Why don’t I have an EV yet? April 24, 2021 Given all the hype around electric cars, it is sometimes easy to forget just how far off mass adoption of the climate friendly vehicles still is. A recent survey by consumer trends data firm Dynata suggests that as yet just 16 per cent of Brits have bought an electric or hybrid car – way behind [...]
Submarine disaster: Oxygen supply on Indonesian vessel has run out with no sign of life April 24, 2021 The oxygen supply for the 53 crew members of an Indonesian submarine missing in waters off Bali is believed to have run out with no sign of the vessel. The search for the KRI Nanggala 402 resumed earlier this morning, bolstered by the arrival of a sonar-equipped Australian warship. It went missing after its last [...]
Extinction Rebellion cleared of criminal damage to Shell building April 23, 2021 Six members of Extinction Rebellion have been found not guilty of criminal damage, after the protest group spray painted the Shell building at Waterloo in April 2019. The six activists were acquitted today at Southwark Crown Court, with the jury delivering a ‘not guilty’ verdict for each of the defendants, despite the court’s judge ruling [...]
Convicted postmasters have names cleared of theft April 23, 2021 A total 39 former postmasters who were accused of stealing money have finally had their names cleared, after a years-long battle for justice. The former Post Office workers with accused of theft and false accounting, with some imprisoned, because of a faulty computer system that was installed in 1999. Between 2000 and 2014, the Post [...]
Wizz Air aiming for 60-80 per cent capacity over summer April 23, 2021 Wizz Air chief executive Jozsef Varadi said that the carrier was planning to fly at 60-80 per cent capacity over the summer months. Speaking at an aviation conference this morning, the Hungarian airline’s boss said that the situation over the summer would be far better than the current circumstances. “I’m expecting something between 60 per [...]
FirstGroup strikes £3.3bn deal to sell iconic yellow school buses in US April 23, 2021 Train and bus operator FirstGroup has announced this morning the sale of two of its US divisions for £3.3bn to EQT Infrastructure, a year after putting the businesses up for sale. Bosses at the firm said the cash raised from offloading First Student, the operator of famous yellow US school buses, and First Transit will [...]
Jaguar Land Rover to pause production at two plants due to chip shortage April 22, 2021 The disruption caused by the global shortfall of semiconductor chips continued this morning as Jaguar Land Rover said it would pause production at two of its plants next week. The shortage, which has hit many of the world’s biggest carmakers, will see the Tata-owned firm idle production lines at Castle Bromwich and Halewood for a [...]
BA owner IAG to power a tenth of flights with sustainable fuels by 2030 April 22, 2021 British Airways owner IAG has today committed to powering 10 per cent of its flights with sustainable aviation fuels by 2030. The carrier group said that doing so would remove 2m tonnes from its annual emissions footprint, which it equated to taking 1m cars from the road per year. It is the first European airline [...]
Wizz Air redundancies ‘dangerously influenced’ flight safety culture claims whistleblower April 22, 2021 Covid-19-related redundancies at Wizz Air “dangerously influenced” flight safety culture, a whistleblower has claimed, after the way in which staff were selected for redundancy left them worried to call in sick. Last April London-listed Wizz Air laid off around 1,000 staff – around 20 per cent of its workforce – after a travel shutdown caused [...]
Pandemic impact: Another 100,000 UK businesses tumble into financial distress April 22, 2021 Almost 100,000 more UK businesses have tumbled into financial distress in the past three months as the impact of the pandemic continued to weigh on firms, according to new research published this morning. The latest quarter Red Flag Alert report by insolvency specialists Begbies Traynor found that around 723,000 businesses were in “significant financial distress” [...]