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It’s early on a Monday morning and the sliding doors to the office of Hastings Council haven’t stopped moving backwards and forwards. This is where the homeless come in desperation.

Eunice Dolby is sitting in the waiting area surrounded by suitcases containing all of her possessions.

The 77-year-old lost her husband last year and now she’s lost her home.

After 18 years as a tenant, her landlord used a Section 21 “no-fault” eviction notice to get her out.

Eunice was left homeless
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It’s the first time 77-year-old Eunice Dolby has been made homeless

“The bailiffs turned up at quarter past 10,” she says.

“I’ve always had somewhere to live. I’ve never been on the streets in my life.”

As she’s describing what happened, her head lowers and she catches her breath.

“I kept it clean and tidy, I’ve left it spotless. I never thought I’d be homeless.”

Sky's Nick Martin speaks to Eunice
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After 18 years as a tenant, Eunice’s landlord used a Section 21 eviction notice to remove her

Eunice carries her belongings
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Eunice carries her belongings out on to the streets

A few minutes later, 18-year-old Leah Gartside comes through the door with her 14-month-old baby Livia in a buggy. They’ve been living with her parents who’ve also got a Section 21 notice – the landlord wants to sell up.

“We’ve been good tenants, there’ve been no complaints. We love living there, we’ve been there for 16 years,” she says.

Leah’s come to get help before things get worse and the bailiffs are on the doorstep.

Leah and her daughter Livia
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Leah, 18, and her 14-month-old daughter Livia

Leah's daughter Livia
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Leah, Livia and her parents were living happily together until they got a Section 21 notice

I’m told that this is a typical Monday morning for the on-duty housing officers. I’m here to spend some time with them, to understand why Britain is gripped by a housing crisis that is causing misery for thousands of people.

And local councils are bearing the brunt because they have a legal duty to put a roof over the heads of homeless people eligible for help.

Housing officer and Leah
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Housing officer Phil with Leah

“I would say the one biggest stress in life is losing your home and not knowing where you’re going to sleep from one night to the next,” says the duty officer, Phil Veness.

He has pages and pages of appointments booked on his screen, plus they handle emergencies like Eunice.

Leah is working but she cannot afford to rent from a private landlord in Hastings.

England map

Winner and losers

The seaside town has boomed in the last few years with an increasing number of boutiques, restaurants and bars. Hybrid working after COVID means more people can live by the coast and commute into London.

House prices have seen the biggest relative rise than anywhere else in England over the last decade. Tourism is worth £288m a year.

And there are now around 1,000 Airbnb properties to rent. Passing estate agent windows, you can see the high price for small flats up for rent, often over £1,000 a month.

But popularity has a price. There are not enough homes to go around.

For sale signs in Hastings.

As in many coastal towns, the rental market is broken. Homes that are available cost a lot of money. New analysis by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) shows that housing benefit was paying a quarter of all private rents in Hastings.

The housing benefit bill here is £28m a year and 22% of those properties are substandard.

In England, landlords who rent out homes which are below the decent homes standard receive £1.6bn in house benefits per year, (equivalent to £1 in every £5 spent on housing benefit in the private rented sector).

In other words, according to the JRF, benefits are subsidising poor quality homes.

Hastings map

Darren Baxter, principal policy adviser at JRF, says: “Taxpayers and local councils shouldn’t be footing the bill for poor-quality properties owned by private landlords.

“We need to get this dysfunctional system working again. Strategically bringing private homes back into social ownership is a rapid way to fix this crisis.”

But it’s still not enough. Housing benefit is calculated to reflect the local private rental market – the amount given from central government has been frozen since 2020 and will only go up from next month. It has not kept pace with rents.

This means that in Hastings, like many other parts of the country, there is a gap between the amount of benefit paid and rents charged.

I was told that some landlords have been known to evict their tenants, make their property available for temporary accommodation at a higher rate only then to house tenants who have been made homeless in the first place.

Section 21 evictions

‘I worry about the kids’

Chelsea Braiden is surrounded by bags and boxes again. Last year she and her two sons Harley, aged seven, and Jesse, six, were evicted from the flat they were renting because the landlord wanted the property back. And now they are packing up again.

“I’m stressed because I worry about the kids. That we’re not going to have the right suitable home before things get hard,” Chelsea says.

The stakes are high for Chelsea and she really needs a suitable home to live in because both of her boys are very ill.

Chelsea has two sons
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Chelsea needs spacious accommodation for her two sons, who suffer from Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Harley and Jesse have Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a severe muscle-wasting disease that gets worse over time. They will both need wheelchairs and help breathing. There is no cure. It’s likely they won’t live beyond the age of 30.

“I think it’s going to be difficult to find that suitable property that is big enough for both of these kids to live in. It’s not going to be just for now. It’s got to be until they pass away.”

They are living in a tiny bungalow on the edge of town. The doors aren’t wide enough for wheelchairs.

“You just worry that you’re not going to give them the best life that they should have. You see other children that age and they have decent homes, where they can be kids. My kids can’t just be kids, that’s what’s so difficult.

“And while they’re still walking, I want to give them what they need as kids.”

Read more:
Families housed in single rooms beyond legal time limit
The horror of living in a damp ridden home
The housing battle – which party will get Britain building?

National picture is bleak

There are 500 households living in temporary accommodation in Hastings and it’s costing the council a fortune. In 2019, the council spent £730,000 on temporary accommodation.

Within the next year, the council estimates that bill will rise to £5.6m. This is a third of the total budget for the whole town – pushing the council to the brink of bankruptcy.

Nationally, the picture is also bleak. Analysis by the Local Government Association shows that the number of households living in temporary accommodation is the highest since records began in 1998, costing councils at least £1.74bn in 2022/23.

But there are glimmers of hope. After packing up, Chelsea’s taking her sons to see their new house for the first time. It’s a bright modern property with a downstairs bathroom and easier access for the boys.

Their housing officer, Vanessa Stock, has relocated four households to make the move possible. But it is still temporary.

Vanessa Stock, housing officer
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Housing officer Vanessa Stock with Chelsea

Chelsea says she has looked for private rentals but cannot afford it. She works part-time around school hours, but it’s not enough.

Like thousands of others, she is priced out of the market.

Temporary accommodation numbers

Waiting game

There are more than a million people in England waiting for something more permanent – affordable social housing. The rent for social housing is linked to local wages so cheaper than a private landlord. Tenancies are also more secure.

Housing manager Alan Sheppard shows what he calls the “housing register”. It is effectively the waiting list for a house.

On this day there are just six available properties for 1,500 households.

“So as you can see, the supply is nowhere meeting the demand,” Alan says.

Alan Sheppard
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Housing officer Alan Sheppard says ‘supply is nowhere meeting the demand’

‘I don’t get anywhere’

On the other side of town is a former nursing home that has been converted into bedsits.

In the communal hallway some pushchairs are parked up. Most of the bedsits are for homeless mums and their children. Like 20-year-old Jessica, who lives in a small room with her two-year-old son Leo. This is the only home he has ever known.

Jessica is used to this. She has been stuck in temporary housing for five years since she was 15. She knows the housing register system well. She is one of the 1,500 households clicking and hoping, week after week.

Leah and her daughter Livia
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There is a six-year wait for a three-bedroom flat

“When I became homeless, we went to about five estate agents in town. Everywhere we walked into turned us down.

“I wake up and wait. I wonder if I am going to get a house today. I bid and get nowhere. I get excited thinking maybe I am going to get lucky. But I don’t get anywhere.”

And she’s worried about her son, Leo.

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Two-year-old grows up living in one room

“He’s so used to being in a trapped room that the outside world for him is hard to deal with,” says Jessica.

“Even just going for a walk or going out to a playgroup is strange for him.”

And as each day passes, the council must pay for the accommodation.

Buying back

One solution is to roll back the clock.

In the 1980s, millions of council houses were sold to tenants under the Right to Buy scheme. Now many councils are buying back the homes they once owned to cope with the crisis.

This has been possible with the help of government money. The £1.2bn Local Authority Housing Fund has been split between 203 councils – partly to house Ukranian and Afghan refugees, but also help others in poor quality, expensive temporary accommodation.

Hastings Council has used this, alongside the Move on Fund to fund the purchase of 50 houses along with their own budget.

“Needs must,” says Chris Hancock, director of housing at Hastings Borough Council.

Chris Hancock
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Chris Hancock, director of housing at Hastings Council, says 50 houses have been bought back with the help of government funding

He shows one of the three-bed, ex-council houses with a garden that was bought back from the open market last year.

“We can either keep going, spending £500 a week on temporary accommodation, which just isn’t good enough, or bite the bullet and start building up our portfolio again…

“We can’t afford for people to be in emergency accommodation. We don’t want people living in one room in bed and breakfasts. We want people to be in a home.”

Share of budget on temporary accommodation

The government says it’s committed to delivering 300,000 homes a year, including spending £11.5bn on affordable homes.

In 2021/22, just 7,528 new social homes were delivered. Nowhere near enough for the 1.1 million people on the waiting list.

Empty houses

A block of flats in a pretty, leafy part of Hastings lies empty. It is owned by Orbit, a local housing association.

Clifton Court
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Clifton Court (two central blocks) lie empty in Hastings

Local campaigner Grace Lally is using colourful chalk spray to emblazon walls with slogans questioning why this block is empty.

She says Orbit is deliberately neglecting social housing stock so that it can be sold privately for profit.

Graffiti daubed on a wall in Hastings

“Last summer the people living here were moved out – the housing association said the flats didn’t meet modern thermal efficiency standards. Most of the houses in Hastings are probably not up to modern thermal efficiency standards,” she said.

“It’s just another drain of social housing out of the system. [There are] 53 flats that could be going to people who are on the waiting list. This is a scam. This is not okay.”

Grace Lally
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Local campaigner Grace Lally says local housing associations are deliberately neglecting social housing stock in favour of selling privately for profit

A spokesperson for Orbit said: “Orbit is a not-for-profit housing association. We will therefore aim to provide as much affordable housing on the site as planning and environmental decisions allow.

“We took the decision to decommission Clifton Court with plans to redevelop the scheme into new affordable homes given the existing building could no longer meet customers’ needs… We cannot confirm what proportion of the new development will be earmarked for social housing as this will form part of the planning process.”

The mainstream political parties agree on the need for more homes to be built.

The government says it’s “on track” to meet its manifesto commitment of building one million more homes before the end of this parliament and defended the use of temporary accommodation.

A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: “Temporary accommodation is a vital safety net to make sure families are not left without a roof over their heads. Figures show that the majority of families who have been in temporary accommodation for long periods of time are living in council-owned properties or private rented sector homes rented by the local authority. This provides a suitable home whilst families wait for settled accommodation, and councils have a responsibility to help families find this as quickly as possible.

“That’s why we are giving them £1.2bn over three years through the Homelessness Prevention Grant, and our £11.5bn Affordable Homes Programme will go further to deliver thousands more affordable homes to rent and buy across the country.”

Leah and her daughter Livia
Image:
There is a six-year wait for a three-bedroom flat

Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader and shadow housing secretary is making big promises ahead of the election.

“After 14 years of failure, the Conservatives have utterly failed to deliver the safe, secure and affordable homes Britain needs,” she said.

“Labour will put an end to the Tories’ housing emergency by ending the scourge of no-fault evictions, getting Britain building again with 1.5 million new homes, and delivering the biggest boost to affordable, social and council housing for a generation.”

No quick fix

Back at the front desk, Phil has nearly completed his meeting with Leah, the single mum we met at the council offices in the morning.

She is just the latest in a long line of people who need a home.

Phil says: “For a one-person property the average waiting time in Hastings is four years.

“For a two-bedroom place, it’s five years. And for a three-bedroom, it’s six years.”

Leah shakes her head. Her journey into the unknown is just beginning.

This is the first special report in Faultlines, a Sky News series that aims to explore some of the biggest issues facing Britain in an election year.

You can watch Nick Martin’s full report today at 6.30am, 10.30am, 12.30pm, 2.30pm and 6.30pm on Sky News.

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‘You feel so violated and vulnerable’: Single mum ‘sexually assaulted’ in ambulance by paramedic

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'You feel so violated and vulnerable': Single mum 'sexually assaulted' in ambulance by paramedic

WARNING: This article contains language and content some readers may find distressing

As a single mum, Lucy* looked forward to her rare nights out. A few years ago, during after-work drinks at a local pub, she started feeling unwell. When she collapsed and passed out, a bouncer called an ambulance. Lucy’s drink had been spiked.

The ambulance was crewed by two paramedics, a man and a woman. Still unconscious, Lucy was placed on a stretcher, strapped on to the bed, and driven towards the hospital.

After a scary episode, Lucy’s friends must have breathed a sigh of relief. She was safe, and being looked after. But, as the female ambulance driver looked in her rear-view mirror to check on Lucy, she says she saw the unimaginable – her male colleague sexually assaulting his patient.

Lucy still doesn’t remember what happened, but she has the police report and crime scene pictures of the inside of the ambulance.

Pointing to a photo of where she was strapped down, she says almost matter-of-factly: “He put my legs up, so my knees were up, and put his hand inside my groin area – possibly touching my vagina.”

When she regained consciousness, she was told what had happened to her. Years later, she is still struggling to process it.

The paramedic denied the charges and was found not guilty at trial, but later struck off by the paramedics’ regulator, the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).

They have a lower standard of proof than the criminal courts, and found against him, calling him a “serious threat to patient safety”.

Lucy still wouldn’t feel safe getting into an ambulance today. “It’s awful, you feel so violated and vulnerable,” she says.

Rebecca Hendin illustration for Rachael Venables piece

“It’s a shock to think someone in that position would do that, when they’re supposed to be there to look after you.”

Her story is horrific, but Lucy is not alone. It forms part of a year-long Sky News investigation into sexual misconduct in the ambulance service, which has revealed a culture where abuse and harassment among staff are rife and patients are sexualised.

A senior ambulance boss admits the service has “let victims down”, while stressing that perpetrators are the “minority”.

Jason Killens, head of the Welsh Ambulance Service and the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, says he expects “a steady increase” in the number of cases, with more paramedics being sacked for sexually inappropriate behaviour over the coming years, because of the work his organisation is doing to change the culture.

Data shared with Sky News shows one in five of the sexual misconduct complaints made against paramedics to their regulator, the Health and Care Professions Council, in 2023 were for acts against patients or members of the public.

While fewer than 1% of all HCPC members had concerns raised against them last year, in sexual misconduct cases, paramedics were hugely over-represented.

They make up just 11% of the HCPC register, but account for 64% of all investigations into sexual harassment against colleagues. The regulator’s chair, Christine Elliot, thinks the sexual misconduct cases are “just the tip of the iceberg”.

Rebecca Hendin illustration for Rachael Venables piece

“This is all about patient safety,” she says. “Patients need to know when they see a practitioner, they can rely on them giving the best care possible with the best behaviour possible.”

‘Totally unnecessary breast examinations’

Cases like Lucy’s are rare but several whistleblowers across multiple trusts have spoken up about a culture in which “banter” or jokes about groping patients are commonplace.

Current and former paramedics claim to have heard patients, particularly young women, being sexualised by the men who had helped to treat or even save them.

One former paramedic revealed the phrase “totally unnecessary breast examinations” (or TUBEs), and said she had heard paramedics talking about “TUBEing” young, drunk women. She also claims to have seen a colleague grope another colleague’s breasts, telling her: “I just TUBEed you.”

A second woman said the same phenomenon was called “jazz hands” in her trust. Both said these were widely understood phrases which referred to colleagues accidentally, or deliberately, touching a woman’s breast during treatment.

A third paramedic told us she’d heard colleagues talk about patients in an explicitly sexual manner, saying things like: “She had nice tits” or “those were silicone”, while bragging about getting a patient’s number and having a “good feel”.

“That is assault. That is sexual assault,” she says.

Rebecca Hendin illustration for Rachael Venables piece

‘It will be fun. Your career will progress’

“One of my biggest fears was that I wouldn’t be believed because of where I worked. It was the ambulance service and he was the man in charge,” says Ellie*, whose first job was as a call handler in an ambulance control room.

She loved the camaraderie and the idea that she was making a difference. Until one day, the manager called her into his office and invited her to a conference with him. At first, she was flattered and a little confused.

“He explained that he’d taken a liking to me and then he reached out and touched my leg.” Shocked, Ellie froze. “I was in my early 20s and didn’t know what his intention was. I was a bit naive, probably.” As he carried on talking, her boss slid his hand “as far up my thigh as it could go”.

Horrified, she shot back in her chair and asked him what he was doing.

“If you come, we’ll share a room. It will be fun. Your career will progress,” her boss replied.

“No,” she exclaimed, rushing out the room in a panic. Back at her desk, she carried on taking 999 calls while he watched over her.

Then she claims the messages started: “They were photos of his private parts, as well as messages suggesting meeting in the car park for sex and saying he wanted to kiss me. A whole manner of very descriptive sexual actions that he said he wanted to do with me.”

The messages carried on “for months”, she says, despite her pleading with him to stop. She was left dreading going to work for fear of seeing him, and avoided going to the toilet in case she ran into him in the corridor.

Venables paramedics piece

Eventually she showed the messages to HR, she says, but claims they suggested moving her to a different office. He wouldn’t be punished.

“It was sexual harassment,” Ellie says, caught between anger and despair. “They didn’t do anything. There was no investigation. No meeting with him that I’m aware of. No statement from me. Nothing. I was the problem.”

She eventually quit the service, but alleges he still works there to this day, an injustice that “makes me feel sick” she says.

An NHS England spokesperson said new national guidance and training has been recently introduced “to stamp out this awful behaviour”.

“Any abuse or violence directed at NHS staff is totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated, and the NHS is committed to tackling unwanted, inappropriate or harmful sexual behaviour in the workplace. We have recently introduced new national guidance and training that will help staff recognise, report and act on sexual misconduct at work to stamp out this awful behaviour,” they said.

‘We failed those individuals… I’m sorry’

Ellie’s story is simply “not right”, says ambulance boss Mr Killens.

“We failed those individuals,” he admits, saying “I’m sorry” to both staff and patients who have “been subject to poor behaviour from our people”.

What should the NHS do if a serious complaint of sexual abuse is made about a paramedic?

Anyone can raise a concern about a paramedic’s fitness to practise including patients, colleagues, police or members of the public.

Where the complaint is serious the NHS is expected to directly raise a concern with the regulator, the Health and Care Professions Council.

What happens when a paramedic is referred to the HCPC for a complaint of sexual abuse?

If the concern is very serious they can apply for an interim order to prevent someone from practising or to place conditions on how they can work until the case has been closed.

The claim is investigated and eventually considered by an independent tribunal panel who can impose a number of sanctions.

They can strike someone off the register or impose a temporary suspension; place a condition of practice or a caution order; or decide no further action is necessary.

How long does it take?

In 2023/24 it was around 160 weeks from receipt of a complaint to reaching the final decision

Why does it take so long?

Last year, there were a total of 2,226 concerns raised, a 26% increase from the previous year.

The HCPC say they face external pressures, like delays from NHS trusts, complex investigations, or having to run alongside the criminal justice system.

They also say “archaic” laws mean they have to take a huge amount of cases to a full tribunal, even when the preference might be to drop the case sooner and want legislative change.

Work is being done, he says, to tackle this kind of behaviour, citing it as his, and his organisation’s, top priority.

That will involve rooting out the perpetrators, but also playing the “long game” to change the culture “so that we can begin to tackle low level misconduct or inappropriate behaviour early, rather than let it fester and get worse,” he says.

According to the HCPC’s chair, cultural change is needed from leadership down. Sexual harassment, Elliot says, needs to be treated as high a priority as “waiting times and crumbling hospitals”.

Read more from this investigation:
Life as a female paramedic
‘Toxic’ culture of harassment revealed

But many of the victims we have spoken to say the HCPC takes too long (an average of three years) to investigate misconduct allegations.

Elliot agrees that isn’t good enough, but says they are running initiatives to speed things up, and wants to see legislative change to give her organisation more power to speed up investigations.

They have also created a sexual safety hub for both victims and witnesses of inappropriate behaviour.

It can be hard to hear allegations like Lucy and Ellie’s, contrasting their stories with a service in which the majority of people are dedicated to saving lives.

But it’s also clear that for far too long, abusers and those who commit sexually inappropriate behaviour have operated with impunity in the ambulance service. Some were perhaps protected by allegiances or cover-ups, many others simply hid behind the veneer of “banter”.

Ambulance and NHS bosses have made it clear to Sky News they are determined to root out not just the perpetrators of serious sexual violence, but also to stamp out the culture that breeds this behaviour.

But in the meantime women like Lucy, Ellie and countless others won’t hear an ambulance siren and feel safe, telling us they would even struggle to dial 999 in the case of a medical emergency.

*names have been changed

Illustrations by Rebecca Hendin

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK

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Apple sued by Which? over iCloud use – with potential payout for 40 million UK customers

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Apple sued by Which? over iCloud use - with potential payout for 40 million UK customers

Consumer rights group Which? is suing Apple for £3bn over the way it deploys the iCloud.

If the lawsuit succeeds, around 40 million Apple customers in the UK could be entitled to a payout.

The lawsuit claims Apple, which controls iOS operating systems, has breached UK competition law by giving its iCloud storage preferential treatment, effectively “trapping” customers with Apple devices into using it.

It also claims the company overcharged those customers by stifling competition.

The rights group alleges Apple encouraged users to sign up to iCloud for storage of photos, videos and other data while simultaneously making it difficult to use alternative providers.

Which? says Apple doesn’t allow customers to store or back-up all of their phone’s data with a third-party provider, arguing this violates competition law.

The consumer rights group says once iOS users have signed up to iCloud, they then have to pay for the service once their photos, notes, messages and other data go over the free 5GB limit.

More on Apple

“By bringing this claim, Which? is showing big corporations like Apple that they cannot rip off UK consumers without facing repercussions,” said Which?’s chief executive Anabel Hoult.

“Taking this legal action means we can help consumers to get the redress that they are owed, deter similar behaviour in the future and create a better, more competitive market.”

Apple ‘rejects’ claims and will defend itself

Apple “rejects” the idea its customers are tied to using iCloud and told Sky News it would “vigorously” defend itself.

“Apple believes in providing our customers with choices,” a spokesperson said.

“Our users are not required to use iCloud, and many rely on a wide range of third-party alternatives for data storage. In addition, we work hard to make data transfer as easy as possible – whether it’s to iCloud or another service.

“We reject any suggestion that our iCloud practices are anti-competitive and will vigorously defend against any legal claim otherwise.”

It also said nearly half of its customers don’t use iCloud and its pricing is inline with other cloud storage providers.

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How much could UK Apple customers receive if lawsuit succeeds?

The lawsuit will represent all UK Apple customers that have used iCloud services since 1 October 2015 – any that don’t want to be included will need to opt out.

However, if consumers live abroad but are otherwise eligible – for example because they lived in UK and used the iCloud but then moved away – they can also opt in.

The consumer rights group estimates that individual consumers could be owed an average of £70, depending on how long they have been paying for the services during that period.

Apple is facing a similar lawsuit in the US, where the US Department of Justice is accusing the company of locking down its iPhone ecosystem to build a monopoly.

Apple said the lawsuit is “wrong on the facts and the law” and that it will vigorously defend against it.

Read more from climate, science and tech:
The almighty row over climate cash that’s about to boil over
Oil state Azerbaijan is ‘perfectly suited’ to hosting a climate summit, says Azerbaijan

Big tech’s battles

This is the latest in a line of challenges big tech companies like Apple, Google and Samsung have faced around anti-competitive practices.

Most notably, a landmark case in the US earlier this year saw a judge rule that Google holds an illegal monopoly over the internet search market.

The company is now facing a second antitrust lawsuit, and may be forced to break up parts of its business.

Read more: Google faces threat of being broken up

FILE PHOTO: The logo for Google LLC is seen at their office in Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S., November 17, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo
Image:
File pic: Reuters

And in December last year, a judge declared Google’s Android app store a monopoly in a case brought by a private gaming company.

“Now that five companies control the whole of the internet economy, there’s a real need for people to fight back and to really put pressure on the government,” William Fitzgerald, from tech campaigning organisation The Worker Agency, told Sky News.

William Fitzgerald at Lisbon's Web Summit, where he spoke to Sky News
Image:
William Fitzgerald at Lisbon’s Web Summit, where he spoke to Sky News

“That’s why we have governments; to hold corporations accountable, to actually enforce laws.”

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Referees’ body taking ‘very seriously’ video that appears to show David Coote snorting white powder

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Referees' body taking 'very seriously' video that appears to show David Coote snorting white powder

A video appearing to show a Premier League referee snorting white powder is being taken “very seriously” by the referees’ body.

Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (PGMOL) suspended David Coote on Monday over derogatory comments he allegedly made about ex-Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp and the club in previous footage.

PGMOL and the Football Association are investigating Coote who, it is alleged, used an expletive to describe Klopp and called Liverpool FC “shit”.

Now it has emerged the UEFA Referees Committee also suspended Coote until further notice on Monday, ahead of the upcoming round of UEFA matches “when it became aware of his inappropriate behaviour”, it said.

On Wednesday evening, another video appeared on The Sun’s website which it said showed Coote snorting white powder during this summer’s Euros in Germany, where he was officiating.

A PGMOL spokesperson said: “We are aware of the allegations and are taking them very seriously. David Coote remains suspended pending a full investigation.

“David’s welfare continues to be of utmost importance to us and we are committed to providing him with the ongoing necessary support he needs through this period. We are not in a position to comment further at this stage.”

More on Jürgen Klopp

The Sun said the video was filmed on 6 July, the day after the Euro 2024 quarter-final clash between Portugal and France, for which Coote was an assistant VAR.

A statement from UEFA said: “The UEFA Referees Committee immediately suspended David Coote until further notice on 11 November – in advance of the upcoming round of UEFA matches – when it became aware of his inappropriate behaviour.”

David Coote. File pic: PA
Image:
David Coote. File pic: PA

The previous video footage, appearing to show Coote making derogatory remarks about Klopp and the Anfield club, began circulating online on Monday.

He was subsequently suspended by PGMOL pending a full investigation, and the FA then said it was also investigating the matter.

Coote officiated Liverpool’s most recent Premier League game – a 2-0 win over Aston Villa on Saturday night.

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He was criticised by some fans after Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah was brought down by Aston Villa player Leon Bailey.

Liverpool forward Darwin Nunez went on to score after play wasn’t stopped – but a replay showed Coote had chosen not to stop the game because he believed the challenge on Salah wasn’t a foul rather than because he wanted the Reds to keep their advantage.

The PA news agency has approached the FA for comment regarding the Sun’s story.

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