Brexit protester who caused £1m worth of rail disruption jailed August 15, 2019 A Brexit protester who caused £1m worth of disruption to train services between London, Kent and France has been jailed for one year. Terry Maher, 44, climbed on top of a tunnel overlooking railway lines near St Pancras station, blocking trains between the UK and France and causing disruption that affected about 22,000 people. Read [...]
Union urges Ryanair to attend talks to avert summer strikes August 15, 2019 A trade union has urged Ryanair to attend talks to resolve the current dispute with its pilots over pay and working conditions. The British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa), which has over 10,000 members, has called on the budget airline to attend talks with the Acas conciliation service after pilots voted for strike action for Thursday [...]
DEBATE: In the midst of commuter outrage over fare hikes, is rail nationalisation the answer? August 15, 2019 In the midst of commuter outrage over fare hikes, is rail nationalisation the answer? Cat Hobbs, director of We Own It, says YES. Another year, another eye-watering rail fare hike, with the annual cost of getting to work likely to rise by over £100 for many commuters. And it’s no wonder passengers are angry. We’re [...]
Electric car charging points outnumber petrol stations August 15, 2019 The number of electric car charging points in the UK now exceeds petrol stations, as an increasing number of Brits turn to electric vehicles (EV). Read more: Car sales stagnate again in July but electric vehicle market share surges There are now 9,300 charging locations, compared to 8,400 petrol stations, according to new data released [...]
Ryanair’s Irish pilots to strike next week as talks break down August 14, 2019 Ryanair’s directly employed pilots in Ireland will strike for 48 hours next week, after talks failed to produce an agreement over the union’s pay proposals. The Irish Airlines Pilots’ Association (Ialpa) set today as an ultimatum for Ryanair executives to table a counter-proposal that addressed its concerns. “No such counter-proposal was made at the mediation [...]
Grant Shapps questions whether Heathrow third runway plan ‘stacks up’ August 14, 2019 Transport secretary Grant Shapps has cast doubt over the Heathrow third runway after he questioned whether the £14bn plan “stacks up”. Shapps, who replaced Chris Grayling when Boris Johnson became Prime Minister last month, said that while parliament had voted in favour of the third runway, there were “questions about whether the whole plan stacks [...]
Lion Air ‘urgently’ needs more Boeing 737 Max jets to support growth August 14, 2019 Indonesian airline Lion Air “urgently requires” more Boeing 737 Max jets, after two crashes involving the model – one of which was a Lion Air jet – left the entire global fleet grounded in March. The airline’s co-founder, Rusdi Kirana, told Reuters that once regulators allowed the plane back in the skies, it needed more [...]
Lookers profits splutter as dealership tries to contain sales practice issues August 14, 2019 Problems continue to mount for British car dealership Lookers, as the London-listed firm today said it expects costs to rise as it tries to address problems found with its sales practices. The small cap firm this morning posted a sharp drop in profit for the first half of the year, after car sales were affected [...]
First Group wins bid to replace Virgin on West Coast mainline August 14, 2019 The government announced today that First Trenitalia had been appointed to run the West Coast mainline from December 2019 to 2031. First Group and Italian firm Trenitalia will replace Virgin on the line that runs from London Euston to Glasgow via Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester. The First-Trenitalia consortium saw off a rival bid from a [...]
Travel chaos averted as union calls off Heathrow strike August 14, 2019 Union Unite has called of a strike at Heathrow which threatened to put a spanner in the works for thousands of travellers later this month. The strike, which was meant to happen on 23 and 24 August has been called off to give more than 4,000 union members the chance to consider a new offer [...]