Tag: Manchester Airport

Travel industry workers’ plea for help to rescue industry and save jobs

The trade union, UNITE, staged a day of action yesterday at Manchester Airport in support of the hard-hit travel industry.

The union is calling for tailored support for the industry brought to its knees by the Covid 19 pandemic and is demanding greater transparency in the government’s traffic lights travel restriction scheme.

Unite also wants the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to be extended for the aviation sector beyond the current cut-off date of September, while government restrictions are preventing travel, to protect jobs, routes and airports and to ensure that the UK still has a viable industry when travel can safely return to normality.

Unite members and their supporters also took part, with other unions and the TUC, in a lobby of parliament organised by trade association Airlines UK, and the travel industry.

The protest was backed by Wythenshawe MP Mike Kane, Labour’s spokesperson for aviation. He said: “1.6 million jobs depend on the UK’s aviation sector which contributes £22 billion to the UK economy. This is why I am supporting #traveldayofaction.”

Unite assistant general secretary Diana Holland said: “It is totally unprecedented for all areas of the aviation sector and the travel industry to come together with a joint call of action for the government.

“Hopes of a gradual recovery in the aviation sector have been placed in the deep freeze as a direct result of government policies. Therefore the government has a moral duty to act and act swiftly.

“Aviation is essential to the long-term success of the UK’s economy, and to keeping people connected. If a meaningful, sustainable and resilient industry is going to be in place when travel can return, then the government must provide immediate support for the workers who will make this happen.”

Travel disruption caused by suspect package at Manchester Airport coach station

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A controlled explosion has been carried out at Manchester Airport’s transport interchange after a suspicious package was discovered.

Officers from the Bomb Disposal Squad carried out the explosion as a precaution and are assisting Greater Manchester Police with inquiries.

Police say a man has been detained at the scene and a cordon was been put in place while inquiries  are carried out.

Trams trains and buses were suspended to and from the interchange, but the majority of road closures have been lifted and the area is returning to normality.

A small cordon remains in place on the ground floor of the coach station as investigations continue.

Manchester council leaders plead with MPs to reject No Deal Brexit

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Manchester Council Leader, Sir Richard Leese

Manchester council’s leadership has joined leaders from England’s five core cities to plead with MPs to reject leaving the EU without a deal.

MPs are voting tonight on whether to rule out a No Deal Brexit following the Prime Minister’s defeat yesterday of her proposed withdrawal agreement.

Manchester says they are concerned about the impact of No Deal on the region and in particular its effect on Manchester Airport. Continue reading “Manchester council leaders plead with MPs to reject No Deal Brexit”

Councillor welcomes fine for rogue airport parking firm

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Cllr Rabnawaz Akbar

A Wythenshawe-based “cowboy” airport parking firm has been told to pay more than £3,500 following a trading standards sting.

Mr Nabeel Khoury, age 45, of Greenwood Road, Manchester was personally fined £425 as sole director of PPS Manchester Limited and was ordered to pay £1,000 court costs and a victim of crime surcharge of £42 following a hearing at Manchester Magistrates Court.

The PPS Manchester Limited company was also fined £1,000 after being found guilty of engaging in a misleading action, and ordered to pay court costs of £1,000 along with a victims of crime surcharge of £100.

Mr Khoury and PPS Manchester claimed that car would be parked securely when in fact they were being parked on residential streets in Woodhouse Park, Wythenshawe – nearby to Manchester Airport – which is an offence under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations.

In 2016, Manchester City Council’s Trading Standards team fitted a tracking device to a vehicle and booked a three day airport parking service through the PPS Manchester website. The tracker showed the car had been parked on Greenwood Road in Woodhouse Park and clearly not in a secure car park as advertised.

The company’s website claimed that cars are kept on a concrete surface surrounded by fencing, patrolled 24 hours a day by security guards and under the watch of CCTV.

Returning the following day, trading standards officers found the car in the same position before picking up the vehicle from a PPS Manchester driver the next day.

Under interview, Mr Khoury claimed the cars were safe and secure as it was parked outside of his home address, and claimed the promise on the website referred to a period of time when the business was based at another location close to the airport.

He also claimed that if the booking had been for longer, the vehicle would have been moved to one of three secure car parks that he had exclusive use of.

The investigation is part of a multi-agency operation tasked with dealing with meet and greet parking operators in the Woodhouse Park area that sometime leave holiday maker’s vehicles residential streets for up to two weeks.

A dedicated enforcement team has now been set up to tackle the problem of cars being parked obstructively by rogue ‘meet-and-greet’ companies in residential areas during the school summer holidays.

Since the end of July, the enforcement team have received 42 calls from residents that have led 29 penalty charge notices being handed out, and nine vehicles removed from the streets of Wythenshawe.

Councillor Rabnawaz Akbar, Manchester City Council’s Executive Member for Neighbourhoods, said: “Cowboy meet and greet firms are making life a misery for residents in Wythenshawe and I’m pleased that the Courts have found it appropriate to impose a significant fine on this so-called company.

“I hope this sends a clear message to other illegal operators that deceiving customers will not be tolerated. We are doing everything we can to find you, investigate you and where possible, we will prosecute.

“Many residents are tricked into handing over their car keys to criminals for what seems like a good deal so we strongly advise anybody thinking of using an airport meet-and-greet scheme to research your chosen company carefully and look out for the certified “Buy with Confidence” mark.”

 

Residents are asked to call the Council on 0161 234 4199 if a vehicle is parked on double yellow lines, if a road crossing is blocked where there is a dropped kerb, if their driveway is completely blocked (where a dropped kerb has been provided by the Council or Wythenshawe Community Housing Group), or if a bus stop is blocked.

Where there is a confirmed case, the Council has powers to take enforcement action, which could include towing the vehicle away.

If a parked vehicle blocks a path or grass verge and makes it hard for pedestrians to pass, residents should contact Greater Manchester Police on 101.

Transport bosses make funding bid to expand Airport Metro line

Pic: Mikey

Transport for Greater Manchester has submitted a funding bid to the Department for Transport to extend the Metrolink’s Airport line.

The Airport line currently terminates at Manchester Airport’s railway station, but the funding bid outlines the potential to extend the line with an additional stop at Terminal 2.

According to a report in The Place North West, TfGM said the expansion would “align with Manchester Airport Group’s intended expansion to Terminal 2 and the future development of Airport City”.

TfGM will also look into extending the Metrolink from Terminal 2 to the proposed HS2 station at the airport, which forms part of the wider “Western Loop” initiative, which could potentially link the HS2 station at the airport to Wythenshawe Hospital and the surrounding area.

Other options to make the airport a transport hub for the area include proposals for a busway and cycleway linking Altrincham with the airport’s HS2 station; additional bus priority lanes on the existing road network; and an extension of the railway station’s platforms to increase capacity.