Gavin Grey: UK correspondent ahead of the release of the final report into the Grenfell Tower fire

The final report on the Grenfell disaster is set to be published - six years after the inquiry began hearing evidence about what caused the incident.

The fire caused the deaths of 72 people in a London tower block fire in 2017.

UK correspondent Gavin Grey says the report will examine how the tower block came to be in a condition that allowed the fire to spread.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
And Kevin Gray are UK correspondence with us. Hey, Kevin, Hi.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
The geven seven years on from the treasedy is quite
a long time to wait for the final.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Report, isn't it.

Speaker 3 (00:10):
Yeah? It has. It's been a long long haul for
the victims' families. This of course, of the Grenfell fire
tower disaster back in twenty seventeen, in which seventy two
people died. It's still a scar on the landscape of
the West London scene and a monument has been covered
in cladding now for a few years. It was just

(00:30):
a blackened mess and it's been just horrific for everyone
living nearby, Horrific for those involved, horrific for those who
tried to rescue people who came out of the tower.
And now after a six year inquiry that began hearing
about evidence about what led to these deaths, this report
will be published at eleven o'clock local time, that is
just over three hours time from now. It's going to

(00:54):
look at how the tower block came into a condition
that allowed the fire to spread. So the clad that
was used to keep it warmer and to effectively insulate
it but actually became a sort of fire chapel or
caused a system which it's thought ultimately led to it
burning burning more quickly. Successive governments are likely to be criticized.

(01:17):
How that the building industry is going to come under
fire manufacturers, and not least the London Fire Brigade, who
already have admitted that their instruction to stay put to
the residence was a mistake and was repealed far too late. So,
as I mentioned, this report going to be published now
three hours time, and it won't make great reading, No,
probably not.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
Hey tell me about the Queen of trash.

Speaker 3 (01:40):
Ah, Well, this is a business woman in Scandinavia who
has made a bit of a sort of self styled
thing about being called a queen of trash in Sweden
because she stands accused of illegally dumping mountains of waste.
It's the country's biggest ever environmental case, Bella Niels, and
it's one of eleven people charged with what's called aggravated

(02:03):
environmental crime. She's chief executive waste management company and they
are accused of dumping or burying two hundred thousand tons
of waste in twenty one locations over a five year period. Now,
lawyers for her and the chief executor the company say
that they deny any wrongdoing, and indeed, earlier they had

(02:26):
refused to answers reporters questions. But prosecutors say the way
the company mismanaged the waste led to harmful levels of
carcinogenic chemicals being released into the air, soil, and water.
So we're talking lead, we're talking arsenic and mercury. In
one incident, the company waste pile was so close to
a nature reserve that it burned for two months after

(02:47):
spontaneously combusting. Yeah, I mean it's pretty gruesome stuff. As
I said, they deny the charges and the case now begins.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
And so what is the punishment that they face.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
Well, basically, lots of the municipalities in which the waste
was dumped aile seeking financial damages and I'm afraid I'm
the sort of environmental law it tends to be much
less punitive than if it were criminal law. And so
one of the particular councils assault about one hundred and

(03:21):
twenty five million krona that's roughly forty million New Zealand
dollars and they're saying, you know, this was the cost
of cleaning up the waste. But plenty of people are saying, look,
you know, we had to keep our children indoors for
miles around because of toxic smoke fumes, and we should
therefore get compensation too.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
Yeah, I can see the argument.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
Okay, now I saw this in the papers that I
didn't know if it was real, but genuinely people genuinely
turning the pineapple upside down in the shopping trolley in
order to find a lover.

Speaker 3 (03:51):
Yes, believe it or not, so they let me book
your space. No, I know you don't need apart from that,
but Mrcadona is the name of the supermarkets and it's
a supermarket chain in Spain that's widespread, and between seven
and eight pm of a particular evening, single shoppers were told, now,
if you're good, if you want, if you want to partner,

(04:12):
go and have a look at everybody in there, because
between seven and eight pm, anybody that's looking for a
partner or a date should buy a pineapple, but turn
it upside down in your basket or in your trolley.
And yes, believe it or not, they reckon. Dozens of
people did just that. There are reports and groups of
teenagers pushing trolleys around in stores in the evening with

(04:35):
a pineapple turned upside down, but without actually buying any products.
One man dressed as a giant pineapple turned up inside
his friends as part of a bachelor party celebrations. The
police were called to one branch because of rowdy scenes inside,
although it was thought they didn't actually any require any intervention.
And basically this has all gone on social media. Of

(04:58):
course you knew that, you guessed it, but yeah, it's
all started with social media. It's become incredibly popular. And yes,
the Humble Pineapple now become the center of pineapple Gate.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
Hilarious, Gavin, Thank you very much. I really appreciate it.
Gavin Gray, are UK correspondent.

Speaker 3 (05:14):
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