Flight Cancellations

Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee Excerpts

Wednesday 6th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I declare myself a victim of a cancellation on Monday. I was travelling from my home in Fermanagh, the most westerly part of the United Kingdom, at 7.45 am. I received an email at 8.15 am to tell me that my flight at 10.40 am had been cancelled. I was then booked on the 5 pm, which meant that I missed an entire day’s business here in the House of Lords. My question to the Minister is about consumer rights. When I was told the reason for the cancellation, it was “operational challenges”. Surely that is not good enough and surely there should be more clarity around cancellations.

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

The noble Baroness is entirely right that cancellations affect passengers and businesses relying on punctual services and connections and have an impact on confidence. Her particular case in point showed the damage done by short-notice cancellations. I will say only that that is a terrible phrase to use as an excuse, because it does not mean much—although I am familiar with other forms of transport that sometimes, sadly, also use phrases such as that. We will look at speaking to airlines to make sure that they give intelligible reasons for cancellations and delays, and their effect on the rights of passengers.

Network North

Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee Excerpts

Wednesday 14th February 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Davies of Gower (Con)]

I am very grateful to the noble Lord for his Question. I will have to look at his point on the calculation and come back with an answer; I do not have the figures broken down in front of me. Network North will deliver a wide range of rail infrastructure investments across the country. While I have already given the exact figures for what we will spend on the northern leg of HS2 and have committed to the Midlands leg, we are also building a brand-new station and line connection in Bradford, with journey times reduced from 56 to 30 minutes to Manchester via Huddersfield. We are better connecting major cities across the north, with more frequent trains, increased capacity and faster journeys, expanding the network. We will upgrade connections between Manchester and Sheffield, Leeds and Sheffield, Leeds and Hull, and Hull and Sheffield. We will fully fund the Midlands rail hub, increasing investment to £1.75 billion and connecting more than 50 stations. We will upgrade the rail links between Newark and Nottingham, halving journey times between Nottingham and Leeds. I could go on, but I am very happy to write to the noble Lord with more detail.

[Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I was pleased to see, towards the end of the Network North report, mention of the A75 and the A77 in Scotland. Those are very important roads for Northern Ireland travellers going to England and Glasgow. Can the Minister update us on that, because it is important for United Kingdom connectivity?

[Lord Davies of Gower (Con)]

Scotland will benefit from funding to deliver targeted improvements on the A75 between Gretna and Stranraer, which is one of the main routes from mainland Britain to Northern Ireland via the Cairnryan ferry. The UK Government have committed to providing £8 million development funding to the Scottish Government for a detailed feasibility study to develop options to improve the A75, and made it a priority action in our response to the Union Connectivity Review of 7 December last year. Additionally, as part of the announcements in Network North on 4 October, the UK Government have committed to provide funding to deliver targeted improvements to the A75, pending a business case being submitted by the Scottish Government.

Transport: South Wales

Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee Excerpts

Thursday 2nd February 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)]

I do not have any further details about north-south connectivity in Wales. The union connectivity review very much focused on the transport corridors that run across north Wales and along the south coast, but I will write to the noble Lord if I can find out more.

[Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, in terms of UK connectivity, Northern Ireland unfortunately cannot let the train take the strain: we rely on air and sea connectivity. Given the sad collapse of Flybe, has the Minister had any conversations about sustainable connectivity between Northern Ireland and Great Britain?

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)]

The noble Baroness is right: the collapse of Flybe was a sad event, and we work closely with those who have lost their jobs because of it. However, it was a much smaller airline than noble Lords may have seen in the past. Of course we think about air connectivity to Northern Ireland. We have a public service obligation in place for the city of Derry/Londonderry, and there are currently over 200 daily flights from Belfast.