Best year ever for plug-in cars: Tesla becomes UK’s second best-selling car as electric vehicle take-up accelerates January 6, 2022 Tesla’s Model 3 became the UK’s second best-selling new car last year, signalling the appetite for electric vehicles. In fact, it was the best year on record for plug-in cars, both battery electrics and plug-in hybrids, with 305,000 registered, accounting for around one in six of all new cars bought. But overall demand for new [...]
Commuter cuts: London’s suburbs out in the cold amid reduced rail services January 6, 2022 London’s commuters are in for a colder winter, as cuts to rail services curb the New Year march back to work. The latest wave of Covid-19 has pushed a spike in staff absences – with one in 15 people testing positive with the virus last week, the Office for National Statistics found – a landslide [...]
Self-isolation, pre-departure tests scrapped for inbound arrivals to England January 5, 2022 People arriving in England from overseas will no longer need to take a PCR test before their flight or be forced into self-isolation on arrival in a move that will provide sorely needed help to the UK’s travel sector. Boris Johnson today said the measures were no longer needed due to the widespread prevalence of [...]
Hong Kong to ground flights from UK in two-week Covid-19 circuit breaker January 5, 2022 Hong Kong is set to ground flights from several countries including the UK for two weeks as it attempts to stamp out a spike in Covid-19 cases. Other countries that will see tightened restrictions between January 8 and January 21 are the US, Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan and the Philippines. The city-state recorded 38 [...]
Boost for Global Britain as UK exporters enjoy £620m surge in post-Brexit trade with South Korea January 5, 2022 A “huge” demand for British products and services in South Korea is boosting UK companies exports to the east Asian country, according to the government. International trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said that British firms saw a £620m surge in exports to South Korea last year, a jump of nine per cent. Trade between the UK [...]
Empty planes: Omicron onslaught and travel restrictions hit Ryanair’s passenger number January 5, 2022 The number of passengers flown around Europe by budget airline Ryanair was down 7 per cent between November and December as travel restrictions were imposed amid the spread of the Omicron variant. The carrier said the number of passengers dropped to 9.5 million last month – the lowest since July and down from 10.2 million [...]
Game changer for holidaymakers: Lloyds Pharmacy to start selling take-at-home travel test January 5, 2022 Healthcare firm MyHealthChecked has signed a contract with Lloyds Pharmacy for the supply of at-home rapid Covid tests for individuals wanting to fly abroad. The Fit to Fly antigen tests can be taken at home before travelling, or overseas before returning to the UK, with results verified by a trained professional within two hours. The [...]
Desperate travel sector demands all international Covid testing requirements are scrapped immediately January 5, 2022 All testing requirements for international travellers should be abolished immediately, the travel industry said this morning. Manchester Airports Group (MAG) and Airlines UK said research they commissioned into travel restrictions found domestic, not international, restrictions would be the only way to reduce the spread of Omicron. Pre-departure and day two PCR testing were reintroduced in [...]
Brits have to pay for entry to the EU from this year: Cash and pre-authorisation needed for post-Brexit trips to Europe January 5, 2022 Brits will have to start paying €7 per person and pre-register their details in order to enter the European Union from this year. Reports had surfaced in various European media in recent weeks that access to all Schengen EU countries would come at a cost from 2022, and when approached by Morning Wire this morning, [...]
Consumers should brace themselves for runway energy bills as price rises that overwhelmed suppliers in 2021 start to trickle down January 4, 2022 Consumers should brave themselves for runaway household bills this year as the energy sector continues to struggle with soaring gas prices, which consigned a string of energy suppliers to the graveyard in 2021. Energy suppliers had been paying 54p per therm of gas at the beginning of last year. By September 2021, that had reached [...]