Bright yellow stickers warn drivers burning of gasoline has ‘major consequences on human health and the environment’
Cambridge, Massachusetts, has become the first US city to mandate the placing of stickers on fuel pumps to warn drivers of the resulting dangers posed by the climate crisis.
Continue reading...A Kent football team made 200 pizzas and delivered them to stranded lorry drivers on the M20 and Manston airport on Tuesday night.
Hot meals were also provided by a Sikh charity and delivered by Gravesend's Gurdwara Sikh community as thousands of lorry drivers waited for information after France closed its border with the UK for fear of a new variant of Covid-19
Continue reading...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
Professionals and French nationals will have to provide negative Covid test before crossing
France is expected to reopen its border with the UK but only to its own nationals, French residents and professionals such as truck drivers, all of whom will have to provide a recent negative test, France’s public broadcaster has reported.
Britons or other non-French nationals with a permanent residence in France will be able to return, but the border is set to remain closed to all other non-French citizens in the UK, France Info said. It was not yet clear how long the measures would be in place.
Continue reading...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...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.
Continue reading...Campaigners warn that roads and laybys are already littered with urine and excrement
Kent could become the “toilet of England” in less than eight weeks unless dedicated loos are provided for thousands of lorry drivers who could be held up in the county for hours by post-Brexit border checks, campaigners have warned.
They say Kent’s main roads and laybys are already littered with bottles of urine and bags of excrement and the problem could become much worse after 31 December.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Gap between actions and beliefs threatens green recovery from pandemic
People are planning to drive more in future than they did before the coronavirus pandemic, a survey suggests, even though the overwhelming majority accept human responsibility for the climate crisis.
The apparent disconnect between beliefs and actions raises fears that without strong political intervention, these actions could undermine efforts to meet the targets set in the Paris agreement and hopes of a green recovery from the coronavirus crisis.
Continue reading...Most Britons see their car as more important now and would not choose greener alternative
The pandemic has put back attitudes to driving versus public transport by two decades, with almost two-thirds of UK car owners now considering their vehicle essential, research has found.
A clear majority would now refuse to switch to a greener alternative even if better trains or buses were available, according to the RAC. The research for its annual Report on Motoring found reluctance to use public transport was now at its highest for 18 years.
Continue reading...Owner of scooter that can go almost three times the speed limit faces prosecution
Police in Oslo have seized a tuned electric scooter with a top speed of 36mph (58kph), nearly three times the legal limit.
The scooter was seized during a control programme in Oslo in a joint operation with the Norwegian Public Roads Administration during which two electric scooters were stopped on suspicion of illegal speeding.
Continue reading...Head of EU exit at the port says money needs to be ‘issued rather than talked about’
Dover port is not Brexit ready because it is still waiting for government funds to be released for vital infrastructure for the new border operations, it has been revealed.
It comes as it emerged that the government was considering forcing drivers to obtain a special Brexit passport before entering Kent in a bid to avert queuing chaos in January.
Continue reading...Tyre attachment designed by four students aims to reduce road transport pollution
A device that captures microplastic particles from tyres as they are emitted – and could help reduce the devastating pollution they cause – has won its designers a James Dyson award.
The Tyre Collective, a group of masters students from Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art, scooped the UK prize of the international competition with their solution for the growing environmental scourge of tyre wear caused by road transport.
Continue reading...Pupils treated for ‘potentially life-changing injuries’ after double-decker hit bridge
Three children required surgery for “potentially life-changing injuries” after a double-decker school bus crashed into a railway bridge.
The top of the bus was ripped off almost completely when the vehicle hit the bridge in Wellhouse Lane, Winchester, on Thursday.
Continue reading...Citroën’s ‘urban mobility object’ is classed as a light quadricyle and can be driven without a full licence
The vehicle is cheap and the reactions from the pavement are a bonus, from the disbelieving double-take or uncontrolled giggle to the frankly envious where-do-I-get-one-of-those (plus the odd pitying stare, but then this is Paris).
At first glance, Citroën’s new Ami, a playful polypropylene cube on wheels with an unashamedly Toytown aesthetic, seems hardly the kind of car to excite the passions of France’s drivers. But, perhaps because it is not a car, that is just what it is doing.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Testimony of HGV drivers from ex-Soviet countries raises fresh questions over supply chain
Haulage drivers delivering to Amazon distribution centres across Europe allege that safety records are being deliberately manipulated and wages withheld in a breach of the e-commerce multinational’s pledges about working conditions in its supply chain.
HGV drivers recruited from former Soviet-bloc countries have told the Guardian that they were instructed to cheat tachograph machines that log their working hours, so that they could drive illegally long and unsafe stints in western Europe.
Continue reading...Historic bridge’s arms stuck at different angles on Saturday following mechanical fault
Tower Bridge was stuck open for over an hour because of a mechanical fault, causing central London traffic to be gridlocked.
The historic bridge’s two arms were stuck at different angles after opening to allow ships to pass underneath on the River Thames on Saturday evening, with witnesses saying they failed to come down at the same time.
Continue reading...Victims from town of Calne died after their vehicle hit a house and caught fire on A4
Floral tributes have been left to four young men who died after their car crashed into a house and caught fire.
The incident happened at 3am on Sunday on the A4 in Derry Hill, near Calne, Wiltshire. Police said the occupants of the house immediately called 999 and were evacuated while the fire service extinguished the blaze.
Continue reading...Victims from town of Calne died after their vehicle hit a house and caught fire on A4
Floral tributes have been left to four young men who died after their car crashed into a house and caught fire.
The incident happened at 3am on Sunday on the A4 in Derry Hill, near Calne, Wiltshire. Police said the occupants of the house immediately called 999 and were evacuated while the fire service extinguished the blaze.
Continue reading...Activists want London mayor Sadiq Khan to cancel Silvertown road tunnel project
Three Extinction Rebellion activists have locked themselves to a rig in the middle of the Thames to protest against a planned road tunnel underneath the river in south-east London.
The keys to the locks around the protesters’ necks have been delivered to the capital’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, with a note asking him to come and talk to them. However, the mayor’s office issued a statement ignoring the request and confirming plans to build the Silvertown tunnel are continuing.
Continue reading...Thousands of people took part in a silent march in Bayonne for Philippe Monguillot, 59, who was declared brain dead after an attack by passengers who refused to wear face masks. He later died in hospital.
The driver’s family organised the march from the bus stop where the assault took place. Monguillot's colleagues used their right to refuse to work in the aftermath of the attack but will resume work on Monday under reinforced security, the local operator said
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