Well as the BBC London travel reports used to (I'm not sure if they still do) come from Scotland Yard, they must be Scotland Yard's cameras...
On the BBC Berkshire website where they have some of the M4 travel cams it states that if the cameras are offline it may be because Berkshire Police are controlling them...
Oh, and there weren't any problems at this end of London (Acton - West London), not even a small flicker..
Bloody Ken Livingstone's always trying to put the blame on someone else - he's a miserable old sod which is why London doesn't have big New Year's celebrations anymore... and I urge you to vote him out in the next Mayoral elections...
I think it has to be unlikely that the Beeb managed to get permission (not exactly something you can just "do") to put all of the cameras up, so I expect it is a feed from either AA/RAC or the police.
Saying that, the whole concept of CCTV camera traffic monitoring was introduced proper by a TV network - News12 Long Island, the first 'local' TV news station. I'm not sure whether it was because they couldn't afford a helicopter or just that they wanted to just because they were being original, but they are the ones to thank for TV networks using cameras to look at traffic.
It is routine for all local TV networks in the US to use (typically shared) cameras for monitoring traffic on their news programmes, but I think on LDN are doing it over here.
That said, British TV is still pretty crap at getting out pictures of live events. Sky and the Beeb only had their Westminster/Thames cameras to use at first, ITV are just lucky with their location. Still, much better than it was 10 years ago.
Don't know whether Sky's helicopter will drastically improve the situation (certainly not seen it in use tonight, but then haven't watched a great deal). It was used for the Notting Hill Carnival, but whether they intend to use it as a service for getting out live pictures significantly before their rivals, rather than just for scheduled events or very prolonged coverage (train crashes) remains to be seen - i.e. will it be used to kick off coverage or just complement it once it's started properly.
Are you sure they are LDN's traffic cameras? Might it not be the case that LDN just pay AA/RAC/Met Police for the use of some of them? I don't, I'm just guessing at that, but it'd be one hell of a job to set up all of those
They are owned by Transport for London, which is basically Red Ken's department ...
Most traffic cameras on Motorways are Highways Agency owned, and otherwise are council owned ... as a rule of thumb. There are some places where this varies.
Katherine, it would be a pretty damning indictment of "terrorism" if the best it could do is knock out power to a few McDonalds and send Tube passengers into pubs for an hour or two.
Thanks for clarification on cameras, Mr West. Presumably the Beeb are paying for them? Not like Ken to do anyone other than himself a favour.
I am quite surprised, if it is the case that TFL are selling them to the Beeb for their use, that Sky and ITV haven't bought into them. They did prove to be a very valuable investment today - and surely would put the Beeb streets (literally) ahead of their rivals in the event of a terrorist attack on the capital.
Oh, and also due to the power failure, London Transport's Information line is constantly engaged tonight (020 7222 1234) so don't bother trying to call it!
I'm sure in the days of the travel updates with Fiona Farrell on Carlton, the same TfL cameras were used - they were formerly Scotland Yard cameras but passed over to TfL. Many a time would she switch to a camera, only for the position to change spontaneously and an apology, "Looks like the police are using that one".
Thinking about it, I'm quite surprised Fox News didn't somehow link the London power outage to Al-Quaeda.
Thanks for clarification on cameras, Mr West. Presumably the Beeb are paying for them? Not like Ken to do anyone other than himself a favour.
I am quite surprised, if it is the case that TFL are selling them to the Beeb for their use, that Sky and ITV haven't bought into them.
I honestly don't know if there's any money involved, C@t.
If they are the same as the other road cameras, there will be a clause that they are only used for traffic reporting, and not "news". Perhaps this is why Sky don't use them?
Did they really say that?