i think it's not been a straightforward day for michael dowden.ernoon, he's been questioned about to visit he and his colleagues made to grenfell tower in 2016. the first in february and the second injuly. roughly a year before the fire. the refurbishment was ongoing and he was asked a series of questions about what observations he and his collea g u es what observations he and his colleagues have taken in terms of the design of the building, the materials used and fire safety measures within the building. pretty much every question he wasn't able to say whether they had made the releva nt to say whether they had made the relevant observations, or he just couldn't remember. let's listen to this exchange from richard millett qc. he is the leading barristerfor the enquiry, questioning michael dowden from the london fire brigade. on your visit to grenfell tower that we saw earlier this morning in 2016, did you look at any of those features? none that i have any recollection of. it doesn't say cladding in this list, but can i ask, when you did your vi

michael dowden was shown a photo of firefighters arriving at the tower.n the white helmet, in position as incident commander. he also confirmed that this was one of the first residents he spoke to, behailu kebede, who told him the fire had started in his flat on the fourth floor around his fridge freezer. but the situation changed quickly. firefighter dowden said, as embers began to fall, this was no longer a containable kitchen fire. he described it sparking and spitting, behaving unusually, and it made him feel uncomfortable. daniela relph, bbc news. two people have been killed and at least 18 injured following a crash between a double—decker bus and a lorry in the cambridgeshire fens. some of the injuries are serious. the crash happened at about 7.30 this morning on the a47 in guyhirn near wisbech. angus crawford reports. a straight road, good conditions, then this. the lorry pulling out of its depot. the bus with 20 passengers on board. the driver's cab and front of the upper deck crushed and broken. the first call came early this morning. seven ambul

that was michael dowden, the watch manager at north kensington.. the long pauses there are not a typical of this morning's evidence. there have been other questions when michael dowden has taken a long pause when questioned about what training he received in relation to spotting when this idea of compartmentation had failed. a fire should be contained within a specific flat in theory. in theory, if it isn't, according to policy documents which have been read out this morning, the tactics and strategy should have been changed. we also heard evidence about the training facilities. michael dowden said this morning that they have training towers but nothing like a high—rise building to train on. he will give evidence throughout today. thanks very much. our headlines: the grenfell inquiry hears from the fire brigade watch manager who was one of the first on the scene at the blaze mps gear up for crucial vote on whether to build a third runway at heathrow airport — which the government says will create thousands ofjobs. turkey's leader recep tayyip erdo

michael dowden was one of the flats.owden was one of the first firefighters at grenfell and in charge for the first hour. todayit and in charge for the first hour. today it was soon clear that he did not have the right training. did you any receive any specific training on how to evacuate people from high floors in high—rise blocks who had mobility difficulties? not that i can recall, no. government and fire brigade guidelines suggested that commanders could change the policy and consider evacuations. but mister dowden seemed unaware. what training did you ever receive? he paused for 17 seconds. i cannot remember any time that i have been on a training course that would facilitate that. did anyone give you any helpful advice and understanding when it might be necessary to have a full evacuation? i do not thinkl have had an input from any individual. he accepted he had not done all of the safety checks when visiting grenfell the previous year and that they had never practised on high—rise buildings, and that he had not kn

the qc questioned michael dowden and set out what the national policy guidelines are on that specificing did you get in respect of undertaking partial offer evacuation in such a building? i have not received any practical training outside of that policy. i have not received any practical training outside of that policym is significant because the flames quickly spread from flat 16 of g re nfell tower quickly spread from flat 16 of grenfell tower and the flames had reached the top of whatever the building within 30 minutes but the fire brigade was still telling people to stay in flats for much longer after that. michael dowden was also questioned today about to visit he and colleagues carried out to g re nfell visit he and colleagues carried out to grenfell tower in 2016 well the building was still being refurbished and those visits were supposed to assess fire safety and grenfell tower but he could not remember on those visits whether she had noted the basic fire safety features like for example the fact grenfell tower do not have any sprinklers and had a single escape route. he said

michael dowden is an experienced officer and a brave officer.re doors not fit for purpose. all of which is true but he is responsible for checking the building. it is not his responsibility to check for cladding, we do not have a policy for that. i think the actions on that night speak for themselves. we we re that night speak for themselves. we were talking about before the fire. during the refurbishment is. were talking about before the fire. during the refurbishment ism were talking about before the fire. during the refurbishment is. it is not his responsibility to check for cladding, he did the checks that needed to be done as per the policy and he has been open and honest at the inquiry. the messages of support from around the country and firefighters and from across the world and relatives of the bereaved, there are many more people who have to a nswer there are many more people who have to answer serious questions, not michael dowden. a final point, you have a concerned about asbestos in the area and children. explain what that is. about

he said michael dowden had set a good example.minutiae of detail, about the decisions he took and did not take. about the fa ct took and did not take. about the fact he did not call a mass evacuation of the tower block when the fire was clearly spreading up the fire was clearly spreading up the cladding on the outside of the building. we were shown notes michael dowden made shortly after the incident where he wrote: the fla mes the incident where he wrote: the fla m es we re the incident where he wrote: the flames were halfway up the building, and now getting into flats, all of my previous experience now gone out of the window. we have had a lot of evidence looking today at the time, at around about1:30pm. a bit looking today at the time, at around about 1:30pm. a bit after michael dowden on the other firefighters we re dowden on the other firefighters were first on the scene. he was asked by richard miller qc that when he saw resident emerging, coughing from the building, he was questioned about whether he thought about contactin

he was and michael dowden, like it not, was a crucial figure.th a fire ina evacuation of et al back with a fire in a high—rise building like g re nfell tower. in a high—rise building like grenfell tower. yesterday there was an interesting exchange between richard milik qc, the leading barrister for the inquiry and michael dowden —— richard millett. about half an hour after he arrived. he had a deranged dummett upgraded the incident to attend pump it was necessary to need ten fire engines. his rank would normally only deal with a four pump incident, an incident worthy of four fire engines so he was dealing with an incident well beyond his rank and he was basically trying to work out as the fire spread, as he put it, like magnesium on the cladding on the external pa rt magnesium on the cladding on the external part of grenfell tower, what to do. he had firefighters committed to the inside of the building trying to fight the fire from the inside and he was asked by richard millett qc whether or not he thought at about half an hour into his operatio

but michael dowden who was the station manager or the watch manager at night when the fire broke outmander in the initial phases of the pirate said that when basically he was askedif said that when basically he was asked if he had considered, if he had training relating to how to deal with the fire and its spread through segment flammable materials, he said he had not had training on that specific issue. the issue of deciding to evacuate and to take residents and were building once it was clear the fire was spreading it on the flat of origin he said he could not remember having training relating to that specific scenario either put up he also spoke about the training facilities available to london fire brigade and said that they have training towers but nothing comparable to grenfell tower stop it is significant because of course the london fire brigade kept their stay put policy, with residents being told to stay in their flats for roughly two hours from the app rig the fire full stop and of course we know from previous evidence that the fire probably spread from flat 16 through com

michael dowden did not feel well enough to continue his evidence today.left serious questions for the fire brigade and the way it trained its firefighters. mps will decide in the next few hours — whether to build a third runway at heathrow airport later , in a vote likely to expose splits in both labour and tory ranks. the spotlight is on foreign secretary borisjohnson, he is in afghanistan. he vowed to lie in front of bulldozers to stop expansion, but is missing the vote because he's abroad. it is widely expected that the expansion plan he put out a statement saying his resignation would have achieved nothing and he will get more done by remaining in government. this is the scene live in the commons right now.... the chairman of the transport select committee is speaking at the moment. we are expecting other mps with constituency interests. there is quite a lot of pressure on the number of mps who want to take part in this debate. let's have a quick listen to what she has to say. the economic case for expanding heathrow is overwhelming. but environmental

this is the exchange, michael dowden from the exchange, michael dowden from the london fire brigade isoment in time. the first time we have heard michael dowden say that he did not think that the state put policy was appropriate, yet has he says he didn't have the resources to implement a massive evacuation. the strategy by the london fire brigade, giving bad advice to residents, was still in place roughly two hours after the fire began, the first 999 images equal. earlier michael dowden spoke about his observations when he arrived at the tower, about seeing an orange glow. he was asked if he knew there was flooding on the building. he said he didn't spot that. it wasn't an observation he made. he will continue giving evidence tomorrow as the inquiry goes on. simon. thank you tom. drivers on parts of the london underground are to strike on the day of president trump's visit to the capital next month, the rail, maritime and transport union has announced. the strike is over staffing and working conditions and will affect the piccadilly line. union members will walk out from nine pm on 11

michael dowden was forced to admit, repeatedly, that he was unaware of the risks to the tower and hadread through cladding. his evidence has raised serious questions about london fire brigade's procedures and training on tower blocks, as our special correspondent lucy manning reports. 720 firefighters, 140 fire engines, and many stories of bravery that night. but the fire brigade's having to answer for its failure to tell people to leave their flats. the evidence i shall give... michael dowden was one of the first firefighters at grenfell tower and in charge for the first hour. today it was soon clear he didn't have the right training. did you ever receive any specific training on how to evacuate people from high floors in high—rise blocks who had mobility difficulties? not that i can recall, no. government and fire brigade guidelines did suggest commanders could change the stay—put policy and consider evacuations, but mr dowden appeared unaware. what training did you ever receive? he paused for 17 seconds. as a commander, i can't remember a time that i'd actually been on a training c

just minutes after the fire started, michael dowden walked into grenfell tower with his fire crew. "incident commander" on his back, he was in charge for the first hour of the blaze. today he was shown video of the fire spreading up and across the building, with debris falling. he was asked, when the tower was alight after half an hour, whether he thought about abandoning the stay put policy and telling the residents to evacuate. for me, at that moment in time, to facilitate and change the stay put policy to a full evacuation was impossible. i didn't have the resource at that time. we are looking at 20 floors above the fire floor, with just six fire engines in attendance. 0ne central staircase. something i've never experienced as an incident commander before. very, very much out of my comfort zone. ijust don't know how that could have been done with the resources we had. as he had watched pictures of the tower burning, mr dowden wiped tears from his eyes and asked for a break. are you 0k? can i take a break, please? yes, yes, of course. it won't have escaped anyone's attention, i'm

michael dowden did not feel well enough to continue his evidence today.ve sent a special intervention force to plateau state in the centre of the country. that's because 86 people were killed in a suspected attack by nomadic herders against farming communities on saturday. we think that was in retaliation forfive herders being killed by farmers a few days earlier. and the tit—for—tat fighting has continued. these are the latest pictures. a truck burnt betweenjos and abuja. a dawn—to—dusk curfew has now been brought in to try stop scenes like these. we also have these pictures. locals have begun burying the victims in mass graves. there's an ethnic dimension to all of this — for decades there has been conflict over land ownership. those who survived saturday's attack were taken here. to jos university. many of them suffering bullet wounds. here's what some had to say. good to be we could see were the children, from the hills. b chamel was three times, while close the door, they hit the door, so someone to shout me at the back. nigeria's president muhammadu

michael dowden was one of the first firefighters to arrive at grenfell tower.terday and spending the entire day answering questions from me. i want you to know that you are doing a public service, and we are extremely thankful to you for it. michael dowden described arriving at the tower and seeing an orange glow from inside a flat. but the situation quickly changed. but the situation quickly changedlj had but the situation quickly changed.” had no previous knowledge of how their buildings reacting that moment in time. ifelt their buildings reacting that moment in time. i felt i'd their buildings reacting that moment in time. ifelt i'd might my their buildings reacting that moment in time. i felt i'd might my comfort zone because i did not have any previous experience to fall back on. was shown footage of the fire he was shown footage of the fire spreading and people inside being told to get out. at this point it tea rful told to get out. at this point it tearful and could continue. the enquiry was halted for half an hour. —— at this point he became tearful and

but michael dowden appeared unaware.any individual. he accepted he had not done all of the fire safety checks when he had visited grenfell tower the previous year, that they had never practised on high—rise buildings, and he had not known about his boss's fears about combustible cladding. in his written statement he said when he arrived at the fire he was quickly out of his comfort zone and was having to make decisions he had never made before. but he said we did all we could. we we re but he said we did all we could. we were all exhausted and did our best. michael dowden did not feel well enough to continue his evidence today. he has left serious questions for the fire brigade and the way it trained its firefighters. police in jamaica are investigating the murder of an elderly british couple who had recently moved to the island. grandparents charlie and gayle anderson from manchester, were found dead at their home in mount pleasant on friday. their family say it had been their dream to live on the island for their retir

michael dowden was one of the first firefighters at grenfell and in charge for the first hour.raining. did you ever receive any specific training on how to evacuate people from higher floors specific training on how to evacuate people from higherfloors in high—rise blocks, who had mobility issues? not that i can recall, no. government and fire brigade guidelines did suggest commanders could change the stated policy and consider evacuations, but mr dutton seemed unaware. what training did you oversee? he paused, the 17 seconds. as a commander, i can't rememberany time that seconds. as a commander, i can't remember any time that i have actually been on a training course that would facilitate that. notice asked, did anyone give you any help 01’ asked, did anyone give you any help or advice in understanding when it might be necessary to have a full evacuation? —— can ijust ask.|j never had any input from any individual. he accepted he had not done all the fire safety checks when he visited grenfell tower the previous year. angering families when he admitted he had not examined fire

michael dowden was questioned about two visits that he and colleagues from the london fire brigade ise building's safety, like the fact it did not have sprinklers, like the fact there was only one escape route from g re nfell tower. was only one escape route from grenfell tower. s into one exchange. the first voice you hear is the leading barrister for the public inquiry, questioning michael dowden from the london fire brigade. did you learn anything from the mobile data terminal about the height of the building and the number of floors? ido remember... if i'm honest, i do remember... that's one of the things i vaguely remember, in terms of the number of floors and the height of the building, that's something i did glean off the... right. did you learn anything about the nature of the evacuation plan for grenfell tower that had been devised by the premises' fire risk assessment or any other plan? was that on the... are you asking was that on the mdt? i'm asking you whether... i'm asking you whether you learned anything from the mdt about the nature of any evacuation plan for gre nfell

michael dowden was one of the first firefighters at grenfell tower and in charge for the first hour.ay, it was soon clear he didn't have the right training. did you ever receive any specific training on how to evacuate people from high floors in high—rise blocks, who had mobility difficulties? not that i can recall, no. government and fire brigade guidelines did suggest commanders could change the state of policy and consider evacuations, but mr dowden appeared unaware. what training did you ever receive? he paused — for 17 seconds. as a commander, i can't remember a time that i'd actually been on a training course that would facilitate that. did anyone give you any help or advice in understanding when it might be necessary to have a full evacuation? i don't think i've ever had any input from any individual. he accepted he hadn't done all of the fire—safety checks when he'd visited grenfell the previous year, angering families by admitting he hadn't examined fire doors, escape routes, or the new exterior panels. he also revealed they'd never practised on high—rise buildings, and he h

michael dowden said he did not consider evacuating the tower even as residents came out coughing andm the inquiry. a daunting prospect. michael dowden was grilled for hours about the night he was incident commander in the first hour of a major disaster. what did he see, do, order others to do, what did he consider doing?“ you had decided to adopt a strategy of full—scale evacuation, could you give me some kind of idea of what you would need in terms of firefighters and equipment at that moment? there were regular long pause as i has he attempted to formulate his answers.” pause as i has he attempted to formulate his answers. i cannot comment on that because that is something i have not had experience of. it is a hypothetical question andl of. it is a hypothetical question and i really want to talk about my reactions that night. normally he would come off two fire engines and their crews but on the night he was in charge of up to 15 fire engines, dealing with the biggest residential fire since the war. he was asked about policy and training were absurd. he was asked about high—level s

just minutes after the fire started, michael dowden walked into grenfell tower with his fire crew.lmet, with "incident commander" on his back, he was in charge for the first hour of the blaze. today he was shown video of the fire spreading up and across the building, with debris falling. he was asked, when the tower was alight after half an hour, if he'd thought about abandoning the stay put policy and telling the residents to evacuate. for me, at that moment in time, to facilitate and change the stay put policy to a full evacuation was impossible. i didn't have the resource at that time. we're looking at 20 floors above the fire floor, with just six fire engines in attendance. one central staircase. it's something i've never experienced as an incident commander before. as i said, i was very, very much out of my comfort zone. ijust don't know how that could have been done with the resources we had. as he had watched pictures of the tower burning, mr dowden wiped tears from his eyes and asked for a break. are you ok? can i take a break, please? yes, yes, of course. yes, of course yo

at one point michael dowden broke down in tears as images of the blaze were shown to the hearing.wrack said mr dowden happened to be on duty on the night of the fire, and the questions should have been directed instead at his superiors. some of britain's biggest pub chains say bars are running out of some brands of beer and cider, as a shortage of carbon dioxide continues to affect the food and drink industry. the gas is used in the production of many drinks, and also in pubs to pump beer. thejohn lewis partnership has said profits in the first half of the year will be "close to zero." the chain said the annual figure would be substantially lower than last year, and that it will be closing five of its waitrose stores in manchester, london and birmingham. one of britain's biggest car manufacturers, nissan, says it's deferring major, long—term business decisions while it waits for clarification about the outcome of the brexit negotiations. the firm's chairman said he was in the dark about how brexit would work, and the stakes were very high. nissan made half a million cars in the uk

michael dowden said he did not consider evacuating the tower even as residents came out coughing andat was happening on the outside of the building. the inquiry heard that a more senior officer would usually have overseen a fire of that scale. prince william has spoken of his hopes for lasting peace in the middle east. the duke of cambridge made his comments after meeting the palestinian president, mahmoud abbas, in the israeli—occupied west bank. later he met refugees at a camp near ramallah. the pub chainjd wetherspoon says a number of pubs have run out of some beers and ciders because of a nationwide shortage of carbon dioxide gas. the company says things should be back to normal in the next couple of days. 0ur correspondent sima kotecha is outside one of their bars in birmingham. it's not what any pub would want in weather like this. well, fiona, this wetherspoons says it is fully stocked but that hasn't been the case with some other bars and been the case with some other bars a nd restau ra nts been the case with some other bars and restaurants round the country. the chain says

at one point, michael dowden broke down in tears as images of the blaze were shown to the hearing.retary, matt wrack, said mr dowden happened to be on duty on the night of the fire and the questions should have been directed instead at his superiors. some of britain's biggest pub chains say bars are running out of some brands of beer and cider as a shortage of carbon dioxide continues to affect the food and drink industry. the gas is used in the production of many drinks and also in pubs to pump beer. thejohn lewis partnership has said profits in the first half of the year will be close to zero. the chain said the annual figure would be substantially lower than last year and that it will be closing five of its waitrose stores in manchester, london and birmingham. one of britain's biggest car manufacturers, nissan, says it's deferring major long—term business decisions while it waits for clarification about the outcome of the brexit negotiations. the firm's chairman said he was in the dark about how brexit would work and the stakes were very high. nissan made half a million cars in

michael dowden, the firefighter who led the initial response to the blaze at grenfell tower, has toldwhen dealing with the rapidly—spreading fire. he said he quickly became concerned that the blaze was burning through cladding panels in an " when shown footage from the night of the fire, mr dowden became upset, which led to the inquiry being suspended for half an hour. two people have died after a lorry and a double—decker bus collided with each other on a busy road in cambridgeshire. the bus driver and a passenger in his 70s were killed, with 12 others left injured, several of them seriously. a french couple who murdered a 20—year—old nanny at their home in south—west london will serve at least 30 years in prison. sabrina kouider and ouissem medouni had blamed each other for killing sophie lionnet. the taxi hailing firm uber has got its licence back to operate in london. but it has been warned it is on probation for the next 15 months. transport for london refused to renew its licence when it ran out last september, saying the firm was not "fit and proper" to operate, due to safety c

i think michael dowden has been more confident today.s a witness. he is a crucialfigure because he was questioned as a witness. he is a crucial figure because he was the watch manager at north kensington fire station when the fire broke out so he was initially in charge of the operation to fight the fire at g re nfell tower. operation to fight the fire at grenfell tower. he is being questioned this morning about those moments when he and his colleagues arrived at the scene. he said he looked up and saw an orange glow and he was asked about whether he spotted that the building had cladding. he didn't. he said in his statement that it seemed the fire was contained within the flat of origin, flat 16. he was questioned, did he make any assumptions about whether the building complied with building regulations. he said, not at that moment in time, that was not foran at that moment in time, that was not for an incident commander to do. he was within the last half an hour or so questioned about how the fire developed and let's just listen to a s