6:34 am, February 18, 2023
Storm Otto leaves thousands of homes without power
Thousands of homes could be without power over the weekend as food vans were dispatched to the worst-hit areas in the wake of Storm Otto.
Gusts of 75-80mph were recorded across parts of northern Scotland on Friday while trains and flights were cancelled and roads blocked by overturned lorries in northern England.
More than 40,000 properties were left without power in Scotland, with around 7,600 still cut off as of 9pm on Friday. In England, Northern Powergrid said around 21,000 customers lost power, with 1,700 still affected as of 5pm. All were expected to have power restored by 11pm.
North Yorkshire Police said it had received ‘numerous calls’ involving high-sided vehicles being blown over on the A1(M) and other routes, and urged motorists to ‘slow down’.
Sunak to push for Northern Ireland Protocol deal
Rishi Sunak is to hold talks with European leaders in a bid to fix issues with the Northern Ireland Protocol, despite reservations among Eurosceptic Tory backbenchers.
There is mounting speculation that the UK and EU could unveil a deal aimed at breaking the impasse over the contentious post-Brexit trading arrangements early next week.
The Prime Minister is expected to meet with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the fringes of the Munich Security Conference on Saturday to try to get an agreement over the line.
Autonomous car project furthers self-driving technology
A Nissan-backed autonomous car project has come to a close with a series of tests to look at how self-driving vehicles can cope with busy inner city traffic.
ServCity, a project backed by Nissan and supported by the government, has seen an electric Leaf cover 1,600 autonomous miles over a three-year period to look at how UK cities can ‘incorporate advanced autonomous vehicle technologies’.
A suite of roadside sensors and data processing technology can ‘talk’ with the car and even inform it about an object which isn’t in the sight line of the vehicle, allowing it to smoothly manoeuvre around it.
Asda announces 10% pay rise for hourly-paid store workers
Supermarket giant Asda has announced a 10% pay increase for its hourly-paid store workers.
Rates will rise to £11 an hour from April and £11.11 from July.
The company said it is investing a record £141 million this year to boost hourly pay rates for more than 115,000 staff who work across its 633 stores.
This follows an 8% pay increase for hourly-paid retail workers during 2022.
Banks drag FTSE lower on disappointing NatWest outlook
London’s FTSE 100 ended the week with a day in the red, but managed to stay above the 8,000-point mark which it hit for the first time on Wednesday.
On Friday, the index – which contains many of the UK’s largest companies – closed down 8.17 points, a 0.1% reduction which landed it at 8004.36.
The mortgage lenders were the clear losers during the day after NatWest’s outlook for 2023 implied that the year might not be as good as some had hoped despite the recent interest rate hikes.
The bank’s shares plummeted on the news despite what seemed a decent set of results for last year.
Friday’s Car Dealer headlines you might have missed
- Used car dealer Cazoo sells German car subscription business Cluno
- Ministers extend consultation period for controversial MoT plans
- Audi brings curtain down on the TT with Final Edition
- Small British manufacturers will be exempt from EU’s upcoming ICE ban, it is confirmed
- Sign in for early access: Car Dealer 180 features Car Dealer Live conference guide, Motorway investigation, Car Dealer Power 2023 details and much more!
- How do fake used car dealers operate? Everything we know so far in a special podcast
- Dacia celebrates passing 240,000 sales since UK launch ten years ago
- Tesla recalls nearly 363,000 cars over major Full Self-Driving software concerns
Amazon orders staff to return to office at least three days a week
Amazon is to require its corporate employees to return to the office at least three days a week.
CEO Andy Jassy announced the policy on Friday in a memo to staff.
It marks a shift from Amazon’s current policy of allowing leaders to determine how their teams worked. The change will go into effect on May 1.
Many companies have been calling their employees back to the office after the Covid-19 pandemic forced them to operate virtually.
Rain mixed with sunny spells
It will be very mild in the south today, according to the Met Office, with rain or drizzle slowly clearing, leaving sunny intervals.
Northern Ireland will be cloudier while parts of Scotland and northern England will see occasional rain and also hill snow in north. Sunny spells and isolated showers far north.
Tonight, expect rain and hill snow over Scotland and northeast England clearing, with a frost in places in the north, although it will be mostly dry with clear intervals in south and rain in northwest later.
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