Metropolitan line extension to Watford Junction could be axed due to £50m funding gap

Staff reporter(wp/es):

The proposed Metropolitan line extension to Watford Junction could be axed or drastically delayed due to a £50 million shortfall.

In a letter to London Assembly Tories, Transport for London said the project “cannot be delivered” with the current funding package of £284.4 million.

Robert Niven, TfL’s head of line extensions, wrote that “more than £50 million will be required on top of our [TfL’s contribution of] £49 million”.

The project had a completion date of 2020. It would take Tube trains  to Watford Junction and Watford High Street via Cassiobridge and Vicarage Road.

The existing Watford station would shut. Tories accused Mayor Sadiq Khan of putting the TfL budget in “turmoil”.

His spokesman said: “This project is outside London and... responsibility for delivering it ultimately lies with government.”

Police hunt man who left victim hospitalised in brutal road rage attack in south London

Pic:A serial killer
Crime reporter(wp/es):

Police are hunting for witnesses to a brutal road rage attack in Streatham that left a man in a serious condition in hospital.

The victim, aged 62, was discovered suffering from serious head injuries just after 5.15pm on Friday on Gleneldon Road.

Witnesses who saw the incident described how the man was punched after a "right-of-way dispute" and saw someone fleeing from the scene.

In a fresh appeal for information, police have described how the victim and another motorist exchanged words after both trying to drive through the narrow road and becoming stuck.

During the altercation the suspect reached out of their own car and through the victim’s window, before punching him in the face.

Both men then got out of their vehicles and the suspect punched the victim in the face again with such force that he fell to the ground and hit his head on the concrete.

The suspect then got back into his car and drove off down .

Shafaq Hassan, a speech and language therapist who lives nearby, said: “We heard people outside our house and went to investigate. 

“Passersby and neighbours had stopped. There was a man sitting on the road surrounded by a few people. I asked what had happened and was told he had been punched. 

“As I'm an SLT I automatically sat down next to him to try and comfort him. He looked in shock and disorientated. 

“He had a head injury on back of his head as apparently he hit the pavement and possibly passed out for few minutes."

She added: "I stayed with him as police and medics came. They asked questions to check if he remembered date and year. 

Eventually they put him on a stretcher and took into the ambulance.

“Other neighbours reported seeing him have a dispute with the other driver about who should give way at the junction."

The victim was rushed to hospital where he remains in a serious but stable condition.

Detective Constable Caroline O’Shaughnessy, from Brixton CID, said: “This was a nasty assault, prompted by what appears to be road rage, carried out in broad daylight at a time when there would have been plenty of people making their way home.

"The victim suffered a serious head injury as a result of being punched to the ground following a verbal altercation, and this assault could easily have had more grave consequences. 

“If you saw what happened or you have information that could assist us, we would urge you to get in touch.”

The suspect is described as a black man, aged between 20 and 25 years old and around 5ft 8ins tall with afro hair. He was wearing a jumper and black trousers and was driving a dark green-coloured car.

Storm Stella that battered US set to hit the capital

Staff reporter(wp/es):

Storm Stella which wreaked havoc across the US is set to batter London with wet weather and gales.

The monster storm sparked a state of emergency in New York on Monday and is set to descend on the capital by Friday, experts warned.

The Met Office has now warned that the weather front responsible for the blizzard conditions and 50-mile-per-hour gusts is set to hammer the UK.

Meteorologist Alex Burkill told the Standard that the storm’s impact would be “massively reduced” as it crossed the Atlantic but would bring wet weather across the weekend.

He said: “As the weather front responsible for Storm Stella hits on Friday it will bring wet and changeable weather to London and the south-east.

“The light spring weather we have been seeing will become more changeable over the weekend and in to next week.”

Described as “life-threatening” by American forecasters, Stella caused massive power outages, cancelled flights and brought travel chaos to the US.

Dozens of flights between London and New York, Washington, Boston and Philadelphia were cancelled on Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Passengers were advised to check with their airlines before travelling.

All New York schools were closed and above ground sections of the subway ground to a halt. More than 6,500 flights in the area were cancelled.

Forecasters were predicting two to three feet of flooding in some coastal areas at high tide. The Metropolitan Museum of Art and other museums were also closed.

States of emergency were also declared from midnight in New Jersey, Connecticut and Maryland. 

In Connecticut, residents were subject to a statewide travel ban.

The blizzard consisted of two larger storm systems which have merged into one, according to the US National Weather Service. 

It comes at the end of an unusually mild winter along much of America’s East Coast, with below normal snowfalls in some areas, including New York and Washington.

Parents looking for answers over chess champion’s death aged nine

Pic:Michael Uriely died after suffering an asthma attack
Staff reporter(wp/es):

The family of a nine-year-old boy today spoke of their hope that an inquest would provide answers about his death following an asthma attack.

Michael Uriely, a “miracle child” born after his parents Roy and Ayelet endured a long IVF battle, died on August 25, 2015, five days after being discharged from Hampstead’s Royal Free Hospital.

The day before his death he had been competing in a national chess championship, which had to be curtailed due to his severe coughing fits.

His parents, from Camden, had rushed him to the Royal Free after he suffered violent coughing and vomiting fits on August 18, but he was discharged soon after. 

They returned with him early the next morning after a bout of severe coughing and vomiting at home.

The Westminster Under School pupil was discharged the next day.

Mrs Uriely, 52, said: “Michael was an extraordinary boy, both in personality and intelligence who came to us after four gruelling years of fertility treatment.

"He doted on his younger twin sisters, who adored him, and always joined in with their games.

"Now we would just like answers as to why he died, and what, if anything, could have been done to prevent it.”

Michael was diagnosed with asthma when he was two and a half. He began learning how to play chess six months later, competing at local, regional and then national level, winning the title of National Chess Champion for his age group at eight and nine years of age.

An inquest is to be held at Westminster coroner’s court from Wednesday.

Leena Savjani, a medical negligence lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, said: “We hope the inquest will shed some light on the standard of care he received in the months before his death.”

huge two-storey basement at Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s residence Kensington Palace

Pic:The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will relocate to the palace later this year
Royal correspondent(wp/es):

Plans have been submitted for a huge two-storey basement at Kensington Palace ready for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s relocation to the residence later this year.

A planning application for the underground extension has been submitted to Kensington and Chelsea Council, the Daily Mail revealed.

The huge addition to the building in Kensington Gardens would be dug next to the Orangery to make room for Kate and William and their two children Prince George and Princess Charlotte when they move in this Autumn, according to the newspaper.

The 1,500sq m addition to the 18th Century building would incorporate two floors below ground and one above which would house offices for 100 members of staff working at the Palace.

The planning application reads: “The addition of a basement storey is required to allow for the accommodation of administration which must necessarily be moved out of rooms leased from the Royal Household in Kensington Palace.” 

The application has been put forward by Historic Royal Palaces, the charity which looks after the state apartments at the palace.

Two-storey extensions are technically restricted by the council but it is a believed an exception could be made for the Royal Family.

A decision is expected to be made by council officials next month.

Woman, 38, stabbed to death in south London

Crime reporter(wp/es):

A murder probe has been launched after a woman was stabbed to death in south London.

The 38-year-old woman was attacked at a property in Croydon in the early hours of Monday morning.

Emergency services found the victim suffering from stab injuries at an address in Ravensdale Gardens shortly after 6am.

Medics fought to save her but she was pronounced dead at the scene almost an hour later.

Police were called to the address by paramedics from the London Ambulance Service.

The woman is at least the 11th person to be stabbed to death in the capital this year.

Scotland Yard said the woman’s next of kin have been informed but she has not yet been formally identified.

A post mortem will be scheduled in due course, police said. No-one has been arrested.

A Met Police spokesman said: “Enquiries into the circumstances of the incident are underway and detectives from the Homicide and Major Crime Command led by Detective Chief Inspector Will Reynolds are investigating.”

Three injured after 'car driven at police officers' in west London

Staff reporter(wp/es):

Two officers were hurt and another man was rushed to hospital after a car was allegedly driven at police in west London.

The driver attempted to plough into the officers before driving off after officers approached his vehicle at about 2.50am on Monday near Holland Park roundabout, police say.

The car was stopped at the Shepherd's Bush Green entrance to the roundabout a short while later, according to Hammersmith and Fulham police.

Dramatic images posted on social media showed the aftermath of a collision between a police car and a smashed up white Citroën without a roof.

One man had to be cut from the car and taken as a priority to hospital by the London Ambulance Service (LAS).

Two police officers were treated for minor injuries following the crash.

Hammersmith and Fulham police tweeted: "Officers approached a vehicle in W12 to speak with occupants, vehicle has driven at officers. These officers avoided injury.

"Officers responding to assist their colleagues located & stopped the vehicle nearby. Two officers received treatment for minor injuries.

"Two males were detained and are en-route to custody on suspicion of various driving offences, theft of vehicle & attempted GBH."

Paramedics treated a man at the scene before he was taken to hospital. 

An LAS spokeswoman said: "We were called today at 2.48am to reports of a road traffic collision on Holland Park roundabout.

"We sent an ambulance crew, incident response officer and a single responder in a car to the scene, with the first of our medics arriving in just over three minutes.

"We treated a man on the scene and took him to hospital as a priority."

A London Fire Brigade spokesman said: “We were called at 3.01am to a road traffic collision at the Holland Park Roundabout involving a police car and another vehicle.

“One man was released from his vehicle and was taken to hospital by London Ambulance Service crews. The incident was over for the brigade at 4.17am."