Transportinfo.org.uk - today's transport news in the uk, hand picked for you each morning

Saturday, 30 May 2009

BBC News

• Tata profits hit by drop in salesProfits at India's Tata Motors fall by 50% as the global economic slowdown hits demand for cars and trucks.
• Carmakers' crisisA look at the key firms and how they are faring
• Watchdog threat to poor garagesThe car repair industry has been warned that unless it cleans up its act, it will face tough new regulation.
• Scrap scheme boost to car salesMore than 35,000 new cars have been ordered through the UK's scrappage scheme, government figures show.
• Germany picks Magna to save Opel Canadian firm Magna agrees a deal to take over the Opel wing of US carmaker GM, the German finance minister announces.

The Guardian

• Is the AA taking you for a ride?The AA is charging customers as much as £186.50 for its breakdown and recovery service “ yet similar cover can be found elsewhere for just £35. Patrick Collinson asks if the traditional providers are just laughing all the way to the garageWhen Peter Ludlow from Gelligaer in south Wales received his AA membership renewal docu­ments last week, he was taken aback by the cost, which had risen steeply from the year before. The AA wanted £186.50 for joint membership for Ludlow and his wife, to cover roadside assistance, home start and relay, compared with £136 last year.So Ludlow started digging aro...
• Do the locomotionPatrick Barkham discovers the fun of train journeys riding a dramatic new stretch of Wales's most scenic lineI am thundering along what could just be Britain's most impressive railway project since the Channel Tunnel high-speed rail link. It may have taken two hours to travel 25 miles but this is not train travel as we know it: the staff are enthusiastic, the views are stunning and, best of all, there is no mobile reception for much of the journey.On the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland railways, instead of hollering
• Mandelson seeks Vauxhall job pledgeCanadian car parts maker, said to be backed by Oleg Deripaska, is expected to take controlling stake in Opel/VauxhallMagna, the Canadian car parts maker, was poised last night to take over the stricken GM Europe, which includes Vauxhall in the UK.British union leader Tony Woodley told the Guardian that the planned take-over would result in the eventual closure of Vauxhall's van plant at Luton in Bedfordshire, which employs about 1,500 workers.

The Herald

• Bus champion to improve standards for passengersExclusive: A Scottish “bus champion” has been appointed to help improve standards for travellers amid concern operators are cutting vital services and piling pressure on local authority budgets.

The Independent

• Minor British Institutions: The Waterloo and City LineThe London Underground is, fair to say, a major British institution, world famous and rightly so. But the Waterloo and City Line “ known as

The Scotsman

• Magna deal chosen to save VauxhallVauxhall looks destined for a Canadian takeover after the German government formally selected car parts firm Magna to be the British carmaker's new parent.

The Telegraph

• Success of scrappage scheme means cash could run out The "bangers for cash" scheme has led to 35,000 orders for new cars in a month, offering a glimmer of hope for the ailing auto industry
• Pease pudding sparks airport security alert Airport staff issued a security warning after a passenger tried to carry pease pudding on to a plane.
• British Airways flight delayed by missing ashtray A British Airways flight from Heathrow was delayed for nearly half an hour - while crew searched for an ashtray to put in the lavatory.
• Gatwick loses services to New York after more than 25 years Direct flights between Gatwick airport and New York are to end after more than 25 years.

Times Online

• Magna and Sberbank set to take over Vauxhall from ailing GMMagna, the Canadian car parts maker, and Sberbank, Russia™s biggest state-controlled bank, are poised to become the new shared owners of Vauxhall, Lord Mandelson said last night.

Daily Express

• UK jobs still at risk as Opel finds buyer The future of thousands of Vauxhall workers in Britain remains uncertain after Magna, the Canadian components maker, agreed a preliminary -rescue of General Motors' European business last night.

Daily Record

• Exclusive: Traffic warden rapped after parking in disabled bay - while he tickets other drivers A PARKING warden has been leaving his car in a disabled bay while he goes to work slapping fines on other drivers.

Mail Online

• Car parts firm Magna agrees to buy GM in Europe
• 'Bribe probe' rail executive and wife killed themselves in suicide pact
• Parents charged ?400 'stealth tax' for children at faith schools as free buses are scrapped

The Mirror

• Magna deal chosen to save VauxhallVauxhall look destined for a Canadian takeover after the German government formally selected car parts firm Magna to be the British carmaker's new parent.

The Sun

• Just one carnetto A NUTTY driver takes his amphibious car for a cruise down Venice's world famous canals

London Evening Standard

• Man admits Gatwick bomb hoaxesA man pleaded guilty to sending a series of bomb hoaxes and threats to Gatwick Airport
• LATEST: Mayor Boris Johnson in Tube strike feudMayor Boris Johnson today refused to meet union bosses in talks aimed at averting the 48-hour Tube strike
• MPs in an icy blast for BorisA government report attacked Boris Johnson's
• Stations can be frightening late at night, admits ministerA transport minister admitted that waiting for a train late at night in London in a poorly lit and unmanned stations can be a
• Busiest trains carrying 40 per cent above their capacityLondon's overground rail network is struggling to cope with growing passenger numbers and is set to get worse, a report warns

Metro

• Mandelson battles for Vauxhall jobsBusiness Secretary Lord Mandelson has said he will be seeking swift confirmation from Magna, the likely saviour of GM Europe, that no Vauxhall jobs in the UK will be lost in a deal to keep the car company afloat.
• Magna deal chosen to save VauxhallVauxhall looks destined for a Canadian takeover after the German government formally selected car parts firm Magna to be the British carmaker's new parent.

Newcastle Journal

• Climate change could kill 500,000 a year by 2030Kofi Annan has thrown his weight behind a report which reveals that 90 per cent of climate-related deaths are in the developing world – and the numbers are set to climb

The News (Portsmouth)

• Drivers angry as road resurfacing causes tailbacksANGRY drivers say roadworks on one of the main routes in and out of Gosport are causing traffic chaos.

The York Press

• Claudia Lawrence rail poster campaign THOUSANDS of rail passengers are being enlisted in the hunt to find missing York chef Claudia Lawrence.
• Taxi ranks boost for hackney carriage passengers in Ryedale LATE-NIGHT taxi travel is set to be made easier and safer across Ryedale as a string of new ranks swing into operation.

Wales Online

• AMs who tell us to leave the car at home drive to work themselvesONLY one AM uses a rail season ticket to travel between his home and the Senedd, we can reveal.

Blackpool Gazette

• Fylde traders lose parking battleBUSINESSES in Lytham fear they have lost a bitter battle over a plan to extend free on-street parking.

Northants Evening Telegraph

• Consultation on permit parking comes to endA campaign group is waiting to hear if it has done enough to stop commuters using spaces outside their homes as free car parks.
• Corby road rage driver jailed for 20 monthsA man who was teaching his stepson to drive threatened to chop a motorist's arms off with a machete because he had driven "like a maniac".

Peterborough Telegraph

• Sky-high weddings proposal shot downA budget airline's plans to hold weddings in the air have been shelved after its local authority in Luton refused to grant permission.

The Shields Gazette

• Thousands fall foul of airport liquids banTHOUSANDS of passengers are falling foul of airline regulations which prohibit liquids being carried on to planes.

C.N.N.

• Reports: Germany tilts toward Magna for OpelGermany has agreed to a deal allowing Canadian car parts maker Magna International to take over Opel, news reports said early Saturday.
• Report: Magna to rescue OpelGerman carmaker Opel will be bought by Austrian-Canadian Magna International, German state-owned television reported Saturday.

New Scientist

• SpaceShipTwo's rocket motor test-fired for first timeThe hybrid rocket motor that is intended to power Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo on tourist trips to space has undergone its first successful test-firings

Washington Post

• Judge pushes ruling on Chrysler's sale to Monday NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. bankruptcy judge overseeing Chrysler LLC's bankruptcy case said on Friday he would issue an opinion
• Deal reached for Magna to rescue Opel BERLIN -- Germany's finance minister said after a high-level meeting in Berlin that a plan was approved for Canadian auto parts maker Magna International Inc. to move ahead with a rescue of General Motors Corp's Opel unit.
• Richard K. Bank — What the Merchant Marine Can Teach the Auto Industry Once, the U.S. merchant marine included hundreds of ships that regularly transported a significant portion of U.S. imports and exports and employed tens of thousands of Americans at sea and on land. Today, only a handful of such liner vessels plying regularly scheduled routes still fly the Stars and Stripes and employ crews of U.S. citizens. But these ships (including the recently pirated Maersk Alabama), though subsidized by the U.S. government, are actually owned by Danish or Singaporean interests, and U.S. taxpayers enjoy little or no benefit from them. Essentially, the U.S.-owned and -ope...

Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

• Goods vehicle traffic to Europe fallsThe number of goods vehicles travelling to Europe from the UK dipped by 19 per cent year-on-year to 576,000 during the first quarter of 2009.According to figures from the Department for Transport, 435,000 of the vehicles were powered and 141,000 were unaccompanied trailers, representing falls of 18 per cent and 22 per cent respectively compared with the first three months of 2008.A total of 19 per cent of powered goods vehicles were registered in the UK, the same number as the first quarter of 2008.Over the year to March 2009, 2.64 million goods vehicles travelled from Britain to mainland Euro...

Other News Sources

• ABTA to lead industry fight on APD ABTA will coordinate an industry campaign against a sharp rise in Air Passenger Duty (APD) on long-haul flights from November 2010. But industry leaders...
• Co-op bosses on sponsored cycle ride Senior staff at The Co-operative Travel are hoping to raise thousands of pounds for charity by cycling 120 miles from their headquarters to London on June...
• BA launches Gatwick to Maldives and Sharm El Sheik routes British Airways is to launch services from Gatwick to Sharm el-Sheik in Egypt and the Maldives from October 25 this year. The services will run three...
• US transport boss rides Spanish bullet trainSpain showed off its bullet train system on Friday, giving the U.S. transportation secretary a firsthand glimpse of the high-speed rail grid that President Barack Obama has praised as a model for Amer...
• Parents break the law to insure kids' carsThousands of motorists are breaking the law by insuring their child's car in their own name, as they try to keep soaring insurance costs down
• Collision courseBritain™s first full-scale rail-crash test in more than 20 years has been performed by vehicle engineering specialists MIRA.
• Truck traffic to Continent slumps 19%Between January and March this year, the number of HGVs travelling to the Continent dropped 19% on the same quarter in 2008, down to 576,000.
• DHL fined £8,000 after worker is hurt while unloadingDHL Exel Supply Chain has been fined £8,000 for failing to prevent a staff injury during the unloading of a lorry in Plymouth.
• Mercedes-Benz launches 'Swappage'Mercedes-Benz has brought its version of scrappage to the marketplace without the tight government restrictions in place.
• MPs slam Boris over snow chaosMPs have slammed London Mayor Boris Johnson for his role in dealing with the February™s severe snowfall, which crippled much of the country, and caused all London buses to be cancelled for the first time in living memory.
• Changes in Vessel Operations Protects WhalesYears of study and effort by NOAA and the U.S. Coast Guard will pay off this summer when two changes to shipping lanes into Boston are implemented. Both changes significantly reduce the risk of collisions between large ships and whales.Beginning on June 1, ships 300 gross tons and above will...
• Frontline Cancels Tanker OrdersAccording to a May 28 Associated Press report, Frontline Ltd., which owns and operates one of the world's largest fleet of crude oil tankers, said Thursday it canceled contracts to construct six new tankers, representing a third of the company's tanker building program and a contractual cost of $556 million...
• Further BA capacity cuts hinge on slot-rule decisionsBritish Airways is prepared to slash more capacity if the European Union extends its suspension of the
• Bombardier studies wireless IFE for CSeriesBombardier believes there is
• Oz unions fight jobs threatMEMBERS of three Australian unions have set up a community assembly at a Melbourne container terminal in an effort to block the export of manufacturing equipment to China.
• Piracy bid bustedA PIRATE attack on a Liberian-flagged ship in the Gulf of Aden has been thwarted by an Indian frigate, reports AFP.
• 500 rescued from blazing ro-paxOVER 500 passengers and crew were today evacuated from Italian ro-pax Vincenzo Florio after a fire broke out in its car hold, according to local port officials.
• ’On the go’ recycling for London’s commutersLondon’s shameful recycling rate “ one of the worst in the UK “ should be tackled with a citywide ’on the go’ recycling scheme, the London Assembly said this week. The Assembly called on Mayor Boris Johnson to take the ’next logical step’ in improving the capital’s recycling performance by putting recycle bins in the city’s [...]
• EU issues warning on GM dealEU ministers join together to reject ˜economic nationalism™ in bid to save US carmaker™s European subsidiaries.
• Liberal Democrat Air Quality Commitment Welcomed Lib Dems say they would comply with air quality limits by 2012 Olympics.
• Hopes for VauxhallCanadian-Austrian car parts maker Magna International has reportedly reached a tentative deal to rescue GM Europe, owner of Vauxhall.

Other Subscription Services

• Vroon fined over Viking Islay deathsJUDGE fines company £280,000 for safety breaches in incident that left three seafarers dead.
• Are cracks appearing in shipyards' defences?APPLIED to newbuilding contracts, cancellations may be one of the words on most people’s lips in shipping today.
• Australian warship to join Gulf of Aden anti-piracy fightAUSTRALIA is to send a frigate equipped with surveillance aircraft to join the international anti-piracy effort in the Gulf of Aden.