Engineering firm Jacobs hires 2,400 people as it eyes UK expansion November 27, 2019 Jacobs, the Dallas-based engineering giant, will hire 2,400 people in Britain over the next two years, it announced this morning. Read more: Crossrail at risk of facing further delays The firm, which has major contracts on Crossrail, the Thames Tideway super sewer and the refurbishment of the Houses of Parliament, said it would bolster its [...]
Car industry faces ‘fight of our generation’ to avoid breakdown, says trade group boss November 26, 2019 Britain’s car industry is locked in the “fight of our generation” to preserve the once-thriving sector, according to one of the UK’s most senior automotive bosses. George Gillespie, the president of influential trade group the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), warned an annual gathering of industry chiefs that investment could dwindle to levels [...]
Virgin Trains manager jumps ship to First Group for west coast main line railway takeover November 26, 2019 First Group has poached the boss of Virgin Trains just in time to take over the west coast main line rail franchise in 12 days’ time. Phil Whittingham, who has been at Virgin since it took control of the country’s most lucrative rail network in 1998, will keep running the line, which connects London to [...]
Uber rival Ola announces London launch November 26, 2019 Ride-hailing app Ola has fired the starting gun in the race to recruit Uber drivers and customers, announcing it will soon launch in London. The Indian ride-hailing app today announced it had begun on-boarding drivers in London and would launch in the coming weeks. Read more: TfL bans Uber from London after a ‘pattern of [...]
De La Rue shares plunge as it scraps dividend and warns of ‘significant doubt’ over future November 26, 2019 De La Rue has bailed on plans for a dividend this year and warned there is “significant doubt” on its ability to continue to operate, sending shares plummeting. “We have concluded there is a material uncertainty that casts significant doubt on the Group’s ability to continue as a going concern,” it said today as it [...]
Uber rival Bolt set to secure $100m in new funding November 26, 2019 Uber competitor Bolt is on the verge of securing more than $100m (£78m) in new funding. The Estonian ride-hailing app is working with Goldman Sachs on the new round of funding, just four months after raising £50m from new and existing backers. Read more: TfL bans Uber from London after a ‘pattern of failures’ Bolt, [...]
Revealed: Gatwick airport to lose 600,000 passengers because of Thomas Cook collapse November 26, 2019 Gatwick airport is set to lose more than half-a-million passengers this financial year because of the collapse of Thomas Cook. The UK’s second-biggest airport held a significant number of the airline’s take-off and landing slots before it folded in September and sparked the repatriation of 150,000 Brits who were left stranded abroad. Read more: General [...]
Tesla CEO Elon Musk to testify at his ‘paedo guy’ defamation trial November 26, 2019 Elon Musk will testify in his own defence at a defamation case brought against him for calling a British cave diver a “paedo guy”. Vernon Unsworth was involved in the rescue of a trapped Thai boys football team in 2018, which led to an unlikely row between the cave diver and the Tesla founder. Read [...]
Gatwick enjoys strong summer of retail profit despite modest passenger growth November 26, 2019 Gatwick enjoyed rising profit in the first half of the financial year on the back of strong retail trading at the airport, despite modest passenger growth. In terms of traffic, the UK’s second-biggest airport felt the impact of a tricky economic climate for the aviation industry, with 26.6m passengers passing through the gates, just a [...]
Electric dreams: How long until electric cars go mainstream in the UK? November 26, 2019 Visitors to the picturesque Whitby Bay beach in north Yorkshire were in for a shock earlier this month, when they encountered two giant footprints etched into the sand. The left was half the length of a football pitch, at 50 metres – the right was just 3.5 metres long. The reason? A publicity stunt by [...]