HMRC plans to shut local tax offices and replace them with 13 new regional hubs November 12, 2015 HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has today announced that it is planning to close 137 of its local tax offices, replacing them with 13 new regional tax offices. The regional centres, the first one of which could be launched as early as 2016 with the rest opening between 2017 and 2021, will generally be in [...]
Federation of Small Businesses calls on London councils and TfL to offer free festive parking November 11, 2015 Business lobby group the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is calling on London councils and Transport for London to offer free parking for Christmas shoppers over the festive period. With Small Business Saturday on 5 December, the FSB hopes that the organisations will nix the car parking charges. Half of the FSB’s members said that the [...]
Tube fare hikes have cost Londoners an extra £2,683 each, a new report shows November 11, 2015 Talk about a top-up: Londoners have each spent an additional £2,683 using the London Underground since 2008, thanks to fare hikes. The team behind Labour's London mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan crunched the numbers, finding commuters going between Zone 1 and Zone 6 have been charged an extra £2,683 for their monthly travel cards since 2008, compared to a [...]
TfL Tube strikes in July and August 2015 cost Londoners £168m in lost man hours and the hardest hit lines for travel delays were the District and Hammersmith & City November 11, 2015 The Tube strikes that paralysed the London Underground this summer cost us £168m in lost man-hours. London came to a standstill on 8 July, and again on 5 and 6 August, as Transport for London (TfL) clashed with unions over the introduction of the Night Tube. Now, we know you don’t need us to tell you [...]
Armistice Day 2015: How and where to mark the two minutes’ silence November 11, 2015 Today is Armistice Day, when people up and down the country will remember all those lost in conflict. While the majority of the UK will no doubt be marking the day with two minutes' silence in their workplace, there are also some public commemoration services being held on the 11th hour of the 11th day [...]
TfL offers temporary relief for taxi drivers over criminal check backlog as row escalates over taxi drivers’ DSB checks November 10, 2015 Transport for London has agreed to introduce temporary licences for existing taxi drivers after a major backlog of criminal checks had built up, forcing drivers off the road. The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks, are processed by the Home Office and individual police forces. But drivers have complained that they have been unable to work – in some cases since [...]
Transport for London’s new Tube map reveals how many minutes it takes to walk between stations November 10, 2015 Did yet another sweaty Tube ride to work this morning leave you wishing there was a better way? Perhaps there is: Transport for London has released a new and improved version of its walking Tube map, revealing how many (or how few) minutes it takes to walk between stations, following on a similar map made [...]
As Transport for London and Virgin Media add free wifi to 100 more Tube stations, data use leaps to 20 terabytes a day November 10, 2015 Avast, social media fans: you need never miss out on a Snapchat again, after Transport for London (TfL) and Virgin Media added 100 new stations to their underground wifi network. Yep, everyone from those alighting in Alperton to those voyaging from Victoria Coach Station will henceforth be able to access wifi. The scheme is now available [...]
TfL and unions go back to the table over Night Tube November 10, 2015 The Night Tube negotiations are the will-they-won't-they debate of our generation. Who needs Harry and Sally when you have Transport for London and the unions? Today the two sides return to the table to see if they can thrash out a deal around the 24-hour service, which was supposed to have launched on 12 September [...]
Severe delays on Northern Line services disrupt morning commuters travelling from Kennington to Edgware via Bank November 10, 2015 Morning commuters were disrupted by severe delays on the Northern Line, following a signal failure at Clapham South. There were severe delays between Kennington and Edgware via Bank during the early morning rush hour. Although Transport for London said a good service had resumed on the line, there was confusion as to whether this was actually [...]