BBC Local Live London as it happened

Freemasons' Hall tweets: @BBCLondonNews We regret that tonight's performance of #LettersLive has had to be cancelled due to #HolbornFire major incident

There is queuing traffic in both directions between the A4 Aldwych junction and Holborn Station, because of the fire on Kingsway.

• Kingsway in Aldwych closed.
• A diversion is in operation - affecting bus routes 1, 59, 68, 91, 168, 171, 188, 243 and 341.
• There is also congestion on A4 Strand to the Charing Cross Station junction and to the B502 Bernard Street junction.
• There is also disruption at the A301 Kingsway Tunnel (Strand Underpass) at A4 Strand and A301 Waterloo Bridge between Imax Roundabout and Strand Underpass.

For the latest information go to our BBC London travel page or follow @TfLTrafficNews.

According to online magazine What's On Stage: "Other shows in the area are currently planning to go ahead with tonight's performance, including Mamma Mia!, Made in Dagenham, Oppenheimer and Memphis the Musical."

London Fire Brigade said the cause of the fire is not known at this stage, but the alarm was raised after smoke was seen coming out of an inspection cover on the pavement.

@brownelisa1Copyright: @brownelisa1

Assistant Commissioner Peter Cowup said: "Crews are currently working to prevent the spread of the fire to surrounding buildings. We are working closely with the various electricity companies involved to identify the source and extent of the fire which is underground. As this is likely to be an electrical fire we have to ensure the power is off before we apply water to extinguish it."

The fire in Kingsway has also knocked out power in parts of Covent Garden.

The Market building, James Street, Garrick Street and Rose Street have been affected according to the Covent Garden Area Trust.

London Theatre Direct has confirmed that a number of West End shows will be cancelled this evening due to the fire in Holborn, including:

• Lion King at Lyceum Theatre
• Play That Goes Wrong at Duchess Theatre
• Beautiful, The Carol King Musical, at Aldwych Theatre

The matinee show of the Lion King at Lyceum Theatre matinee show was also interrupted and the audience had to be evacuated. Visit London Theatre Direct for the latest updates.

Sarah Campbell is at the scene for the BBC News Channel. She said: "It was believed to have started in a service duct which carry utilities such as gas, electric and water pipes.

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"The fire service have been isolating the electricity so they can go into the ground and dampen down the fire."

Freemasons' Hall tweets: @BBCLondonNews The decision will be made at 6pm as to whether #LettersLive can go ahead #HolbornFire #FingersCrossed

Speaking to BBC London 94.9, Gary Squires, from London Fire Brigade, added: "We can see flames coming out of the pavement which looks quite dramatic, but that is the gas pipe - it has now ruptured and that has now ignited and the gas is burning off and, if anything, makes it safer for us as the gas is being burnt off.

Finbar AndersonCopyright: Finbar Anderson

"A lot of people have self evacuated from the buildings they've seen the smoke and had power cuts. But it is only the buildings on Kingsway that have been evacuated by the smoke."

BBC London 94.9's Anna O'Neill tweets: Sorry, #freemasons. No meeting tonight at the Grand Lodge. @BBCLondon949 #HolbornFire

BBC London's 94.9 Anna O'Neill spoke to Gary Squires from London Fire Brigade at the scene of the fire in Kingsway. He said: "There is a couple of small fires down the length of the street. What we have is a large service service duct which carries electric cables, gas cables, water pipes and a number of hazards beneath the street.

Finbar AndersonCopyright: Finbar Anderson

"There is a fire within that service duct. The service duct is heavily smoke logged at the moment and we have some very high powered cables down there which is causing a hazard to our crews. We are working with gas and electric authorities to get those isolated so we can go down and start our fire fighting."

Aldwych Theatre tweets: Due to circumstances beyond our control, tonight's performance of @BeautifulinLDN has been cancelled.

Transport for London said the following services are affected by the Kingsway fire:

• 10 bus routes are currently on diversion: 1, 59, 68, 91, 168, 171, 188, 243, 341 and 521.
• Holborn Station (on the Central and Piccadilly lines) is closed. Tube tickets are being accepted on local buses within Zone 1.
• Roads - Kingsway is closed between Holborn and Aldwych (Westminster Council Road). The Strand Underpass is also closed and Waterloo bridge is closed northbound. This is leading to serious delays along the Strand back to Trafalgar Square and also around Waterloo.

Customers are advised to check our real time travel feeds on Twitter and to check the TfL website for the latest travel information.

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LSE tweeted students and staff warning them to stay away.

@CityLitCopyright: @CityLit

Read more here: http://www.citylit.ac.uk/blog/incident-holborn-wednesday-1-april-2015 …

Another witness said the smoke seeped through the drains as he walked along Aldwych, at the bottom of Kingsway.

Iain BCopyright: Iain B

He said: "I had just cycled over Waterloo Bridge and as I approached Kingsway I saw a big crowd of people and smoke billowing towards me. The fire crews and police officers were beginning to cordon off the area. I was close enough to see thick black smoke puffing out of the drain grills and I struggled to breathe."

Judges, lawyers and staff at the nearby Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand have also evacuated from the area, due to the electrical fire. Onlookers also reported "struggling to breathe".

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Nicola Foxfield, 29, said: "I was walking from Covent Garden towards Holborn and I could smell burning in the air. It's chaos and fire engines are coming from every direction and there are so many people around."

The power switch-off due to the major incident at Kingsway has also affected Covent Garden Market, James Street and Garrick Street.

Our top story at 17:00:

We have all the latest on the evacuation of the Kingsway area of London as a major incident is declared following a fire under a pavement. Reporter Anna O'Neill is at the scene.

Here's the story so far:

• More than 2,000 people have been evacuated from Kingsway in Holborn following an electrical fire under a pavement.
• Six fire engines and 70 firefighters and officers are at the scene
• Police have declared a major incident and closed Kingsway at both ends
• The fire started shortly after 12.30pm
• London Fire Brigade crews have been unable to tackle it "effectively" because they are waiting for the utility companies to switch off the power.

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A spokesperson at UK Power Networks said: "Teams of UK Power Networks engineers are currently on site at an incident in Kingsway. Power supplies in the area have been interrupted and as soon as we can gain access, we will work to restore electricity as quickly as is safely possible. We will also help the emergency services investigate the cause."

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BBC Breaking News tweets: No reports of injuries but 70 firefighters still at #Holborn blaze, @LondonFire tweets http://bbc.in/1CMQnJh

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BBC London TV reporter Jean Mackenzie tweets: Electrical fire on Kingsway in Holborn. Area evacuated

Smoke billows at junction with Kemble St as fire can be seen burning up through the road.

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BBC London TV's Jean Mackenzie tweets: ‏Electrical fire that's closed Kingsway in Holborn.

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The fire started shortly after 12:30 but crews have been unable to start tackling it "effectively" because they are waiting for the utility companies to turn off the power.

Fayyadh ShamsuddinCopyright: Fayyadh Shamsuddin

A spokesman for London Fire Brigade said: "The fire continues to still burn. There are a lot of electrical cables down there. But we cannot tackle it effectively until the power situation has been resolved."

He said the fire is not connected to the London Underground but Holborn Tube station has been closed for the purposes of traffic management.

BBC London's 94.9's Anna O'Neill is at the scene and tweeted the nearby Lyceum theatre, which is currently showing the Lion King, has also been evacuated due to the electrical fire in Kingsway.

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BBC London 94.9 reporter Anna O'Neill tweets: The Play That Goes Wrong has gone wrong #HolbornFire @BBCLondon949

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BBC London 94.9 reporter Anna O'Neill tweets: No electricity for shops on the strand as I walk towards the incident in Holborn @BBCLondon949

BBC London 94.9 will have the latest on the electrical fire under the pavement in Holborn which has led to the mass evacuation of 2,000 people.

The alarm was raised after a large amount of thick black smoke was seen coming out of an inspection cover on the pavement.

Iain BCopyright: Iain B

The electrical fire under the pavement in Holborn has led to 2,000 people being evacuated from nearby buildings.

Iain B ‏tweeted this picture of the Kingsway electrical cable fire saying smoke was "literally coming up out of the drains".

Iain B ‏Copyright: Iain B ‏

Will Perrin of Talk About Local tweets: Kingsway fire 1343 firemen all appeared relaxed some burning rubber smelling smoke coming through grating

I've just spoken to Transport for London and the Holborn station closure is in connection with the electrical fire in Kingsway. Some bus routes are also on diversion - check before you travel and police are advising motorists to avoid the area.

William NgCopyright: William Ng

BBC London 94.9's Anna O'Neill tweets: Heading to Holborn where a major incident's been declared after an electrical fire. 2000 ppl evacuated. More to follow

London Fire Brigade tweets: Six fire engines & 35 firefighters at electrical fire on #Kingsway in #Holborn. Avoid if poss http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/LatestIncidentsContainer_01030482.asp …

London Fire BrigadeCopyright: London Fire Brigade

Motorists are being advised to avoid Kingsway in Holborn by the Met Police, after 2,000 people were evacuated from the area.

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Six fire engines and 35 firefighters and officers are at the scene and waiting for utility companies to disconnect the power supply before tackling the blaze, the London Fire Brigade said.

Fire crews are dealing with an electrical fire among cables under the pavement on Kingsway, Holborn, the London Fire Brigade has said. The road has been closed on both ends and police have declared a major incident.

@_JenniGrahamCopyright: @_JenniGraham

The alarm was raised after smoke was seen coming out of an inspection cover on the pavement. A 25-metre safety cordon is in place and 2,000 people have been evacuated from nearby buildings.

Piccadilly line ‏tweets: Holborn station is currently closed while we respond to a local power failure

A row over a duck that threatened to derail the unveiling of a statue of a locomotive designer has been settled.

The statue to rail engineer Sir Nigel Gresley, who designed the Mallard locomotive as well as the Flying Scotsman, was to have also featured a duck next to the engineer.

But Sir Nigel's family, and others, were not keen on the appearance of the duck with the bronze statue which is due to be unveiled at King's Cross station in London in April next year.

Now the Gresley Society Trust has announced the duck will not appear.

Julia QuenzlerCopyright: Julia Quenzler

Erol Incedal, 27, from London, was acquitted of planning a terror attack at the Old Bailey last week.

His friend, Rarmoul-Bouhadjar, who admitted having a manual identical to Incedal's, was given three years.

Most of the trial was behind closed doors and details cannot be reported.

Our top story at 15:00:

British law student Erol Incedal, who was cleared of plotting an attack following the UK's first secret terror trial, has been jailed for three and a half years at the Old Bailey for possessing a bomb-making manual.

Domenico Rancadore's lawyer has said she is awaiting a Consent Order from the Crown Prosecution Service for discharge of the proceedings after convicted Mafia boss Domenico Rancadore had his sentence dropped.

Karen Todner said: "Yesterday the Italian Court of Appeal agreed to extinguish the conviction of Domenico Rancadore on the basis that the conviction is too old to sustain a prison sentence. I am therefore confident the Italian Government will now withdraw their application for a European Arrest Warrant and that Mr Rancadore will be discharged from these proceedings.

"There has been a long and unhappy history of these proceedings and I am delighted Mr Rancadore will now be able to live in peace in England with his wife and family."

An Iranian-British woman jailed for trying to attend a men's volleyball game in Iran will not have to return to prison.

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Ghoncheh Ghavami, 26, from Shepherd's Bush in west London, was freed on bail in November after she was arrested in June last year. A court has now waived the remainder of the sentence.

A 19-year-old man from Willesden, north-west London, is due to appear in court later charged with terrorism offences.

Yahya Rashid will appear before Westminster Magistrates accused of intending to commit an act of terrorism between 1 November 2014 and 31 March 2015 and engaging in conduct with the intention of assisting others to commits acts of terrorism during the same period.

Mr Rashid was arrested at Luton Airport after flying in from Istanbul, Scotland Yard said.

Our top story at 14:00:

Boris Johnson launched the Tories London campaign this morning in the marginal seat of Hendon. Surrounded by Conservative supporters, the mayor wouldn't be drawn on how many seats he thinks they'll gain in London.

Recent polling has put Labour between 12-14 % ahead of the Tories in the capital, and there are around half a dozen key marginals here that could prove crucial in deciding which party has the most seats come 8 May.

The Mayor has put himself at the centre of the Conservative campaign, having won two elections here himself.

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He will spearhead the Tory drive to hold on to what they've got, and attack the Lib Dems in the Southwest of the capital - but what if the Conservatives don't gain any extra seats here? Will the mayor take the blame? He wouldn't be drawn on that one. For the latest election news visit the BBC's Election 2015 website.

The Jack Russell called Max was wearing a blue rosette and barked a lot. It wasn't clear what he thought of the arrival of Boris Johnson, as London's Tories launched their election campaign, but the faithful were lapping it up. "Vote Conservative, get broadband," the mayor told them, "Vote UKIP, get Miliband" - cue cheers.

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But the mayor's going to have to reach out to more than gatherings of party supporters. Rallying the troops is one thing - rallying the voters, particularly in London may be quite another.

Officers are appealing for witnesses after a 21-year-old woman died after being hit by a car in south-west London. A 34-year-old man, who was the driver of the car and was taken to hospital, has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.

Det Sgt John Hartfree said: "I am particularly keen to speak to the occupants of a dark coloured car which was seen following the white BMW M3 car immediately prior to the collision."

Police were called to Penrhyn Road, Kingston, at 21:00 yesterday to reports of a collision with a pedestrian and a bus.

On BBC London 94.9 Robert Elms is joined by professor Tony Travers from LSE London at 1:30 as today marks the 50th anniversary of the creation of the London boroughs.

The top stories in the capital on BBC London 94.9 at 13:00:

• Boris Johnson has launched the Conservatives' London election campaign, telling voters if they choose the Tories they'll get broadband but if they choose UKIP they'll get Miliband.

The first week of General Election campaigning appears to be taking its toll on at least one senior politician.

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A Labour party spokesperson has said Harriet Harman will have to postpone an interview with BBC London 94.9's Robert Elms today because she has lost her voice.

A Teddington woman will brave blisters, salt sores and sleep deprivation as she joins three others in a non-stop row across the Atlantic, reports the Richmond and Twickenham Times.

Rebecca Charlton will join Charlotte Best, Kate Hallam and Sarah Hornby in the 3,000-mile Atlantic Challenge - but the team are still on the hunt for sponsorship and a boat.

London Councils tweets: ‏First day for c.770k new @FreedomPassLDN today! Don't worry if you've not got yours yet, your old one will still be accepted for six weeks.

A council spent £140,000 building a massive "Berlin Wall-style" metal-spiked fence around a housing estate in south London, reports the Evening Standard.

Southwark Council has reportedly paid £200 per metre on the 8ft-high, 700 metre-long eyesore surrounding four blocks on the Aylesbury Estate, which they claim has been put up for the safety of residents.

Italy's deputy prime minister Angelino Alfano called him "one of the most dangerous fugitives", but to his neighbours he had been an "ordinary", "caring", "lovely" neighbour.

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In August 2013 the residents of Manor Waye discovered the man they thought was Marc Skinner was actually Domenico Rancadore. The Italian police say he headed a family involved in extortion, racketeering and drug trafficking. Following a battle to fight his extradition Rancadore's sentence has now been 'extinguished'.

The top stories in the capital on BBC London 94.9 at 12:00:

• Two London headteachers have told a former senior prosecutor they fear some of their pupils will try to go to Syria during the Easter break and won't come back.
• Italy says it's no longer seeking the extradition of a convicted Mafia boss who's lived in Uxbridge for more than 20 years.

Rancadore was sentenced to seven years imprisonment and that sentence was finally published on 4 October 2000. Under Article 172 of the Italian Penal Code a penalty is extinguished once a period of more than double the time of the penalty has passed. That means the sentence was extinguished in October 2014.

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His conviction for Mafia membership remains, it is the penalty that has been extinguished. In February a judge ruled the convicted mafia boss must be extradited to Italy.

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Domenico Rancadore was arrested in August 2013 after he was found living in Uxbridge, west London, under the alias of Marc Skinner.

He was convicted in his absence in 1999 of being a member of a criminal organisation and sentenced to seven years in jail.

The 65-year-old had launched an 18-month battle against his extradition.

Police have appealed for help in finding a missing diabetic woman who is often seen dancing outside Brixton Tube station. Chinatu Uwalaka-Uko, from Tulse Hill, was last seen at Charing Cross Hospital on Monday.

Met PoliceCopyright: Met Police

Police are concerned as she has diabetes and requires appropriate treatment. She was admitted to hospital as a consequence of failing to administer insulin.

London Fire Brigade tweets: We've lowered a man to safety who fell ill in the cab of a crane on a building site on Woodlands Way in #Putney

A celebrated women's clothes shop which has been serving customers in north London for more than 80 years closes its doors for the final time today.

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Blustons, in Kentish Town, opened in 1931 and has been in the hands of the same family ever since.

The top stories on BBC London 94.9 at 11:00:

• The heads of two London schools have told a former senior prosecutor they fear some of their pupils will try to go to Syria during the Easter break and will not come back.
• A driver has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving after a 21-year-old woman was killed as she crossed a road in Kingston.

Speaking to Vanessa Feltz on BBC London 94.9, Nazir Afzal added: "In one case they said pretty much everyday they get approached by a parent who they think will flee in the Easter break.

"Their concerns are neither the parents or themselves would feel comfortable about criminalising the child. I said you should tell the police and they took it onboard and didn't say whether they would or not."

When asked by Vanessa why he had not gone to the police, Mr Afzal replied: "Because that is not my responsibility. My responsibility is to tell them they should go to the police." He later added he would consider going to the authorities after approaching the schools involved.

A former senior prosecutor has warned head teachers are not informing the police about pupils they have been told may try to join jihadists in Syria because they do not want them to be criminalised, the Times newspaper has reported (behind pay wall).

Nazir Afzal said the leaders of two London secondary schools had told him of more than a dozen teenagers, both boys and girls whose parents believe they have been "groomed and seduced" by Islamic State.

Speaking to Vanessa Feltz on BBC London 94.9, Mr Afzal said: "I spoke to both headmasters and mistresses at a conference in March. I was speaking about my concerns about the summer and they said "no no we are concerned about Easter".

Letters Live is a season of readings of letters of note, taking place in London.

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As part of a series on Newsnight, to promote the event, actor Benedict Cumberbatch read a letter from 1969 by presidential speechwriter William Safire.

As the world waited for Apollo 11 to land on the Moon, Safire imagined that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin could be stranded up there.

Counter-terrorism police have arrested a 64-year-old man on suspicion of money laundering in north-west London.

The Met Police said the man was arrested at a residential address in north west London as part of an "ongoing investigation". Five other men, aged between 27 and 73, were previously arrested in connection with the investigation and have been bailed.

In two London-wide polls ComRes had Labour on 46% and YouGov on 45%, with the Conservatives hovering around their 2010 share of 34%. ComRes represented a 5.5% swing to Labour and YouGov a swing of 4%. The Lib Dems were down from 22% in 2010 to 8% now.

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UKIP continued to underperform in London with around 8-9%; and the Greens will be disappointed that they were on 4% in both polls in a city where they have performed better than average in the past.

Keep across all the polls with the BBC's Election 2015: Poll tracker.

Red "Boris bikes" have started appearing across London as Santander have taken over the cycle hire scheme's sponsorship from today.

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The deal, which is thought to be worth about £7m a year, was announced by London Mayor Boris Johnson in February and more than 11,500 of the Santander Cycles and 740 docking stations will be installed across London this month.

BBC London Travel tweets: The roadworks at Chelsea Bridge Rd and Vauxhall (and Oval) are making things fun* along both sides of the river. *possibly not

The top stories in the capital on BBC London 94.9 at 10:00:

• The heads of two London schools have reportedly expressed fears that some of their pupils will try to go to Syria during the Easter holidays and won't come back.
• Rescuers in the Scottish highlands have resumed their search for a hillwalker from London who has not been seen for two days.

The Hammersmith Flyover will be closed to westbound traffic for three weekends during April as part of Transport for London's £4 billion Road Modernisation Plan. The closures from Friday until 05:00 on Monday morning will take place on:

• 10-13 April,
• 17-20 April
• 24-27 April.

The closures will allow for final repairs to the concrete deck, waterproofing and resurfacing to be completed.

On 1 April 1965, nine ambulance services merged to create London Ambulance Service.

Since then the organisation has become the busiest emergency service in the UK. This year the service is celebrating 50 years of caring for the capital.

Twenty-two people arrested during a mass protest at a major London shopping centre have been released without charge.

Nat SkywalkerCopyright: Nat Skywalker

Hundreds gathered at Westfield in Shepherd's Bush for a so-called "die-in" demonstration in December 2014.

A former soldier who risked his life for his country in the Middle East is facing eviction from his family home over a council tenancy dispute.

Tottenham Hotspurs' Andros Townsend's spectacular strike gave an experimental England line-up a creditable draw against Italy in Turin.

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A UKIP parliamentary candidate who said in a Facebook post that Israel should "kidnap" US President Barack Obama has been replaced by his party.

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Jeremy Zeid, who was standing in Hendon, said President Obama should be "locked up" by the Israelis for "leaking state secrets".

He was referring to the declassifying of documents on Israel's secret nuclear programme. UKIP said Mr Zeid resigned last week due to health issues.

The top story in the capital on BBC London 94.9 at 09:00:

• A former senior prosecutor says the heads of two London secondary schools have told him of more than a dozen teenagers whose parents believe they have been "groomed and seduced" by Islamic State.

A pedestrian has died after a collision involving a car and a bus in Kingston, south-west London, last night.

The bus driver and five people in the car, including three children, were all treated at the scene in Penrhyn Road at about 21:00 but the woman pedestrian, who was in her early 20s, was killed.

A senior prosecutor who has worked in London for 20 years says the heads of two secondary schools in the capital have told him of more than a dozen teenagers whose parents believe they've been "groomed and seduced" by Islamic State.

More with Vanessa just after 09:00 on BBC London 94.9.

A law student cleared of plotting a terror attack is to be sentenced for possessing a bomb-making manual.

Julia QuenzlerCopyright: Julia Quenzler

Erol Incedal, 27, from London, was acquitted of the terror plot last week - but was convicted last year of having a bomb-making manual on a memory card.

The top story on BBC London News this morning is that Camden Council is considering whether to introduce rules to limit the size of basements in the borough.

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The proposal could stop the construction of so called 'mega basements' that are two or three storeys deep.

The prime minister has said he is "hugely concerned" that four girls feared to want to go to Syria attended the same school as four other pupils who have already travelled there.

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All eight are pupils at Bethnal Green Academy in Tower Hamlets. Three are thought to have gone to Syria via Turkey in February and four were barred from travelling abroad last week.

The school has denied it has a problem with radicalisation.

In Oval the roadworks on the A3 by the Tube station are causing delays on the A3, A23 and A202.

An earlier broken down vehicle westbound in the Limehouse link tunnel has also caused disruption this morning. For the latest information go to our BBC London travel page or follow @BBCTravelAlert on Twitter.

There is disruption on South West Train services through Staines because of an earlier signalling problem.

For the latest travel news follow @BBCTravelAlert on Twitter.

It will be fine and dry to start the day with some sunny spells. However, thickening cloud and scattered showers will spread from the west later in the morning.

These will merge to give some more general rain by the early evening.

Maximum temperature: 11C (52F).

Good morning and welcome to this cold Wednesday.

I'll be bringing you all the latest news, sport, travel and weather for London. Send us your news, views or photos by email, Twitter or Facebook.