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.