Greenpeace activists blockade BP’s London offices in climate change protest May 20, 2019 Environmental protesters have blockaded BP’s central London headquarters this morning as they claim “this is a climate emergency”. Read more: Extinction Rebellion founder wants to upend the UK's financial sector Greenpeace activists have set up five steel containers outside all entrances to BP’s offices in St James's Square, W1. On Twitter, the group said: “Volunteers have [...]
Ryanair shares drop as profits suffer 30 per cent hit on falling ticket prices May 20, 2019 Irish budget airline Ryanair said today its full year profit fell 29 per cent year on year to €1.02bn (£890m), blaming a fall in fares and issuing a "cautious" warning on profit for the year to come. Shares fell nearly six per cent to hit €10.16 in early trading. The figures The airline said traffic grew [...]
Walking the walk: The City is on a journey to revolutionise transport in the capital May 20, 2019 For Londoners, complaining about public transport is as commonplace as complaining about the weather. The City of London is the most accessible part of the capital, served by 15 Tube stations, seven Tube lines, eight mainline stations, multiple bus routes, and a fast-evolving bicycle network, but with a working population of 513,000 and home to [...]
Energy switching reaches record high as customers’ bills balloon May 20, 2019 Nationalising the UK’s energy infrastructure will jeopardise the country’s energy transition and could drive up prices, the head of the sector’s trade body has said as record numbers of households switched suppliers last month. More customers switched energy supplier in April than ever before after average bills leapt up by £117 for millions of customers [...]
US investor urges First Group to split and pull out of ‘destructive’ UK rail network May 19, 2019 Activist hedge fund Coast Capital has issued a list of demands against First Group, including that it pull out of Britain's railways, split its UK and US assets and overhaul its board. Coast, a top ten shareholder in First, has said the group should separate its US assets, which it claims have a "much higher independent [...]
Taxman opens investigation into claims Uber owes £1bn in unpaid VAT May 19, 2019 HMRC has opened an investigation into Uber over allegations it owes around £1bn in unpaid VAT. Uber claims it is exempt from paying VAT because its drivers are self-employed and their earnings fall below the £85,000 threshold. However, HMRC is now looking into whether Uber is a transportation company and should therefore be liable to pay [...]
Commuters urged to plan travel as new rail timetable comes into force May 19, 2019 The rail industry has today pushed through its new summer timetable, a year after changes caused havoc across the country. An extra 1,000 services have been added per week to the timetable, with extra stops and longer trains. The train firms that were caught up in last year's chaos – in which thousands of services were [...]
Boeing completes 737 Max software update to fix cause of fatal crashes May 17, 2019 Boeing has completed the development of a software update for its 737 Max planes as it tries to get them back in the air. The aircrafts were grounded across the world following two fatal crashes – in Ethiopia and Indonesia – within five months, claiming the lives of all 346 people on board them. Read [...]
Easyjet losses soar to £275m on higher fuel prices and Gatwick drone chaos May 17, 2019 Losses shot up at Easyjet to £275m in the first half of the year, in line with expectations, the company showed this morning as it was forced to deal with lower revenues per seat. The figures Easyjet saw losses before tax deepen to £275m in the six months to the end of March, figures showed today. The [...]
Canary Wharf Group in spat with Crossrail over station’s £80m safety bill May 16, 2019 The Canary Wharf Group has hit back at Crossrail over claims that an extra £80m has been spent to make the Elizabeth Line station comply with TfL safety standards. The group, which built the station and contributed £150m to the total cost, said it "categorically dismissed" comments made by Crossrail boss Mark Wild yesterday, in which he [...]