Latest news with #HGV
Press and Journal
4 hours ago
- Press and Journal
'I think I have killed mum': Driver's frantic call to dad moments after horror head-on crash
A trapped and injured BMW driver told his father moments after a head-on collision with a lorry on the A9: 'I think I have killed mum'. Dashcam footage from the HGV and another car captured the moments Gregor MacKay tried to overtake up to four cars in oncoming traffic – with devastating results. The black BMW was lifted off its wheels and rotated in the air, leaving Karen MacKay with a brain injury, ruptures to her bowel and colon, a fractured leg, a cracked cheekbone and a cracked eye socket. Her son sobbed in the dock of Inverness Sheriff Court as he pled guilty to driving dangerously on the A9. Following the court appearance, his father Donald, 64, told The Press and Journal his wife was 'making a great recovery' although his son was 'struggling'. Mr MacKay said: 'As a family, we would like to thank all the members of the public and emergency services who attended the accident. 'The events of the day were terrible, an accident. I continue to support both Gregor and Karen.' They had both set off from their home to attend a dental appointment in Inverness on the morning of December 19 2023. One motorist observed MacKay make what he regarded as a dangerous overtake on the Dornoch Bridge before watching him do the same a short time later with almost tragic results. Video, complete with a soundtrack of horrific screaming, was played in Inverness Sheriff Court. It showed the lorry trying to avoid the collision by mounting a grass verge. However, the BMW was driven straight into the front of the HGV without trying to avoid hitting it, the court was told. Fiscal depute Pauline Gair said the driver spoke to witnesses at the A9 crash scene near Delny, outside Invergordon. 'It's my fault', MacKay admitted, adding: 'I went to overtake and didn't realise there was two vehicles in front. I hesitated.' Mrs Gair said MacKay suffered pelvic injuries, confining him to a wheelchair during recovery. The prosecutor said his mum 'will have a lifelong disability and may need lifelong care'. However, Mr MacKay said the prognosis for his wife was more positive. 'It's all coming around. She's making a great recovery,' he said. 'The way she's going, she won't [need lifelong care]. She's cooking, she's doing everything, she's getting on fine.' Sheriff Gary Aitken told the sobbing offender that he may be jailed. 'It is not often I am lost for words, but the sheer arrogance and stupidity, driving like that on the A9 or anywhere else, is dangerous. It beggars belief,' he said. 'It was gross stupidity. There was plenty of room to get back in. What if it had been a mother and child in a Mini? 'It is a miracle that either of you are still alive at all. Poor driving can have catastrophic consequences, and it has changed your mother's life. 'A custodial sentence must be a real possibility here.' The sheriff deferred sentencing MacKay, of The Avenue, Reay, in Caithness, until September 1 for a background report. He was disqualified from driving in the meantime and had his bail continued.
Skift
9 hours ago
- Business
- Skift
Accor Adds Its First Las Vegas Resort
The DJIA jumped 508 points while Nasdaq was up 127, the S&P 500 rose 49 points, and the 10-year treasury yield was up .05 to 4.39%. Lodging stocks were mostly higher, led by the timeshare stocks as investors reacted positively to Travel + Leisure's earnings, sending the stock up 7% to a new 52-week high. HGV also hit a new high, up 5% and VAC was up 4% on the day. HLT, the other one who reported earnings, saw its stock go down -3% today. STR reported U.S. lodging data for the week ended 7/19. U.S. hotel RevPAR was down -3.3% with occupancy down -2.6% to lead the decline. Group RevPAR was down -4.6%. Hilton and Travel + Leisure kicked off the industry's earnings season. HLT beat estimates, but their report was described as mixed by many for various reasons. The beat was viewed as being from items like owned hotel income and other revenues and expenses, while Management Fees, Incentive managem
The Irish Sun
3 days ago
- Automotive
- The Irish Sun
Struggling car maker gets huge new upgrade at UK plant after confirming hundreds of jobs would be axed
A STRUGGLING car maker has been handed a massive new upgrade at a UK plant after it confirmed hundreds of jobs would be lost. Nissan's plant in Advertisement 2 Nissan's plant in Sunderland has now gone live with its new electric truck charging station Credit: Getty At the end of last month, the firm announced the job cuts after it reported The facility, which cost £1.4million, is the first private, shared charging station of its kind in the UK. It is expected to cut carbon emissions by around 1,500 tonnes a year. Michael Simpson, vice president of supply chain management at Nissan AMIEO, said: "It is fantastic for our plant to be leading the charge to an electrified supply chain with this project. Advertisement Read More on Motors "We welcome the support we've received from our partners to bring the charging station to life and we're proud of what we have achieved. "The charging station looks brilliant and is a big step forward in Nissan's EV360 vision, which brings together electric vehicles, zero carbon energy and battery manufacturing." The station is capable of supporting 60 UK eHGV deliveries to the plant every day and marks just the beginning of the plant's move towards electrifying its supply chain. Mr Simpson added: 'We're exploring further opportunities to allow other hauliers to use the charging station as well as looking at other opportunities to maximise its full potential.' Advertisement Most read in Motors The charging station can support a fleet of 25 trucks, with a charging capacity of up to 360kW. The trucks will pick up parts from Nissan's UK supply base, going as far afield as Derby and also delivering finished vehicles to and from the Tyne port. New Nissan Leaf tested - it's bigger, better and goes further That will mean more than 2.4million kilometres will be travelled every years, completely electrified and saving 1,500 tonnes of CO2 each year. The project is part of the Electric Freightway consortium, which involves Nissan, GRIDSERVE, Fergusons, Yusen, and BCA, and is aimed at accelerating the adoption of eHGVs and high-power charging infrastructure, Advertisement UK government minister for the future of roads Lilian Greenwood said: "We're working closely with the road freight sector to slash transport emissions, and our £200million zero emission HGV programme is helping businesses across the country to power the electrification of their fleets. "It's great to see Nissan taking advantage of our scheme which is supporting high paid jobs and putting money in the pockets of working people – all part of delivering our Plan for Change." The charging station forms a key part of Nissan's wider EV36Zero plan, which aims to integrate electric vehicle production, renewable energy, and battery manufacturing. Daniel Kunkel, CEO of GRIDSERVE, said: "The decarbonisation of transport logistics is much stronger and reaches far wider when done in partnership. Advertisement "This is why, as leaders of the Electric Freightway consortium, we are so pleased to support this UK first with Nissan and their haulage partners. "Depot charging is critical for the electrification of HGVs, going hand in hand with future public infrastructure developments. "As a first shared usage site, this location is leading the way in sustainable freight logistics." The news comes after the car manufacturer announced around 250 jobs from its Sunderland factory would be axed. Advertisement The It comes just weeks after the The job losses will hit non-manufacturing positions. Nissan has announced the cuts amid a Advertisement The attempts to save the brand were ramped up after Earlier this year the firm announced 20,000 job losses, seven factory closures and a pause on all post-2026 new car development. The closures of 2 The Japanese firm has warned it will axe around 250 jobs from its Sunderland plant Credit: Alamy Advertisement
Scottish Sun
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Scottish Sun
Struggling car maker gets huge new upgrade at UK plant after confirming hundreds of jobs would be axed
The move is said to save 1,500 tonnes of CO2 each year. ELECTRIC SHOCK Struggling car maker gets huge new upgrade at UK plant after confirming hundreds of jobs would be axed A STRUGGLING car maker has been handed a massive new upgrade at a UK plant after it confirmed hundreds of jobs would be lost. Nissan's plant in Sunderland has now gone live with its new electric truck charging station. 2 Nissan's plant in Sunderland has now gone live with its new electric truck charging station Credit: Getty At the end of last month, the firm announced the job cuts after it reported £4 billion losses in the last financial year. The facility, which cost £1.4million, is the first private, shared charging station of its kind in the UK. It is expected to cut carbon emissions by around 1,500 tonnes a year. Michael Simpson, vice president of supply chain management at Nissan AMIEO, said: "It is fantastic for our plant to be leading the charge to an electrified supply chain with this project. "We welcome the support we've received from our partners to bring the charging station to life and we're proud of what we have achieved. "The charging station looks brilliant and is a big step forward in Nissan's EV360 vision, which brings together electric vehicles, zero carbon energy and battery manufacturing." The station is capable of supporting 60 UK eHGV deliveries to the plant every day and marks just the beginning of the plant's move towards electrifying its supply chain. Mr Simpson added: 'We're exploring further opportunities to allow other hauliers to use the charging station as well as looking at other opportunities to maximise its full potential.' The charging station can support a fleet of 25 trucks, with a charging capacity of up to 360kW. The trucks will pick up parts from Nissan's UK supply base, going as far afield as Derby and also delivering finished vehicles to and from the Tyne port. New Nissan Leaf tested - it's bigger, better and goes further That will mean more than 2.4million kilometres will be travelled every years, completely electrified and saving 1,500 tonnes of CO2 each year. The project is part of the Electric Freightway consortium, which involves Nissan, GRIDSERVE, Fergusons, Yusen, and BCA, and is aimed at accelerating the adoption of eHGVs and high-power charging infrastructure, The Northern Echo reports. UK government minister for the future of roads Lilian Greenwood said: "We're working closely with the road freight sector to slash transport emissions, and our £200million zero emission HGV programme is helping businesses across the country to power the electrification of their fleets. "It's great to see Nissan taking advantage of our scheme which is supporting high paid jobs and putting money in the pockets of working people – all part of delivering our Plan for Change." The charging station forms a key part of Nissan's wider EV36Zero plan, which aims to integrate electric vehicle production, renewable energy, and battery manufacturing. Daniel Kunkel, CEO of GRIDSERVE, said: "The decarbonisation of transport logistics is much stronger and reaches far wider when done in partnership. "This is why, as leaders of the Electric Freightway consortium, we are so pleased to support this UK first with Nissan and their haulage partners. "Depot charging is critical for the electrification of HGVs, going hand in hand with future public infrastructure developments. "As a first shared usage site, this location is leading the way in sustainable freight logistics." The news comes after the car manufacturer announced around 250 jobs from its Sunderland factory would be axed. The jobs will be cut under a "voluntary leave scheme" letting employees choose to leave their roles with support from the company. It comes just weeks after the Japanese firm announced the new Nissan Leaf would be made at the Sunderland site. The job losses will hit non-manufacturing positions. Nissan has announced the cuts amid a desperate bid to balance the books and support a global effort to become a more "resilient business." The attempts to save the brand were ramped up after merger talks with Honda fell through. Earlier this year the firm announced 20,000 job losses, seven factory closures and a pause on all post-2026 new car development. The closures of seven of its factories would see the brand limited to just 10 sites.
Irish Examiner
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Irish Examiner
Hauliers accuse RSA 'of moving deck chairs around Titanic' by switching truck driving testers to car test centres
Road hauliers have accused the Road Safety Authority of 'robbing Peter to pay Paul', claiming it has massaged driving test figures by moving bus and truck testers to car testing to reduce wait times. The Irish Road Haulage Association said the RSA had diverted testing resources from commercial testing into car testing under 'intense political pressure', and it comes at a time when the haulage sector is desperately short on drivers. 'Young Irish drivers who need a license to drive a bus, truck or HGV cannot get licenses because the RSA have all but stopped commercial testing to focus on car testing,' the hauliers group president Ger Hyland said. 'They have pulled the wool over this Government's eyes and instead of dealing with the high demand for testing, they decided to simply move the deck chairs around the Titanic.' During the summer, the RSA has been ramping up its efforts to reduce waiting times for drivers hoping to sit their test, with times of well over six months being reported in some centres earlier this year. This has included dozens of additional testers and the extension of operating hours. Last week, the RSA said the average waiting time for a driving test had reduced to 14.4 weeks from a peak of 27 weeks at the end of April. It said it remained on course to bring average waiting times down to 10 weeks by September. However, hauliers pointed to CSO data which shows a sharp increase in the number of applicants waiting for an articulated truck licence test in recent months, compared to a decrease in the numbers waiting for a car driving test. Furthermore, there was a fall in the number of tests scheduled for category C truck licences compared to an increase for car licence tests. Mr Hyland said: 'One HGV driving instructor in Kerry told us that he didn't have a scheduled commercial driving test in the Tralee centre since May and wasn't expecting one until at least August. He told of the devastating impact this was having on his business and how he had young drivers waiting since January for a commercial driving test to try and get a job. Mr Hyland said his organisation had written to transport ministers Darragh O'Brien and Sean Canney on the issue, giving them a two-week deadline to come back with sustainable proposals to improve driving test wait times in their sector. 'These are the drivers we need to bring tourists around, deliver goods and keep our economy running,' he added. In a statement, the RSA said it was 'fully committed' to delivering fair and timely access to driving tests for all categories. It said 'record levels' of truck and bus tests were delivered in May in preparation of the release of 'our experienced staff from the service to support the training of our new recruits'. 'This resulted in a reduction of testing staff to support the higher licence categories during the training period in June and July,' the RSA said. 'This short-term adjustment is already delivering improvements in overall capacity. Once the new testers are fully deployed from early September, waiting times for all licence categories — including commercial — will stabilise and meet service-level agreements.' It added the 2,738 people awaiting a truck or driving test at the end of June would be issued an invitation in the coming weeks.
