Wednesday 8th September 2010 St Paul's service held in remembrance of the Blitz
A remembrance service held at St Paul’s cathedral was attended by
pilots, firefighters, nurses and ambulance workers involved in the the
Blitz. The service at St Paul's was held to mark the 70th anniversary
of the start of the raids. The Blitz killed thousands of people across
the UK as German forces bombed Britain in 1940 and 1941. The Dean of
St Paul's, the Right Reverend Graeme Knowles, told around 2,500 people
at the ceremony: "As we stand in this building, which itself stood as
a national icon of defiance and hope amidst conflict and uncertainty,
we pray for all those who hold memories of a campaign which protected
this island from invasion. We give thanks for the bravery and service
of the members of the Royal Air Force as well as those who supported
them from the land, especially for those who gave of their time to
protect the life and heritage of our homes and cities. We recall too
the cost of the campaign, commending to God those whose lives were
taken in service and innocence in the struggle for power and freedom." London

Tuesday 10th August 2010 Five car crash at Heathrow Airport's terminal three
Two people were injured in a five-vehicle accident at Heathrow’s terminal three drop-off point. Despite the severity of the incident, Heathrow Airport Heathrow operators BAA said there was no services at the airport. A 30-year-old suffered a head injury after the crash, while a 40-year-old injured their neck in the incident which happened yesterday (09.08.10) at 1550 BST. Police, the fire brigade and ambulances were all called to the scene of the crash. One eyewitness said it "Looks like a car travelling at speed involved in a collision in the drop off zone." London

Tuesday 3rd August 2010 Trafalgar Square is a-mazing
It is easy enough already for visitors to get lost in London but now Trafalgar Square complete with a giant maze to make it even easier for them to lose themselves! The free-to-enter temporary maze is made up of a mixture of laurel and thuja shrubs arranged in an area that measures approximately 98ft by 66ft. Sections of the maze have been named after areas of the West End to give visitors the chance to learn about those places. The centre of the maze features a different piece of entertainment, sourced from around the West End, for each of the five days the maze will be open. The labyrinth, organised by the West End Partnership, runs until 6 August. London

Friday 30th July 2010 Million-pound car clamped outside Harrods
A luxury car valued at £1.2m was clamped outside Harrods in central London after being illegally parked. The Koenigsegg CCXR valued at £1.2m and a £350,000 Lamborghini Murcielago LP670-4 SuperVeloce were both clamped for serious parking offences outside of Harrods on the afternoon of 22 July. Kensington and Chelsea Council said the vehicles were clamped after being found in serious contravention of parking rules. The Knightsbridge store was sold to members of the Qatari royal family who paid previous owner Mohammed Al Fayed £1.5bn for it in April . A Harrods spokesman said: "Any matters relating to parking tickets and enforcement are strictly the domain of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea." London

Friday 2nd July 2010 Woman leaves car hanging off shop roof while parking
A car was left hanging precariously off a roof in London after the
woman driving it lost control and crashed through the wall of a
shopping centre. The Metropolitan Police said the incident happened at
1015 BST, on the first floor car park at the Arcadia shopping centre
in Ealing. The scene looked something akin to a James Bond movie, or
even the Italian Job as the big Mercedes was left teetering on the
edge of the roof. Fortunately the woman was able to clamber free,
shocked but unhurt in her ordeal. Apparently the hapless woman hit the
accelerator instead of the brakes, thought the brakes had failed and
hit the accelerator again before crashing through the car park wall
about 50ft above the ground. London

Thursday 17th June 2010 Robot driver plan for London tube-trains
Trains on the London Underground would be driverless, if plans put
forward by the Conservative group on the London Assembly are ever
accepted. A proposal to the mayor from the group suggests it would
save about £141m-a-year in wages and prevent strike action.
Transport for London (TfL) disagree, saying staff on board trains
reassure passengers, provide information and help with speedy
alighting. The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) are also
opposed to the plan, claiming the proposal would hit safety.

The group claim that: “"The Victoria and Central lines already use
technology which has reduced train drivers to door openers.” London

Friday 4th June 2010 Hampstead dog cap mulled
Control orders are being mooted to cap the number of dogs an
individual person can bring onto Hampstead Heath. The plan comes amid
calls from members of the public who claim they have been scared by
packs of dogs in the hands of dog walkers.

The City of London Corporation said as the park had grown in
popularity with dog walkers but it had received complaints about
people walking large packs of dogs. The orders proposes an upper limit
of six dogs per person that will apply both to the professional and
individual dog walkers using the park. A consultation with dog walkers
and other users of the heath has been planned. London

Monday 24th May 2010 Victory model for fourth Trafalgar plinth
A scale replica of Nelson’s flagship HMS Nelson has been chosen to sit
on the fourth plinth planned for Trafalgar Square. The 2.35m high ship
in a bottle, made by craftsman Yinka Shonibare, is not quite a replica
of Admiral Nelson’s historic ship - it features textile sails
featuring African prints!

The ship will replace Sir Keith Park’s statue and Antony Gormley’s
artwork. Turner Prize-winning Shonibare said: "For me its a
celebration of London's immense ethnic wealth. A ship in a bottle is
an object of wonder. How can such towering masts and billowing sails
fit inside such a commonplace object? With Nelson's Ship in a Bottle I
want to take this childhood sense of wonder and amplify it to match
the monumental scale of Trafalgar Square." London

Thursday 13th May 2010 Bus driver arrested for drink-driving after losing roof under bridge
A bus driver who had the roof of his double-decker bus ripped off when
he drove under a railway bridge was arrested on suspicion of
drink-driving. Trains on the line between London Paddington and
Reading were delayed while engineers checked the integrity of the
bridge after the crash. No other people were on the bus at the time of
the accident, which left the vehicle severely damaged.

Jenny Mulholland, landlady of the nearby Willow Tree pub, said: "I
just happened to look out the window and saw a bus with no roof and
thought, 'that's a sight you don't see very often'." London

Thursday 6th May 2010 Unstaffed Underground stations “a muggers paradise”
A union is claiming that unstaffed Tube stations are a muggers
paradise. The claim comes from the Rail Maritime and Transport union
who claimed figures showed stations left unstaffed for entire shifts
on 439 occasions.

The union's general secretary Bob Crow said: "The muggers' paradise of
unstaffed stations is already a reality across whole swathes of the
Tube system as these new figures demonstrate."

However, a spokesperson for London Underground said: “It is very rare
for stations to be left without a member of staff. When it does occur
- normally on stations that are on the outer part of the Tube network
and above ground - we arrange for them to be covered by another member
of staff as soon as is practical. London