Eight new night bus routes to launch to coincide with 24-hour Underground start date

staff correspondent(es/wp):
Eight new night bus services are to be launched this weekend to help Night Tube passengers complete their journey home.
The services will primarily link with the northern end of the Victoria line and the eastern end of the Central line, both of which will run through the night on Friday and Saturday for the first time.
Areas to benefit include Walthamstow, Stratford, Leytonstone, Crouch End, Muswell Hill and Ilford. There will also be a 24-hour service on the E1 bus that links Greenford and Ealing.
The announcement comes as Transport for London confirmed it had abandoned plans to reduce the frequency of the 94 night bus, between Piccadilly Circus and Acton Green, and the N91 between Trafalgar Square and Cockfosters.

TfL has also put on hold a reduction in frequency to a further 15 services that it predicts will see fewer passengers as a result of the Night Tube.
Passenger numbers will now be monitored to see whether demand has dropped as a result of the all-night running of the Tube. TfL plans to extend Night Tube services by the end of the year onto the Northern, Piccadilly and Jubilee lines.

From Friday night, these routes will operate 24 hours a day from the first time:

• 34 (Barnet Church to Walthamstow Central)
• 123 (Ilford High Road to Wood Green)
• 145 (Leytonstone to Dagenham)
• 158 (Stratford to Chingford Mount)
• 296 (Ilford Broadway to Romford)
• E1 (Greenford Broadway to Ealing Broadway)
• W3 (Finsbury Park to Northumberland Park)
• W7 (Finsbury Park to Muswell Hill Broadway).

The new services will run every 30 minutes throughout Friday and Saturday nights, other than the W7, which will run every 20 minutes. A further seven new night bus services have already been introduced.
Mayor Sadiq Khan said: “The routes will go hand-in-hand with the Night Tube to help Londoners get to and from their front door throughout the night. It’s another key step in helping everyone travel quickly and safely at night, and another boost to unlocking the full potential of our night time economy.

Team GB climb to second after five golds on day nine

sports  reporter(wp/es):
Max Whitlock won Britain's first ever gymnastics gold and later doubled that tally as he clinched podium top spot in both the floor and his favoured pommel horse apparatus.
It came as Jason Kenny beat fellow Briton Callum Smith in the men's sprint final to take his personal Olympics tally to five across three Games, while Justin Rose won golf gold and Andy Murray retained his crown with victory over Juan Martin del Porto in an epic tennis final.
Murray won 7-5 4-6 6-2 7-5 to become the first tennis player ever to win two Olympic gold medals in singles.
And Great Britain's five-gold haul lifted them above China in the medals rankings as the Games entered day 10.

in Dagenham ordered to pay almost £13,000 after selling knives to teenager

business correspondent(es/wp):
A Poundstretcher shop in Dagenham has been ordered to pay almost £13,000 after selling a set of knives to a teenage girl.
The store was fined £7,500 and ordered to pay costs of more than £5,000 by Romford Magistrates after being found guilty of selling the £2.99 set of knives to the 15-year-old.
The shop in Merrielands Retail Park, Merrielands Crescent, was brought before the court by Barking and Dagenham Council following an undercover test purchase operation last year.
The court awarded costs awarded costs of £5,221.50, plus a £120 victim surcharge, to the local authority.  
Councillor Laila Butt, cabinet member for enforcement and community safety, said: “Barking and Dagenham remains among the safest boroughs in the capital and we intend to keep it so. 
“We are certainly not complacent, which is why we are working closely with the police to clamp down hard on irresponsible traders who sell knives to young people. 
“We take a zero tolerance approach to any irresponsible trader selling knives to youngsters.
"This huge fine sends out a clear message to any business that they will pay dearly for not taking their social responsibility seriously.”

Trains to run but stations may be closed

staff reporter,London(wp/es):
Tube stations across the London Underground network may not open if proposed strike action goes ahead this weekend.
Station staff members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) are planning to walk out for 48 hours from 9pm on Saturday in a row over station modernisation plans and ticket office closures.
If the strike action goes ahead, London Underground services will disrupted, with some stations expected not to open at all, until at least 9pm on Monday evening.
Tube services across the network will run, Transport for London (TfL) warned customers to prepare for station closures, late openings or earlier closures.Services on the London Overground, bus network, tram, river and TfL rail are not affected by the proposed strike action.

A TfL spokeswoman said extra buses will be provided throughout the strike and as many stations as possible will be opened.
Steve Griffiths, London Underground’s chief operating officer, said: “All of our ticket offices closed in December and all this strike will achieve is to lose staff two days’ pay and a £500 bonus.
“We have delivered every commitment we made to our staff over our stations modernisation programme – there have been no compulsory redundancies, work life balance has been protected and there’s a job for anyone who wants to stay with no loss of pay.
“Around 900 station staff will be promoted or will move from fixed-term contracts to permanent roles, so there is clearly absolutely no basis whatsoever for this strike threat.”

Weekend travellers are advised to check their journey before travelling.
A normal service is expected to resume on Tuesday, February 9

Tesco is set to scrap 24-hour openings at one in four of its biggest stores.

business correspondent,London(wp/es):
Shoppers may no longer be able to make late-night shopping runs in their pyjamas as Tesco is set to scrap 24-hour openings at one in four of its biggest stores.
A total of 76 stores — including two in London — will now shut at midnight as bosses admitted not enough shoppers were coming through its doors during the night, meaning to keep them open was financially damaging.
The cutback comes as the supermarket’s boss Dave Lewis attempts to win back customers who have flocked to discounters Aldi and Lidl, while tackling an accounting scandal that remains under investigation by the police.
The move to reduce the number of 24-hour stores comes 20 years after the first Tesco opened through the night.
In London, Tesco’s Lewisham superstore and Woolwich Extra store will end overnight shopping in March or April. Around 300 stores will remain open 24 hours, but could be shut overnight if they too are unsustainable.

Tony Hoggett, retail director for Tesco, said: “We’re always thinking about how to serve our customers better in each of our stores and with the growth of online grocery shopping, these stores saw very few customers during the night. It makes much more sense for colleagues at those stores to focus on replenishing the shelves instead and making sure they’re fully stocked when they open at 6am.”
Shoppers are increasingly heading online for their groceries, with sales up 15% in the first half of last year. By comparison, sales in larger Tesco stores have slumped by as much as 10% in places.
 The decision comes in a week that saw the supermarket watchdog reveal Tesco had seriously breached legally binding rules by deliberately and repeatedly withholding cash from  suppliers.

David Cameron has warned Londoners they would become the “lab rats” for Jeremy Corbyn’s “disastrous political experiment” if Labour’s Sadiq Khan is elected next Mayor of London.

political reporter,London(wp/es):
David Cameron has warned Londoners they would become the “lab rats” for Jeremy Corbyn’s “disastrous political experiment” if Labour’s Sadiq Khan is elected next Mayor of London.
The Prime Minister revealed the central weapon in the Conservative’s armoury as he launched the attack on the Labour candidate at a party rally with Tory hopeful Zac Goldsmith.
Tory campaign insiders have told the Standard they believe Mr Corbyn is Labour’s biggest liability in the race for City Hall.
The Prime Minister’s attack on the Labour candidate as “Corbyn’s man” at the event in Mill Hill last night came as latest opinion polls put Mr Khan ahead by seven points in the tightly fought contest.
Mr Cameron told party supporters: “Just think for a moment about what having the first Corbyn elected mayor in London would be like for our economy, for our education, for our politics, for our city. It would be a disaster.
“You don’t want to be lab rats in the first Corbyn economic
 experiment in public life in our country, so we’ve got to win this.”
Mr Goldsmith joined the attack saying: “If Sadiq Khan wins in May we will see London for four years run as a laboratory, a testing ground for Corbyn’s radical politics. That is a price we cannot pay.”
Mr Khan, who nominated Mr Corbyn for the leadership but did not later vote for him, has gone to great lengths to distance himself from the Labour leader.
Since being selected last summer, he has clashed with his party leadership on issues including high tax rates, airports and the abolition of the City of London Corporation.
He also criticised Mr Corbyn when the Labour leader opted to remain silent at a service to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.
When asked by the Standard if he was concerned at Labour’s lead in the polls despite the ongoing turbulence within Labour, Mr Cameron said: “It’s a very vital contest and it’s definitely a close election. We are taking nothing for granted.

“It is a choice between two candidates. Sadiq Khan backed Corbyn’s crazy economic plans and we don’t want to bring that to London.”
The Prime Minister portrayed Mr Goldsmith as the heir to Boris Johnson, who outperformed his own party in London, saying: “Zac is not a party man, he doesn’t do things that the party tell him. I know that from my own experience. He’s not in it for the prestige or the fame or the photocalls.
“Zac Goldsmith stands for the people he represents, nothing else and that’s what he will do for London. No party posturing, no funny games.. just simply standing up and delivering for London.”
Mr Goldmsith added: “I’ll get a good deal from Government and get a good deal for this city. Dust them up if you have to, that is a prerequisite for the job...
“I’m sure the Prime Minister, in a private room, would say I have been a pain in the backside, but I have delivered for my constituents and I’ll deliver for London.”

They also both spelled out the need for more police on the street and to tackle the threat of terrorism.
Mr Cameron said: “We need to recognise the scale of the terrorist threat we face in London. What happened in Paris could have happened here and I will do everything I can to help keep London safe. I know working with Zac I’m going to be able to do just that."
He said they would be "a mayor and a prime minister that know we have got to be tough on the Islamist extremists that want to divide our country.
“We know we have to be tough in terms of providing extra police on the streets and making sure there’s sufficient armed officers to respond if there is an incident and that will be the case with a Conservative mayor.”
Mr Khan tackled Mr Cameron’s attack head on, telling the Standard: “I’m shocked that the Prime Minister described Londoners as ‘rats’. I love this city and the people who live here. Desperate stuff from a desperate campaign.” Labour MP Stephen Pound added: “Sadiq has said time and again that he’s his own man - he’s publicly disagreed with Jeremy on issues like Trident, airports and business.
“The Tories have no positive vision for London and this shows that their campaign is getting rather desperate.”

Woman 'sexually assaulted on Ascot train

crime reporter,London(wp/es):
A woman was sexually assaulted on a train after refusing to go for a drink with her attacker, police say.
The victim, 20, was taking the 4.24pm service from Reading to Ascot on January 3 when two men sat opposite her.
One of them asked her out and, when she refused, he groped her.
She got off the train at Wokingham and the men, thought to be eastern European, stayed on board.

Police have now released a CCTV image of a man they want to trace over the incident.
Detective Constable Mat Harvey from British Transport Police (BTP) said: “We will not tolerate unwanted sexual behaviour on the rail network and we will do everything we can to bring offenders to justice.”

Anyone with information about the incident can call BTP on 0800 40 50 40 or text 61016 quoting reference G/B2 of 26/01.