Ministers demand compensation from Hitachi over rail chaos May 11, 2021 The government is demanding that Hitachi coughs up a multi-million-pound passenger compensation bill after safety concerns over its trains sparked travel chaos across the UK. More than 180 high-speed Hitachi trains were taken out of service on Saturday after cracks were discovered during routine safety checks. Passengers faced a third day of disruption yesterday after [...]
Re-elected Khan already caught in the middle as RMT union threatens tube strike over Night Tube jobs May 10, 2021 The RMT union is raining on Sadiq Khan’s re-election celebrations with threats of industrial action if Transport for London doesn’t back down over scrapping Night Tube jobs and merging roles with regular Tube drivers. Transport for London, which is in a dire financial state after more than a year of Covid-19 lockdowns and remote working [...]
West Midlands Trains ‘scams’ its own staff with email promising a pandemic bonus May 10, 2021 A rail union has called out West Midlands Trains for emailing 2,500 employees with the empty promise of a pandemic bonus as part of a cybersecurity test. In the email staff were thanked for their efforts under the “huge strain” of the pandemic and that managing director, Julian Edwards, wanted to thank them with a one-off [...]
Union steps in as £360m pension row at FirstGroup escalates May 10, 2021 Union Unite has spoken out against FirstGroup’s biggest investor, which wants to see proceeds for a recent sale at First Group given to shareholders, rather than used to plug the company’s pension deficit. FirstGroup recently sold its US division First Bus for £3.3bn to EQT Infrastructure, a year after putting the business up for sale. [...]
Rail disruption set to continue next week after cracks found in trains May 9, 2021 Travel chaos caused by safety checks after cracks were discovered in some high-speed trains is set to continue into next week, Brits have been warned. Robert Nisbet of the Rail Delivery Group said initial inspections of 183 trains taken out of service yesterday should be completed by the end of the day. But he warned [...]
‘Prolonged disruption’ expected on GWR and LNER as cracks found on trains May 8, 2021 Hitachi trains have been taken off the network for companies like Great Western Railway (GWR) and the London North Eastern Railway (LNER), with significant disruptions now expected. The Department for Transport said in a statement today that cracks had been found in the chassis of some of the trains during routine safety checks. The department [...]
Travel green list: Brits can go to Portugal and Israel from 17 May May 8, 2021 Brits will be able to travel to destinations including Portugal and Israel from 17 May, transport secretary Grant Shapps has announced. He said that 12 countries, including the two above and as Gibraltar, would be on the government’s travel “green list”. Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei, and Iceland make up the rest of the list, [...]
Aston Martin narrows losses as sales more than double May 6, 2021 Aston Martin has staged somewhat of a recovery in the first quarter, narrowing its losses as sales to dealers more than doubled. The carmaker posted a smaller first-quarter loss of £42.2m compared with the £110.1m posted in the same period last year. Coronavirus restrictions have hit Aston Martin’s sales hard and last year it asked [...]
Trainline posts £100m loss as sales drop through the floor May 6, 2021 Trainline has reported a huge £100m loss for the year as lockdown restrictions sent sales plummeting. The company reported an operating loss of £100m compared to an operating profit of £2m the previous year, as net ticket sales plummeted 79 per cent to £783m. The FTSE 250 firm’s revenue dropped 74 per cent from £261m [...]
Demand for food delivery helps Uber narrow losses in the first quarter May 5, 2021 Uber said it saw continued demand for its food delivery business in the first quarter but bookings in its ride-hailing division were flat on the previous quarter. The company delivered revenue of $2.9bn in the first quarter but took a $600m hit to account for a settlement relating to the classification of its UK drivers. [...]
