UK weather: Millions can’t afford to heat their homes as ‘dangerously cold’ weather arrives
More than three million households cannot afford to heat their homes during the current spell of cold weather – putting their health at risk, according to new research.
It comes as the Met Office warns of the Arctic blast hitting the UK, which could cause overnight temperatures as low as -10C by the end of the week.
Motorists could face treacherous conditions on the roads, with train journeys taking longer than usual.
Rosslyn Chapel in Edinburgh
The UK Health and Security Agency has issued a Level 3 cold weather alert – and says vulnerable people should heat their homes to at least 18C, wear extra layers of clothing, and eat hot food to protect themselves.
But about 710,000 households cannot afford to follow this advice because they cannot pay for warm clothing, heating and food – and another 2.5 million families on low incomes are going without.
The research was carried out by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and its senior economist Rachelle Earwaker said: “The dangerously cold weather on the horizon is cause for concern.
Friday’s weather warnings. Pic: Met Office
Saturday’s weather warnings. Pic: Met Office
Sunday’s weather warning. Pic: Met Office
“People are being forced to wager their financial health and whether they can afford more debt, against their wellbeing without sufficient heat, clothing or hot food.”
The survey of 4,251 people in the bottom 40% of incomes suggested that about 4.3 million have cut the amount they spend on heating.
It also found that many families are already behind on their bills, owing more than £1,600 on average. And temperatures are likely to remain low for some time yet.
Read more:
Families face stark choices after a year of the cost of living crisis
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘I’ve had to disconnect my gas’
‘Arctic maritime airmass’: Snow and ice forecast
The Met Office has extended weather warnings through to Saturday, with one still in place for northern Scotland on Sunday.
Large parts of western and northern England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will be hit by snow and ice on Friday and Saturday, with weather warnings in place.
At least five centimetres of snow was confirmed in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire and Altnaharra in the Highlands on Friday morning, with three centimetres falling in Dyce near Aberdeen.
Schools were closed due to freezing conditions in parts of Aberdeenshire and the Highlands, while snow was seen on the ground in Edinburgh.
Cobairdy near Huntly in Aberdeenshire
Met Office chief meteorologist Steve Willington warned there is an “increasing risk of snow as the week progresses”.
“As an Arctic maritime air mass settles across the UK, temperatures will fall with widespread overnight frosts, severe in places, and daytime temperatures only a few degrees above freezing,” he said.
“However, the cold air from the Arctic will also bring brighter conditions, with some dry, sunny spells, particularly away from the coast and where winds are light it could feel pleasant in the sunshine. Some patchy freezing fog is also likely.”
Mountaineering Scotland’s senior mountain safety adviser, Ross Cadie warned people in Scotland not to risk getting into difficulty out walking.
“When winter arrives in Scotland’s mountains, we need to make sure we do our homework before heading out,” he said.
“Planning and preparation from trusted sources and matching your adventure to your level of skill and conditions will help you return home safely.”
Get the 5-day forecast where you live here
Tynemouth pier
Beware of slippery roads and pavements
Roads, pavements and cycle lanes could all be slippery, the Met Office said, and motorists have also been warned to keep blankets in their vehicles in case they break down.
RAC spokesman Rod Dennis added: “Our advice is to be winter ready – check tyres are properly inflated and with good tread, while topping up oil, coolant and screen wash levels if needed.
“Drivers with older batteries in their cars might also wish to give their vehicle a 20-minute drive before colder conditions arrive to ensure the battery can cope with sub-zero temperatures.
“It’s also worth having a fully charged mobile phone and carrying a blanket in case of a breakdown to keep warm.”
About 2,000 homes in the Sheffield have had no gas for five days
No gas for heating or cooking for five days
Meanwhile in the Sheffield area of Stannington around 1,080 homes have had no gas since a water main burst on Friday night – sending hundreds of thousands of litres of water into the gas network.
At a press conference on Thursday morning, it was announced 400 customers had gas restored overnight, with people in Malin Bridge still waiting for water to be cleared from the system until their gas can be reconnected.
Cadent, the firm which runs the gas network, says 150 people are working day and night to fix the problem, and they have started to reconnect gas to some homes. Yorkshire Water said it is not yet clear who is at fault.
Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts
Sheffield City Council has declared a major incident so that staff can be redeployed to the area.
Asked about the approaching cold snap, leader Terry Fox said: “We’re very worried… but, what we’ve seen, to be brutally frank, is a real deep community spirit where people are helping individuals.”
Sheffield Hallam’s Labour MP, Olivia Blake, has said she has asked Chancellor Jeremy Hunt for emergency funding for the council and raised the issue in the Commons on Wednesday, but said she has not yet received a response.
A “British man” has died after being beaten and set on fire by a mob in Ecuador, according to reports by media in the South American country.
According to reports, the man – who has not been officially identified – had been detained by police after being accused of being involved in a fatal shooting.
Ecuadorian news outlet Ecuavisa reported that the man had been taken to a police station Playas del Cuyabeno, a remote village in the Amazon rainforest.
While there, a group broke into the station and took the man away. He was then set on fire in the street, it is reported, and died from his burns.
The incident reportedly happened in the Playas del Cuyabeno area of Sucumbios province
Another local report, from EXTRA.ec, said that specialist police units had been slow to arrive due to the geographical conditions of the area – which is accessible by river.
Read more from Sky News:
IDF finds ‘failings’ over attack on aid workers
Pope blesses Easter crowds from popemobile
According to reports, police officers at the station apparently decided they could not intervene when the mob arrived out of concerns for their own safety.
The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has been approached for comment.
Premier League match tickets at Chelsea have been selling for more than twice the price of a season ticket on an American exchange website with a familiar director and investor to supporters – club chairman Todd Boehly.
Amid growing fan fury, Sky News was able to access the Vivid Seats platform on different devices last week from London – and saw tickets for the visit of Liverpool on 4 May, priced by Chelsea at a maximum of £80, being sold for between £537 and £2,666.
Some tickets were listed as being sold by traders.
Chairman of Chelsea Todd Boehly. Pic: Reuters
Chelsea’s official website appeared to show no availability for this premium fixture, with the Blues battling for Champions League qualification and Liverpool potentially celebrating being crowned Premier League winners.
The most expensive Stamford Bridge season ticket for this campaign was £1,015.
Vivid is listed by the Premier League among “unauthorised ticket websites” with a message: “We would urge fans to exercise extreme caution when dealing with these websites.”
Vivid insisted it adheres to laws and regulations in Britain
The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust has written to the Premier League to ask that Vivid – given its ties with a club’s shareholder – “ceases facilitating the sale of tickets for significantly above face value”.
Mr Boehly – part of the consortium that replaced Roman Abramovich as owner in 2022 – has not addressed accusations of a “conflict of interest” or claims he is undermining efforts to combat ticket touting.
There are anti-touting warnings on signs in the streets approaching the stadium.
Sky News found some tickets for more than £2,000 on Vivid Seats
An official Chelsea Ticket Exchange allows season ticket holders to sell their tickets “at the pro-rata price of season tickets” to a club member “in a safe, secure environment”.
While Chelsea’s website says to only buy tickets in the UK from official sellers, it adds: “Many of the websites that advertise and sell tickets online are not within the jurisdiction of UK law.
“This means, while we report these sites when we see Chelsea tickets on them, there is little we can do to shut down the sites.”
Sign at Stamford Bridge warning against ticket touting
On Vivid, we did see warnings telling visiting users not to buy seats in the home sections and a pop-up eventually appeared after browsing the availability, saying: “Tickets for the EPL matches are not currently available for purchase in your location.”
No attempt was made by us to buy tickets. But should we have been able to see the listings at all?
Sky News first asked for comment from Vivid last Monday and continued to see ticket listings with variable prices in pounds during the week. It took until Friday night for any form of response.
“Vivid Seats respectfully adheres to the laws that are in place in the United Kingdom and is not in violation of any regulations around EPL tickets,” the email read in part. “As such, Vivid Seats’ policy restricts the sale and marketing of EPL tickets in the United Kingdom.”
Pic: Reuters
When Sky News checked the website again on Saturday the listings for Premier League matches were no longer visible as they are from outside of Britain.
Asked if they were no longer visible after our inquiries, Vivid’s official replied: “The conclusions that you are drawing are factually incorrect.
“We understand that people will try to find ways to circumvent technology and as such, we have validation protocols in place in order to restrict the sale and marketing of EPL tickets in the United Kingdom.”
Again, Vivid insisted it adheres to laws and regulations in Britain.
But the same official did not respond to an email detailing how we were able to view the tickets listings from London on separate days, without using VPN software that can make your browser seem as if it’s accessing the internet from another country.
Chelsea’s match against Ipswich at Stamford Bridge. Pic: Reuters
‘It’s the only way I was going to get here’
Ticket exchange websites can be the only way for some fans overseas to come to matches.
When Ipswich played at Stamford Bridge on 13 April, Baz Gillespie was able to watch after 20 years living in Cyprus by paying a vastly-inflated £300 for two tickets on a website other than Vivid.
“The only way I was going to get here was that way,” he said, remembering the days he could just queue up and pay a fiver for a ticket.
The same match was Martin van Dijk’s first-ever game at the Bridge, having come from the Netherlands after paying €150 (£128) on another exchange website after initially trying through Vivid.
“If there’s no other option, and you want to visit, it’s the only way, but I’d rather get it through like the normal way,” he said.
Chelsea fan Martin van Dijk paid €150 for a ticket on a resale website
‘An absolute disgrace’
It is the “normal way” that so many supporters want to protect and are aghast at Mr Boehly’s links to Vivid, predating his purchase of a stake in Chelsea.
“It’s an absolute disgrace,” supporter Ben Grey said. “He shouldn’t be involved in Chelsea and a reselling website. It’s unethical from a basic perspective.
“The club are coming out with communication saying that they’re against ticket reselling and our semi-majority shareholder [has a website] reselling tickets to our games.”
Asked what the Premier League should do, he replied: “I’m a massive Chelsea fan, I don’t want Chelsea to be hit hard by anything.
“But the fact of the matter is they need to sort that out and if they’re allowing there to be an owner of a club who’s reselling tickets, it’s a disgrace.”
Fan Ben Grey said Mr Boehy shouldn’t be involved in Chelsea and a reselling website
‘Not a very good look’
Another fan, Rich Still, called it “21st century greed”.
The issue is resonating with young children.
Rhys Edwards, watching with his father, said: “It doesn’t look too good on Chelsea and their owners to be fair.
“Saying that [the website] is not authorised by the league they’re playing in isn’t a very good look.”
Officials with Chelsea, the Premier League and Mr Boehly declined to comment.
The Vivid statement to Sky News stressed: “It is important to note that Vivid Seats does not set the base price for tickets sold on its marketplace or receive any revenue from that base price; only the seller sets and receives the base ticket price.”
Labour MP Rupa Huq has proposed a law change to improve pricing transparency
‘It’s like the Wild West’
Vivid highlighted to Sky News its “long-standing partnership”, including being a backer of a 2023 summer tour of the United States.
Chelsea’s website featured a quote saying: “We are pleased to join with a company committed to becoming the ultimate partner for connecting fans to the live events, teams and artists they love.”
The government has launched a consultation to prevent people from being ripped off in Britain by the resale of tickets.
Read more:
Chelsea star’s £160,000 car seized
UK set to host 2035 Women’s World Cup
The limit could range from the cost of the original ticket to a 30% uplift to stop the public being “fleeced” by professional touts.
Labour MP for Ealing Central and Acton, Rupa Huq, has separately proposed a change to the law to improve pricing transparency on secondary ticketing sites.
“It’s an unregulated market,” she told Sky News. “It’s like the Wild West. It needs getting back into control.”
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway