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

Saturday, 29 August 2020

BBC News

• A55 motorists drive wrong way up slip road in trafficTraffic Wales says the drivers could have caused a serious crash by performing
• Llangennech train fire: Up to 750 tonnes of oil in derailed wagonsA diesel spill from the train could have a
• Coronavirus: Extra 500 bus services in NI to ease school pressuresTranslink says the move will help split pupils and other users to manage the spread of Covid-19.
• Coronavirus: Gatwick passenger numbers collapse by 14.7 millionThe airport says it will take four to five years for air traffic to return to pre-pandemic levels.
• Learner drivers park manual cars in shift to automaticThe number of people taking lessons in automatic vehicles has risen every year since 2012.

Financial Times

• Norwegian Air warns bailout will not be enoughImposition of Covid-19 related quarantines across Europe has dashed carrier’s recovery hopes

The Guardian

• Airlines warn flying back 100,000 stranded Australians will take six months unless travel caps easedAirlines say they have been forced to prioritise customers who pay more for tickets, with one flight carrying as few as four economy passengersIs it legal to limit how many Australian citizens can fly home each week?Sign up for Guardian Australia’s coronavirus emailDownload the free Guardian app to get the most important news notificationsFrustrated airlines continuing to fly into Australia are warning it will take six months to repatriate more than 100,000 Australians stuck overseas if the country’s strict arrival caps are not eased.Pressure is also mounting within government ranks to address...

The Huffington Post

• Passenger Taken From Ryanair Flight By Staff In Hazmat Suits After Positive Covid-19 Result

The Independent

• Extinction Rebellion: Tens of thousands of warning labels stuck on petrol pumps across UK as part of new campaign‘It is our duty as health professionals to warn the public that continued fossil fuel use is wrecking our life support systems,’ say activist healthcare professionals

The Telegraph

• Uber 'covered up safety flaw that let its drivers swap photo IDs'
• Extinction Rebellion to target airports over bank holiday weekend as part of new protest action

Times Online

• Bullet plane promises a low-cost revolution in the skies [Subscription]Private plane travel could be coming to the masses. A US company has unveiled a futuristic aircraft billed as an alternative to executive jets which can be hired for the price of an airline ticket.
• Norwegian seeks more funding to beat crisis [Subscription]Norwegian Air wants more state funding to see it through the Covid-19 pandemic as it continues to battle a sustained slump in demand.
• Gatwick revenue tumbles with recovery ‘years away’ [Subscription]Gatwick airport expects to wait for up to five years for passenger numbers to return to pre-pandemic levels after its revenue fell by 61.3 per cent.
• Ministers can make airports fly again [Subscription]Not many companies time an acquisition to perfection. But credit to France’s Vinci for giving it a go. It paid £2.9 billion for 50.01 per cent of Gatwick airport ten months before a global pandemic. At least things are proving eventful.
• Tesla employee ‘was offered $1m to let criminals hack its systems’[Subscription]It started with two Russian men in their twenties meeting in a bar near Tesla’s factory in California and ended with secret recordings, an FBI arrest, a $1 million bribe and an insight into the world of cybercriminals.
• Holidaymakers left stranded and furious by broker Got Rental Cars [Subscription]Holidaymakers are being abandoned without car hire because one of the biggest rental brokers in Britain is cancelling policies at the last minute and ignoring customers in emergencies.
• Tories drive pressure to ban new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 [Subscription]The sale of new petrol and diesel cars could be banned within a decade amid pressure from Conservative MPs to accelerate a transition to green vehicles.
• Boris Johnson’s proclaimed golden age of cycling suffers ‘bikelash’[Subscription]Boris Johnson’s promise of a “golden age of cycling” is at risk as traffic levels rise and a number of councils fail to stand up to the anti-bike lobby.
• Cambridge and Oxford top list of Britain’s most dangerous roads for cyclists [Subscription]Analysis by Ryan Watts and Graeme Paton reveals that cycle-friendly cities are not exempt from crashes

Mail Online

• New petrol and diesel cars could be banned from 2030 under Government electric vehicle plansNew petrol and diesel cars could be banned in the UK from as early as 2030 under Government plans to speed up the green transition, it was reported last night.
• Heathrow Airport trials could spare Britons from quarantine after holidays if ministers back schemeThe airport is working with Oxford and Manchester universities on three cutting-edge tests to screen people on arrival and departure, it was reported last night.
• 100,000 Australians could be trapped abroad for SIX months unless strict passenger cap is relaxedMore than 100,000 Australians could be stranded overseas because of coronavirus travel bans the industry has warned. One such citizen is Naomi Nguyen, a 22-year-old from Sydney,
• Grant Shapps hints quarantine-free travel to Spanish islands could returnTransport Secretary Grant Shapps today hinted quarantine-free holidays to the Spanish islands could be allowed to restart as he suggested they could be treated differently to the Spanish mainland.

The Mirror

• Heathrow bringing in 20-second virus tests to 'unlock' travel from quarantinesHeathrow Airport is trialling a 20-second test for passengers that could remove the need for quarantines on arrival for foreign travellers if it proves to be successful

This is Money

• Britain's beaches where motorists are most likely to be stung with parking finesWith this weekend being the first bank holiday since lockdown where travel restrictions have been relaxed, many of the 18m Britons expected to hit the road are setting their sat-navs for beaches.

Birmingham Post

• Green light for HS2 Interchange station but work to be done on parkingBorough planning chiefs in Solihull approve scheme to build one of four new stations to serve first phase of high-speed rail line
• Labour backs campaign for £1.5bn warship contract to stay in UKShadow defence minister throws weight behind GMB push for Fleet Solid Support Vessels to be built in British shipyards

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• Jet2 suspends flights to Ibiza and other Balearic Islands JET2 has suspended all flights to Ibiza, Majorca and Menorca for the rest of Summer 2020.
• Closure of key road from Oxenhope to Hebden Bridge will last through September Road closures as part of work to improve the safety of the A6033 from Hebden Bridge to Oxenhope will continue throughout September - but the road will be open on Bank Holiday Monday.

Bristol Live

• M5 motorists targeted by Extinction Rebellion protestBannersare being displayed in more than 60 locations on key routes into the region
• Police closing Suspension Bridge are 'doing our job for us' say XRExtinction Rebellion say they only planned an eight hour protest, but police have closed the bridge for up to four days
• Warning letters sent to people caught driving on Bristol Bridge bus laneBristol City Council will start issuing £60 fines in a few weeks to anyone who has breached new traffic restrictions

Daily Post (North Wales)

• Airbus' autumn of 'multiple problems' as select committee chair calls for targeted furlough extensionMP Darren Jones, chair of the cross party Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee came to Airbus Broughton
• A55 motorists slammed for doing U-turns on slip road to avoid Conwy Tunnel closureTraffic Wales said their actions could have caused a serious crash

London Evening Standard

• Travellers in Czech Republic and Switzerland paying hundreds for seats on flights to avoid UK quarantinePassengers are paying hundreds of pounds for a seat on flights back to the UK to avoid two-weeks of quarantine.

The York Press

• Bus firm moves to reassure York parents and studentsA NORTH Yorkshire school bus operator has moved to reassure parents students ahead of schools going back next month.
• Works set to cause delays at busy Hull Road junction in York DRIVERS are being warned to expect delays when works are carried out at a busy junction in York, which are expected to last for more than two months.

Wales Online

• Full investigation into how freight train derailed and caught fire beginsNetwork Rail, the police, and Natural Resources Wales have now been allowed to move onto the site after the fire was extinguished
• Traffic Wales details busiest M4 times for bank holiday weekendMotorists have been asked to avoid peak times when journeys could take longer than usual

Cambridge News

• Ryanair passenger removed from flight after testing positive for Covid-19The plane from London Stansted was delayed by over an hour following the incident
• Latest travel advice from TUI including cancellations and refundsTUI has provided updates for travellers as the list of UK quarantine countries continues to be updated
• 'Urgently needed' hourly bus services to Addenbrooke's launching soonThe new transport links we also serve Cambroune, Huntingdon, Godmanchester and Papworth
• The hilarious things American tourists said about Stansted Airport"I'm pretty sure there are folks still roaming around days later searching for their gate"

Reading Evening Post

• The Reading road that is uniting cyclists and driversChanges have been made to major routes across Reading in support of social-distancing measures

Other Regional Press

• £102m dual carriageway deal for Oxford to Witney A40 is finalisedA £102m funding deal which will lead to the dualling of the A40 between Witney and Oxford has been finalised.
• £1.1m road improvement scheme under way to improve safety on A689The work will make it easier to cross the main road but is also aimed at improving traffic flow

Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

• Government accelerating pothole mapping project to support motorists and cyclists ahead of school returnA first-of-its-kind audit into the mapping of potholes in England has been launched by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, aided by data from on-road businesses such as Uber and Deliveroo, to better target improvements so that roads are in top condition as people return to work and school. The Department for Transport will work with Gaist, a highway data and mapping company, businesses such as Deliveroo, Uber, Tesco and Ocado, alongside local highway authorities to identify ‘pothole hot-spots’. Combining collated data on current potholes held by nation-wide businesses and the most ...

Railnews

• Diesel fuel from derailed freight train is polluting river Diesel fuel is reported to be polluting a protected marine area near Llanelli after Wednesday night™s derailment of a DB Cargotrain at Llangennech. It has now emerged that the crew were able to detach the locomotive after the derailment.

Other News Sources

• Go-Ahead wins Singapore contract extensionGroup will continue to operate buses from Loyang bus depot until at least 2023     Go-Ahead Group has won a two-year extension to its contract with Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) to continue operating around 450 buses in the Loyang region of the city state. The extension, granted on the basis of strong operational performance, will begin in September 2021 and run until September 2023. This follows the initial five-year contract which saw the Group’s entry into the Singapore bus market in September 2016. Go-Ahead says it has drawn on its experience as the largest bus...
• The (transport) times they are a-changin’  Our Whitehall insider imagines what’s going on inside the minds of the mandarins at Great Minster House, home of the DfT   When I commented, in not very favourable terms, on Grant Shapps’ decision to set up and chair a new Northern Transport Acceleration Council I suggested that it would need a team of officials to support him in that role. And so it has come to pass! We’ve set up a new Acceleration Unit! Now, this won’t actually be staffed by officials as such but will engage “expertsâ€� with “significant experience in delivering infrastructure projects.â€� As we all now know, this ne...
• Manchester Airport welcomes Pakistan flights announcement Virgin Atlantic is pleased to announce it will be launching flights to Islamabad in Pakistan in December 2020 from Manchester Airport.
• Hampshire County Council receives £1m for school transportMORE than £1m is to be pumped into council’s coffers to help provide school transport over the next few months.
• Update: Plans to expand Southampton Airport's runwayTHERE will be further consultation over plans to expand the runway at Southampton Airport, it has been revealed.
• Gatwick Airport records £321m loss due to pandemic AN airport lost hundreds of millions of pounds in revenue after passenger demand dropped dramatically amid the coronavirus pandemic.

EIN News Subscription

• Gatwick bosses fear demand for flying won't return to pre-Covid levels before 2025 … on furlough.  Last week budget airline easyJet annouced closures of … numbers has also seen budget airline easyJet annouce closures of … It comes after Airbus, Europe's biggest aircraft … 19 crisis intensified across Europe in March.  Photographs taken …
• London passenger's shock as medics drag suspected Covid case off plane - before it is allowed to fly … . Stansted airport said: 'The airport were made aware of the passenger by the airline and … Spain was removed from the airbridge scheme.  Europe is continuing to battle a … work effectively.  Department of Health data released yesterday also showed a …
• Max 8 aircraft not allowed to fly in Canada until all issues resolved, Garneau says … - Transport Minister Marc Garneau says Boeing's Max 8 aircraft … statement that Transport Canada will work with its American, European and Brazilian … counterparts before giving the aircraft a stamp of approval. Transport …