Rail workers, Border Force staff and driving examiners resume strike action

Published

2 years ago

December 28, 2022

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Rail workers, Border Force staff and driving examiners are resuming strike action today, with commuters warned of serious delays as they return to work.

It comes after a day of travel chaos despite a rail strike by the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers’ Union (RMT) coming to an end, with crowds of people left waiting at major train stations across London and many journeys delayed due to the late handover of engineering works.

Here is a list of those striking today:
• Members of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) at Great Western Railway will walk out from noon to 11.59am on Thursday
• West Midlands Trains will strike for 24 hours from noon until the same time on Thursday
• Driving examiners from the Public and Commerical services (PCS) union at 71 test centres will launch a five-day strike
• Border Force officers at the same union will begin a four-day strike at six airports

Rail unions have launched strike action over a dispute with the government and rail companies about pay, job cuts and changes to terms and conditions, saying they should be given a pay offer to reflect the rising cost of living.

West Midlands Trains said that none of its services would be running from Wednesday morning as a result of the TSSA strike.

TSSA organising director Nadine Rae said its members are “sick and tired of being taken for granted” and “deserve a pay rise to manage the escalating cost of living”.

“The company, like all the train operators under the control of the Department for Transport, need to face up to the fact that only serious offers which meet our aspirations will end this dispute,” she said.

‘Put some money on the table’

Network Rail has told passengers to prepare for “significantly disrupted” travel into the new year amid the wave of industrial unrest.

At the same time, driving instructors, who are part of the PCS union and employed by the Driver and Vehicles Standards Agency, will walk out of test centres across eastern England and the Midlands.

They are set to return to work on 1 January.

“Our members have been offered a pay rise of just 2% at a time when the cost-of-living crisis is above 10%,” PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said.

“These strikes could be called off tomorrow if Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt put some money on the table.”

Border Force officers at Gatwick, Heathrow, Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester and Glasgow airports and the port of Newhaven will resume strikes in the same dispute, and will return to work on New Year’s Eve.

A Home Office spokesperson said passengers should expect disruption during the action, but added that staff are “working hard to ensure travellers have a safe and secure journey”.

“We continue to work closely with port operators at a local and national level to minimise disruption as well as ensure ports are prepared to make provisions for the welfare of passengers in the event of longer queues,” they added.

Just ‘two Border Force officers’ on duty

Last night, travellers on the Eurostar service from Brussels to London were delayed for more than three hours, with just two UK Border Force stations being manned.

They were told to disembark to have their tickets and documents checked at Lille because an “intruder” was thought to be on the train.

One passenger told Sky News: “There was a massive queue, it took quite some time to get through.

“There were two or three French border agents checking passports as we left the EU for a second time, and only two UK border agency staff to check the passports for entry into the UK at Lille.

“It was only around the time of the departure that we were told there had been ‘an intruder in the safe zone.”

Unions trying to find ways to stage more strikes

Meanwhile, unions are looking at ways to stage further strikes by splitting ballots by job titles rather than holding a single vote, according to reports.

The i newspaper reported that the TSSA is poised to let different sections of its membership vote at different times in order to carry out multiple walkouts per week.

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The Department for Transport has described the reports as “incredibly disappointing” and urged unions to “step back, reconsider and get back around the table”.

“After two years of virtual Christmases, the British public deserve better than to have their festive celebrations impacted by strikes,” a spokesman said.

“The transport secretary and rail minister have worked hard to facilitate a fair and reasonable offer, which two unions have accepted, and it is incredibly disappointing that some continue to strike.”

UK

‘I think you’re looking for us’: Video shows moment Sara Sharif’s family detained on plane

Published

4 hours ago

November 1, 2024

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'I think you're looking for us': Video shows moment Sara Sharif's family detained on plane

Footage of the moment 10-year-old Sara Sharif’s alleged killers were detained after police boarded their plane back to the UK has been played in court.

As they are approached by officers, Sara‘s stepmother Beinash Batool is heard saying: “I think you’re looking for us.”

Batool, 30, Sara’s father Urfan Sharif, 42, and uncle Faisal Malik, 29, are accused of carrying out a campaign of abuse against her culminating in her death at her family home in Surrey on 8 August last year.

The defendants, along with five of Sara’s siblings, aged between one and 13, flew to Pakistan the following day.

Sara’s body was found by police in a bunkbed on 10 August after Sharif called police from Pakistan to say he had beaten her “too much” for being “naughty”.

A murder investigation was launched involving agencies including Interpol and the National Crime Agency to locate the defendants.

They returned to the UK on a flight from Dubai to Gatwick Airport on 13 September.

The clips of officers’ body-worn video shown to the jury on Friday captured the moment police boarded the plane and detained the defendants at 7.42pm, seven minutes after touchdown.

After Batool addresses the officers, Sharif, who had been sitting next to her, is asked to follow them.

The three were then taken off the plane and arrested.

A post-mortem examination established Sara had sustained extensive and significant injuries over a sustained period prior to her death.

The jury heard on Friday how concerns were raised by Sara’s school about bruising on her body in June 2022 and March 2023.

Several items seized from Sara’s home were also reviewed by the court, including a leather belt which had full DNA samples at both ends for Sara, Sharif, and Malik.

A cricket bat was also found to have Sara’s DNA profile on it, along with the DNA samples of Sharif and Malik.

Neither item had a DNA trace of Batool.

The court also reviewed the defendants’ bank accounts – both joint and separate.

All three defendants have pleaded not guilty to murder and causing or allowing the death of a child.

The trial continues.

UK

Girl, 13, ‘critical’ after being found stabbed next to A63 in Hessle – as six teenagers arrested

Published

4 hours ago

November 1, 2024

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Girl, 13, 'critical' after being found stabbed next to A63 in Hessle - as six teenagers arrested

Six teenagers have been arrested after a 13-year-old girl was found with multiple stab wounds on a roadside near Hull.

Police said she was found around 6.50am on the A63 in Hessle with “life-threatening injuries” including “lacerations to her neck, abdomen, chest and back”.

Four boys and two girls – aged between 14 and 17 – were quickly arrested in a nearby wooded area and are being questioned on suspicion of attempted murder.

Members of the public came to the girl’s aid before emergency services arrived, Humberside Police said.

Detective Superintendent Simon Vickers said they “believe the attackers knew the victim” and the circumstances are still being investigated.

“The girl remains in hospital in critical condition and her family are being supported by officers at this difficult time,” he added.

The boys arrested are aged 14, 15, 16 and 17, and the girls 14 and 15.

Cordons are in place around a wooded area off Ferriby High Road while investigations continue.

Police said they would have an increased presence in the area over the weekend and have asked anyone with information or video to get in touch, or contact Crimestoppers anonymously.

UK

Ex-soldier Daniel Khalife tells court it was a ‘foolish idea’ to have someone with his ‘skillset’ in prison

Published

7 hours ago

November 1, 2024

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Ex-soldier Daniel Khalife tells court it was a 'foolish idea' to have someone with his 'skillset' in prison

A former soldier has told a jury his escape from Wandsworth prison to avoid being held with sex offenders and terrorists showed his “skillset”.

Daniel Khalife, 23, who was being held accused of passing secrets to Iran said he was “never a real spy” but planned a fake defection to the state following his arrest after watching American television show Homeland.

He said he wanted to be moved to a high-security unit because he was getting unwanted attention from the sex offenders on the vulnerable prisoners wing and feared a move to Belmarsh prison because, as a British soldier, terrorists wanted to kill him.

Khalife said he first wanted to “make a show” of escaping, acting suspiciously and covering himself in soot from a food delivery lorry on 21 August last year, while he was working in the prison kitchen.

He was spotted and reported to security but was “pretty shocked” when nothing happened so decided to take the “full measure,” he told the jury.

Talking about his escape for the first time at his Woolwich Crown Court trial, Khalife told how he fashioned a makeshift sling from kitchen trousers and carabiners used by inmates to keep their possessions safe from rats.

He attached it to the Bidfood lorry on 1 September last year, to see if it would be spotted by officers at Wandsworth or other prisons on the delivery route.

“I put the two carabiners and the makeshift rope underneath the lorry,” he said.

“When I had made the decision to actually leave the prison I was going to do it properly so I tested the security not just in Wandsworth

“Strangely, over the coming days, I could see it but it wasn’t spotted in Wandsworth or any other prison.”

Then on the morning of 6 September, Khalife said he concealed himself underneath the lorry, resting his back on the sling as the lorry was searched.

“They did normal checks around with torches but they didn’t find me. After that, a governor came to the tunnel and said, ‘Have you searched the vehicle?’

“I was facing upwards. There was action around the lorry.”

He said that when the vehicle stopped he “came out underneath the lorry and stayed in the prone position” until the lorry moved off.

Khalife, who joined the Army aged 16 and took up a post with the Royal Signals, based in Beacons barracks, Staffordshire, said he made no attempt to leave the country and had no intention to “run away” from the charges he was facing.

He was arrested three days later on the footpath of the Grand Union Canal in Northolt, west London, after a nationwide manhunt.

Asked why he had not handed himself in after his escape, Khalife said: “I was finally demonstrating what a foolish idea it was to have someone of my skillset in prison. What use was that to anyone?”

“I accept that I left the prison and didn’t have any permission to do so,” he said. “I accept absolutely that I shouldn’t have done what I did.”

Inspired by Homeland

The court has heard Khalife initiated contact with Iranian intelligence officers after he was told he could not pass developed vetting because his mother was born in Iran.

Khalife told MI5 he wanted to be a “double agent” and he said in court he thought he would be “congratulated” but described his arrest as like a “punch in the face”.

Wearing a blue checked shirt and chinos, he said police were “blinded at the prospect of a successful prosecution” but he did not think being in prison would be in “the public interest”.

“I didn’t do anything that harmed our national security. I wanted to put myself in a position where I could help my country,” he said.

“I believed I could continue my work actually located in the state – the state being Iran.”

Khalife said he took inspiration from watching Homeland, starring Claire Danes and Damian Lewis, in which Americans and terrorists go undercover, on Netflix.

“I had seen one of the characters in the programme had actually falsely defected to a particular country and utilised that position to further the national security interests of that character’s country,” he said.

“The country in question, Iran, thought it was real. She did it to further the interests of her own country.”

Khalife told jurors he is a “patriot”, adding: “I do love my country. All I wanted to do was help. I never wanted to do any harm, I never did do any harm.”

He added: “It is tragic it has come to this and I would do anything to go back to my career.”

Khalife, from Kingston, southwest London, denies a charge of committing an act prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state under the Official Secrets Act between 1 May 2019 and 6 January 2022.

He has also pleaded not guilty to a charge under the Terrorism Act of eliciting information about Armed Forces personnel on 2 August 2021, perpetrating a bomb hoax on or before 2 January 2023 and escaping from prison on 6 September last year.

The trial continues.