Heathrow boss 'frustrated' for being asleep during fire
Results from Heathrow revealed that pre-tax profit fell by 37.2% to £203m in the first six months of 2025. A review into the incident by former Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly found that Mr Woldbye missed two emergency notifications and "several" phone calls on the night of the fire and the subsequent power outage because his mobile phone had gone into "silent mode".In the early hours of 21 March, Heathrow took the decision to stop operations at the airport. Mr Woldbye became aware of what had happened at around 6:45am. He told the BBC he was satisfied with the crisis management procedures that were in place and went into action while he was sleeping."Of course, an organisation like ours has to be able to manage whether the captain's on the bridge or not and in this particular case we took the right decisions," he said. An investigation into how the fire started at an electrical substation which supplied power to Heathrow discovered that it was the result of a known fault at the site. National Grid, which owns the substation, had been aware of a problem since 2018 but failed to fix it.As the results of the investigation were published, Heathrow said it was considering legal action against National Grid.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Tariffs: Trump says India might face up to 25% duties if deal not agreed
India could face tariffs as high as 25% if it fails to finalise a trade deal with the US this week, President Donald Trump has said. "Yeah, I think so," he told reporters on Tuesday when asked whether Delhi would face higher tariffs in the absence of an agreement. The US has set a 1 August deadline for India and several other countries to either reach a trade agreement or face increased and American officials have been negotiating a trade deal for the past few months, but officials have alternated between sounding optimistic and cautious about when it will be announced. When asked about what he expected from a potential deal with India, Trump said: "We're going to see. India has been a good friend, but India has charged basically more tariffs than almost any other country". "But now I'm in charge, and you just can't do that," he BBC has reached out to India's commerce ministry for a are taxes charged on goods imported from other countries. The US president has repeatedly taken aim at India's high tariffs, branding it a "tariff king" and a "big abuser" of trade ties. Trump has not yet sent a letter to India setting a new tariff rate - as he has with more than a dozen other trading partners. Back in April, Trump had announced tariffs of up to 27% on Indian goods, which was later then, both sides have been racing to negotiate an agreement, with officials sometimes sounding positive and at other times, measured."We continue to speak with our Indian counterparts. We've always had very constructive discussions with them," US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said earlier this also acknowledged that although he had earlier said a deal with India might be "imminent", it needed to be understood that Delhi's trade policy has been "protectionist for a very long time" and has been "premised on strongly protecting their domestic market". Greer added that Trump has been focused on securing deals that substantially open other markets to the and dairy are among the key sticking points for both years, Washington has pushed for greater access to India's farm sector, seeing it as a major untapped market. But India has fiercely protected it, citing food security, livelihoods and the interests of millions of small week, Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal told CNBC that the agriculture sector is sensitive for India and that it will make sure that farmers' interests are "well protected". Goyal also told news agencies that India remains "optimistic" about striking a deal with Washington to Reuters, he said that India was making "fantastic progress" in talks with the US and that he hoped they were able to "conclude a very consequential partnership". Until recently, the US was India's largest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching $190bn in 2024. Trump and Modi have set a target to more than double this figure to $ has already reduced tariffs on a range of goods - including Bourbon whiskey and motorcycles - but the US continues to run a $45bn (£33bn) trade deficit with India, which Trump is keen to BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Breakingviews - WeWork India's IPO sounds a bit too familiar
BENGALURU, July 30 (Reuters Breakingviews) - WeWork's latest push for an initial public offering sounds a bit too familiar. The coworking space's India affiliate is preparing for a Mumbai share sale. It has improved on the business model of its global namesake which commanded a $47 billion valuation before scrapping its planned IPO in 2019. Nonetheless, it looks like another rushed attempt at a stock market listing from the brand. As a separate entity, WeWork India was unscathed by WeWork Global's entry into bankruptcy proceedings in 2023. It counts the company as a minority investor and pays it a management fee, recently renegotiated down to 2.84% of revenue. Embassy Group, a Bengaluru-based developer, owns 74% of the firm. The franchisee stands apart in other ways, too. For a start, it is profitable. WeWork Global was racking up billions of dollars of losses ahead of its IPO push. By contrast, WeWork India turned a small net profit in the six months to September 2024. The franchisee's business looks more disciplined too. Its centres are in top cities like Bengaluru where demand has kept occupancy rates well over 80%, according to property consultancy Knight Frank. Its tenants include JP Morgan (JPM.N), opens new tab and Thomson Reuters ( opens new tab, the parent of Reuters Breakingviews. And the company is experimenting with ways to reduce costs: in three of its 59 centres, landlords cover operating and setup costs for a cut of the revenue; another five run on fixed-fee services. The relationship with Embassy Group, also a partner to Blackstone (BX.N), opens new tab, makes it easier for WeWork India to access prime office real estate too. On a multiple of 3.65 times 2026 sales, the same as Peak XV Partners-backed local rival Awfis Space Solutions ( opens new tab, WeWork India's enterprise might be worth $814 million. Yet that would be nearly double the valuation that was mooted in local media, opens new tab in April last year, and about twice the multiple of London-listed International Workplace Group (IWG.L), opens new tab which has over 4,000 workspace locations globally. WeWork India is also going public in what looks like an increasingly crowded market. The Executive Centre, backed by KKR (KKR.N), opens new tab, is preparing, opens new tab to list, too. Smartworks Coworking Spaces ( opens new tab debuted earlier this month. What's more, none of the proceeds from the global brand's potential $400 million, opens new tab offer will go to the company: it's just an opportunity for existing investors to cash out. Given the difficult history of the brand, WeWork India should have delayed its IPO until it proved itself a bit more. Follow Ujjaini Dutta on LinkedIn, opens new tab and X, opens new tab.
BBC News
7 hours ago
- BBC News
Disused railway land to be redeveloped to build 40,000 new homes
The UK government says first-time buyers are set to benefit as it pledges to build up to 40,000 new homes on disused railway land, including former goods yards, industrial sites and station buildings, over the next ten £1bn development plans will start with previously identified projects in Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and government said it was part of its "brownfield first" approach and would create "vibrant" new the interim target of 15,000 in the first five years, is a small fraction of the total 1.5 million new homes the government has promised by the end of this parliament, plans that are already facing big hurdles. The government aims to attract £350m in private sector investment to help develop vacant industrial sites across the country, to create shops, green spaces and hotels as well as flats and is part of its bigger promise to tackle housing shortages across the those plans face a huge range of obstacles, including strains on local infrastructure such as water, sewage, schools and healthcare, and a lack of capacity in the construction industry to build the new homesIndustry groups say there are already backlogs, with hundreds of homebuilding projects held up by regulatory obstacles. A new development company, called Platform4, is being created, by rolling together two existing bodies: London and Continental Railways and Network Rail's Property Development currently have responsibility for managing disused railway land, but the Department for Transport said that this "fragmented approach" had led to "inefficiencies, duplicated efforts and missed opportunities".Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the new developments would support jobs and drive growth as well as providing much needed homes."It's exciting to picture the thousands of families who will live in these future homes, the vibrant neighbourhoods springing up, and the new businesses that will launch thanks to these developments," she Seeley, the chair of London and Continental Railways, has been appointed as chair of Platform4. However, the industry group the National Federation of Builders (NFB) said planning delays were blocking progress on existing building projects on a scale equal to the government's new to the NFB at least 40,000 new homes are being held up by regulators, including 700 projects waiting for the go-ahead from the Building Safety Regulator, which was set up in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire to oversee higher-risk NFB also said planning delays were also causing small businesses to leave the construction industry, with a knock-on effect on training and apprenticeships. Rico Wojtulewicz, the NFB's head of policy and market insight said building houses near to railway lines was a "winning blueprint" because stations "already connect up local and regional communities".But he said elsewhere government policy was adding to building costs "on at least ten fronts".The Building Safety Regulator said many applications had "taken longer than anticipated to process" and that said it was rejecting around 70% of applications because they did not meet legal requirements.
