18 May, four days before the bombing. They hope the images will jog the memories of people who may have seen him in the run-up to the attack.

In a statement released on Saturday night, hours after the terrorism threat level in the UK was reduced from critical to severe, Greater Manchester’s police chief, Ian Hopkins, and its deputy assistant commissioner, Neil Basu, said the investigation was making good progress.

Thirteen people have so far been arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences, police said. A thousand people are involved in the investigation to Abedi’s network.

“In the past five days we have gathered significant information about Abedi, his associates, his finances, the places he had been, how the device was built and the wider conspiracy. As a result of the arrests and searches which have taken place, we now have many further lines of inquiry. We already have more than 1,500 actions we are pursuing,” the officers said.

“Since Monday night, Greater Manchester police and Counter Terrorism Policing North-West have been working closely with the national counter-terrorism policing network on what continues to be a large-scale and fast-moving investigation.

“The investigation is making good progress and we know one of the last places Abedi went was the city centre flat, and from there he left to make his way to the Manchester Arena. The flat is highly relevant as a location which we believe may be the final assembly place for the device.”

The latest arrests took place in the early hours of Saturday morning during a raid in Cheetham Hill, a multicultural area of north Manchester. Two men aged 20 and 22 were taken into custody. Neighbours identified Yahya and Mohamed Werfalli, aged 20 and 22, as two of the occupants of the raided house. They were said to be of Libyan descent and part of the same friendship groups as the Manchester bomber.

Shortly after those arrests, armed officers arrived at a terraced house in Boscombe Street, on the Moss Side/Rusholme border, near the site of Manchester City’s old Maine Road ground. Some residents were evacuated as bomb disposal experts from the army carried out investigations in the property.

In their joint statement, the senior officers revealed details on how the investigation unfolded following the bomb, which detonated around 10.30pm on Monday just as the concert finished.

Firearms officers from across the country were deployed to support GMP in case of a further attack. More officers from around the national counter-terrorism policing network across the UK soon arrived. “By early Tuesday morning there was an established pattern, with all officers and staff working on the response to the attack in day and night shifts of approximately 14 hours each,” the senior officers said.Within an hour, GMP had set up a specialist counter-terrorism control room, with a first priority of identifying the attacker. “Specialist counter-terrorist forensic teams were sent to try and identify the attacker and within two hours his identity was known. With this information, officers could begin to establish his movements to try and understand if anyone else was linked or any more attacks planned,” the statement said.

They added: “The whole team are working round the clock. We have around 1,000 people involved in the investigation alone. In addition, there are hundreds of officers and staff from Greater Manchester Police and other forces involved in the security around Greater Manchester.

“This is still a live investigation, which is not slowing down. Our priorities are to understand the run-up to this terrible event and to understand if more people were involved in planning this attack.”

Murder hunt after woman stabbed to death in south London

Crime reporter(wp/es):

A murder hunt was under way today after a woman was stabbed to death in the street in south London.

The woman, who is in her 30s, died at the scene after being attacked in Aubyn Hill, West Norwood shortly after 7pm last night. 

Scotland Yard said there had been no arrests.

Police are seeking an attacker who is understood to be known to the victim.

Sadiq Khan asks Muslims to pray for Manchester bombing victims in holy month of Ramadan

Staff reporter(wp/es):

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has asked London’s Muslim community to pray during Ramadan for those affected by the “appalling and cowardly” attack on Manchester Arena.

In a video statement to mark the beginning of Islam’s holy month, Mr Khan wished Muslims in London and elsewhere a “peaceful and blessed” Ramadan, adding that: “This year in particular our thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by the appalling and cowardly attack in Manchester just a few days ago, and of course to those affected by the Westminster attack in March.”

He said: “As Ramadan gets underway, I’d like to take this opportunity to extend my very warmest wishes to Muslims both in London and across the world, as we observe this holy month.

“And I hope that all of those who are fasting during these long summer days will find strength and solace in their daily routine.”

Mr Khan added that charitable donations made during Ramadan as the Muslim community comes together make “a huge difference to the lives of those in need”. 

Striking a tone of openness, ended his address with a plea for good interfaith relations.

“Here in London we show that we don’t simply tolerate different faiths, we respect and celebrate them too,” he said, adding: “Our diversity is what makes London the greatest city in the world.”

Plans to link east and West End with city's first 'healthy street'

Staff reporter(wp/es):

Plans have been unveiled to link the East End and West End with London’s first “healthy street”.

London Cycling Campaign is calling for a radical transformation of the so-called “London Boulevard” route from Old Street to Oxford Street via Clerkenwell Road and Theobalds Road.

It wants to turn central London’s “third busiest” cycle route into a safer and less polluted two-mile stretch, with a “cafe society” alfresco atmosphere. 

Some 7,000 cyclists use the east-west route each day despite high levels of traffic and high collision rates. 

The LCC believes its vision fits Mayor Sadiq Khan’s “healthy streets” policy, which seeks to improve air quality, reduce congestion and make public spaces more attractive.

It would also link with proposals for Old Street roundabout, which would convert one of London’s busiest gyratories into a two-way layout, enabling the centre of the roundabout to be transformed and boosting the area’s status as “Tech City”. Simon Munk, LCC’s infrastructure campaigner, said the aim was to provide support for schemes from Transport for London and Camden and Islington councils.

He said: “Tottenham Court Road station is being transformed by Crossrail and there is the Mayor’s pedestrianisation of Oxford Street to come. This [route] is one of the busiest roads in London but it’s incredibly polluted and insanely noisy. The knock-on effect of pedestrianising Oxford Street is going to be huge. There is a huge opportunity to look again at the streets east of Oxford Street.”

The Mayor has yet to decide if cyclists will be allowed to use the pedestrianised Oxford Street. If cyclists are banned, LCC wants a parallel route. At Old Street, TfL proposals first consulted on two years ago — to create a “peninsula” in the centre of the junction by closing the roundabout’s north-east side — are understood to be moving forward.

Ben Plowden, TfL’s director of surface strategy and planning, said he welcomed ideas that improved conditions for cyclists and pedestrians. 

A mayoral spokesman said extended cycle routes were an important part of their “healthy streets” vision.

Student sentenced to 15 years for planting bomb on London tube

Pic: Damon Smith was found guilty of possession of an explosive substance with intent at the Old Bailey in London
Crime reporter(wp):

An autistic student has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for planting a homemade bomb, built according to instructions in an online magazine linked to al-Qaida, on a London Underground train during morning rush hour.

Damon Smith, 20, constructed the rucksack bomb, which was filled with ball-bearing shrapnel, using a £2 clock from Tesco as an improvised timer, after reading an article titled How To Build a Bomb in the Kitchen of your Mum. It did not go off.

On Friday morning, he smiled in the dock at the Old Bailey in London as the judge, Richard Marks QC, sentenced him to 15 years in a young offender institution, with an extended period of five years on licence. Marks said although Smith had an interest in Islam, he was not motivated by terrorism.

Smith had pleaded guilty to perpetrating a bomb hoax, claiming he intended the device to work as a smoke bomb to stop the train “for a bit of fun”. But after a five-day trial at the Old Bailey, he was found guilty on 3 May of possession of an explosive substance with intent, contrary to the 1883 Explosive Substances Act.

Sentencing him, Marks said: “Quite what your motives were and what your true thinking was in acting as you did is difficult to discern with any degree of clarity or certainty.

“Whatever the position, the seriousness of what you did cannot be overstated, not least against the background of the fear in which we all live from the use of bombs here and around the world, an all too timely reminder of which were the events in Manchester earlier this week.”

Smith has Asperger syndrome and had a keen interest in weapons, which might have been connected to his condition, the jury was told during his trial. He was also interested in gambling and Islam, and had collected photos of extremists, including the ringleader of the 2015 Paris attacks.

He was 19 and studying forensic computing at London Metropolitan University when he left the rucksack containing the bomb on a Jubilee line train on the morning of 20 October 2016. Passengers discovered the device and alerted the driver, triggering a major security alert.

The jury heard that had the bomb worked, it would have detonated as people were being evacuated from North Greenwich tube station.

Smith was Tasered and arrested near Holloway Road in north London the following day. Counter-terrorism officers who subsequently searched his former home in Newton Abbot, Devon, evacuated nearby houses after discovering another possible homemade bomb hidden in the attic.

A search of Smith’s home in Rotherhithe, south-east London, where he had moved with his mother after starting university, found a blank-firing, self-loading pistol and a BB gun, both bought legally, as well as a knuckleduster and a knife that he had showed off in an online video.

Police also found shredded paper with bombmaking instructions on them and a shopping list for “pressure cooker bomb materials” on an iPad he used. The note included a reminder to “keep this a secret between me and Allah #InspireTheBelievers”.

Smith’s barrister, Richard Carey-Hughes QC, said in mitigation that it was a tragic case for Smith and his mother. “This is a difficult climate to ask for mercy for someone convicted of this type of offence,” he said, referring to the suicide bombing at a concert in Manchester on Monday that killed 22 people.

“Nevertheless, we do so and we invite my lord to extend mercy. This case is different. It seems unique and so is this young man.”

In his defence, extracts of a psychiatric report were read out confirming an autism spectrum disorder. Smith had been interested in bombmaking since he was 10 and said it was “something to do when he was bored”.

On the first day of his trial, the judge asked the jury to disregard Smith’s smile as he listened to the prosecution outline the case against him. Smith was “acutely aware that he’s presenting himself in a manner that is odd and unsympathetic”, Carey-Hughes said. On the last full day of his trial, he declined to go into the witness box.

But Marks concluded that Smith was a dangerous offender, telling him: “I am influenced by your history of preoccupation with weapons and bombs, as well as by your condition, which makes it difficult for you to empathise with others and to understand and fully appreciate the very serious potential consequences of your actions, as this incident amply demonstrates.”

Net migration to UK plunges to below 250,000 after exodus of European workers in wake of Brexit

Staff reporter(wp/es):

Warnings of skills shortages were issued today after net immigration fell due to an exodus of European workers after the Brexit referendum.

Construction firms said new housing and infrastructure was under threat by a growing shortage of bricklayers, carpenters and other skilled construction workers from eastern Europe.

Experts said London’s restaurants, hotels and coffee shops could have to “rethink their business models” if the loss of young Europeans becomes worse. Leading universities also echoed fears of losing key staff.

Official figures released this morning showed net long-term immigration falling in 2016 below a quarter of a million for the first time in nearly three years.

There were 248,000 more arrivals than departures, down by 84,000 compared with 2015, said the Office for National Statistics. They included an increase in emigration by EU citizens, up 31,000 to 117,000.

But the most striking change was a big fall in net migration from Poland and the other seven central and eastern European countries that joined the EU in 2004. Immigration from these EU8 countries was down by 25,000 to 48,000, while the numbers leaving shot up 16,000 to 43,000.

While the fall in overall numbers was a relief to Theresa May, who has promised to cut levels, business leaders said they endangered economic growth and her ability to deliver manifesto commitments on housing.

Brian Berry, of the Federation of Master Builders, said eastern European labour was “a vital part” of a workforce suffering growing skills shortages.

“Nowhere is this truer than in London, where migrant workers make up nearly half of the industry’s workforce,” he said.

“Over the last decade, those workers have typically been coming in from Eastern European countries. While it’s too early to say for sure whether these latest figures demonstrate a permanent reversal of this trend, there is a concern that they do.”

The Resolution Foundation think tank said all firms that rely on overseas workers would have to adapt - but the hospitality industry would need to rethink the way it does business altogether.

At the Russell Group of leading universities, Sarah Stevens said: “We would be concerned if this national trend reflects a loss of talented EU staff working in UK higher education due to uncertainty over their future rights.”

Sean McKee, at London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: “This leads to serious questions about how we can build the houses we so desperately need as well as a supporting infrastructure to remain a competitive global city.”

Net immigration from non-EU countries was estimated to be 175,000 - far above the “tens of thousands” level promised by Theresa May for overall immigration even though these numbers can in theory be controlled by the Government because non-EU citizens do not enjoy freedom of movement rights.

Business groups urged Mrs May to drop the target. Jasmine Whitbread, of business group London First, warned:  “Without a clear, fact-based understanding of what we need, turning people away risks damaging our economy at a time when the UK should be firing on all cylinders.”

Edwin Morgan, deputy director of policy at the Institute for Directors, said: “The figures confirm once again how unlikely it is that the Conservatives will hit their tens of thousands target if they are re-elected.”

Tube accidents soar to record high of almost 5,000 a year

Pic:Figures show a sharp increase in accidents on the Tube
Staff reporter(wp/es):

The number of accidents involving passengers on the Tube has risen to a record high of almost 5,000 a year, the Standard reveals today.

It spiralled to 4,928 last year, an 11 per cent increase from 2015, amid fears that overcrowding and fewer staff at smaller stations are fuelling the rise.

There was a sharp increase in accidents at several busier stations, including Baker Street, Bank/Monument, Bond Street, Westminster, Southwark and Tottenham Hale.

Small rises were recorded at dozens of other stations.

The figures for Zones 1-4 led to calls for Transport for London to ensure that the Tube is the “safest in the world”. 

As passenger numbers rise, its bosses are investing millions to improve capacity at key stations including Bank, Bond Street, Victoria and Tottenham Court Road.

There will be more frequent services on several lines to reduce crowding. An extra 325 station workers are being recruited this year after a staffing review that followed ticket office closures.

There were 4,517 accidents in 2014 and 4,439 in 2015, before the sudden increase of 489 last year to 4,928.

Tom Brake, Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Carshalton  and Wallington, said: “London Underground must redouble their efforts to make the Tube the safest in the world.”

Richard Freeston-Clough, of London TravelWatch, said: “The figures would suggest that smaller stations with fewer staff around are recording more accidents because staffing is likely to have been reduced.

"Conversely, accidents at bigger stations like Bank/Monument and Baker Street are also increasing because the growth in usage is making them more crowded.”

He said the rise  in accidents highlighted the need for extra staffing and congestion relief.

“Customer fall in gap” accidents were slightly down last year but 62 out of the 282 were at one station, Baker Street.

The high number there has been blamed on the arrival of S-stock trains level with the platform, to aid wheelchair access. This widens the gap at stations with curved platforms.

Dr Karen McDonnell, occupational safety and health policy adviser for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said TfL had a “duty of care” to passengers.

She added: “If a rise in incidents is taking place, then organisations must investigate the causes and do all they can to mitigate the risks.”

Steve Griffiths, the Tube’s chief operating officer, said safety was its “top priority”, with the number of injuries running at one in every four million trips.

“We continue to work hard to reduce this even further, with staff on hand to help customers,” he said.

“We have introduced flashing blue lights to draw attention to gaps between trains and platforms at key locations and we’re investing heavily in adjusting platform edges to narrow gaps.”

Office of Rail and Road statistics indicate that the Tube is the safest big railway in Europe, TfL said.

From this month, the frequency of Victoria line services has risen from 33 trains an hour at peak times to 36. From 2019, lines including the District, Circle, and Metropolitan will have more trains.

The amount of passengers using the Tube is rising, TfL said, up from 1.3 billion in 2014/15 to 1.35 billion in 2015/16.

The number of “fall in gap” cases was just over 280 last year, compared with 293 in 2015 and 269 in 2014.

Some key stations have seen falls in the number of overall accidents — also thought to include people slipping over and falling down stairs — such as Victoria, down from 126 in 2014 to 72 last year, and Oxford Circus, down from 133 to 118.

Manchester bombing appeals raise £2.3m for victims' families

Pic:Tributes left in central Manchester to the victims of Monday night’s bomb attack. 
Staff reporter(wp):

Fundraising pages set up for the families of those killed in the Manchester attack have raised more than £2.3m in an outpouring of compassion for victims, JustGiving has said.

More than 200 people have set up JustGiving pages for individual victims of the terrorist atrocity, which left 22 people dead and more than 60 injured.

Members of the public have also set up 185 pages to raise money for all the victims of the attack. JustGiving said all the money raised by individuals for specific victims was being held in quarantine while checks were carried out to ensure the fundraisers were legitimately raising money for families.

The money raised so far does not include a pledge of £1m from the city’s two football clubs.

A spokesman for JustGiving said in most cases where fundraising pages had been set up for individual victims, the company would work with Greater Manchesterpolice to try to pass the money straight to the families rather than to the fundraisers.

The money raised includes donations to an appeal set up by the Manchester Evening News and another by the British Red Cross. These have reached £1.3m and £808,000 respectively.

The pages set up by members of the public have raised more than £200,000.

JustGiving emailed fundraisers on Wednesday night to inform them that the money would be placed in quarantine while checks were carried out to verify that those behind the fundraising had connections with the families involved and were not involved in any fraudulent activity.

“We will start speaking to the individuals who have set up pages for specific victims about whether they have personal links with the families,” said a spokesman for JustGiving. “We are working with Greater Manchester police and we think in the vast majority of cases the page owner will say can you pass the money on.

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“None of this money will be released until we are satisfied and if someone refused to allow us to pass money on to the families ourselves then obviously that would raise concerns with us.

“In 99 out of 100 cases crowdfunding pages are set up by friends of the families, people with a connection to the family, but it is slightly different with the Manchester attack because there has been an outpouring of compassion from people who might not necessarily know the family involved.”

More than 30 concerns have been raised by members of the public about the legitimacy of JustGiving pages set up for victims’ families. The complaints are being investigated by members of JustGiving including fraud experts.

“It is a very complex thing from our side because it is very hard to make judgment on someone’s intentions which is why we have taken the preventative step of putting everything into quarantine while we establish the intentions of those behind the pages,” the spokesman said.

JustGiving charges commission fees of 2% and 5% to manage the pages. The company has made a donation of £50,000 to the British Red Cross appeal page.

Rail inquiry verdict on Gatwick passenger death

Staff reporter(wp):

Investigators say they have found no evidence to explain why a passenger put his head out of a train window, which led to his death when he was struck by a signal gantry.

Simon Brown was on a Gatwick airport to London Victoria train when the accident occurred near Balham, south London. The Gatwick Express train was travelling at about 61mph at the time of the incident on 7 August last year, the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) said.

A post-mortem report found no traces of drugs or alcohol, and evidence suggests Brown, 24, was not taking photographs, according to the report.

The window was in a door opposite a guard’s compartment and was not intended for passenger use, although it was accessible to anyone travelling on the train.

Investigators noted that a yellow sticker on the door warning people not to lean out of the window when the train was moving was in a “cluttered environment” among other information signs. “It is not possible to say whether the lack of conspicuity of the warning notice was a factor in the accident,” the RAIB said.

The distance between the section of the window where Brown’s head was positioned and the signal gantry, believed to have been installed in 1952, was found to be 26cm. Although the clearance complied with standards for existing structures, it was less than an industry-recommended minimum for new structures where there are trains with opening windows.

The report recommended that Network Rail, in collaboration with train operators, introduce a process for sharing data regarding clearances between structures and trains at window height so that operators can make “more informed decisions” about the management of risk associated with opening windows.

Brown was pronounced dead at the scene by ambulance staff. British Transportpolice treated the incident as non suspicious.

Brown was described by friends as a “lifelong railway fanatic”. Originally from East Grinstead, West Sussex, he had volunteered on the Bluebell Railway as a nine-year-old and had recently taken up a position as an engineering technician with Hitachi Rail Europe in Bristol.

The bombing in Manchester has brought national trauma. We must not lash out

Crime reporter(wp):

The Manchester bomber was not just trying to kill those at the pop concert, but he was also targeting you and me. He wanted to make us nervous about going to a shopping centre today or attending events such the FA Cup at Wembley this Saturday. His weapon of choice was the emotional responses that we carry within us and which he was trying to trigger.

Emotions such as horror: at the lives snuffed out, the injuries sustained, the families devastated. Or fear: that on another occasion it might be us who is involved and who is carried away in bodybags. Or anger: that a person could do such a thing and be “inspired” by a political or religious ideology.

There is also the resentment that the attack forces us to reassess daily acts that we have taken for granted up to now: is it safe to travel on buses? Might it be best not take the children to a funfair?

Worst of all is the sense of vengeance it evokes in us, wanting to lash out and hurt those whom we – however lacking in evidence – associate with the bomber; at the same time, we instinctively raise drawbridges and seek to isolate ourselves from groups other than “our own”.

What all these responses have in common is that they are negative reactions, and although totally understandable, they lessen us rather than enhance us. We are being offered sugar-coated poison and should refuse it.

What is needed is reassurance on two levels. First, the reassurance that our way of life will continue. More security checks may now be necessary, but concert halls will still function, public transport will still run. We want there to be a tomorrow and we want it to resemble today.

Second, the reassurance that our values are still intact. Society will still be based on law and justice. Cross-communal events and inter-faith dialogue will carry on, social and cultural events will still flourish. Doing what is noble, speaking the truth, loving our neighbours as ourselves – they will all remain.

With time and help, we can cope with personal shock and we can overcome individual trauma, but what we fear most is our social structures being derailed and losing everything that hundreds of years of gradual progress have achieved.

We know we are not alone: New York faced 9/11, Paris experienced Charlie Hebdo, and many others have suffered and survived. Amid the mayhem, there are beacons of light. As the prime minister of Norway, Jens Stoltenberg, said after the shooting of schoolchildren in 2011: “You will not destroy us. No one will stop Norway from being itself” and he vowed that the response would be “more democracy, more openness, more humanity”. It was echoed by the populace at large, which said: we shall not change our way of life, we shall recognise the disturbed man responsible for the killings as an exception and not let him alter the rule.

It could have been so different: looking instead for scapegoats, pointing fingers, turning inwards, blaming migrants or each other. It was a national example of staying calm, working together and believing in the common good.

It is also worth remembering that the forces of good are often underestimated. In the recent terrorist attack on Westminster Bridge, there was one terrorist, but thousands of people who rescued, comforted, gave medical care, and donated money in memory of the policeman who was killed, PC Keith Palmer.

The Manchester Arena will not be the last incident, and, sad to predict, more lives will be lost and more bereaved families will be created in other parts of the country. Individually, there will still be suffering, but, collectively, providing we can preserve our values and stop our emotions from diverting us, the attacks will be ineffective in their larger aim of altering who we are and how we behave.