6:39 am, August 21, 2025
Train passengers face potential 5.8% fares hike
Regulated train fares in England may increase by 5.8% next year, despite punctuality in Britain at its lowest level since 2020.
The potential rise is based on the Office for National Statistics announcing that Retail Price Index (RPI) inflation rose to 4.8% in July.
The government has not confirmed how it will determine the cap on regulated fare rises in 2026, but this year’s 4.6% hike was one percentage point above RPI in July 2024. If that formula is used to set next year’s fare increase, the cost of train travel will jump by 5.8%.
Thousands object to Tesla bid to supply energy to UK homes
More than 8,000 people have asked Ofgem to block Tesla from supplying British households with electricity over owner Elon Musk’s ‘clear political agenda’.
The company applied for a licence from the energy regulator last month, aiming to start supplying power to homes and businesses in England, Scotland and Wales as soon as next year.
Campaign group Best for Britain has urged the public to write to Ofgem, arguing Musk is not a ‘fit and proper’ person to have ‘a foothold in our essential services’.
BYD’s Atto 2 goes on sale priced from £30,850
The new BYD Atto 2 has hit the road in the UK with prices starting from £30,850.
The compact electric model arrives with two battery sizes – 51.1kWh and 64.8kWh – with the latter able to return up to 261 miles of range from a single charge.
All cars get a 12.8-inch rotatable infotainment screen, wireless smartphone charging and an eight-speaker sound system. Vehicle to Load (V2L) is also included as standard, as well as a heat pump.
The markets
London’s FTSE 100 hit a new all-time high on Wednesday, shrugging off a hot UK inflation print and fresh falls among technology stocks on Wall Street.
The FTSE 100 index closed up 98.92 points, 1.1%, at 9,288.14. The FTSE 250 ended up 52.62 points, 0.2%, at 21,885.88, but the AIM All-Share finished 3.48 points lower, 0.5%, at 759.74.
Despite the fading rate cut hopes, the pound eased to 1.3468 dollars late on Wednesday afternoon in London.
Badenoch urges Tory councils to challenge asylum hotels in court
Kemi Badenoch has called for more Conservative councils to launch legal challenges over asylum hotels as the government faces a potential revolt from its own local authorities.
In a letter to Tory councils, Badenoch said she was ‘encouraging’ them to ‘take the same steps’ as Epping Council ‘if your legal advice supports it’.
Labour dismissed her letter as ‘desperate and hypocritical nonsense’, but several of its own local authorities have already suggested they too, could mount legal action against asylum hotels in their areas.
Lucy Connolly set to be released from prison following jail term for hate tweet
Lucy Connolly, who was jailed for inciting racial hatred in the aftermath of the Southport terror attack, is reportedly set to be released from prison.
Connolly, the wife of Conservative councillor Raymond Connolly, will be released on Thursday after being sentenced last year to 31 months in custody, the Telegraph reported.
She had posted on X on the day of the murder of three children by Axel Rudakubana in Southport: ‘Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the bastards for all I care… if that makes me racist so be it.’ She pleaded guilty to inciting racial hatred by publishing and distributing ‘threatening or abusive’ written material on X and was jailed at Birmingham Crown Court in October last year.
Wednesday on Car Dealer
Used Car Awards 2025: Voting now OPEN to find the very best of second-hand car industry
Nominations are now open for used car dealers to put themselves in with a chance of wining a gong in the prestigious awards for the used car sector.
Slough Land Rover dealership announces it will close its doors next week
A Stratstone Land Rover dealership in Slough will be closing for the final time next Sunday, August 31. The dealer group let customers know with an email and explained that it was part of ‘a strategic regional restructure’.
Motability’s remunerations chief steps down after five years with automoitve charity
Motability director Chris Davies has stepped down from his position with the automotive charity after more than five years in the role.
Weather
Central and southern Scotland plus northern and eastern England start cloudy with drizzle, brightening with some afternoon sun, reports BBC Weather. Elsewhere, sunny spells and patchy cloud.
Tonight, skies clear with mostly dry conditions, though thicker cloud will move in from the west during the early hours.
