Walk-out set to cause Christmas travel chaos brought forward

Staff reporter(wp/es):

A Southern Railway strike set to cause Christmas travel chaos has been moved forward.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union are embroiled in a bitter dispute over changes to the role of guards and have launched a series of strikes which have disrupted services.

They were due to stop work for three days from December 22, but this has been changed to a 48-hour stoppage from the 19th.

The RMT said the move followed consultation with its members affected by the dispute as well as passengers.

Other strikes the union has called, from December 6-8 and from New Year's Eve to January 2, remain in force.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: "Our guards on Southern are in daily contact with passengers and the support for our fight to defend safety remains phenomenal.

"RMT is truly grateful for the overwhelming public backing for the campaign to keep a second, safety-critical member of staff on Southern trains.

"It is from that daily feedback from passengers that the union has taken the decision to alter the dates for action over Christmas. That's the difference between us and Southern. We listen, they don't."

The leader of another union in dispute with Southern Railway has warned that driver-only operation is "inherently unsafe".

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said drivers have just two seconds to check 24 sets of doors, often on trains carrying more than 1,000 passengers.

Aslef is launching a work to rule next week and is planning a series of strikes later this month, crippling services on Southern, which is already being hit by the separate row over the role of guards and issues such as a shortage of staff.

Mr Whelan was responding to a letter by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling to a Conservative MP, about the industrial disputes.

The minister told Brighton MP Simon Kirby that industrial action on Southern was politically motivated, saying Aslef had accepted driver-only operation (DOO) on the Brighton mainline.

More than 60% of trains on the Greater Thameslink Railway, which includes Southern, have DOO, said Mr Grayling.

"I recognise the very real concerns that you and your constituents have about this, but we cannot allow the unions to dictate how or whether the railways should be modernised or not.

"They are seeking the right to determine when a train should be cancelled to inconvenience passengers, even in circumstances when this doesn't need to be the case. In recognition of the very real problems that this is causing, I will be writing to you later this week with details of a compensation package for Southern passengers," said Mr Grayling.

Mr Whelan said: "It's been our policy for more than 15 years to try to eradicate driver-only operation because DOO is inherently unsafe.

"DOO was designed for three-car 317s on the Bedford to St Pancras line in the early 1980s when it was all about managed decline at the fag end of British Rail.

"An increase in the number of passengers we are carrying every day means there are now 1,100 passengers on a 12-car train and a driver will have just two seconds to check 24 sets of doors and that's simply not adequate to deal safely and properly with the travelling public.

"Protecting passengers, and our members, in the 21st century is being applauded by many of the travelling public, who can see through the political machinations and misinformation of the Government and the Department for Transport."

Paul Plummer, chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators and Network Rail, said: "Trains where drivers close the doors are safe. Numerous independent safety experts have confirmed this. Such trains have been operating safely on Britain's railway for 30 years and they run in countries around the world.

"If the railway is to provide the better services that passengers want and the country needs, it has to change to harness modern technology and smarter ways of working."

Capital braced for freezing weekend as cold snap continues

Staff reporter(wp/es):

London is braced for more frosty weather and sub-zero temperatures as a cold snap continues into the weekend.

Forecasters predict overnight lows of -2C and daytime temperatures of about 7C on Saturday and Sunday.

Cloudy conditions will bring a brief reprieve from the coldest conditions on Thursday and into Friday with highs of about 8C, dropping to zero at night.

But the Met Office said a cold weather front would see sub-zero temperatures return by the weekend.

A spokesman for the Met Office told the Standard: “One of the changes on Thursday night is the amount of cloud around, which will bring slightly warmer conditions. 

“There is the potential for some frost and fog around on Thursday night but the temperatures won’t be as low as we’ve seen for the last couple of nights. 

“Into Saturday and Sunday, a cold front moving in will bring drier, cold air and will disperse the clouds and temperatures will drop significantly overnight again. 

The capital was hit by an arctic blast on Monday, which gripped the capital for several days. 

Daytime temperatures peaked at about 5C and plummeted to -6C most nights.

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.