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

Sunday, 31 May 2009

BBC News

• Road worries before girl's deathAs tributes are paid to a 10-year-old girl killed in a crash, locals say concerns about the safety of the road had been raised.
• Watchdog threat to poor garagesThe car repair industry has been warned that unless it cleans up its act, it will face tough new regulation.
• Steam giants on new £50 banknote?Steam pioneer James Watt and his business partner Matthew Boulton are to feature on a new £50 banknote.
• Obama 'helped' Opel rescue dealThe German chancellor says President Obama helped swing a deal to save carmaker Opel from GM's imminent bankruptcy.

The Observer

• How the wheels fell off in GermanyThe Opel crisis is part of a much wider problem. Manufacturing-led growth has collapsed, banks have £800bn of toxic assets and unemployment could be about to surge, writes Ashley Seager in BerlinAngela Merkel's desperate efforts to safeguard thousands of German jobs at the embattled carmaker Opel last week was a potent symbol of the sad truth laid bare by the credit crunch: what was meant to be the mighty strength of Europe's largest economy - its productive, high-quality, export-friendly manufacturing sector - has left it more, not less, vulnerable to the worldwide recession than th...
• The Ladybird's a car's best friendTree surgeons are pioneering an eco-friendly solution to the sticky problem plaguing car owners who park in leafy streets. Honey dew, the sugary deposit left by sap-sucking aphids, can leave cars needing a respray as the stubborn residue corrodes paintwork. The answer, according to a group of Oxford-based arboriculturalists, lies in an army of ladybirds and lacewing larvae. Tom Wilson, 26, a climbing arborist with Jenks Group, colonises problem trees with these
• Fears for van job losses at VauxhallThe carmaker's new owner has given assurances that production will continue in the UK - but concern grows about Luton's 1,500 van workersThe threat of large-scale redundancies among Vauxhall's 5,000 workers is looming as the company comes closer to being taken over. Union leaders are particularly anxious about the future of its Luton van plant, which employs 1,500 people.The company's short-term future was secured yesterday after the German government agreed a deal paving the way for Canadian car parts maker Magna International to take over most of GM Europe, which owns Vauxhall and its German...

The Scotsman

• GM deal 'could threaten UK jobs'A deal struck to save Vauxhall and its sister company Opel could see German and not UK jobs saved, trade unions bosses and MPs have warned.

Times Online

• Richard Hammond on origins of caravanning A long time ago, before Boeing invented the 747 jumbo jet, goods had to be transported on the backs of donkeys. And when you have people moving cargo around you have people called robbers who like pinching stuff. Very annoying when you’ve walked for several hundred miles across a desert with heavy bags of spices strapped to your donkey and some bloke with a sword and an Errol Flynn moustache nicks it off you.
• Manx TT is first zero-emissions grand prix They laughed at Thomas Edison. And in the world of motorcycle racing, where loud, fast and smelly are good, some see electric bikes at the Isle of Man TT as a joke too.
• Uncertainty over safety of Vauxhall jobsUncertainty remains over the future of thousands of jobs at the UK's Vauxhall car plants, despite a takeover deal being approved with the company's owners.
• Tesco goes electricTesco, Britain™s biggest supermarket group, is backing electric cars. The food retailer is to start providing charging facilities in its car parks for battery-powered vehicles.
• GM: it™s the fallout we should worry aboutThe collapse of General Motors is a historic moment. This was once the world™s largest company, which at its peak in the 1960s made 50% of the cars in America. But the shock is long gone.

Reuters News

• Unions urge more action to safeguard Vauxhall jobsLONDON (Reuters) - Union leaders on Saturday urged the government to do more to safeguard British jobs after Germany announced a deal to save the European arm of stricken U.S. car giant, General Motors.

Daily Express

• General Motor's set to go bustGENERAL MOTORS is preparing to place itself into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week and put its core assets into a new company.
• London City Airport firm in lead for GatwickGlobal Infrastructure Partners (GIP) is tipped as the favourite to buy Gatwick airport — if the sales process is not put on hold.
• Fuel costs to put Ryanair in tailspinRyanair will become the latest airline to see profits nosedive as a result of the sky-high cost of jet fuel.
• UK port in doubt as Dubai reviews plan Dubai Ports World, due to build a new £2 billion container port at Shell Haven in the Thames estuary, is believed to have placed all its major projects under review, putting a question mark over the future of the UK development.

Mail Online

• Gibraltar ambush: Spain grabs miles of British waters to carry out 'environmental protection'

The Mirror

• Road rage? Blame it on MPs expensesDriving down Marylebone Road in London last week I stopped at traffic lights. A guy in the car behind me was in a total rage.

Daily Post (North Wales)

• Wrexham man purchased new bonnet after boy's deathA BUSINESSMAN purchased a new bonnet for his Jaguar and tried to dispose of its bumper after an accident which led to the death of a nine-year-old boy.

Journal Live

• Car scrappage scheme off to flying startCONSUMER demand for the Nissan Micra has been “electric” as motorists take advantage of a £2,000 subsidy to swap their old cars, a major car dealer in the North East declared yesterday.
• North East’s road and rail funds slashedTHE Government was last night accused of slashing funds for North East roads and rail links as figures show the South gets nearly four times more transport cash.

The Press and Journal (Aberdeen)

• Bus shelter victoryCOUNCILLOR Ian Tait claimed a victory last night as the row over his suspension rumbled on.
• Firm fined £280,000 for fatal safety breachesA shipping firm was fined £280,000 yesterday for safety breaches which a judge said probably contributed to the deaths of a north-east man and two of his colleagues.
• Pupil™s bid to reopen stationWhile her friends have been playing computer games and doing homework, one north-east schoolgirl has been single-handedly running a campaign to reopen a railway station.
• Cars damaged in vandal attackVandals in Aberdeen targeted 15 cars the day after thousands of pounds worth of damage was caused to 21 vehicles in the city.

The York Press

• York bike show boost THOUSANDS of people are expected to flock to York Cycle Show next month when a range of exciting activities for cyclists will be on offer.
• More licences issued despite York taxi drivers™ concerns over saturation MORE hackney carriage licences are to be issued this year despite protests from taxi drivers who say there are already too many cabs chasing too few customers in York.

Peterborough Telegraph

• Vauxhall jobs fears remain after dealFears for the future of Vauxhall's UK plants in Luton and Ellesmere Port remain as ministers sought confirmation that a new deal would safeguard British jobs.

Forbes

• America's Prettiest Road Trips Experts agree, these routes are the most beautiful in the U.S.

Washington Post

• 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...
• Warren Brown's Car Culture Buried under the current global economic collapse is the debris of conventional wisdom. Consider, for example, the wreckage of the automobile industry.
• Tailfins, V-8s and Corvettes: The wake of an icon -- For generations, General Motors fueled America's love affair with the automobile, building cars that defined their owners' status in life and the industrial might of the nation. But less than a year after entering its second century, the company that survived wars, international rivalry and even the Great Depression is being driven by the government into bankruptcy court.
• GM board meets as bondholder deadline passes DETROIT -- General Motors Corp.'s board of directors met for a second day Saturday to make the final decision on whether the automaker would complete its restructuring by filing for bankruptcy protection Monday.
• Stronach: man behind the auto parts giant Magna TORONTO -- Frank Stronach, the Canadian owner of auto parts maker Magna International Inc., once referred to himself as
• Toyota Prius sales boom in Japan despite slowdown TOKYO -- Orders in Japan for Toyota's new Prius hybrid have topped a booming 110,000, a major dealership chain said Saturday, in what is turning out to be a rare bright spot in the gloomy auto market.
• After Many Tuneups, A Historic Overhaul In the space of five head-spinning months, the economic downturn and a few strong-willed financial officials in the Obama administration have done what legions of car executives, consultants and policymakers had failed to do in three decades: overhaul the U.S. car industry.