The travel nightmare before Christmas

The photographs shortly earlier than noon brought on panic in rue d’Enghien within the fashionable tenth district of the capital, a bustling area of shops, restaurants and bars that is home to a large Kurdish population.

The massive story: Airport strike warning by union

If journey chaos over Christmas is not sufficient, a union boss has stated Border Force strikes could go on for six months. It comes as passport officers walked out on one of many busiest days of the yr for airports. Members of the Public and Business Providers union (PCS) employed by the House Workplace to function passport cubicles took industrial motion at Heathrow, Birmingham, Cardiff, Gatwick, Glasgow and Manchester airports, and the port of Newhaven in East Sussex. Border Power strikes will take place every day for the rest of the year, besides December 27. Mark Serwotka, the overall secretary of the PCS union, predicted a „enormous escalation“ in industrial motion in January throughout the Civil Service except ministers enter into negotiations. He added that the union would preserve supporting the strike motion as much as the tip of its mandate in Might. Round 1 / 4 of one million passengers have been anticipated to reach on flights at affected airports on Friday, together with roughly 10,000 individuals who landed at Heathrow earlier than 7am. Travellers have been warned to count on delays amid fears that lengthy queues at passport management might result in folks being held on planes, disrupting subsequent departures.

In one other winter transport headache, Crossrail companies can even be dropped at a standstill as employees strike for the primary time since opening earlier this yr. Members of the TSSA will stroll out on January 12 in a dispute over pay and pensions. Union chiefs declare their members are on decrease wages than outsourcers engaged on behalf of Transport for London. Find out which trains and flights will be affected by strike action this month here.

Ambulance strikes referred to as off

Ambulance strikes planned for next Wednesday have been called off, amid fears of a backlash hitting the NHS on the worst time. Members of the GMB union have been as a result of strike subsequent week, between Christmas and New Yr, with motion deliberate at 9 ambulance trusts in England. Well being leaders have raised considerations that the approaching days may very well be a few of the darkest thus far, as companies battle to get better from this week’s strikes, whereas coping with surging flu circumstances. At this time, the union stated the action had been postponed until January as a result of their members cared about sufferers. Nevertheless, nurses in England will strike on January 18 and 19 in an escalation of the pay dispute with the Authorities except negotiations are opened, the Royal School of Nursing introduced.

‚Loss of life of the Christmas card‘

Postal staff represented by the Communication Employees Union (CWU) walked out for his or her fifth day of December motion at present, in a transfer which Royal Mail criticised as „a cynical try to carry Christmas to ransom“. The corporate stated it is going to be doing all it could actually to ship Christmas mail, revealing that the commercial motion has value it £100 million. There are even fears that the festive tradition of sending Christmas cards may soon come to an end. Industrial motion, rising costs and a possible end to Saturday deliveries are set to hammer an trade that has lengthy been on the decline. An estimated £1.7bn is spent yearly on greeting playing cards within the UK – a determine that has remained static for the previous 5 years.

Remark and evaluation

World information: Arctic storm raises ‚bomb cyclone‘ alarm

A deep freeze enveloping a lot of the United States has mixed with a massive winter storm to leave two-thirds of the nation under extreme weather alerts, confounding journey plans for thousands and thousands of People.