richard westcott, bbc news, on the m5. highways england's headquarters in birmingham. —— he's at the national traffic operation centre in the midlands. but first, let's talk to ian palmer, who is outside euston station in london. how has it been and how is it looking, ian? jane, a lot better now that virgin train cancel the planned industrial action that they announced earlier. —— virgin trains. the main headline as you have been hearing in richard's report is that london bridge station will be completing the third phase of its upgrade. that means there will be no services into london bridge one london charing cross station is between, well, from tomorrow until january, end of playjanuary between, well, from tomorrow until january, end of play january the 1st. that is really going to disrupt all mainline routes right across britain. the west coast main line is urging passengers to complete their journeys by the end of play on saturday because london paddington station will be closed between the 27th of december and christm

richard westcott, bbc news, croydon. uk are already stretched to their very limits and it's only the start of winter. that's the warning from the royal college of emergency medicine, which says there's more pressure than ever on hospitals. bbc research has found that the number of patients waiting more than four hours — the official target — has more than doubled in the last four years across the uk. our health editor, hugh pym, has this report. many hospitals are struggling to cope with the a&e workload but this one, luton and dunstable has consistently hit its four—hour waiting time target for five years. so, what's the secret? it is about getting the whole health economy involved and that includes primary care... a senior consultant told me it was all about managing patients as they moved from a&e into the hospital and freeing up beds. we have a team of people who are dedicated to this process and serve only this emergency department, to get them through the hospital and the system and back out, so we can see new arri

richard westcott, thank you.the european union in 2019. the current burgundy passports will continue to be issued until then, but without the eu insignia. the home office says the new blue passport will be more high—tech and secure, to prevent fraud and forgery. tom symonds reports. the great british passport — shortly to be available not in european burgundy because, it turns out, brexit means blue. the government admits it is largely symbolic, restoring our national identity. outside the passport 0ffice, what is the reaction? it's blue, isn't it? back to england. ijust think it's a crying shame. we have this fantastic ability to travel around the best of the world, and we are looked upon favourably with our immigration policy and everything else, but now it'sjust a bit embarrassing, to be honest. i think the decision was a huge aspect of the country moving forward. and i think in order to move forward, there needs to be changes. and if that needs to be distinguished by a simple colour, why not? what is the diff

richard westcott, bbc news, on the m5. 0ur correspondent ian palmer is at euston station in london. at the moment at euston station. certainly great relief that the virgin planned industrial action is cancelled, that's made things a lot easier today. the big news is that the third phase of that upgrade at london bridge station will begin tomorrow and that means there will be no services into london bridge london charing cross station between tomorrow and january end of play the first. if you are travelling on the great western railway mainline, there will be no service from paddington station, that will be closed between christmas eve and the 27th of december. these closures and the work being carried out will disrupt all routes across the country. on the west coast main line there is no service between preston and lancaster. people travelling from london to glasgow are being urged to travel via edinburgh. that will add an extra hour to your journey. what about the roads, what is the situation? the rsc are saying if you haven't completed your road journey by lunchtime you will exper

take a look including analysis from our transport correspondent, richard westcott.. you‘re watching business live. our top story — britain and the european union have failed to agree on moving onto the second phase of their negotiations on brexit. negotiations came to a halt after the democratic unionist party rejected a proposal to avoid a hard border between northern ireland and the republic of ireland. that means a flurry of negotiations between now and the end of the week. a quick look at how markets are faring. the ftse in london, outperforming the others. benefiting from the pound weakening slightly after that failure to do a deal on brexit. spotting the next best seller can be tricky. harry potter was famously rejected by 12 literary agent before finally being picked up. however, one firm thinks they have the answer. german publisher inkitt claims that by using a sophisticated algorithm and the power of the crowd to measure reader engagement, they can identify potential best sellers and they seem to be writing a successful business story. in the last 12 month

own hand than recognise unions, so it's a bit of a turnaround, as our transport correspondent richard westcottnaround, for someone it is a staggering turnaround, for someone who was always known as one of the real tough guys of the business world. two years michael 0'leary had said he will not basically recognise unions, he would not let pilots negotiate three unions. he was saying it only on tuesday when press release came out from the company saying "we will not recognise unions. and this morning out of the blue they did an about—face and said they will recognise unions under some circumstances. they are facing industrial action is from pilots, a stark fashion extract in ireland and in portugal next week. you may remember that they have had problems with pilots before, ryanair, it was not that long ago that i was standing right here telling you about the 20,000 flights they had to cancel across the winter because they messed up their pilot roster will stop that affected 700,000 passengers, people who had to rebook flights, or make other plans. and so what about that strike next week, on wedn

our transport correspondent richard westcott reports.final report into the croydon tram crash found that the driver probably dozed off at the controls. well, you can seejust how tight this bend is. the tram was meant to be going around it at 13 miles an hour — one three, a snail‘s pace, like we are now. it actually went around the bend at nearer 45 miles an hour, and one of the survivors was standing exactly where i am standing now, just checking his phone. the injury i sustained on the tram that dayjust changed my life. it is more than a year ago, but for taiye the memories are fresh. ijust put my phone away, and i held onto the pole in front of me and i said, god, please save my life. and i closed my eyes. there were some people still screaming and shouting under the tram because they were trapped. "please don't step on me — i am still alive." investigators found other worrying facts. another tram nearly derailed on the same cornerjust nine days before, but it wasn't investigated properly. in fact nine drivers admitted they had used em

richard westcott, bbc news, on the m5.elays there. let's get the latest from our reporter. at 11:36am a flight was coming in from frankfurt. as it came down on the ru nway frankfurt. as it came down on the runway it left the runway while taxiing. we don't know how that's been caused yet but all the 25 passengers on board are safe. they we re passengers on board are safe. they were taken into the airport by coach. at the moment that plane is being towed away from the runway so that has been causing a of disruption. we know that 16 arrivals been diverted, and there are five cancellations. as for departures, there are five cancellations there as well and eight flights worth of passengers waiting around in the airport to find out what's happening. we've had some tweets coming in, nigel says there are scenes of utter chaos inside the airport at the moment. as you can imagine it is one of the busiest travel days of the year with the run—up to christmas. 190,000 passengers are due to travel from here through the airport until the

richard westcott, bbc news, croydon.ilt for the royal navy. the queen commissioned the hms queen elizabeth at a ceremony in portsmouth attended by 4000 people. the ship, which won‘t take part in military operations until 2021, cost more than £3 billion and has become the flagship of the fleet. our correspondent duncan kennedy is in portsmouth. does it work? it does but not fully ifi does it work? it does but not fully if i can put it like that! it is all ready to go and up and running and it all works, it has been on a couple of seed trials but it is not doing itsjob yet couple of seed trials but it is not doing its job yet because there is no aircraft on it and it don‘t arrive until the end of next year —— sea trials. but still an important date for the royal navy and the armed forces, the biggest and most expensive warship britain has ever had and we have had this commissioning service to date on which officially made it is handed of companies that built it to the royal navy and that was marked by the raising of the wh

our transport correspondent, richard westcott, is here. what‘s the thinking behind this?ke things more fair, so they get a lot of complaints from british hauliers saying, foreign companies can come over with a full tank of fuel and they won‘t have paid a lot of duty on it, work for a couple of days and go home, and they are not contributing enough to the upkeep of the roads, because lorries do a lot of damage to the road. they suggest this could be a fairer way of doing it- this could be a fairer way of doing it — get rid of all the other taxes and charge per mile. the hauliers argue it is an excuse to charge them. the bigger question is, is this the tip of the iceberg? people are thinking, if it goes well for trucks, maybe they will bring in toll roads for ordinary people, cars and vans. i can‘t see that happening, and the government flatly deny they are looking at that today. people watching this will think that ten yea rs people watching this will think that ten years ago, tony blair tried to do that, try to bring in toll roads and nearly 2 million people signed a peti

call off industrial action which is planned for next wednesday. 0ur transport correspondent richard westcottr, michael 0'leary reportedly once said he'd rather cut off his own hand than recognise unions so this is a bit of a turnaround. yes, he doesn't mince his words, the boss of rya nair, yes, he doesn't mince his words, the boss of ryanair, michael 0'leary. i think it is a staggering turnaround, for someone who is always known as one of the real tough guys of the business world. for years, one of the real tough guys of the business world. foryears, michael 0'leary said he would not basically recognise unions, won't let pilots negotiate through unions. he was saying it only on tuesday when a press release came out from the company saying, we will not recognise unions. this morning out of the blue they basically did an about turn and said we have changed our mind, we will recognise unions under some circumstances. why have they dot—mac? they are facing industrial action from pilots, a strike in ireland and portugal next week. you may remember they have had problems with pilots before, ryana

prices will rise by an average of 3.4% on the 2nd january. 0ur transport correspondent, richard westcott there is a lot of anger among commuters. there certainly is, always when you talk to people, nobody likes to pay more and it seems to be the time of year when we find out what the rail fare rise will be starting injanuary and then there is a row. an example of what it will mean, if you are a commuter between brighton and london, hit by strikes and delays on that line, the annual ticket costs over £4000 and it will go up by almost £150. between liverpool and manchester, that ticket costs over £3000 and will go up by more than £100. the average across britain, fa res £100. the average across britain, fares will go up by 3.4%. and the latest wage figures we have is the average wage is going up by about 296, average wage is going up by about 2%, which is critical because campaigners say for years rail fares have gone up higher wage rises and it adds to the feeling of working as ha rd it adds to the feeling of working as hard but being that little bit worse off every year. the government a

richard westcott is at east croydon station in south london.here? i will give you three guesses! i go through this process every year, we all do, the campaign groups say enough is enough, you have to freeze rises, they go up every year, people are being priced off the railways, young people especially are struggling because it costs so much just to get to work, and yet fares go just to get to work, and yet fares 9° up just to get to work, and yet fares go up every year because train companies and the government say they are pumping billions into the network for better services, which costs money. anyway, you ask what people think — we asked some. i'm from leicester, i travel down to london on a regular basis for work, and it's frankly extortionate. it's notjust the price as well, it's also the service, which is pretty miserable at times. i ended up leaving myjob because the trains were so unreliable, so i wouldn't say it's value for money at all. just imagine if a business had to take a hit like that, where one—twelfth of their income is spent

there are no plans for a similar system for private cars. 0ur transport correspondent richard westcottd the move. the government argues it might make things fairer. they get a lot of complaints saying foreign hauliers can come over and not have paid duty on theirfuel. can come over and not have paid duty on their fuel. they are not contributing enough to the upkeep to the road. they are suggesting this could be a fairer way of doing it. potentially charge per mile because they are worried it is just an excuse to charge them more. it is just a consultation at the moment so it would be a way off. the bigger question is, is this the tip of the iceberg? maybe they will bring in toll roads for ordinary people. government is flatly denying that looking at that. ten years ago, tony blair try to do that and 2 million people signed a petition against it. it isa people signed a petition against it. it is a brave government that would do that. california's deadly wildfire has now become the largest in the state's recorded history. the blaze which has been burning for more than two weeks has scorc

own hand than recognise unions, so it's a bit of a turnaround, as our transport correspondent richard westcottering turnaround for someone who is always known as one of the tough guys of the business world. for years, michael 0'leary said he would not basically recognise unions, he wouldn't let pilots negotiate through unions. he was saying it only on tuesday when a press release came out from the company saying, we will not recognise unions. this morning, they did an about turn, change their minds and said they will recognise unions under certain circumstances. they are facing industrial action from pilots, strike in ireland and portugal next week. they have had problems with pilots before, rya nair. week. they have had problems with pilots before, ryanair. it wasn't that long ago that i was standing here telling you about the 20,000 flights they had to cancel across the winter because they messed up the winter because they messed up the pilot's roster. people had to read book flights and make other plans. what about the strike next wednesday? tonight, there is a twist. the union has said the

richard westcott, bbc news, croydon. let‘s go live to croydon and talk richard galpin.u about the conclusions? this was the perfect storm. you had the driver briefly falling asleep at the wheel, and the operating company here not taking the risk of trams coming off the rails seriously, and therefore, not implementing a whole raft of safety measures. so, ithink implementing a whole raft of safety measures. so, i think that is really the key elements that stand out. also, the fact that the glass used for the carriage windows and for the carriage doors was not tough enough to stop passengers being thrown out of the two carriages, presumably at quite high velocity, is also very much a standout. you have laminated glass on the normal railways, the mainline railways, but it seems it was not required on these trams. the fa ct was not required on these trams. the fact is that there are a lot of tram systems across britain now, in quite a few cities, and none of them have this toughened glass which would withstand the carriages overturning and coming off the rails. i think thati

richard westcott is at east croydon station in south london. out how much all of affairs will go up out how much all of affairs will go up starting with january and then there is a huge row, because for yea rs, there is a huge row, because for years, campaigners have been saying, you have got to freeze these fares, they have been going up faster than wages, year upon year upon year. young people feel it especially because it is hard to get a job when you have to spend this much. rail company spending tens of billions of pounds keeping trains going and improving them, some beautiful new stations and new trains, more carriages, more space and they had to cope with this huge spike in demand. you get a very predictable response from people when you ask them, nobody likes asking more money, we asked commuters what they thought. it is won 12 of most peoples average probably even more! just imagine if a business did that... just imagine if a business did that. . . the just imagine if a business did that... the trains are so unreliable, so i can barely

of the total and include season tickets — will increase by 3.6% 0ur transport correspondent richard westcottthis process every year. the campaign groups say enough is enough. you have to please —— freeze prices. young people are struggling because it cost so much moneyjust to get struggling because it cost so much money just to get to struggling because it cost so much moneyjust to get to work and yet the fear is go up every year because the fear is go up every year because the train companies and the government say we are pumping billions of money into the network. if you want better services, it cost you money. we asked some people what they thought. i'm from leicester, i travel down to london on a regular basis for work, and it's frankly extortionate. it's notjust the price as well, it's also the service, which is pretty miserable at times. i ended up leaving myjob because the trains were so unreliable, so i wouldn't say it's value for money at all. just imagine if a business had to take a hit like that, where one—twelfth of their income is spent on travel — or probably more. it is a high

improving the communities and the economy right across the country. 0ur transport correspondent richard westcottervices, suddenly across the south of england they may not feel like it, but commuters here have benefited from new trains, there is a brand—new line coming along, the thames link line, crossrail coming along. it all costs billions of pounds. the money has got to come from somewhere. in recent yea rs, has got to come from somewhere. in recent years, the government has shifted the focus, effectively less of this money, record investment to be fair. that is coming from the taxpayer, the generic taxpayer and more is coming from fares. that is why we go through this ritual of saying enough is enough. people are being priced off the railways. the last saying i can't afford to get a job because i can't afford a season ticket. and yet the fares go up every year because the government knows it has got to fund it all, it isa knows it has got to fund it all, it is a stalemate that we get at this time every year. thank you. a line coming into us from the director—general of m15, andrew parker, he