A bus driver, a refuse collector, a delivery driver, a fast-food worker, a supermarket worker and a train driver share their experiences
The bus driver, south of England
I’ve been sobbing in my cab
Continue reading...Category Archives: Transport
‘I couldn’t be prouder’: 16-year-old joins father in HS2 protest tunnel
Rory Hooper, Swampy’s son, joins environmental activists to protest against environmental destruction
Veteran environmental activist Dan Hooper, known as Swampy, who is one of nine protesters in a tunnel in central London to raise the alarm about the environmental destruction they believe the high speed rail project HS2 will cause, is in the tunnel with his 16-year-old son, it has emerged.
The activists have been in the tunnel close to Euston station since Tuesday to raise awareness of the climate emergency and to try to halt work on the HS2 project which is under way in the Euston area. They argue that many ancient woodlands will be destroyed by the project. HS2 says it is planting 7m new trees.
Continue reading...London buses turned into ambulances to ease Covid strain
Exclusive: Adapted single-deckers with seats removed and oxygen onboard will transfer patients
NHS staff are preparing to transport patients using two London buses that have been converted into makeshift ambulances, in another sign of the strain Covid is putting on the capital’s health services.
Most of the seats on the single-decker buses have been removed so that each can carry four patients, in an attempt to relieve the intense pressure on hospitals and the London ambulance service.
Continue reading...Space out and cover up: how to make travelling by car more Covid-safe
If sharing a car is unavoidable, there are a few ways to reduce the risk of transmission
While the UK is under lockdown, travel for work and other exemptions is still allowed. We take a look at how to stay safer when cooped up together, whether in a taxi or a private car:
Continue reading...Eurostar warns of ‘risk to survival’ without government help
The cross-Channel train service has seen a 95% fall in passengers during the Covid-19 pandemic
Eurostar has said it is facing an existential threat, as business leaders pleaded with the government to step in and save the “vital link” with Europe.
A 95% drop in passenger numbers has brought the cross-Channel train service to its knees, and the company reiterated on Sunday that while government loans had been extended to aviation, international high-speed rail had also been severely affected by the pandemic.
Continue reading...Questions will be asked over timing of closing UK travel corridors
Analysis: poor implementation ends another week of shifting Covid policy by the government
The announced closure of all international travel corridors to the UK marks the end of another week of changing policy, with the timing and implementation dismaying many.
Travel corridors will be axed in effect from Monday morning. The corridors, which exempted inbound travellers from the requirement to quarantine for 10 days, may make little practical difference to the airline and travel industry in the current context.
Continue reading...UK rail services to be reduced to 72% of pre-pandemic levels
Timetable cuts to be announced Thursday are less than 50% reduction in services that was expected
Rail services in Britain will be reduced to 72% of pre-pandemic levels over the next few weeks, and passengers are being asked to check before they travel that their service is running.
The cuts, which will be announced from Thursday, are less than the 50% reduction in services that had been expected. Train operators have focused on retaining services at morning and evening peak travel times so that key workers such as NHS staff can get to their workplace.
Continue reading...Sydney cycling: has the city that ‘hates bikes’ finally turned the corner?
Almost 7km of cycleways have been created in six months, a sign the government conflicts that have held up progress may be on the wane
When the officials charged with making cycling safer and more accessible in Sydney meet their international counterparts, they can expect to be greeted with a mixture of incredulity and sympathy.
“I don’t think anyone has a tougher time than we do,” says the City of Sydney’s executive manager of cycling strategy, Sebastian Smyth.
Continue reading...Come clean on logjams at British borders as new Brexit rules kick in, ministers told
Amid confusion for lorry drivers in Kent, logistics firms call for greater transparency to help lessen disruption
Ministers are facing demands for more honesty and transparency over any logjams at the UK border in the wake of Britain’s exit from the EU, amid concerns that waves of disruption will last for six months.
Several lorry drivers are understood to have been turned away at Dover for not having the right paperwork following the end of the Brexit transition period last week. It has caused concern among logistics and manufacturing companies that more severe problems could occur as trade flows increase later this month.
Continue reading...Anger of 10,000 lorry drivers ‘held hostage’ in Covid Christmas standoff
Hauliers stranded in their cabs on UK roads say they are being used as political pawns
Juan Andrés had braced himself for what promised to be an atypical holiday season. But the lorry driver from southern Spain never imagined that Christmas Day would be spent in his cab tucking into a ham and cheese sandwich – among provisions handed out by the British military – as he inched towards the Channel.
“I would describe it as a kidnapping,” said the 52-year-old when asked about the diplomatic impasse that left him stranded on British roads for nearly a week. As many as 10,000 lorries from across Europe were stuck after France temporarily closed its border over fears of a fast-spreading coronavirus variant, reopening only to those drivers who could show a negative coronavirus test.
Continue reading...On the road to nowhere: France border closures causes UK lorry chaos – in pictures
The decision by France to close its borders to incoming freight traffic from the UK has caused chaos in Dover – the gateway to Europe – and roads leading to the port
Continue reading...Lorry drivers blare horns in protest at border backlog in Kent – video
About 1,500 lorries are stuck in Kent after France imposed a ban on any accompanied freight or cargo entering the country from Britain because of the new coronavirus variant discovered in the UK. The move triggered government crisis plans at Dover and other major pinch points, with some drivers redirected to a nearby airfield to ease congestion on the roads
- Covid: France to reopen UK border for French and lorry drivers, reports say
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France travel ban will not have major impact food imports in short term, says Grant Shapps – video
France’s 48-hour ban on freight hauliers from Britain came as a surprise, the UK transport secretary has admitted, amid expected chaos at British ports. But Grant Shapps said the disruption would not cause food and medicine shortages in the short term because other freight routes remain available
Continue reading...France’s ban on UK transport came as surprise, says Grant Shapps
Transport secretary says UK aims to resolve issue ‘as soon as possible’ amid fears over new Covid strain
France’s 48-hour ban on freight hauliers from Britain was “surprising”, the UK transport secretary has said, amid expected chaos at British ports.
Although Grant Shapps said the disruption was not a “specific problem” in regards to food and medicine shortages in the short term, the government’s aim was to “get this resolved as soon as possible”.
Continue reading...Ministers face fresh legal challenge over Heathrow airport plans
Critics say plan for third runway runs counter to UK’s legally binding target of net zero emissions by 2050
The government faces a legal challenge over its plan to expand Heathrow airport, with lawyers and environmentalists demanding it review its policy in line with its commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050.
The Good Law Project, a not-for-profit organisation with a focus on public interest cases including environmentalism and tackling poverty, argues that the government must update its plan for a third runway to take into account the emissions pledge it made following the approval for the airport expansion in June 2018.
Continue reading...UK ports disruption – importers call for urgent inquiry by MPs
Retailers and manufactures demand action after delays caused by pandemic and Brexit
Retailers and food and drinks companies have called for MPs to launch an urgent inquiry into disruption at British ports, with delays to goods deliveries possibly set to last for months.
The delays mean consumers may have to pay higher Christmas prices and companies may be unable to build up stockpiles of goods to see them through Brexit disruption, the retail and food and drinks industry warned, in a letter to the chairs of parliament’s transport and international trade committees.
Continue reading...UK’s ‘test to release’ Covid scheme for travellers gets off to chaotic start
Most private providers are unable to offer the service, which should have cut quarantine from to 10 days to five
The UK government’s long-awaited test to release scheme, designed to allow travellers to cut quarantine, was embroiled in chaos on its first day of operation after the last-minute publication of 11 private providers, most of whom appeared unable to offer the service on Tuesday morning.
Airports, many of which have had testing centres in place for weeks or months, were perplexed at being left off the Department for Transport’s approved list, as they reported a surge in bookings in the run-up to the festive season.
Continue reading...Kent lorry park will not be ready in time for Brexit day deadline
Heavy rain has hampered work on site intended to relieve queues around Dover from 1 January
The Kent lorry park designed to relieve queues of up to 7,000 trucks taking goods across the Channel will not be ready for Brexit on 1 January, it has emerged.
Damian Green, the MP for Ashford, said the government told him rain had hampered work on the site between the villages of Sevington and Mersham, fuelling fears of traffic queues around the county for the first two months of the year.
Continue reading...Highlighting heroic work of tube cleaners | Letter
London Underground cleaning staff are on the frontline of the fight against the coronavirus, but are among the lowest paid workers, writes Mike Cash, RMT general secretary
Sean Smith has done a great service to your readers by bringing into the daylight the hidden labour of those who have worked every day to keep the London underground clean through the pandemic (‘Unsung heroes’: cleaners keeping London’s transport Covid-safe – photo essay, 10 December).
He is right to spot that they are among the lowest-paid workers. London underground cleaning is outsourced to a company called ABM. The cleaners do not receive the same pension provision as their Transport for London counterparts and they are not entitled to free travel on the network they clean. Their workloads have soared as the company has cut back their numbers every year since the contract began, leaving them desperately overstretched during the pandemic.
Continue reading...Sadiq Khan considering £3.50 daily charge for drivers entering London
Capital’s mayor asks TfL to begin feasibility study for plan to raise £500m a year
Drivers could face a £3.50 daily charge to enter Greater London under proposals from the mayor of London to address the capital’s funding crisis.
Sadiq Khan has asked Transport for London to start feasibility studies for the plan to raise £500m a year.
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