Ministers slash electric car grant by £500 despite upcoming petrol ban March 18, 2021 The government has today cut the electric car grant from £3,000 to £2,500, prompting cries of disbelief from the auto and energy industries. From today, customers buying cars which cost less than £35,000 will be eligible for the grant. Those buying cars above this price will receive no subsidies. Ministers said that this was because [...]
Car dealer Lookers predicts small profit after 2020 turbulence March 18, 2021 Car dealership Lookers this morning said that it was expecting a full year profit of £10m for 2020, beating analyst expectations of a small loss. Shares in the firm rose 5.4 per cent as markets opened this morning. In an update, the FTSE 250 firm said it was still working on its full accounts for [...]
More than 2,000 TfL bus drivers have caught Covid-19 since October March 17, 2021 More than 2,000 Transport for London (TfL) bus drivers contracted Covid-19 in the four months between October and January, new data from the operator has shown. According to figures collected from the contractors which run the capital’s bus services, 2,017 of around 25,000 drivers caught the virus in that period. The operator only started collecting [...]
Eurostar ‘in advanced talks’ with UK and French governments over state-backed loans March 17, 2021 Eurostar is reportedly in advanced talks with the UK and French governments to secure state-backed loans after passenger numbers tumbled during the pandemic. The head of French rail group SNCF, which is the largest shareholder in Eurostar, said it needs to finalise the deal by next month to help it survive the rest of the [...]
Unite plans 23 days of strikes at Heathrow over ‘fire and rehire’ plans March 17, 2021 Unite this afternoon said that it was planning 23 days of strikes at Heathrow Airport from the beginning of April in protest at the airport’s restructuring plans. There will be 41 strikes over the period, the union said, ending on 25 April. Unite said that the strike had been called because of the airport’s decision [...]
Waterloo and City line to reopen as early as May, London Underground chief says March 17, 2021 London Underground chief says Waterloo and City line to reopen as early as May
P&O will only accept vaccinated passengers for summer cruises March 17, 2021 Passengers embarking on P&O cruises around the UK this summer will have to have had two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, the Carnival-owned firm said this morning. Announcing a new programme of cruises to start from June, the company said: “Given the advanced progress of the UK vaccination programme, and strong expressed preference on the [...]
Half of BMW’s sales to be electric by 2030 March 17, 2021 One in every two cars sold by BMW will be a zero emissions vehicle by 2030, the German carmaker predicted today. The plans, which the auto maker set out this morning, are less ambitious than those of some of its rivals. But, chief executive Oliver Zipse said, BMW could speed up its plans if consumer [...]
UK airports saw fewest passengers last summer since 1975 March 17, 2021 Airports saw the lowest number of passengers pass through their gates last summer since 1975, new figures from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) show. Just 14.2m people travelled through UK airports last year from July to September, while across the whole year there were just 73.8m air passengers. The majority of these – two-thirds – [...]