6:40 am, July 29, 2023
Rail passengers to be hit with disruption on Saturday as workers strike
Train passengers are set to be hit with disruption on Saturday as thousands of workers strike.
People have been warned to check before using rail services across the country, because trains will start later and finish much earlier than usual. Only around half the number of trains will run in certain areas, while other places may have none at all – and services on some lines may be affected until Sunday morning.
It comes as members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, including station staff and train managers, walk out in a row over pay, jobs and conditions.
NatWest chairman should stay in post, says City minister
It would not be ‘helpful’ for the NatWest chairman to quit now as the bank seeks to rebound from the crisis over Nigel Farage’s Coutts bank account, the City minister has said.
Andrew Griffith, who has led the government’s response to the row, offered his backing to Sir Howard Davies after days of pressure on the bank’s leadership. The chairman earlier insisted that it was important for the stability of the bank that he remains on the board.
Sir Howard also said he regretted losing a ‘great leader’ following the resignation of Dame Alison Rose.
Men sentenced for selling unauthorised Covid-19 tests during pandemic
Two men have been sentenced for selling unauthorised Covid-19 tests during the pandemic.
Ron Huss-Smickler, 41 from Birmingham, and Steven Lawrence Beckford, 39 from Edgbaston, bought the non-certified Covid-19 tests from Chinese shopping website Alibaba in March 2020.
They then sold the tests online to customers in the UK, Europe, and the USA, through their business, Be Corona Safe. The tests were split down into individual kits, with the pair even making fake instructions pamphlets and adding fake CE markings purporting that the kits met the European Conformity requirements. However, there was no evidence that the test kits even worked when used in the way they were advertised.
Huss-Smickler was sentenced to 18 months in jail and Beckford received a four-month sentence, suspended for two years.
British-built satellite successfully returned to Earth in assisted crash
A British-built weather-monitoring spacecraft has been deliberately crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in a first-of-its-kind mission.
Aeolus, a satellite which has provided valuable data to weather centres across Europe since 2018, was successfully assisted to its final resting place by mission controllers at the European Space Agency (ESA).
At around 7pm UK time on Friday, the ESA’s Space Debris Office said it had entered the atmosphere, making it the first time a dead satellite has been guided to perform an assisted crash on Earth.
Friday Car Dealer headlines you might have missed
- Used car trade prices see biggest fall of the year so far but don’t panic, Cap HPI tells dealers
- RAC warns over cost to used car buyers after councils lose High Court challenge against Ulez expansion
- Group 1 Automotive sees UK profits reach £162m in first half of 2023
- New statistics show strong start to the year for Tesla as Model Y tops Europe’s best-seller list
- Team from Drive Motor Retail to take on poignant charity walk in honour of colleague who took his own life
- Macklin Motors agrees sponsorship deal with St Mirren FC as Vertu sponsorship drive reaches Scotland
Company insolvencies in England and Wales jump to 14-year high
The number of firms falling into insolvency in England and Wales surged to the highest level for 14 years in the past quarter, according to government figures.
Insolvency Service data revealed that there were 6,342 company insolvencies over the three months to June 2023.
It was a 13 per cent increase against the same period last year and represented the highest figure since the second quarter of 2009 amid the toll of the financial crisis.
House sales down by 15% in June compared with same month in 2022
House sales fell by 15 per cent in June compared with the same month a year earlier, according to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) figures.
An estimated 85,870 transactions took place in June 2023 across the UK, which was six per cent higher than in May this year.
Apart from June 2020, when the market was hit by the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and there were just 63,630 transactions, June 2023 was the slowest June for house sales seen over the past decade. The report said that part of the month-on-month increase can be explained by a higher number of working days in June than in May.
Weather
A mixed picture today, reports BBC Weather, with variable cloudy, sunny spells and scattered showers. The rain will be at its heaviest in the north; a breezy day for all. Still mild, though, with highs of 22 degrees along the eastern coast and in the south-east.
Tonight, Northern Ireland, northern England and southern Scotland will see heavy showers. Elsewhere it’ll be dry with just the odd chance of a shower in the south-east.
