London's Melting

London's burning! Ok, that's not entirely true but a new skyscraper has inadvertently harnessed the power of the sun, and redirected its rays to a pavement in the financial district known as the City of London. Nicknamed the Walkie Talkie, for two hours of the day the building is acting like a gigantic magnifying glass and the resulting heat has been responsible for setting a barber shop's mat on fire, ruining street tiles, and even melting a Jaguar.

Martin Lindsay told reporters that his Jaguar’s mirror, panels and hood ornament had all melted from the concentrated sunlight reflected from the building. “It was parked for a couple hours in the City…and it’s completely warped,” he said. “It’s absolutely ruined.”

The construction company behind the Walkie Talkie blames the phenomenon on the current elevation of the sun. In the meantime, the company will be erecting a temporary screen at street level to minimise the problem, and have suspended parking in three spaces, as they can't afford to keep fixing up Jaguars.