Transportinfo.org.uk - today's transport news in the uk, hand picked for you each morning

Sunday, 19 March 2017

BBC News

• Funding fears for new Cardiff Central Square bus stationFunding for Cardiff's new bus station has not been decided nine months before it is scheduled to open, a council report reveals.
• On your bikeWhat is key to the success of publicly-funded on-street cycle hire schemes in Scotland and what can put the brakes on them?

The Guardian

• Government under fire for 'cash for cabs' school transport planChancellor’s plan to provide transport to selective schools for children on free school meals could cost up to £5,000 per pupilNew grammar school pupils could be ferried up to 15 miles by taxi to their schools, at a cost of up to £5,000 per pupil every year, despite cuts to last year’s general school transport budget for disabled and disadvantaged pupils. The government has said it would invest £5m a year to fund transport for the poorest pupils to reach grammar schools so costs were not a barrier to a selective education for pupils who received free school meals or whose parents claimed maxim...
• Paris airport attacker had long criminal recordZied Ben Belgacem, 39, is believed to have been radicalised in prison and was on French terrorism watchlistThe Paris airport attacker who tried to take a soldier hostage before being shot dead had a long criminal record, French anti-terror officials have said.Zied Ben Belgacem shot and wounded a police officer in northern Paris before travelling across the city to Orly airport, where he was killed after holding a gun to the soldier’s head. He had been on a security watchlist. Continue reading...
• Grayling hopes Brexit brings new apprenticeships in trainStill haunted by the Bombardier debacle in Derby, the Department for Transport seems eager to build rail skills at homeThe Bombardier train factory teetered on the brink of closure in 2011, when it lost a key contract for British carriages to Germany. The Derby site survived, but the debate over protecting high-value domestic jobs from foreign competition rumbles on, especially with Brexit on the way.Memories of the Bombardier furore are still fresh at the Department for Transport, it seems, because the latest ministerial incumbent appears determined to ensure that manufacturing work stays wit...

The Herald

• Thousands evacuated from airport as soldiers shoot dead man who attempted to steal rifleSoldiers at Paris's Orly Aiport have shot dead a man who wrestled one of their colleagues to the ground and tried to steal her rifle, officials said.
• Man shot dead after trying to grab soldier's gun at Paris airport

The Huffington Post

• Warwick Avenue Tube Station Attack: Police Appeal For WitnessesAn Austrian tourist was repeatedly punched in the face after she rejected the advances of a man who followed her from a London Tube station, leaving her with injuries so severe she needed surgery. The 60-year-old was attacked by a man in his late 20s after he approached her outside Warwick Avenue station in west London. The Metropolitan Police said the victim “politely” rejected his attempts to “chat her up” but the man followed her as she walked along Warwick Avenue towards Formosa Street, near Paddington, at around 8pm on Friday March 10. He grabbed her from behind a...

The Scotsman

• Surge in Scottish drivers plugging into electric carsThere has been a huge upsurge in drivers moving over to electric cars in the past year, according to new figures.

The Telegraph

• Radicalised Muslim known to security agencies shot dead in attack at Paris airport - as security stepped up at stadium where Duke and Duchess watch rugby

Times Online

• Upwardly mobile runabout for the Beats generation [Subscription]Driving small cars can be intimidating, especially when it feels like everyone else on the road is hell-bent on your destruction.

Mail Online

• Volkswagen dieselgate row sees 64k drivers sue VW has refused so far to offer any compensation to motorists in the UK – although financial compensation has been offered to drivers in the US, Belgium and Spain.
• British Airways to launch �86 flights across the Atlantic British Airways' new airline Level will initially fly from Barcelona to Los Angeles and San Francisco, Buenos Aires, and Punta Cana, in the Dominican Republic, from June.
• Hunt for �7million snatched during Heathrow airport heist Police are trying to track down �7million in cash snatched from a security van in a brazen Heathrow airport robbery. Two cash-in-transit workers have been charged with conspiracy to steal.
• Brexit brain drain 'will put the brake on driverless cars' Restricting the flow of skilled workers will damage Government hopes of the UK becoming a world leader in a key industry of the future, according to a report by Oxford University.
• Man who attacked woman on London tube SPARED extradition Marek Dabrowski, 32, was convicted of viciously assaulting two women on a Bakerloo Line train in March 2015. He punched and kicked one and dragged another around the train 'by her hair'.

This is Money

• UK drivers to pay average of �1k for car insurance by 2018 Confused.com estimated that premiums will creep up from the current �767 average to over �1,000 due to hikes in insurance premium tax and changes to the personal injury discount rate.

Network Rail

• Mardy Road Bridge to temporarily close for upgrade work as electrification of the South Wales Mainline continuesMardy Road Bridge in Cardiff will close to road traffic from 20 March 2017 until autumn 2018, as essential work to upgrade the railway continues in preparation for a new fleet of electric trains which will improve journeys for passengers.

Birmingham Post

• This key city car park is set to almost TRIPLE the charge for Saturday shoppers Saturday car parking cost to jump from £3 to £8.50 for five hours - and a Sunday deal is axed, too

Bolton News

• Busy town centre road to become one way A MAIN town centre road will become one way as a bus is lane is created as part of the multi-million interchange development.

Daily Post (North Wales)

• Thousands of rail passengers complain about tardy trains ... now they have to wait SIX MONTHS for compensation paymentsArriva Trains Wales take on extra staff to deal with around 9,000 complaints from fed-up customers

London Evening Standard

• Paris Orly airport shooting: Terror probe as 'radicalised Muslim' gunman blasts at police before airport shootingA terror probe has been launched after a "radicalised Muslim" was shot dead at a Paris airport when he grabbed a soldier's gun.
• Paris Orly airport shooting: 'Radicalised Muslim' sent chilling text to family after shooting police officer in faceA "radicalised Muslim" who was shot dead at a Paris airport sent a chilling text message to his family minutes after blasting a police officer in the face.
• British Airways budget airline will sell transatlantic flights to LA from �86British Airways is to get a low-cost sister airline offering transatlantic flights from just �86.
• London-bound train evacuated after 'passenger pulls knife and threatens conductor'A train to London was evacuated after a passenger reportedly pulled a knife and threatened a conductor.
• Shocking moment driver threatens to 'knock cyclist off his bike' in Clapham after being asked about using a mobileThis is the shocking moment a driver threatens to knock a cyclist off his bike after being questioned about using a mobile phone at the wheel.

Northern Echo

• Labour unveils plans for North-East transport and industry renaissance SHADOW Chancellor John McDonnell has outlined Labour party investment plans to pump �1.4bn into transport links in the North-East, and to revitalise the steel industry through new technologies.

East Anglian Daily Times

• Greater Anglia offers the ultimate rail enthusiast’s dream for Comic ReliefEver fancied riding shotgun beside the driver on an express train in East Anglia? Ever dreamed of getting behind the controls of a modern electric train? Well now’s your chance (sort of) while raising money for Comic Relief.

Peterborough Telegraph

• A47 plans could see new road builtA brand new A47 could be built to replace the existing road to improve safety and congestion problems.

Other Regional Press

• Call for safer roads for school children A PLEA for safer crossings has come from parents and residents of a Bicester estate that says it is 'cut off from the town'.
• Time-lapse video reveals how 23-tonne flood channels were squeezed beneath the railway AN INCREDIBLE time-lapse video reveals how two massive underground tunnels weighing 23 tonnes were squeezed under the railway in Oxford in just four days.
• Steam locomotive The Whitby Flyer makes its way through Teesside The flyer, carrying ten coaches of passengers, passed through Middlesbrough on its way to Whitby
• Restrictions due to resurfacing work around a Weymouth housing estate A MAJOR programme of road surfacing work is underway around a Weymouth housing estate.
• Monarch Airlines will give away FREE upgrades to 'nice' passengers - how YOU can get one The airline is offering customers free upgrades simply for their sunny disposition as part of a year-long campaign

C.N.N.

• Paris Orly Airport: Assailant shouted 'I'm here to die in the name of Allah'A man who tried to grab a soldier's gun at Paris Orly Airport was involved in a carjacking and another shooting at a traffic stop, French authorities said Saturday.

Other News Sources

• Caught on camera: Some of our most shocking examples of driving in SurreyFrom a motorbike leaving an M25 junction at the last moment, to a woman eating cereal at the wheel, there is some shocking driving out there
• Vintage motorcycles to take to the streets for annual Sunbeam Pioneer run The bikes will pass through the streets of Tadworth, Kingswood, Reigate, Woodhatch and Horely
• Uber driver fined after 'abusing the system' by illegally plying for hire in Guildford The driver agreed to take a licensing officer on a journey that was not pre-booked, voiding their insurance
• Railway station taxi rank is not working for anyone, says councillor