Latest news with #RobLewis
CTV News
29-05-2025
- Automotive
- CTV News
Northern Ont. motorist charged with stunt driving after being clocked at more than 150km/h
Ontario Provincial Police clocked a West Nipissing motorist travelling 154km/h in a 90km/h zone on Highway 17 on May 27, 2025. The driver was charged with stunt driving, received a licence suspension and the vehicle was impounded for 14-days. (Ontario Provincial Police/Facebook) Ontario Provincial Police charged a 69-year-old local driver with stunt driving after a traffic stop on Highway 17 in West Nipissing this week. Officers stopped the vehicle on May 27, for travelling 154 km/h in a posted 90 km/h zone. In addition to the charge, the local motorist received a 30-day licence suspension, and the vehicle involved was impounded for 14 days. The accused is scheduled to appear in court at a later date. Under provincial law, if convicted, penalties could include a fine of $2,000 to $10,000, a licence suspension of one to three years, and up to six months in jail. The driver would also face six demerit points, higher insurance costs, and a mandatory driver improvement course – or licence cancellation. 'Slow down, (and) drive safe,' said OPP Const. Rob Lewis in a related social media post.
CTV News
28-05-2025
- Automotive
- CTV News
Unlicensed North Bay motorist charged with stunt driving after traffic stop
An undated image of a vehicle's internal speedometer accelerating beyond 100km/h. (File photo/plusphoto/GettyImages) Ontario Provincial Police in West Nipissing charged a 33-year-old North Bay driver with stunt driving and other offences after a traffic stop on Highway 17 earlier this month. Officers stopped the vehicle on May 17, for travelling 106 km/h in a posted 50 km/h zone. The driver was also charged with operating a motor vehicle not equipped with a required ignition interlock device, driving without a licence and driving without insurance. In addition to the charges, the motorist received a 30-day driver's licence suspension, and the vehicle involved was impounded for 14 days. The accused is scheduled to appear in court at a later date. Under provincial law, if convicted, penalties could include a fine of $2,000 to $10,000, a licence suspension of one to three years, and up to six months in jail. The driver would also face six demerit points, higher insurance costs, and a mandatory driver improvement course – or licence cancellation. 'Slow down, (and) drive safe,' said OPP Const. Rob Lewis in a related social media post.
CTV News
14-05-2025
- Automotive
- CTV News
Highway 69 reopened following motorcycle crash in Estaire
Grim numbers were released by OPP Tuesday, showing that 2023 saw the most traffic-related deaths in a single year since the early 2000's. Over 400 deaths on roadways in 2023 Ontario Provincial Police confirmed a third crash on a northern Ontario highway on Sunday. Around 5:15 p.m., police said a motor vehicle collision on Highway 69 at Highway 64 in Estaire, south of Sudbury, closed the northbound lanes. The road reopened just after 7:30 p.m. OPP Const. Rob Lewis told the crash involved a motorcycle and the driver sustained serious, but non-life-threatening injuries. No word on what caused the crash, if other vehicles were involved or if there are any charges pending. Two other crashes on Sunday closed parts of Highway 11 and 17.
Wales Online
24-04-2025
- Business
- Wales Online
Full details of Cardiff Rugby's financial collapse emerge as those still owed money named
Full details of Cardiff Rugby's financial collapse emerge as those still owed money named Barclays Bank, HMRC, Hugh James solicitors and an Ebbw Vale-based magician are among the club's creditors Cardiff have been taken over by the WRU (Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency Ltd ) Cardiff Rugby owed well over 100 creditors an estimated total of £2.4m on the day it financially collapsed, it has emerged. Those creditors, which range from an energy company and bank to an Ebbw Vale-based magician and Merthyr Rugby Club, have little prospect for any returns, BusinessLive reports. HMRC, which is a secondary preferential creditor, is owed an estimated £1.4m relating to non VAT and PAYE payments. According to a proposals report from joint administrators with PwC, Rob Lewis and Ross Connock, unsecured creditors also include the company's previous legal partners in Hugh James who are owed £95,431 and whose managing partner, Alun Jones, was chair of Cardiff Rugby when the club fell into administration. Article continues below The corporate team of the Cardiff headquartered law firm had acted for the club on its takeover by Helford. Other unsecured creditors include Barclays Bank (£399,000), Octopus Energy, (£470,291), the United Rugby Championship (via Dublin-based Pro Rugby Championship LP) with nearly £190,000 relating to the funding of LED advertising, its landlord in Cardiff Athletic Club (£16,000), and Talbot Green-based Floodlighting and Electrical Services (£57,258). In total there are over 100 unsecured creditors with some of the smaller ones including Welsh magician Adam Reeves, who is owed £400 (linked to corporate entertainment at the Arms Park) and Merthyr Rugby Club, owed £1,600. 25% OFF DEAL NOW: Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby. The former Cardiff owners, Helford Capital, also failed to fund a £2m trading shortfall despite being legally obliged to do so as the club's regional principal investors following their takeover from the late Peter Thomas in December, 2023. Just hours after the directors of Cardiff Rugby had put the business into administration, as it was no longer able to trade solvently without Helford's required funding, the assets and goodwill of the business were acquired by the WRU in a pre-pack deal with the joint administrators. As well as a debt liability for the artificial pitch at the Arms Park - funded by former board member Paul Bailey - the WRU's consideration came to £780,000. The due diligence of Helford before its takeover was undertaken by London-based advisory firm Thorium in the form of fit and proper person and financial tests. The outcome was literally a short paragraph saying they had cleared both tests. The report was passed back to the board of Cardiff Rugby from the WRU. The issue was not whether Mr Kempe and Mr Griffith didn't have the required financial resources, but whether they were willing to deploy their own money to make up losses, which benefactors at the four regions had agreed to under the current professional rugby agreement (PRA) with the WRU. While not suggesting any wrongdoing on the part of Mr Griffith, financial services firm which he was chief executive of and a shareholder in, Optima Worldwide Group (OWG), was put into compulsory liquidation in 2021. The latest progress report - published last month - from joint liquidators at restructuring firm Interpath, shows creditors are owed more than £37m. Owners of Cardiff Rugby left Neal Griffith and Phil Kempe. Before going into administration Cardiff Rugby were repeatedly asked if they were aware of the liquidation of Mr Griffith's previous company before agreeing to the takeover and what additional due diligence they had undertaken as the sellers beyond relying on the fit and proper person and financial assessments that the WRU had arranged. Despite repeated assurances from Helford that they would meet the financial shortfall of the club, their required investment never materialised - although Mr Griffith provided a personal guarantee to a six-figure Barclays overdraft facility with the club, while Mr Kempe had agreed two non redeemable loans worth £250,000. There had been speculation that Helford were looking, through their contacts in the Middle East, to leverage significant investment into the club. What PwC is currently assessing is how it can recover the £2m debt from Helford for redistribution to creditors. The Jersey-based firm was established solely as a special purpose vehicle to acquire Cardiff Rugby. PwC would need to determine whether the £2m debt rests just with the company or its two directors in a personal capacity. If the former, and with no assets held by Helford, there will be no return for creditors. However, if they is any realisation then the first call on it from a creditor position will be HMRC as a government body. On the debt position of Helford the joint administrators say in their report: "Cardiff was due £2m from Helford under the terms of the RPI (regional principal investor) deed at the date of the administrators' appointment. We are currently reviewing the position regarding this outstanding balance and will update creditors further in due course.' With just hours between Cardiff Rugby being put into administration and the pre-pack deal which saw the WRU acquiring the assets of the club, the joint administrators didn't have time to seek any alternative offers. However, while not running a formal market process, and acting in the best interest of creditors, they have confirmed they would consider any new offers up to the expiry of a 13-week window before July 9th. Only if an improved counter deal is received and deemed in the best interest of creditors would the administrators then unwind the current ownership deal with the WRU. However, any new ownership deal technically would require the backing of the WRU as it is a secured creditor of the failed club, which relates to a £3m debt it had arranged and passed through to it. The WRU also passed through a further £6m of unsecured lending to the club - which now falls on the new Cardiff Rugby company it owns. The PwC report highlights the increasing concerns of the non-Helford board members of the club and the WRU, over the willingness of Mr Kempe and Mr Griffith to fund losses. It adds : "By early 2025, Cardiff Rugby Ltd (CRL) faced acute liquidity problems as Helford failed to deliver £2m in funding due under the RPI deed, citing delays in unrelated transactions. Despite repeated assurances, the funding did not materialise. "In late March and early April the non-Helford directors' and the WRU sought assurances and firm evidence from Helford relating to the timing of the RPI deed monies but, in the absence of these assurances being received, and after the overdraft facility (Barclays) was removed, the WRU took the decision not to continue advancing any PRA funding outside of the normal payment profile. 'Helford and CRL's non-Helford directors pursued options to secure external funding and/or obtain evidence that Helford would be in a position to provide immediate cash to the club. These options, however, were ultimately deemed by the non-Helford directors as not deliverable or reasonably demonstrable. 'In light of CRL's significant financial issues, the board of directors and the WRU had to take immediate steps to consider what action was required. "Both the CRL board of directors and the WRU wanted to ensure the preservation of the club operations but considered that, given all solvent funding options in the timeframe available had been exhausted, rescuing the club through an insolvency process was going to be the most viable and deliverable option. 'The board concluded that an administration process was the most appropriate course of action under the circumstances, with a pre-packaged sale of the club's business and assets to the WRU immediately post appointment. The intention of this solution was to offer a safe harbour for the club in the short term, allowing time for Cardiff Rugby to find a long term solution to secure the club's future.' Under the in principle agreed new PRA between the union and the four clubs (where Cardiff is now a subsidiary business of the WRU), the benefactor funding position in the case of default will be tightened with personal guarantees - although the new proposed PRA would see the funding for player squads from the union increasing incrementally and reaching £6.9m by 2029. The new deal would also see the WRU taking on the financing of around £3m per club in debt it has passed through to them. Chair of the WRU, Richard Collier-Keywood, said: "In the new PRA we want to see what I would call an onshore guarantee. We want to be able to make sure that the source of the money is fine for all sorts of international purposes and that we need to understand the ultimate beneficial ownership line that comes. The second thing we need to understand is the fact that we can enforce against what they have committed. 'Not all money rests in the UK, but we do need to learn from the current experience and improve it going forward as nobody wants to be in the same situation that the Cardiff board found itself in.' If no counter offer for Cardiff emerges by PwC's July deadline, the club will remain a subsidiary business - which around 170 staff and players of the failed entity transferred over into - of the WRU for at least the next year. Article continues below However, the WRU are hopeful that at some future point the business can return into private ownership.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Farm union's 'shock' at sheep dip disposal ban
Welsh farmers are to be banned from disposing of waste sheep dip on their land, over concerns the liquid chemical treatment is polluting rivers. Natural Resources Wales (NRW) said it had measured increased levels of diazinon - a chemical which is highly toxic to aquatic life - accumulating in rivers. It intends to phase out the decades-old practice of allowing farms to spread diluted waste dip to land, and will stop issuing new permits. But farming union NFU Cymru said it was "shocked" and "extremely disappointed" by the decision, calling for it to be overturned Warning of 'massive impact' of farm virus in Wales Wool-d you believe Wales is losing sheep? Royal Welsh Show showcases nation's best livestock Sheep dip is a chemical solution used to treat sheep for parasites and skin conditions. While sheep dipping is "important to safeguard livestock," NRW said changes were needed to disposal of the leftover liquid. Permits allowing farmers to spread it on their land will no longer be issued. Farms will now be required to employ a registered waste carrier to dispose of their waste dip "in a suitable waste facility," NRW said. Those with an active permit will be allowed to carry on spreading on land "for the time being," though "eventually all waste dip will need to be disposed of this way," the regulator added. NFU Cymru livestock board chairman Rob Lewis said the union was "shocked that NRW has taken this decision with immediate effect and without consideration of the wider impacts." "The practice of sheep dipping in Wales is integral to maintain the high flock health status of the Welsh flock," he added. "The decision has implications for animal health and welfare, the ongoing management of key habitats and disadvantages young farmers and new entrants to the sheep sector." He said the union believed there was "no scientific case to prevent disposal on land," pointing out that "new applications for permits are still available elsewhere in the UK". "We have written to NRW today and called for the decision to be reversed." The union's rural affairs board chairman Hedd Pugh said Wales was "nowhere near getting a workable spent dip disposal scheme" up and running. "There are issues around actual collection and storage but more importantly, the end point and the uneconomic cost of incineration of spent dip," he said. Nadia De Longhi of NRW said it was "constantly working to balance the needs of working farms with our duties to safeguard the environment". "Disposing of sheep dip to land has been done for more than 30 years but we've noticed a negative effect accumulating in our rivers that is causing us to fail to meet the standards required to protect the water environment," she said. "This is why we've decided to phase out the practice as there are now better alternatives available." NRW is encouraging farmers to surrender permits they no longer need, and has removed a £363 charge for doing so.
