5:57 am, October 14, 2023
Burnt-out Luton Airport car owners complain of ‘no help’
A car park at Luton Airport engulfed by fire earlier this week remains shut – with drivers with vehicles inside saying they have been offered ‘no help’.
Luton Airport said Terminal Car Park 2 cannot be accessed safely so it is ‘unable to confirm the condition of any individual vehicle at this time’.
Up to 1,500 vehicles remain in the car park, with the debris of some cars piled up within its blackened structure.
BBC reaches settlement with Flintoff
The BBC has reached a reported £9m financial settlement with Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff after he was hurt in a crash while filming Top Gear.
The former England cricket captain, 45, appeared with facial injuries in public for the first time in September, nine months after he was taken to hospital after he was hurt while filming the BBC motoring show at its test track at Dunsfold Aerodrome last December.
Both Flintoff and the BBC are ‘satisfied’ with the agreement, according to the Sun’s Saturday front page, which claimed the settlement is worth £9m.
Chancellor says numbers ‘worse than in spring’
Jeremy Hunt said ‘the numbers are definitely worse than what I faced in the spring’ as he discussed challenges for the government’s finances ahead of his autumn statement.
The chancellor said it is a ‘very challenging environment’ in the short term, but stressed he has ‘a great deal of confidence’ in the longer-term outlook for the British economy ‘providing we take the difficult decisions necessary’.
Hunt was speaking to Sky News in Marrakech, Morocco, where he is attending the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank annual meetings.
Smiths Group drops emissions 12%
Smiths Group’s chief sustainability officer said pay incentives helped the company reduce its operational emissions by nearly 12 per cent in the last year.
The FTSE 100 engineering giant announced that it has cut emissions from its operations – known as scope one and two – by 11.8 per cent from July 2022 to July 2023.
In its sustainability report, the company said it also reduced emissions from its supply chain and the products it sells – known as scope three – by 4.8 per cent.
This was achieved by improving energy efficiency by eight per cent and increasing the renewable portion of total energy usage to 70 per cent, the report said.
China’s exports and imports sink in September
China’s exports and imports both fell in September from a year earlier, though they contracted at a slower pace than the month before even as global demand remained muted.
Customs data released on Friday showed exports for September slid 6.2 per cent to $299.13bn (£244bn) in the fifth straight month of decline. Imports also slid 6.2 per cent, to $221.43bn (£180.6bn).
China posted a trade surplus of $77.71bn (£63.39bn), up from $68.36bn (£55.7bn) in August.
Lu Daliang, a spokesperson for the General Administration of Customs, said in a press conference in Beijing that the unstable momentum of the global economy’s recovery from the pandemic was the biggest challenge facing China’s exports.
Friday’s Car Dealer headlines you might have missed
- Pendragon’s attempt to have Pinewood legal battle struck out fails as firms face High Court battle
- Volkswagen dealership remains closed following workshop fire that broke out overnight
- Car dealer group Thurlow Nunn adds MG to its franchise portfolio with King’s Lynn showroom
- Bangers4Ben teams make it home after loop of Ireland in their amazing creations
- UK’s biggest car dealers see sales tumble as used car supermarkets lead major drop off
- Used car dealer Redgate Lodge Motor Group expands with third site
- Former family-run Skoda dealer to close less than five years after Bristol Street Motors takeover
- Inspiring Leaders: Steven Eagell on building his £700m turnover, 44-site car dealer business
- Three-site BMW dealer group makes nearly £8m profit in impressive year of growth
Graham Hill memorabilia heads to auction
A huge collection of important memorabilia from two-time Formula One World Champion Graham Hill will be going under the hammer at auction next month.
One of the highlights of this sale – which is being hosted by RM Sotheby’s in London on Saturday, November 4 – is Hill’s 1962 FIA Driver’s World Champion trophy which he won for his first Drivers’ World Championship behind the wheel of a BRM P578.
It’s believed that this marks the first time that a FIA Formula 1 World Championship trophy has been sold to the public and it carries an estimate of between £25,000 and £35,000.
London stocks drop
London’s markets closed lower on Friday amid heightened tensions in the Middle East, surging oil prices and worries over potential deflation in China.
BP and Shell helped provide some positive thrust on the FTSE 100 as they benefited from the spike in energy prices, while improved gold prices also pushed Endeavour and Fresnillo up.
However, the sentiment was still broadly negative, with retail and housing firms lower in the face of broad concerns over the economic outlook.
The FTSE 100 moved 0.59 per cent, or 45.18 points, lower to finish at 7,599.6.
Much colder
Today will see sunny spells and scattered showers across the UK, according to the Met Office.
The showers will be most frequent in the north and west with the Scottish hills seeing this fall as snow.
Overall it will feel a lot colder today, especially for southern parts.
