Category Archives: Transport

Ministers may siphon off stalled £950m fund for motorway chargers

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Talks to take place with operators about the scheme, announced in 2020, which has failed to make any grants

Ministers are considering diverting money from a £950m scheme to install rapid chargers for electric cars on the UK’s motorways, announced five years ago, after it failed to make a single grant.

Much of the cash allocated to the rapid charging fund (RCF) could be redirected to investments in other charging schemes, or to support the transition to electric vehicles more broadly, although decisions have yet to be made, according to a person close to discussions in government.

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Service at Heathrow airport returns to normal two days after forced closure

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More than a thousand flights were cancelled on Friday after a fire at an electrical substation caused a power cut

Heathrow airport has returned to normal business two days after it was forced to close when a fire at an electrical substation caused a power cut.

Europe’s busiest airport had more than 1,000 flights cancelled on Friday after the fire at the substation in Hayes, west London.

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‘Wake-up call’: ministers launch urgent investigation into Heathrow shutdown

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Government says lessons need to be learned after the substation fire that caused chaos for 300,000 passengers

The government has launched an urgent investigation into the power shutdown that crippled Heathrow airport, with experts warning it was a “wake-up call” about vulnerabilities in the nation’s critical infrastructure.

The energy secretary, Ed Miliband, has commissioned the independent National Energy System Operator (Neso) to investigate the incident and assess the UK’s energy resilience. The regulator Ofgem warned it would “not hesitate” to take action if there were any breaches of standards or licence obligations.

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Heathrow boss defends running of airport after criticism of shutdown

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Thomas Woldbye says most other airports operate similar back-up power systems to Heathrow, as Ed Miliband announces investigation

The chief executive of Heathrow has defended the running of the airport after a fire at an electrical substation stopped about 1,300 planes and disrupted the journeys of hundreds of thousands of global passengers.

It comes after Willie Walsh, the International Air Transport Association’s director general, criticised Heathrow for the disruption, while the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, has now ordered the National Energy System Operator to “urgently investigate” the outage.

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Disabled people’s access to transport in UK a ‘national embarrassment’, MPs say

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Report from the Commons transport select committee calls for a unified complaints service

Disabled people’s access to transport has been called a “national embarrassment” by MPs on a parliamentary committee, who said a new enforcement regime was needed to uphold their right to travel.

A report from the Commons transport select committee highlighted the experience of people with disabilities in using British transport services, from accounts of wheelchair users left on planes to taxi drivers refusing to take a guide dog, or people being unable to navigate pavements blocked by obstructions.

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The cars eating Australia: should we be trying to reverse our attraction to SUVs and utes?

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Australians are hooked on tax perks while road fatalities and emissions are surging and spending on petrol and insurance increasing

It’s impossible not to have noticed it – cars have been getting bigger and bigger, and SUVs and four-door utes have become Australia’s new family car. Gone are the days of the Commodore or Corolla fighting it out as Australia’s most popular vehicle. We’re now well into the era of the Ranger, RAV4, HiLux and Outlander, as well as increasing flirtations with US-style pickup trucks, and it shows no sign of stopping.

It happened gradually, despite the mounting evidence about some of the problems posed by these vehicles.

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Deal ends strikes on Britain’s biggest intercity rail line

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RMT union wins 87% backing from members for improved package for train managers at Avanti West Coast

Train managers on Britain’s biggest intercity service, Avanti West Coast, have settled a dispute over rest-day working, ending a series of weekend strikes.

The RMT union said 87% of its members had voted to accept a deal including additional pay for working weekends and an agreement on the allocation of staffing for extra shifts.

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Australians are obsessed with SUVs and huge utes, but experts say they are making our roads deadlier

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About 60% of the 1.2m cars that drove out of the showroom last year were SUVs, but road fatalities reached a 12-year high too

George Upjohn vividly remembers his interaction with the driver of an SUV after a collision that happened while cycling in Sydney’s south.

“I had blood all over my shins and when I hobbled up and asked why she didn’t turn her head to check to her side before veering into my lane, she said she didn’t need to because the sensor in her car would have alerted her to me. She said I must have been at fault and rode into her,” the 32-year-old claims.

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Taxi firms crowdfund legal battle with Uber over VAT on fares in UK

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Minicab drivers say Uber’s bid to apply tax to all rides would put many out of business and leave people stranded

Two British taxi companies have launched a crowdfunding drive for the last leg of a lengthy legal battle with Uber that could result in higher cab fares.

Uber will seek, at a supreme court hearing in July, a ruling on contractual models that affect whether VAT applies to private-hire companies outside London, which it has argued would level the playing field across the UK.

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Australia’s smaller airports rife with vulnerabilities, former Qantas security head says, after alleged gunman boarded Jetstar flight

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Much of the security is on the passenger side of the terminal, Geoff Askew says, not on the tarmac

Australia’s smaller and regional airports are rife with security vulnerabilities, industry insiders have warned, after the dramatic citizen’s arrest of a teenager who allegedly boarded a Jetstar flight with a shotgun and ammunition.

Police charged a 17-year-old Victorian boy with a range of offences, including unlawfully taking control of an aircraft, orchestrating a bomb hoax and possessing a firearm.

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UK rail passengers may lose patience as problems take years to fix, says minister

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Lord Hendy says important changes are happening but they follow ‘six years of torpor’

Passengers may lose patience with the government before it can make the changes needed to fix the railway, the rail minister, Lord Hendy, admitted, as he promised that action was coming after “years of torpor”.

The government is midway through a consultation on plans for a reformed, integrated Great British Railways (GBR), with legislation to enact it coming later in 2025, Hendy said.

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HS2 ‘a casebook example of how not to run a major project’, MPs say

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Scathing committee report lambasts DfT and HS2 for failing to work together effectively

HS2 has become “a casebook example of how not to run a major project”, according to the latest scathing report on the high-speed rail line from MPs on the public accounts committee (PAC).

The PAC lambasted the Department for Transport (DfT) and HS2 Ltd for failing to work together effectively, and told them not to waste the opportunity to get a grip on costs during the project’s latest “reset”.

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Using an e-scooter can add £1,000 to your car insurance quote

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Under-30s risk a huge hike in huge car insurance premiums later in life if handed the IN10 endorsement

Young people using private electric scooters on roads and pavements risk facing huge insurance premiums when they want to drive a car, says the comparison website MoneySuperMarket.

It emerged this week that almost 800 children aged 13 to 16 had been issued an IN10 endorsement – the code used by the police for “using a vehicle uninsured against third-party risks” since the start of 2020. It stays on a person’s driving record for four years from the date of the offence.

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St Pancras and Channel tunnel plan rail routes to Germany and Switzerland

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Partnership comes as London station looks at ways to almost triple passenger numbers

St Pancras railway station in London and the Channel tunnel operator have agreed to work together to open up more trains from Britain to France, and routes to Germany and Switzerland.

The agreement is the latest sign of growing momentum for new passenger rail links from England across the Channel, after Great Britain’s only international station announced plans to triple the number of people who can travel through every hour.

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Sydney commuters get four-month reprieve from rail industrial action after Fair Work ruling

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Rail union work stoppages to be suspended until 1 July as unions and state government try to strike pay deal

Sydney commuters have been granted a more than four-month reprieve from industrial action on the city’s train network, after the Fair Work Commission ordered rail union work stoppages be suspended until 1 July.

On Wednesday evening, the Fair Work Commission announced that while it would not grant the six-month suspension that the New South Wales government had requested, it would temporarily halt all industrial action to help unions and the government strike a pay deal.

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E-scooters blamed for big jump in children caught in UK driving without insurance

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Hundreds of teenagers have been given an IN10 police endorsement since 2020, says road safety charity


Electric scooters have been blamed for a surge in the number of children being penalised for driving without insurance.

Since the start of 2020 almost 800 children aged between 13 and 16 have been given an IN10 endorsement – the code used by the police for “using a vehicle uninsured against third party risks” – according to data obtained by a road safety charity.

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Australia news live: embattled casino operator Star offered $650m lifeline; name of next cyclone changed from Anthony to avoid using PM’s name

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Hume rules out working with teals if Coalition wins 70-72 seats

Jane Hume was asked whether the Coalition was in a position to form any alliances with the crossbench, amid new polling from YouGov showing neither party looks to be coming out with a clear majority.

That would cause chaos, and would cause chaos politically and economically as well.

On average, the teals have voted with the Greens around 78% of the time, with Labor around 75% of the time, and with the Coalition around 18% of the time.

I think it’s really important to look at what people do rather than what people say. We’re planning on going to this election to win the election, because Australians deserve better than what they’ve had for the last three years.

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‘Work from home if you can’: Sydney commuters warned of more public transport chaos

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Train workers claim Fair Work Commission win as rail union warns of more potential delays and disruptions across network

Sydney commuters have been urged to work from home or check travel apps before leaving on Monday to avoid being caught up in potential public transport chaos amid rail unions’ ongoing standoff with the New South Wales government.

The warning comes as the Fair Work Commission on Sunday ruled high rates of sick leave by Sydney train drivers and guards on Friday did not constitute industrial action.

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Hundreds of Sydney trains cancelled as negotiation between NSW government and rail workers come to a halt

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Unions chief says ‘no one can predict the level of disruption that this is going to cause’

Sydney commuters have been warned to avoid non-urgent rail travel on Friday amid delays and hundreds of service cancellations, as a pay negotiations between the train unions and state government grinds to a halt.

The state transport minister, John Graham, said the network was in the midst of a major disruption. “We’ve had more than 350 services cancelled this morning and that is having a big impact across the network,” he told Sydney radio 2GB on Friday.

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‘How patronising’: rail bosses face anger over plan to hide train departure times

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New scheme, aimed at reducing platform dashes, will see schedules deleted from boards three minutes before departure

Rail bosses have been accused of patronising passengers by hiding trains’ departure information minutes before they are due to leave in a bid to tackle last-moment platform dashes.

Under the scheme, which is being trialled at King’s Cross, the final call for long-distance trains will be made four minutes before departure. Train details will be deleted from departure boards three minutes before they leave.

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