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

Sunday, 16 August 2015

BBC News

• Migrant breaches of Eurotunnel 'down'The number of migrants trying to enter the Eurotunnel terminal near Calais has fallen to about 150 a night, the company says, down from 2,000.
• £2.7m port expansion work startsWork starts on a £2.7m project to redevelop part of the Port of Newport to increase the amount of cargo it can hold.
• VIDEO: '700 feet in a matter of seconds'The BBC's Mike Bushell visited the Derbyshire and Lancashire Gliding Club, and took to the Peak District skies.
• Migrant breaches of Eurotunnel 'down'The number of migrants trying to enter the Eurotunnel terminal near Calais has fallen to about 150 a night, the company says, down from 2,000.
• App 'disaster' for drivers' familiesTaxi-booking app Uber will have a
• Apple car clues emerge from letterCorrespondence between Apple and an autonomous driving test site reveal nuggets of car plans.
• Sinkhole safety warning to onlookersWork to repair a large hole in a busy Manchester road could take at least two weeks and is being
• Rail line on track after derailmentEngineers say they are

The Guardian

• Queen Mary II: fog hampers search for missing member of cruise liner's crewCrew member went overboard Saturday off the coast of NewfoundlandShip was traveling to New York and was due to stop in Nova ScotiaThe crew of the luxury liner Queen Mary II were searching on Saturday for a crew member who went overboard off the coast of Newfoundland.The cruise line, Cunard, said the ship had turned around to retrace its voyage in order to search for the missing person, but was being hampered by foggy weather. Continue reading...
• Migrants suffocated in overcrowded hold of boat, reports sayUp to 40 people are thought to have died as Italian Navy rescues 300 more from boat 21 miles off coast of LibyaAt least 40 migrants have died from inhaling exhaust fumes in the hold of a boat in the Mediterranean. Commander Massimo Tozzi, speaking from the navy ship Cigala Fulgosi, which came to the aid of the overcrowded boat, said: “The dead were found in the hold.” He said the migrants appeared to have died after inhaling exhaust fumes.When rescuers boarded the boat, the migrants’ bodies were found “lying in water, fuel, human excrement” in the hold, Tozzi said. Continue reading...

The Independent

• Airport VAT: How I unearthed the great boarding pass scam – and led the charge to end it It is a scene repeated thousands of times a day at airports up and down the country.

The Scotsman

• Police Scotland under fire over breath test resultsPOLICE Scotland has been criticised after it emerged the force does not record the number of roadside breath tests carried out outside of drink-drive campaigns.
• Glasgow train is Scotland’s most delayed servicePASSENGERS on an evening rush-hour train through Glasgow are Scotland’s most regularly delayed rail commuters.
• Which? attacks car insurance firms over admin feesSOME car insurers are charging customers hefty fees for basic administrative alterations to policies such as changing their names or addresses, an investigation has revealed.

Daily Record

• Record View: Airline yobs are one piece of excess baggage that no holidaymaker needsMANY of us pour a lot of money into going on holiday,  we shouldn't have to put up with thuggish behaviour when we jet off.
• Staff at Glasgow's new super-hospital are forced to rent homeowners driveways to get a parking place THEY spend up to £31.50 a week to park their cars at residents’ houses – which they book online – because of a shortage of spaces at the £842million Queen ­Elizabeth University Hospital.

Mail Online

• Heathrow Airport staff trained to interact with children's IMAGINARY friends The London airport has invested time and money into coaching employees in and around its five terminals to interact with any imaginary people young travellers say they're jetting off with.

The Mirror

• Parking fine fury as hospital patients and staff hit with £75 penaltiesIn the first three months after a new parking system was installed in two hospital car parks in Warrington in March, 4,220 fines were issued

This is Money

• Over 70? You could be charged double for car hire - or barred altogether Holidaymakers are vulnerable to rip-offs when picking up keys to a car in a foreign country. Keith Beasant, 79, discovered they would have to pay more than double the cost of regular car hire.

Wales Online

• Drivers' union claims launch of Uber in Cardiff will be 'disastrous' for local cabbies Whether working for Uber or a rival firm, GMB claims drivers face tough times ahead if the web-based firm set up in the capital

Yorkshire Post

• Heart of haulage industry
‘could be 
in region’BRITAIN MUST revolutionise its approach to haulage with Yorkshire at its centre if it is to be resilient to the disruption of the Calais migrant crisis, according to a leading expert.
• Firms dig in for the long haul as they count cost of migrant crisisIntimidation, threats of violence, spoilt goods and missed deliveries resulting in spiralling costs – all things Yorkshire drivers and haulage firms are having to deal with on an almost daily basis owing to the migrant crisis in Calais.

Blackpool Gazette

• 999 plans given tepid welcomeA union chief has given a cautious welcome to the announcement that the North West Ambulance Service has been given the go-ahead for more emergency vehicles and staff – although just one is coming to Blackpool.
• No seat belt? Then smile for the camera...Drivers who use a mobile phone at the wheel or do not wear a seat belt now risk
being caught on camera.
• Action taken as travellers occupy main car park for touristsCouncil chiefs were forced to take legal action after around 30 travellers moved onto a major visitor car park in Blackpool

Carlisle News & Star

• Cumbria police stop and search operation on M6 A police crackdown is continuing to tackle the number of criminals operating on Cumbria’s roads.

Crewe Chronicle

• Isuzu Mysterious Utility Wizard? The best and worse car names in history With the launch of the tongue twisting Renault Kadjar, we take a look at the best and worst of car names from the history of motoring.
• First look: Suzuki Baleno set for 2016 launchiK-2 concept morphs into new Baleno hatch for Frankfurt show, as Suzuki plans to take another slice of the family car market.

East Anglian Daily Times

• Pay & display car parks ‘don’t support Colchester town centre’A business group has described a move to introduce pay and display machines at two Colchester car parks as ’a giant step backwards’.

Peterborough Telegraph

• Peterborough teens get road safety lessonsRoad safety was on the agenda for participants of the National Citizen Service when they visited Stanground Fire Station.

Reading Evening Post

• Reading buses freeze football fares for fans Smartcard to come for unlimited travel

Other Regional Press

• £2.76million redevelopment work begins at Newport port underway MULTI-million pound work has started on a project to redevelop the Associated British Ports’ (ABP) Port of Newport base.
• Battle to save an under-threat bus service grows in strength TWO community groups have added their voices to a campaign urging transport chiefs to save a North Oxford bus service.
• The decades-old trains on Lancashire linesThey’re here – and rail passengers can’t believe their eyes!
• Dangerous drink driver caught after worried motorist gave police running commentary Defendant rammed a car in which a couple were travelling with their two young children
• Ambulance took two hours to arriveWIGAN’S ambulance service has been blasted after it took almost two hours for paramedics to get to the scene of a road accident.
• Hundreds back protest petition against new plan for Headington road network MORE than 600 people have signed a petition against Oxfordshire County Council’s proposals for a £12.5m overhaul of Headington’s road network.
• Temporary traffic lights causing chaos along Abingdon Road Temporary traffic lights are causing severe delays along Abingdon Road today.
• Battle to save an under-threat bus service grows in strength TWO community groups have added their voices to a campaign urging transport chiefs to save a North Oxford bus service.
• danjmartin commented Traffic wardens in Leicester to be given mopeds so they can reach...Traffic wardens in Leicester are to be given mopeds so they can reach problem parking hotspots quicker to issue tickets.Leicester City Council has bought four 50cc petrol vehicles to get civil enforcement officials around the city quicker.The council says it receives weekly calls and e-mails from members of the public reporting illegal or inconsiderate parking in their communities, and the mopeds mean officers can respond faster than before.In the past 12 months the council has issued 43,138...
• Coach driver arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving after motorway crash A COACH driver has been arrested following a crash on a Hampshire motorway this morning.
• Hampshire bus firm goes out of business ONE of Hampshire’s best-known bus companies has gone out business, the Daily Echo can reveal.
• Grimsby Telegraph published Date set for work to bring back pedestrian crossing in Grimsby...Work to install a new zebra crossing in Grimsby town centre will start tomorrow. The majority of the works on Bethlehem Street will be undertaken throughout the day under localised traffic management. Work is expected to take ten days and an overnight closure is planned on Monday, August 24, between 7pm and 5am, to allow for the necessary carriageway resurfacing and road marking works to take place. As reported, North East Lincolnshire Council agreed to install a crossing following concerns...
• West Briton published Mistake costs family a £100 parking penaltyA FAMILY is in the grips of a parking dispute in Falmouth after being given a penalty of £100 for getting their registration plate wrong.Kathy Fairey and her family parked a van in the pay and display car park on Avenue Road at the beginning of July.She used the ticket machine to pay for the parking, but mistyped the registration plate on the machine.Despite displaying the ticket, and leaving within the allotted time, they received a shock on their return from a holiday in France when they...

Other News Sources

• MSPs visit the new Borders RailwayMSPs on the Scottish Parliament’s Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee today visited the new Borders Railway and were given the opportunity to see what passengers can expect when the line opens in September.
• New freight transport policy called for by the Infrastructure CommitteeA new freight transport policy needs to be developed by the Scottish Government in order to meet future freight transport needs, according to an inquiry by the Scottish Parliament’s Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee.
• Hampshire bus firm goes out of business One of Hampshire’s best-known bus companies has gone bust, but many services will be passed to a rival operator.
• Sunbury road recovery worker 'proud' to be public face of AA Max Holdstock secured the role after he was crowned Patrol of the Year
• Calais migrants crisis: Guildford social enterprise to donate bikes to refugees The Guildford Bike Project will see supervisor Jim Philpott personally deliver the bikes to the makeshift camps next week
• Future of Newhaven vital on ferry's survival A FERRY service being saved from closure has been hailed as the key to avoiding