Connect with us

Published

on

Security guards at Heathrow Airport are to strike over Easter in a dispute over pay, with passengers warned they face “severe delays”.

The Unite union said flights using Heathrow Airport will “experience severe delays and disruption this Easter” as the workers stage a 10-day walkout.

More than 1,400 security guards employed by Heathrow Airports Ltd (HAL), who are members of Unite, will strike after voting in favour of the industrial action.

The walkout will begin on Friday 31 March, with the final day of strike action on Sunday 9 April (Easter Sunday).

The strike action involves security guards employed at Terminal Five.

Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary, said the workers are “fundamental to [the airport’s] success” and they deserve a fair pay increase.

Read more: Who is striking and when?

More on Heathrow Airport

A Heathrow spokesperson said passengers can be reassured that the airport has “contingency plans” in place which will keep the airport “open and operational despite unnecessary threats of strike action by Unite”.

“Threatening to ruin people’s hard-earned holidays with strike action will not improve the deal,” they said.

“We want to do the right thing by our people and our passengers, each day only delays this pay rise reaching Unite members’ pockets.”

Back in December, strike action by ground handlers at Heathrow was called off after an improved pay offer was made.

Around 400 Unite union members working for Menzies, an aviation company, planned to walk out for 72 hours until a larger pay offer was put on the table.

Passport Office staff to strike for five weeks

The announcement from Heathrow comes after more than 1,000 Passport Office staff across the UK will strike for five weeks in an escalation of a dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.

Members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union working at passport offices in Durham, Glasgow, Liverpool, Newport, Peterborough and Southport will walk out from 3 April to 5 May.

Those in Belfast will strike from 7 April to 5 May.

The union said the action is a “significant escalation” in the long-running dispute, as it warned the strike will have a “significant impact” on the delivery of passports as summer approaches.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Strike campaign to last ‘through summer’

Members are asking for a 10% pay rise as well as job security, changes to their pensions and protected redundancy terms.

But the government has said demands from civil servants would cost £2.4bn and are unaffordable.

Read more:
NHS unions reach pay deal after 5% increase offer
Pints, child support and pensions: Budget 2023 at a glance

Passport Office staff have come under increasing pressure following a “record number of applications” in 2022 after COVID restrictions were lifted in the UK and abroad, the Home Office said.

A total of 360,000 people had to wait longer than 10 weeks to receive their passports last year.

Members Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union of the on the picket line outside the office of HM Treasury, in Westminster. Around 100,000 civil servants from 124 government departments, the Border Force, museums and other government agencies are on strike in a dispute over jobs, pay and conditions. Picture date: Wednesday February 1, 2023.
Image:
About 100,000 civil servants went on strike on 1 February

When asked about the fresh round of strikes, a Downing Street spokesperson said the PM is “disappointed” the action is going ahead and the government will do “everything we can” to mitigate the impact.

They added that there are no plans to change the official 10-week waiting time for passports that was introduced in 2021 to cater to a surge in demand following the pandemic.

On 1 February, Passport Office staff joined about 100,000 civil servants represented by the PCS as part of industrial action affecting 124 government departments.

Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts

About 133,000 civil servants also walked out on Wednesday in the largest day of strikes since this current wave started last year.

Continue Reading

UK

Police search for missing sisters last seen three days ago near Aberdeen river

Published

on

By

Police search for missing sisters last seen three days ago near Aberdeen river

Specialist search teams, police dogs and divers have been dispatched to find two sisters who vanished in Aberdeen three days ago.

Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32, were last seen on CCTV in the city’s Market Street at Victoria Bridge at about 2.12am on Tuesday.

The siblings were captured crossing the bridge and turning right onto a footpath next to the River Dee in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club.

Henrietta Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Image:
Henrietta Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland

Eliza Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Image:
Eliza Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland

Police Scotland has launched a major search and said it is carrying out “extensive inquires” in an effort to find the women.

Chief Inspector Darren Bruce said: “Local officers, led by specialist search advisors, are being assisted by resources including police dogs and our marine unit.”

Aberdeenshire Drone Services told Sky News it has offered to help in the search and is waiting to hear back from Police Scotland.

The Huszti sisters. Pic: Police Scotland
Image:
CCTV of the sisters. Pic: Police Scotland

Read more from Sky News:
Trump to be sentenced today over porn star hush money
‘It’s an apocalypse’ – families return to homes reduced to ruins by wildfires

The sisters, from Aberdeen city centre, are described as slim with long brown hair.

Police said the Torry side of Victoria Bridge where the sisters were last seen contains many commercial and industrial units, with searches taking place in the vicinity.

The force urged businesses in and around the South Esplanade and Menzies Road area to review CCTV footage recorded in the early hours of Tuesday in case it captured anything of significance.

Drivers with relevant dashcam footage are also urged to come forward.

CI Bruce added: “We are continuing to speak to people who know Eliza and Henrietta and we urge anyone who has seen them or who has any information regarding their whereabouts to please contact 101.”

Continue Reading

UK

Britain’s gas storage levels ‘concerningly low’ after cold snap, says owner of British Gas

Published

on

By

Britain's gas storage levels 'concerningly low' after cold snap, says owner of British Gas

Britain’s gas storage levels are “concerningly low” with less than a week of demand in store, the operator of the country’s largest gas storage site said on Friday.

Plunging temperatures and high demand for gas-fired power stations are the main factors behind the low levels, Centrica said.

The UK is heavily reliant on gas for its home heating and also uses a significant amount for electricity generation.

As of the 9th of January 2025, UK storage sites are 26% lower than last year’s inventory at the same time, leaving them around half full,” Centrica said.

“This means the UK has less than a week of gas demand in store.”

The firm’s Rough gas storage site, a depleted field off England’s east coast, makes up around half of the country’s gas storage capacity.

Gas storage was already lower than usual heading into December as a result of the early onset of winter.

More from UK

Combined with stubbornly high gas prices, this has meant it has been more difficult to top up storage over Christmas.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.

Continue Reading

UK

UK’s first taxpayer-funded injection room to open in radical move to tackle drugs epidemic

Published

on

By

UK's first taxpayer-funded injection room to open in radical move to tackle drugs epidemic

Glasgow has been a city crying out for solutions to a devastating drugs epidemic that is ravaging people hooked on deadly narcotics. 

We have spent time with vulnerable addicts in recent months and witnessed first-hand the dirty, dangerous street corners and back alleys where they would inject their £10 heroin hit, not knowing – or, in many cases, not caring – whether that would be the moment they die.

“Dying would be better than this life,” one man told me.

It was a grim insight into the daily reality of life in the capital of Europe’s drug death crisis.

Scotland has a stubborn addiction to substances spanning generations. Politicians of all persuasions have failed to properly get a grip of the emergency.

But there is a new concept in town.

From Monday, a taxpayer-funded unit is allowing addicts to bring their own heroin and cocaine and inject it while NHS medical teams supervise.

A dirty needle thrown less than 100 metres from the new injection centre
Image:
A dirty needle thrown less than 100 metres from the new injection centre

It may be a UK-first but it is a regular feature in some other major European cities that have claimed high success rates in saving lives.

Glasgow has looked on with envy at these other models.

One supermarket car park less than a hundred metres from this new facility is a perfect illustration of the problem. An area littered with dirty needles and paraphernalia. A minefield where one wrong step risks contracting a nasty disease.

Drugs paraphernalia in a supermarket car park in Glasgow, near the new facility
Image:
Drugs paraphernalia in a supermarket car park in Glasgow, near the new facility

It is estimated hundreds of users inject heroin in public places in Glasgow every week. HIV has been rife.

The new building, which will be open from 9am until 9pm 365 days a year, includes bays where clean needles are provided as part of a persuasive tactic to lure addicts indoors in a controlled environment.

There is a welcome area where people will check in before being invited into one of eight bays. The room is clinical, covered in mirrors, with a row of small medical bins.

Clean needles are provided to lure addicts to inject in a controlled environment
Image:
Clean needles are provided to lure addicts to inject in a controlled environment

One of the eight bays users can inject in
Image:
There are eight bays users can inject in

We were shown the aftercare area where users will relax after their hit in the company of housing and social workers.

The idea is controversial and not cheap – £2.3m has been ring-fenced every year.

The aftercare area
Image:
The aftercare area

Read more: ‘Dying would be better than my £1,000 a month heroin addiction’

Authorities in the city first floated a ‘safer drug consumption room’ in 2016. It failed to get off the ground as the UK Home Office under the Conservatives said they would not allow people to break the law to feed habits.

The usual wrangle between Edinburgh and London continued for years with Downing Street suggesting Scotland could, if it wanted, use its discretion to allow these injecting rooms to go ahead.

Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts

The stalemate ended when Scotland’s most senior prosecutor issued a landmark decision that it would not be in the public interest to arrest those using such a facility.

One expert has told me this new concept is unlikely to lead to an overall reduction in deaths across Scotland. Another described it as an expensive vanity project. Supporters clearly disagree.

The question is what does success look like?

The big test will be if there is a spike in crime around the building and how it will work alongside law enforcement given drug dealers know exactly where to find their clients now.

It is not disputed this is a radical approach – and other cities across Britain will be watching closely.

Continue Reading

Trending