I don't have any disability issues,but I do feel for those who do and who try to get out and about using public transport.

From what I can gather those on PIP's benefit will have their benefits cut,

Here's the timetable....

Here's the timetable...

For example, if you want to travel to Holy Island on Wednesday July 2, you’d hop on the bus at the Causeway End stop, on the mainland, at 12:54am

Yesterday (Monday) some services were reduced to just 2car 158s

Today, it seems some services have also been reduced to mere 2car units, with average train length being 3cars

Whatever happened to 4car working ?

Highways & footways are generally a County matter outside London, unless a unitary.

06:35 Salisbury to Worcester Foregate Street due 09:47

06:35 Salisbury to Worcester Foregate Street due 09:47 will be diverted between Swindon and Gloucester.
It will no longer call at Kemble, Stroud and Stonehouse but will call additionally at Bristol Parkway.
This is due to trespassers on the railway.

I don't have any disability issues,but I do feel for those who do and who try to get out and about using public transport.

From what I can gather those on PIP's benefit will have their benefits cut,

leading to them having to reduce the amount of times that they will be able to get out and about using public transport.

https://dpac.uk.net/2025/06/liverpool-protest-stop-disability-benefits-cuts-bill/

Does The Council know of, take part in, and co-ordinate any short, medium and long term activities to support the use of our streets and paths for those who are moving around the town with limited mobility? Is there a community group that you know of with this support in its objectives? Which Town Council committee would be the most appropriate to oversee or take up this role? ...

06:43 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington due 08:44 will be starting late from Worcester Shrub Hill.
This is due to a points failure.
Last Updated:01/07/2025 06:41

Facilities on the 07:13 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 09:42.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Will be formed of 8 coaches instead of 12.
Last Updated:01/07/2025 03:42

Hundreds of drivers failing to show up for tests

Hundreds of candidates are failing to attend driving tests that were booked, a Freedom of Information request has revealed.

On average, a candidate fails to attend a test at both Bristol centres in Avonmouth and Kingswood every day, data from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) shows.

While many learners find booking a test in their home city almost impossible, every day there is likely to be a test cancelled because nobody turns up, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Speaking in April, transport secretary Heidi Alexander said: "We inherited an enormous backlog of learners ready to ditch their L-plates but being forced to endure record waiting time for their tests."

Between October 2023 and September 2024, 439 tests did not go ahead in Kingswood because candidates did not show up, an average of 37 every month.

During the same period, 344 tests did not go ahead in Avonmouth for the same reason, an average of 29 every month.

In both centres, this represents about 3% of all tests conducted.

Just four tests did not go ahead on average each month in the two Bristol centres because candidates arrived late; while six tests did not go ahead because of mechanical failure, the second most common reason after candidates not turning up.

Learner drivers across the country have been struggling to book tests for several years now, with a giant backlog first building up during the pandemic.

The crisis has since got worse, with companies using bots to book tests and then resell them to learners at an inflated price.

Ms Alexander said in April: "I am instructing DVSA to take further action immediately to reduce waiting times which will see thousands of additional tests made available every month. We're acting fast to get Britain's drivers moving."

The DVSA said in April that it was "continuing to reduce waiting times, and to encourage learners to only book their test when they're ready".

Surfing lake to reopen after sudden closure



An inland surfing lake is set to reopen after suddenly closing its doors and being sold to new owners.

The Wave, on the northern edge of Bristol, shut with immediate effect on Thursday and was placed into technical insolvency. It was announced on Friday evening that the site had been sold to another company, with the hope of reopening on Saturday - though this failed to happen.

On Monday evening it was confirmed on social media that surfers would be allowed to return on Tuesday.

A spokesperson said: "We are so excited to let you all know that we will be reopening our doors. We want to thank all our wonderful community for the outpouring of love and support over the last days."

In a statement posted online, The Wave confirmed that the facility would open at 06:30 BST "with all wave sessions [to] run as scheduled".

The reopening also means that the English Para Surfing Open competition will be able to go ahead as planning on 2-3 July, the company said.

About 200 staff had been left with cancelled bookings and an uncertain future after the sudden closure of the site.

The complex, which opened in 2019, cost £26m to build and can generate up to 1,000 waves an hour of different intensity.

When The Wave closed on Thursday, then-CEO Hazel Geary said the decision had "not been driven by operational failure or lack of customer demand - but for a financial technicality completely unrelated to commercial matters".

Julian Topham, who founded and runs Boardmasters surf festival, is now running the site during a "transition period".

05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:09

05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:09 will be diverted between Gloucester and Swindon.
It will no longer call at Stonehouse, Stroud and Kemble but will call additionally at Bristol Parkway.
This is due to trespassers on the railway.

... at our former home we had a London Taxi parked on the driveway (it was our regular car) and these days we have an ambulance and a paramedic support vehicle.

The royal train is going to be taken out of service by 2027, in a cost-saving measure announced by Buckingham Palace.

There have been dedicated trains for monarchs since Queen Victoria's reign, but as part of a "drive to ensure we deliver value for money" it's been decided to decommission the historic rolling stock.

The announcement came alongside the annual publication of royal finances, which showed that a journey on the royal train, from Gloucestershire to Staffordshire and then London, over two days in February, had cost more than £44,000.

The Royal Family will still travel on regular train services - and the annual report showed 141 helicopter trips were taken last year, costing £475,000.

James Chalmers, the Keeper of the Privy Purse, responsible for the royal finances, said the decision to stop the royal train would mean "the fondest of farewells", but "in moving forwards we must not be bound by the past".

The royal train will be taken around the UK before it is removed from service, after which it could be put on public display. The royal train consists of nine carriages, with different locomotives hired to pull them.

The idea of a royal train goes back to Queen Victoria commissioning special coaches in 1869, with the service being used to take the Royal Family around the country.  "The royal train, of course, has been part of national life for many decades, loved and cared for by all those involved," said Mr Chalmers.

The train had been used extensively for events during the late Queen Elizabeth's golden and diamond jubilees - with the most recent update to the carriages taking place in the mid-1980s.  But the latest accounts, for 2024-25, show the train only being used on two occasions, raising questions about maintenance and storage costs.

That's alongside other travel costs such as 55 private charter flights costing almost £600,000 and scheduled flights costing £126,000. The total cost of royal travel is £4.7 million, a rise of £500,000 from the previous year.  The single biggest travel item was £400,000 for the King and Queen's trip to Australia and Samoa.

The latest financial report for 2024-25 shows the Sovereign Grant remaining at £86.3m. This grant is the public funding for the running costs of the monarchy, such as travel for official duties, staffing and the maintenance of royal buildings.

The level of funding for 2025-26 is rising to £132.1m - with this higher level of funding staying for two years to complete renovation work at Buckingham Palace.

The cost of this 10-year, £369m building scheme at Buckingham Palace has pushed up the Sovereign Grant - which in real terms, taking into account inflation, is now about three times higher than when the Sovereign Grant funding was introduced in 2012.

Funding comes from the Treasury, with the amount based on a percentage of the profits of the Crown Estate.

This year's annual report shows the Royal Family carried out over 1,900 engagements, with almost 94,000 guests attending events at royal residences.  There were also diplomatic occasions, such as hosting Qatar's state visit to the UK.

A financial report for the Duchy of Cornwall, the estates which provide an income for the Prince of Wales, showed a profit of £22.9m, slightly down on the previous year.  There had been media criticism of the duchy's finances - and in response Kensington Palace has said that the emphasis will be on a positive social impact.

Will Bax, the duchy's new secretary, said there would be a "modern, socially minded" approach, which could see some charitable organisations and community groups having their rents waived and others with 50% reductions.

This would cost "significant sums", said Mr Bax, but it was part of a focus on turning the duchy into a social enterprise, supporting communities and reflecting Prince William's interest in projects such as reducing homelessness and tackling climate change.

Anti-monarchy campaigners Republic criticised the levels of royal income at a time when there were debates about "cutting welfare for people with disabilities".  Republic's chief executive Graham Smith described royal funding as a "scandalous abuse of public money", with published figures not including costs such as security.

More than a mile of fires in the countryside were caused by a steam train, it has been confirmed by officials.

Multiple fire crews were called to reports of fires near Chinnor yesterday (Sunday, June 29).

Four fire engines attended as well as a water carrier as the firefighters “worked in arduous conditions” of more than 30°C heat.

They were battling a number of small fires along “1.5 miles of heritage railway between Chinnor and Bledlow” for around five hours, between 2.10 pm and 7.13 pm.

Multiple fire engines went to the scene. This included Wainhill Lane, where one householder John Spiegelhalter said it was lucky some of the surrounding dry Barley fields didn’t catch alight.

Photos show scorched vegetation and singed wooden fence posts around the heritage trainline that runs between Chinnor and Princes Risborough, with Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service now confirming a steam train was responsible.

A local resident said it was lucky local farm fields didn't catch alight. A spokesperson said: “The cause was accidental after the passing of a steam locomotive on the heritage line.”

They added: “Fire crews worked in arduous conditions along the length of this section of railway to extinguish spot fires, with fires at multiple lineside locations.  Crews shuttled water, and used two main jets, hose reels and backpack sprayers to extinguish the fires.”

The Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway runs along the Chilterns escarpment and has become a popular tourist attraction in recent decades. It was the part of the Great Western Railway from 1872 with its last commercial service being in the 1950s.

If you’re taking a trip on the 477 bus, you’ll need to plan your journey carefully, because the timetable changes every day.

The 477 bus serves the famous Holy Island, also known as Lindisfarne, off the coast of Northumberland.

It’s one of the UK’s 43 ‘sometimes’ islands that are only accessible at low tide. As such, the timetable is dependent on when the causeway to the island isn’t submerged by water during high tide.

I'd agree with ET that reorganising is a much longer process, either way. In theory joining bits together is easier than deciding what bits to divide into. However, the new unitary GBR will have internal structure, so those decisions are still there. And the way things are done now is nothing like in the 1940s. Then, a few blokes got round a table and drew up something obvious and then did it. Now, it takes years just to decide how the new organisation should be designed, and then there's got to be consultations, and ...

The 10:20 from Penzance to London Paddington called at Castle Cary just after 14:00.   It was booked to dwell for one minute but was stopped for four.

Not surprising

Before



After

If the delayed journeys caused by cancellations could be - say - halved, how much would it cost?  Looking at the immediate economics of today's cancellation of two round trips on the Swindon to Westbury line, how much is paid out in delay / repay, how much revenue is lost because people don't even book, and how much extra is paid out for taxis and bus drivers for rail replacement services?