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

Sunday, 31 January 2021

BBC News

• HS2 tunnel protest: Activists in 'great danger' as weather worsensThe warning comes as the weather in London is set to worsen with heavy rain and snow forecast.

ITV News

• Newcastle Airport could get up to £8 million of government support to help cover covid lossesNewcastle Airport could get up to £8 million of government support to help cover its Covid losses - but bosses say they need more help to protect the crucial travel hub.

The Guardian

• DVLA managers 'failed to understand severity' of deadly Covid outbreakHealth board briefing details multiple safety failures as MP blasts Swansea agency for putting people at risk
• Airlines wrong to refuse refund on out-of-date flight vouchersSummer holidays abroad are unlikely to go ahead but legal experts say that expired vouchers must still be honoured. Consumers unable to travel because of the pandemic have been told they can demand a cash refund for flight vouchers even if they have expired.Rolling lockdowns and limits on travel have meant that many passengers who had flights cancelled and were given vouchers for another journey have been unable to use them.

The Telegraph

• Rail workers face pay freeze as pandemic bill hits £10bn [subscription]Rail minister Chris Heaton-Harris has written to bosses warning that there is 'no budget' to increase wages for 62,000 workers
• Green road closure signs removed after motorists baffledA council is ripping down signs celebrating road closures in low traffic neighbourhoods amid fears they are “confusing to drivers”. Green signs declaring “ROAD OPEN TO” pedestrians, cyclists, wheelchair users and scooters are being removed by Ealing Council from controversial planters and bollards used to shut streets to traffic.
• The golden era of aviation is heading for terminal decline [subscription]Airports warn of dire economic consequences without state support

Times Online

• The UK should save Eurostar — but make it work harder [subscription]When Britain and France signed the deal to dig the Channel tunnel, Margaret Thatcher had a stipulation. “Not a public penny” was to be spent on building the three 31-mile tunnels to Calais, insisted the Iron Lady, whose reign was spent disentangling the state from business.
• Will cycle lanes be the fast track to house price rises? [subscription]New segregated cycle lanes in areas of south Co Dublin are being linked to increased interest from prospective house-buyers. Is this a new ’Luas effect’, asks Linda Daly
• FirstGroup took £19m from Great Western despite tapping taxpayers [subscription]Transport giant FirstGroup extracted a £19 million dividend from its Great Western franchise after the pandemic hit, despite taking hefty taxpayer support.
• Your first Crossrail service may arrive in time for Christmas . . . [subscription]Elizabeth Line opening will symbolise capital’s ’phoenix-like rise from Covid’ says London transport boss
• Amateur bike detective puts brakes on Cambridge thieves [subscription]When the police admitted bike thefts would always be a low priority, Omar Terywall decided to enlist the public as a benign force of vigilantes.
• Pension giant Equitix: ’Bail out Eurostar or damage the UK’ [subscription]Failure by ministers to prop up struggling Eurostar could put investors off Britain, a pension giant has warned.

Daily Express

• Free bus pass: State pension age changes could affect entitlement - check nowA FREE bus pass is likely to provide important travel support to older people. However, with recent changes to the state pension age, when Britons can receive this important entitlement is likely to change for some.

Birmingham Post

• Developer hits out over M49 junction 'responsibility' Delta Properties owns the land on which the new access road is going to be built

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• Why are so many of us flying during a pandemic? FLICKING through newspapers, there is one thing that lifts my spirits - holiday adverts.
• West Yorkshire devolution deal worth £1bn singed into law AN order bringing West Yorkshire devolution into law, and with it a £1 billion budget, has been passed by the Government.

Nottingham Evening Post

• Runaway wagons weighing more than 1,800 tonnes derail just shy of active Nottinghamshire railway lineAn investigation has been launched after runaway wagons weighing more than 1,800 tonnes derailed just short of an active railway in Nottinghamshire.

Leeds Live

• Taxi drivers struggle as lockdown turns Leeds into a 'ghost town'Some drivers are considering leaving the trade and looking for new jobs

Other Regional Press

• Isle of Wight ferry and bus staff being offered Coronavirus vaccinationsA change in the categories for priority groups has allowed transport staff to be offered Covid-19 vaccinations
• Potential £8 million for Carlisle airport welcomed by MPTransport Secretary Grant Shapps opened the Airport and Ground Operators Support Scheme to support commercial airports across England to cover losses on costs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, including airfield operations, contracted services such as airfield and runway maintenance, and business rate bills
• CROSSING THE FORTH RAIL BRIDGE - FROM TRAIN DRIVER'S PERSPECTIVEA video shared by Scotrail online has transported bored Scots at home into the seat of a train driver crossing one of Scotland's most iconic landmarks.
• Train warehouse to be transformed into railway museumPlans to transform a warehouse used to store historic trains into a locomotive museum have been approved.
• JLR round-up: I-Pace review, latest financial results and moreAll the latest news on Britain's biggest car maker

Other News Sources

• English City to Host World-first Electric Flying Car AirportFlying cars have been growing in popularity in the past few years with even big players such as Boeing and Porsche looking to develop these vehicles. Now, a city in England is getting ready to host the world's first airport for flying cars.
• ’Saw it coming’: London International Airport CEO responds to new flight suspensionsThe president and CEO of a London, Ont., airport says he “saw it coming” when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced new flight suspensions Friday.
• English airports set for up to £8 million in government helpAirports and ground handling companies in England are set to recieve up to £8 million in Government help as the Airport Support Scheme comes online.
• MPs ask Transport Minister to build HS2 cycleway in fullAll Party Parliamentary Cycling Group members Ruth Cadbury and Lilian Greenwood have written to Transport Minister Andrew Stephenson asking him to commit to building a cycleway along the full route of HS2. The Department for Transport (DfT) has so far said only that plans for cycle routes at 11 points on the route are being “refined”.