delays hit Northern, Piccadilly, District, Central and Victoria lines

Staff reporter(wp/es):

Tube commuters are braced for another morning of rush hour travel chaos after disruption hit several London Undergroundlines.

Signal failures sparked severe delays on the Victoria, Northern and District lines, while the Piccadilly line and Central lines offered a reduced service as repairs were carried out to its fleet of trains.

Last night, Transport for London told the Standard the delays to the Piccadilly line would persist for a fortnight while engineers “work around the clock” to repair damaged trains.

Passengers using the line – the fourth busiest on the London Underground network - have already faced days of severe delays after “wet leaves on the track” damaged the wheels on several trains.

TfL apologised to customers for the delays.

Lighting and motor repairs were also being carried out to Central line trains causing delays until about 8am, TfL said.

A signal failure at Finchley Central at about 5am today meant the Northern line was suspended between that station and Mill Hill East. 

A faulty train added to the disruption on the line with minor delays between Camden Town and Edgware.

The Victoria line was suspended between Finsbury Park and Walthamstow Central after a signalling problem at about 6am. 

Service later resumed with severe delays and passengers have been advised to avoid Seven Sisters station. Normal service on the line resumed shortly before 8am, TfL said on Twitter.

The District line had minor delays between Earl's Court and Wimbledon after another signal problem at Earl's Court.

The DLR was also suspended between Bow Church and Stratford due to an obstruction on the track.

A TfL spokesperson said: “We apologise for the disruption experienced by our customers to their journeys this morning. 

"Several of our lines were disrupted due to signal failures and faulty trains. Our engineers have been working hard to rectify the issues and return to a high level of service as quickly as possible.”

Theresa May slaps down Jeremy Corbyn after PMQ IMF/IFS mix-up

Political reporter(wp/es):

Theresa May slapped down Jeremy Corbyn today after he got confused between the “IMF” and “IFS” economic bodies.

During Prime Minister’s Questions, the Labour leader branded the Government’s economic strategy an “abject failure” after forecasts for last week’s Autumn Statement showed lower GDP growth, wage growth and business investement down, and borrowing and debt revised up.

The Prime Minister hit back, stressing that the International Monetary Fund had forecast the UK to be the fastest growing advanced economy in the world this year.

A record number of people were in work with companies like Nissan, Jaguar Land Rover, Honda, Apple, Google, ARM and Facebook investing in Britain to “secure” jobs, she added.

But Mr Corbyn responded that eradicating the deficit had been put back from 2015, to 2020 and now “whenever in the future.”

He then added: “Since she quotes the Institute of Fiscal Studies, I think she has been a little bit selective, because they also went on to say that the prospect for workers over the next six years was ‘dreadful’ and creating the ‘worst decade for living standards since the last war and probably since the 1920s’.”

Mrs May seized on this mix-up, replying: “I have to say to the Right Honourable Gentleman, I think given that he can’t differentiate between the IMF and the IFS, it’s probably a good job he’s sitting there and I’m standing here.”

Former Tory Cabinet minister Peter Lilley later appeared to mix up European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker with Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, when asking a question about securing rights for EU citizens in Britain and Britons in other European countries after Brexit.

Police officer sacked for drunken assault on bar staff at Westfield

Crime reporter(wp/es):

A Met police officer has been sacked after she assaulted a member of staff at a pub in Westfield shopping centre in Stratford. 

PC Melanie Davies, based at Wandsworth police station, was dismissed on Tuesday for assaulting an employee at the Bat and Ball pub after they refused to serve her because she was too drunk.

PC Davies was on sick leave when she went drinking at the east London pub where she was reportedly refused service at the bar.  

Staff then tried to escort her out of the building when she lashed out at an employee.  

PC Davies was convicted of assault at Thames Magistrates' Court on August 31 and ordered to pay a fine of £430.   

She was dismissed on Tuesday following a misconduct hearing in which she was found to have failed to meet the Met's standards of honesty and integrity.

Assistant Commissioner Helen King, Lead for Professionalism and Chair of the Hearing, said:"Police officers are granted powers over their fellow citizens to enforce the law on others and, where necessary, to use force in order to do so. 

“This requires that the public and law makers have confidence that those entrusted to uphold the law will comply with it themselves, both on and off duty. 

“Some cases are clearly more serious than others both in the category of the offence and all the surrounding circumstances.

"An offence of assault, however minor, is one that has to be seen as serious given the nature and responsibilities of a police officer's role. 

“Therefore the only appropriate action for PC Davies in this case is dismissal."

Major Christmas rail work will see Paddington, Liverpool Street and London Bridge effectively closed

Staff reporter(wp/es):

The boss of Network Rail today warned train passengers they face a “crescendo” of maintenance work over the festive season and told them to plan ahead to avoid their Christmas plans being wrecked.

Paddington, Liverpool Street and London Bridge will be all but closed for most of the holiday period and many services will not run in and out of Waterloo, Charing Cross and Cannon Street.

Preparations to complete the Crossrail and Thameslink projects will form part of the biggest programme of work ever undertaken by NR, with 24,000 maintenance staff laying new track and signals at 200 projects across the country from Christmas Eve.

On Crossrail, £45 million will be spent over Christmas on linking its new rail tunnels under central London with the surface-level network in outer London, Essex and Berkshire. The first services on what will be renamed the Elizabeth line will start in December 2018.

NR chief executive Mark Carne said the firm had learned the lessons of the Christmas getaway chaos two years ago, when work overran at King’s Cross and Paddington, while Finsbury Park had to be closeddue to overcrowding.

Mr Carne gave up his £135,000 annual bonus as a result.

He told the Standard: “It’s really important that passengers plan their journey carefully and look specifically at the stations they want to use and when these stations may be closed or the services reduced.

"What they can’t do is assume they can buy an open ticket to Cornwall and turn up on Christmas Eve and expect to get a train from Paddington.”

He said this is the third consecutive year that Network Rail will have carried out a record amount of maintenance.

It involves:

• Disruption at Paddington until January 3, with passengers having to change at Ealing Broadway until December  29 and no Heathrow Express. Ealing Broadway is expected to be flooded with 40,000 passengers a day — double its normal level.
• Many Liverpool Street services being cancelled until January 4, with passengers required to change at Newbury Park Tube station. Bus replacement services will run to Colchester, Ipswich and Norwich.
• Thameslink work at New Cross resulting in no London Bridge and Charing Cross services until December 28, though Hastings trains will be diverted to London Bridge.
• Waterloo closing at 8pm on Christmas Eve till December 27 and fewer South West Trains services till January 3.
• Cannon Street having no Southeastern trains until December 27.
• Mr Carne continued: “There’s been a crescendo building up to the situation now, with Crossrail and Thameslink in particular. We are now right in the heart of these programmes. 
  “This is the busiest period. We’re going to have 24,000 people out over Christmas and New Year. Last year was about 15,000. It’s a significant step up, compared to previous years.”
  He said Network Rail had a “tremendous track record” since the chaos two years ago. “Every bank holiday since then, we have delivered what we set out to do and caused the minimum amount of disruption,” he claimed. 
  “We are typically delivering 99 per cent of the work or more and handing [the track] back on time. We have learned a lot. We are a finely-oiled machine in terms of this sort of work now. I’m very confident.
• “What we have also done is put a huge focus on contingency planning. If something goes wrong, we will be able to look after passengers in a completely different way.”
  He added: “I won’t be in Barbados. I will be making a series of visits to work sites. I will be out there supporting them. 
  “This is a huge investment being made from the public purse to provide a better quality of train service for passengers in this country. 
  “The vast majority of the network is still running. I think we will provide a good service for passengers over the Christmas and New Year period, but it will require people to make a little more effort in planning for it.”

KPMG city worker fighting for life after being left for dead

Pic:KPMG worker Christopher Mapleston has been left with a cracked skull
Crime reporter(wp/es):

A young city worker was left fighting for his life after being left for dead in a south London street.

KPMG Japan specialist Christopher Mapleston, 29, suffered a cracked skull and a slash to his head in a possible terrifying street attack in New Cross.

Police believe high-flying Mr Mapleston, who studied at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, could have been targeted in a robbery.

He was found in a critical condition with a fractured skull at around 3am on Sunday, November 20 on Arbuthnot Road, in New Cross.

He was last seen by friends – who waved him goodbye after a night of socialising – as he ran for a bus close to Peckham Rye Railway station between 1.30 and 2am.

But Mr Mapleston was found two miles away without his iPhone 6.

Detectives are appealing for help to piece together the events which left Mr Mapleston hospitalised.

Detective Constable Terry Martin, from Lewisham CID, said: "We cannot be certain whether Christopher's injury was the result of a fall or an attack. 

“One line of inquiry is that he may have been the victim of a robbery as he was found without his Iphone 6.

"I would like to speak with anyone who saw Christopher between the railway station and Arbuthnot Road. He was wearing a distinctive green camouflage jacket.

"Have you found a mobile phone in this area of New Cross? Any piece of information, however small, will help us to discover what happened in the early hours of that morning."

Officers are keen to hear from anyone who saw Christopher that night. 

He is described as white, approximately 5ft 7ins tall, of slim build with brown hair. He was wearing a green camouflage jacket, black trousers and trainers.

Anyone with information is asked to contact officers at Lewisham via 101.

Huge tower of smoke as firefighters tackle town centre blaze

Pic:smoke could be seen for miles in east London 
Staff reporter(wp/es):

A thick tower of smoke could be seen billowing across east London this morning as firefighters tackled a blaze in Ilfordtown centre.

A fire ripped through the offices of a legal firm on Adelaide Road and spread to a range of shops on Ley Street, just a few hundred metres away from the Exchange shopping centre.

London Fire Brigade confirmed a crew was sent to the blaze at 7.39am and ten fire engines and 72 firefighters were still trying to extinguish the flames three hours later.

A hazard zone was set up after potentially explosive gas cylinders were found at the back of one of the properties.

A number of shop workers and 18 residents had to be evacuated although there are no reports of any injuries.

The entire ground floor of the property was alight and four shops were believed to have been damaged in the fire, which was eventually brought under control at around 10.40am.

One commuter posted on Twitter: “Fire in Ilford... saw it on way into work. Black smoke filling the air. Won't be long till trains are stopped.”

Another, known as Ash, added that there was an “awful fire in Ilford”.

Transport for London said bus routes 25, 123, 147, 167, 169, 179, 364, 462 and W19 were being diverted via Griggs Approach and Winston Way due to the fire.

A London Fire Brigade spokesman said: "Ten fire engines and 72 firefighters and officers are attending a fire at a range of shops on Ley Street in Ilford.

"The ground floor of two properties are alight. A number of gas cylinders have been found at the rear of one of the properties. As cylinders can explode when exposed to heat a hazard zone has been set up.

"The Brigade was called at 0738. Fire crews from Ilford and surrounding fire stations are at the scene. The cause of the fire is not known at this stage."

The fire is believed to have started at Highland Solicitors, a small firm that offers services in employment law, immigration law, EU law and family divorce

Man Jailed who sexually assaulted young woman as she walked home in Ealing

Pic: Rafiul Akbar was sentenced to 42 months in prison for sexual assault
Crime reporter(wp/es):

A man who sexually assaulted a young woman walking home in Ealing has been jailed.

Predator Rafiul Akbar, 36, pounced on the woman, aged in her twenties, while she was walking home from Hanger Laneunderground station last year.

Akbar grabbed the woman from behind and sexually assaulted her before running away at around 1.00am on December 17, a court heard. 

Akbar, of Lakeside Drive, Park Royal, was sentenced to 42 months in prison at Isleworth Crown Court on November 24 after being found guilty of sexual assault, police said. 

CCTV footage from the night identified Akbar as the suspect and he was arrested on December 31 last year. 

Detective Constable Hannah Rudd, who led the investigation by Ealing Borough, said: "The jailing of Akbar sends out a strong message to anyone committing this type of offence that they will be investigated, charged and put before the courts to face the consequences of their actions.

"I would like to praise the victim for having the strength to support this investigation - I can only hope this conclusion can help her move on from the events of that night."