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

Sunday, 09 August 2009

BBC News

• Nine feared dead in NY air crash Nine people are feared dead after a tour helicopter and a light aircraft collided near New York City and crashed into the Hudson River.
• Rail travellers facing disruptionJourneys on Arriva Cross Country services will be hit by industrial action later as part of a row over workers' pay and conditions.

The Observer

• Nine killed in mid-air collisionFive Italian tourists and a child among dead after light plane and helicopter plunge into Hudson Nine people were killed today after a sightseeing helicopter carrying Italian tourists collided in mid-air with a small plane near New York and crashed into the Hudson river.Eyewitnesses saw a wing come off the plane during the collision just after noon US time and watched as the helicopter

Times Online

• Stelios trims back to the most promising Easy lines Five years ago the BBC’s Trouble at the Top series looked at how Stelios Haji-Ioannou was taking on Hollywood with his EasyCinema business.
• Turn off the street lights, these solar-powered cat’s eyes shine Ever since he sold Auto Trader, the weekly guide to buying and selling used cars, Sir John Madejski has been on the look-out for other money-making opportunities.
• Riviera rich fly into storm over ’helicopter hell’ A FRENCH aircraft carrier could be “reborn” as a landing pad for the helicopters of the rich and famous if inhabitants of Saint-Tropez get their way.
• Ryanair more expensive than BA on some flights Ryanair and other low-cost airlines are now more expensive on some short-haul routes than British Airways, an investigation by The Sunday Times has found.
• State bans criminal truckers Criminals with previous convictions for drug trafficking, murder, sexual assaults, firearms offences and human trafficking will be banned from holding a road haulage licence from September, under new regulations to be announced by Noel Dempsey, the transport minister.
• Councils to cash in on parking feesHIGHER charges for car parking and other services could soon rake in more money than council tax for local authorities as some town halls face up to black holes of more than £100m each.
• My life in cars: Rebecca Romero For more than a decade Rebecca Romero has dedicated her life to achieving glory in not just one, but two sports. In the pursuit of her Olympic medals in first rowing, then cycling, she has sacrificed her free time, her peace of mind, any semblance of a normal life and at least one relationship. This gruelling regime also explains why, despite her successes — she is only the second woman in history to win an Olympic medal in two different sports — Romero is still driving around in a battered eight-year-old Volvo.
• Supercars as a high performance investment It is the ultimate pub question among car lovers: if money were no object, what supercar would you buy? A 253mph, 987bhp Bugatti Veyron, maybe, or perhaps a Ferrari Enzo, named after old man Enzo himself?
• GM bidder pledges to keep VauxhallTHE Belgian group vying to buy Vauxhall said it has no plans to close the car firm™s two manufacturing plants in Britain and is committed to the Vauxhall brand.
• First Group steers Greyhound to new horizonsAMERICA™s Greyhound buses, celebrated in song and film, will soon be roaring down UK motorways.

Daily Express

• Sky's the limit for school high fliers BOEING, the US defence and aerospace giant, is attempting to get British schoolchildren interested in engineering with a project that will see four schools build a light aircraft.

Daily Post (North Wales)

• Biker stopped by policeman on way to ravine 999 callA POLICEMAN on his way to a 999 call after a dad and daughter fell to their deaths in a waterfall, stopped to pull over a biker and give him a ticket – because his number plate was 8cm too small.

Liverpool Echo

• Future of Ellesmere Port plant: Vauxhall deal edging closerA DECISION on the future of Ellesmere Port’s Vauxhall plant could be made next week.

The York Press

• Bid for inquiry in new road junction row at Clifton Green, York THE battle lines have been drawn in the row over a controversial roads shake-up in York, as city leaders consider launching a full-scale inquiry.
• Hopgrove roundabout upgrade: A64 closures set to cause roads misery DRIVERS face traffic headaches as a multi-million pound upgrade of York™s outer ring road continues.

Peterborough Telegraph

• Rail strike has knock-on effect for holidaymakersHolidaymakers preparing to jet out of Britain faced travel disruption on their way to Stansted Airport as a knock-on effect of a 48-hour walkout by rail union members.

Sunderland Echo

• Support for Park Lane car ban callA city centre councillor is backing calls from the taxi trade for cars to be banned from a busy section of Sunderland.

International Herald Tribune

• Russia Seeks to Improve Safety of Its RoadsA wave of horrific traffic accidents in recent weeks has led to promises to improve the safety of the country’s poorly maintained roads.
• In Some Prison Breaks Across Europe, Helicopters Replace the File in the CakeReasons for the phenomenon, experts say, include poor security at heliports, overcrowding and regulations that prohibit guards from shooting at helicopters.

Washington Post

• Popular 'clunkers' program hurts some charities CHICAGO -- Vehicles already were lined up for one of the weekly auto auctions benefiting Texans Can, a charity that helps at-risk teenagers and their families, when prospective donors started to call, saying they had changed their minds.
• As 'cash for clunkers' ramps up, new cars sell out NEW YORK -- The nation's car dealers have a new worry: they're running out of vehicles.
• Safety of Russian planes in Afghanistan questioned MOSCOW -- More than a year ago, the U.N. dropped the Russian air transport company Vertikal-T from its approved list of vendors after a fatal helicopter crash in Nepal.
• Collision turns attention to for-hire flights WASHINGTON -- The collision that sent a sightseeing helicopter full of tourists and a small plane into the Hudson River on Saturday comes less than a month after a federal watchdog warned that safety oversight of sightseeing and other for-hire flights is too lax.

Aviation Industry

• Southwest plays defense with Frontier bidSouthwest Airlines, which for 30 years led the charge to change the airline industry, is now playing defense.
• Exec: Flight 3407 pilot shouldn't have flownAn airline executive whose plane crashed earlier this year said although the pilot was
• Timing Is Everyting...Thank goodness I just got OFF of a plane... WASHINGTON - On at least a dozen recent flights by U.S. jetliners, malfunctioning equipment made it impossible for pilots to know how fast they were flying, federal investigators have discovered.

Other News Sources

• Rail action sees more travel delays
• Nine feared dead after New York air crash It is feared nine people have died after a tour helicopter collided with a small plane over the Hudson River in New York.Related StoriesObama: Let them eat cupcakes!San Diego panda gives birth to cute babyFlorida officials consider ban on pythonsTaliban leader reported deadRoyal Marine death inquest