TfL to use its own Olympic volunteers to staff stations during strikes January 23, 2014 Transport for London has found a new benefit to the Olympic legacy – it is drafting in trained volunteers from its back offices to man the stations as “ambassadors” during next month’s strikes. Around 1,000 TfL staff, from accountants to former drivers, have offered to lend a hand to passengers during the RMT walkouts on [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 23 January 2014 January 22, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Microsoft to shield users’ data Microsoft will allow foreign customers to have their personal data stored on servers outside the US, breaking ranks with other big technology groups that until now have shown a united front in response to the American surveillance scandal. Just Eat gears up for £900m IPO London’s start-up cluster [...]
Highest court throws out legal challenge to High Speed Two January 22, 2014 CAMPAIGNERS against High Speed Two have lost their final legal appeal in the UK after two years of fighting the rail project in the courts – though one group pledged to appeal to the European authorities. Transport minister Baroness Kramer said the unanimous decision in the Supreme Court yesterday “fully vindicated” the government’s work on [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 21 January 2014 January 20, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Retailers join IPO shopping list Bankers are preparing to list a swelling number of high street retailers on the London Stock Exchange as their private equity backers rush to cash in on a recovery in the IPO market. Discount retailer Poundland and Pets at Home are poised to kick off the slew of [...]
Plans to rethink West End ahead of Crossrail rush January 20, 2014 WEST End leaders have hired consultants to come up with a plan for improving the busy shopping district to cope with a surge in visitors when Crossrail opens in 2018. Westminster City council, Transport for London and the New West End Company – the group that represents businesses in the area – have commissioned Arup [...]
Sir Howard Davies promises to rise above Boris Johnson’s “vulgar abuse” over London airport analysis January 20, 2014 Sir Howard Davies plans to "rise above this vulgar abuse" from Boris Johnson as he works to pick a site for a new runway or airport. "I completely dismiss what the mayor has said about our report. It’s completely at variance with anyone else … As far as the mayor's concerned we don’t seem to [...]
Plans for West End revamp unveiled as Crossrail expected to bring in extra 250m visitors January 20, 2014 Trying to move down Oxford Street at the weekend or any day for that matter is getting rather like trying to move down a busy tube carriage during rush hour. No wonder then that with the imminent launch of Crossrail expected to bring 250m extra visitors West End leaders are thinking about how to improve [...]
City Moves for 20 January 2014 | Who’s switching jobs January 19, 2014 Maker Studios The media company has hired former AOL executive Rene Rechtman as president of international, a new role to help develop its growth strategy and strategic relationships overseas. Rechtman left his role as CEO of AOL’s branded content division, BeOn, last November. Markel The insurance company has announced the appointment of Charles Bragg as [...]
MoD to spend £48m on new IT after blunders January 14, 2014 THE GOVERNMENT yesterday confirmed that it will be paying Capita £47.7m to produce a new IT platform for the Army to recruit online, despite the outsourcing firm’s troubles with running the existing programme. This is the latest high-profile gaffe to rock the Ministry of Defence, which was lambasted by the Commons defence committee yesterday for [...]
New HS2 chair is looking for cost savings January 14, 2014 THE NEW chairman of HS2 pledged to cut some costs from the £42.6bn rail project yesterday. Sir David Higgins said “there is no other way” to improve transport links to the north of England and that dropping the project would be “disastrous for the whole country”. “The first thing I want to look at is [...]