Sadiq Khan’s Ulez charge cuts polluting vehicles by over a third and bags TfL £51m September 17, 2019 Sadiq Khan’s Ultra-Low Emission Zone (Ulez), has raked in £51m in its first four months while also reducing the number of polluting vehicles in central London by a third. The policy, which charges polluting vehicles £12.50 a day for entering into the zone, was launched in April by the London mayor. Since then, the number [...]
HS2 officially signs £1bn Old Oak Common contract with Balfour Beatty group September 17, 2019 High Speed Two (HS2) has formally signed a £1bn contract for Old Oak Common station despite an ongoing review which could see the entire scheme scrapped. A Balfour Beatty, Vinci and Systra joint venture will now go ahead and build the station, which HS2 says will create 65,000 jobs and 25,500 new homes in west [...]
Thomas Cook delays crunch bondholder meeting over rescue deal September 17, 2019 Troubled travel firm Thomas Cook has secured more time for bondholders to agree to a £1.1bn rescue deal, with a crunch meeting now scheduled for next Friday. But shares fell further today after yesterday’s update to investors, dropping 3.6 per cent to just 4.5p. In the update, Thomas Cook said: “As part of the process [...]
Mike Brown hits out at ‘bonkers’ TfL borrowing limits September 16, 2019 Transport for London (TfL) boss Mike Brown has criticised the government for imposing “bonkers” limits on its borrowing and for failing to provide it with long-term certainty over its funding. The TfL commissioner told City A.M. that the organisation’s borrowing caps, which are set by government, were based on “no logic other than discussions within [...]
Energy suppliers win four-year delay for smart meter rollout September 16, 2019 Energy suppliers were given four more years to meet their obligation to offer smart meters to all homes in Britain today, as the roll-out lags behind the previous 2020 deadline. The government said it was planning to implement “strict” new annual targets for suppliers until 2024. Missed targets could lead to fines, it added. Read [...]
HS2 told to halt ancient woodlands clearance works pending review September 16, 2019 The government has ordered the removals of ancient woodlands near the High Speed Two (HS2) route to be halted while it waits the outcome of a review into the controversial project. Transport secretary Grant Shapps has told HS2 Limited, the company building the high speed line, to stop its clearance works unless it can prove [...]
Cobham investors give green light to £4bn private equity takeover September 16, 2019 Investors in aerospace giant Cobham have approved a £4bn takeover by private equity firm Advent International, despite fierce opposition from the company’s founding family. More than 93 per cent of investors approved Advent’s offer of 165p per share, which marked a 50 per cent premium on Cobham’s three-month average share price and was previously recommended [...]
Bank station commuters warned of travel chaos as TfL prepares to shut DLR concourse ‘until 2022’ September 16, 2019 Commuters face years of chaos and overcrowding at busy Bank station starting later this month as the DLR concourse will be shut down as part of the station’s 2022 upgrade. Users of the DLR, which links the Dockland area of east London to Bank, will be directed through a one-way system – which could be [...]
Eddie Stobart issues profit warning amid takeover interest September 16, 2019 Eddie Stobart has warned its underlying profits for 2019 will be “significantly below” expectations as it confirmed it had received a takeover offer from one of its shareholders. Last month the truck firm suspended shares and announced its chief executive Alex Laffey was standing down with immediate effect after it discovered a multi-million pound accounting [...]
Thomas Cook ‘scrambles to seal rescue deal’ amid concerns over bondholders September 15, 2019 Troubled travel company Thomas Cook is said to be looking to delay a pivotal bondholders’ meeting on Wednesday to give it more time to agree a £900m rescue deal with majority shareholder Fosun. The 178-year-old holiday firm is still scrambling to wrap up the terms of a restructuring deal with the Chinese conglomerate, but fears [...]