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General News
TfL: As part of a series of innovations to improve customers' experience of Oyster, Transport for London (TfL) has introduced a new facility for Oyster pay as you go customers who occasionally forget to touch out at the end of their Tube, DLR, Overground or National Rail journey.
Under Oyster terms & conditions, customers who do not touch out to complete their journey are charged the maximum Zone 1-6 fare. But TfL has set up a new system so that if a passenger occasionally fails to touch in and out then Oyster will aim to calculate their likely journey and charge the appropriate fare.
ScotGov: The impact of agri-environment funding on Scotland's biodiversity will be monitored through a new project. The 3-year project will use remote sensing & field surveys to monitor changes to biodiversity, helping to assess how effectively the Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP) protects & enhances our natural heritage.
The launch coincides with the publication of the first national High Nature Value Farming and Forestry report, which shows that at least 40% of both farmland & forestry areas in Scotland are managed in ways that provide high biodiversity value.
WAG: After being thrown into the limelight as part of Visit Wales’ new marketing campaign last month, Piers Bramhall arrived last week in Wales for a week long holiday. In August, Visit Wales launched a quest to bring Piers Bramhall to Wales and called upon the people of Wales to invite him, tell him about where he can find the best experiences in Wales, what to see and do and where to eat and why.
60 invitations which have been left for him on Facebook and his holiday will be filmed to become the basis of the new Visit Wales TV advert which will launch in January 2012.
WWF: Hundreds of people took part in WWF’s Blue Mile recently, to raise awareness & funds to help preserve our marine & freshwater environments. The event, which was officially sponsored by Ecover, saw hundreds of people swim, kayak or stand-up paddle board one mile around Stoke Newington Reservoir in London.
HO: The Identity and Passport Service (IPS) has warned of the danger of being ripped off by companies overcharging for replacement birth certificates. In some cases, companies charged more than 3 times the price of a replacement birth certificates from the General Register Office.
ScotGov: An outbreak of American Foulbrood (AFB), a disease affecting colonies of honeybees, has been found in an apiary in Inverness-shire. The disease was confirmed this week following laboratory diagnosis by Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA). This follows 2 previous outbreaks of AFB in the Perthshire area earlier this year.
Ofcom: Ofcom has outlined how it plans to safeguard the future supply of landline numbers across the UK. The plans will avoid the need to change existing phone numbers and will mean consumers & businesses continue to enjoy the widest choice of providers. Ofcom has confirmed that it will manage future demand for phone numbers from new & existing communications providers by introducing local area code dialling in places where numbers are very scarce.
Ofcom is also proposing to launch a pilot scheme to charge communications providers for local numbers in some areas to encourage their efficient use. From 2012, people in a few areas where phone numbers are becoming very scarce will need to dial the whole number when making local calls.
TfL: Source London is discounting its annual membership to coincide with London's largest consumer green vehicle show. The Mayor Boris Johnson has announced that a network of charge points is planned to support the Olympic & Paralympic zero-emission electric vehicle fleet. After the Games, the charge points will boost the Mayor's growing Source London electric network.
FDA: Two civil service unions have each agreed to give contingent authority to ballot on industrial action this autumn if the Government does not amend its proposal to impose a pensions levy on civil servants from April 2012.
Talks with the Treasury continue but Prospect, representing 36,000 professionals & specialists, and the FDA, representing 18,000 senior public servants, have made clear that balloting will commence unless progress is made soon. Both unions will work closely through the TUC with other public sector unions.
PCS: More than 1,000 members of PCS & Unite unions working in Fujitsu will hold a joint strike amid growing discontent with the IT giant. The joint action will take place for 24 hours from midnight on Monday 19 September and involves PCS & Unite members based at various locations throughout the UK.
Unite says that the company is breaking agreements covering issues including union recognition, pay, benefits, pensions, redundancy and redeployment. Although the 2 unions' disputes are separate, they have agreed to take action together to put maximum pressure on the company to resolve the issues.
FSA: The Food Standards Agency is warning people not to consume certain branded foods that have been linked to an outbreak of botulism in France. Botulism is a rare but serious illness that causes muscle weakness & breathing problems, and can be fatal.
The pastes & spread affected are not distributed in the UK but may have been bought in France or off the Internet. They are produced by a company called La Ruche, based in Cavaillon, France, and are branded as: Les Délices de Marie Claire, Terre de Mistral & Les Secrets d'Anaïs.
If you have already eaten any of these products & feel unwell, it's important that you seek medical attention straight away, and tell your doctor that you've eaten food from La Ruche.
If you have already eaten any of these products & feel unwell, it's important that you seek medical attention straight away, and tell your doctor that you've eaten food from La Ruche.
