More than 150 people have been forced to evacuate their homes after a fire broke out and spread fast in the Peckham area of South London early Friday morning, according to a report from the BBC (source).

More than 125 fire-fighters are tackling the blaze which has so far consumed an entire construction site and spread to two blocks of apartments and a local pub at 04:30 this morning, with reports of “flying debris” and “cars ablaze” in the streets. An eyewitness stated to have seen flames shooting 20ft in to the air from apartments and mass pandemonium.

Reports have so far indicated that only one person has been admitted to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation, deemed not life threatening, with no other known casualties, and ambulances on standby at the scene.
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Around one million women are victims of domestic violence at least once a year (that’s just shy of 1 in 60!) according to the British Crime Survey statistics outlined in the BBC’s recent report on a new Government scheme aimed at stamping out  domestic violence at a grassroots level (source).

According to the report every school pupil from the age of five in England as part of the curriculum will be taught that domestic violence is unacceptable under new plans coming in to force in 2011. Under the plans children will be taught about gender equality and how to prevent violent relationships as part of the reformed curriculum in the statutory Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) lessons. Trainee teachers will have to be have to learn about teaching the new curriculum before being able to qualify.
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Patients in Scotland are facing an average wait of almost 2 hours in hospital casualty departments. The good news is that this falls within the national waiting time targets of four hours. The bad news? Waiting times are increasing.

According to The Times, Nicola Sturgeon, the Health Secretary has announced that waiting times have risen from an average wait on one hour and 10 minutes in 1999, the year of Scottish devolution, up to one hour and 44 minutes in A&E’s in Scotland between April and June 2009.

Conservative public health spokesman Jackson Carlaw was damning in his critique of the statistics stating, “they do not reflect well on the health policies of any administration since the advent of devolution” and urged the Health Secretary to “investigate these appalling figures before making clear what the government intends to do to turn things around”.
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Two men have been executed in China following their role in a scandal involving tainted milk powder. The powder resulted in the death of six children and left more than 300,000 other infants ill.

According to the BBC, the milk powder became contaminated with melamine, an industrial chemical used in the making of plastics and fertilisers. When mixed with food products it can cause kidney stones and kidney failure.

Between July 2007 and August 2008 over 770 tonnes of the tainted milk powder was sold in China.

Mr Zhang Yujun was convicted of endangering public safety by dangerous means, and Mr Geng Jinping was convicted of supplying milk containing melamine. The Xianhua news agency confirmed that both were executed on Tuesday, but did not reveal where.
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The most common personal injury cases are usually some form of road traffic accident. At the Injury Lawyers we really do take a lot of road traffic cases on daily, with the majority of the cases not being too serious in nature. Unfortunately sometimes the accidents can be rather severe…

According to BBC reports (source) a major collision on the M8 motorway in Glasgow near Junction 15 brought traffic to a standstill late yesterday night, forcing authorities to close the road throughout the night and reopen early this morning.

According to the report the accident was the result of a vehicle travelling the wrong direction down the carriageway in to oncoming traffic! Police are yet to confirm the identity of the driver and have warned motorists to expect delays on the road and have made an urgent plea for eyewitnesses.
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The mirror.co.uk has reported the story of the lady who was the victim of a violent carjacking which left her fighting for her life. Caroline Jonhson has been left wheelchair bound after a drug addict stole her car whilst she was scraping ice from the wind shield (source).

Kevin Richardson, 34, drove off and dragged the 46 year old mother of four for a staggering 65ft before leaving her for dead on the road, frothing at the mouth and swearing at her behind the wheel. The theft of the vehicle is thought to be related to the offenders drug related habit as it is reported he and an associate where out all night looking for drugs when they targeted their victim.

Mrs Johnson fell in to a coma for weeks, with her heart stopping in the ambulance after sustaining horrific injuries including a collapsed lung and multiple fractures pelvis, arms, legs, lower back, and most of her ribs.
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Safety reviews are being conducted on all 1,800 bridges in Cumbria following severe flooding in the area. Six bridges have already collapsed in the area and a further bridge has been condemned due to suspicions it may be about to fall.

The collapse of the bridges and flooding of the area have caused chaos with people evacuated from their homes and some people have already been killed as a result. Amongst those was PC Bill Barker, who died on Friday morning when a bridge outside Workington collapsed.

According to the BBC, the conditions have forced the closure of schools and are playing havoc with commutes. Fire crews and structural engineers are monitoring the worst hit areas to ensure that buildings are safe.
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When we buy a product, primarily one that we ingest or apply to ourselves in some way, we are placing a significant degree of trust in the manufacturer that it is safe to use the product.

Manufacturers must put their products through rigorous testing in order to comply with health and safety regulations, and all products must be suitable for their intended use and should not cause harm or injury to the consumer using them.

Both the BBC and The Daily Mail have recently reported that Procter & Gamble have recalled around 120,000 bottles of Vicks Sinex Nasal spray after small traces of a bacteria were found in the product following routine testing (news source here and here).
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A traditional Bonfire night celebration may come to an end after two men suffered serious burns in a tar barrel explosion.

According to the BBC, the event involves flaming tar barrels being carried through Ottery St Mary in Devon and has been ongoing since the 17^th Century. It attracts as many as 20,000 people to the town.

However, according to police one of the crowd appears to have thrown an aerosol in to a barrel, causing an explosion. One of the men suffered serious facial burns and another received burns to his hand. In addition, a further 10 people received minor burn injuries.
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10 passengers who survived a crash on a Boeing 777 aircraft which occurred near Heathrow airport are to sue the aircraft manufacturer. The flight was travelling between Beijing and London in January 2008. All 152 passengers survived the crash but several suffered injury as a result of the incident.

According to the BBC a report is being conducted by the UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (or AAIB) in to the accident but it has yet to be finalised. However, in the interim reports which it has produced on the cause of the crash it appears that both of the vehicles engines suffered from a reduced fuel flow as the plane was coming in to land and there is a belief that it is possible that ice may have accumulated in the plane’s fuel system.

The allegation being put forward by the injured parties is that the vehicle was defective and the expert reports  indicate that the fault may be common to other 777s as well, making it an actual manufacturing deficiency, rather than a one off fault.
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