Each week, Ben Hopkinson looks back at a serious, crazy, and happy news story from the past week.
Serious News
At least 40 businesses have signed an open letter to the Mayor of London asking to extend the congestion zone exemption for electric vans.
Companies which include the likes of Ocado, the AA and Federation of Small Businesses would like the charge of nil for their electric fleet to be carried over after Christmas, which is when the £15 charge per day will be added.
The cost will add up to £5,500 per vehicle yearly, and would undermine firms who have “taken on debt to invest in the air we breathe”.
The letter reads: “Many of us have taken on debt to invest in our children’s future and in the air that we breathe. If this plan goes ahead then it will bring an astronomical cost to our businesses at a challenging time. Worse still, you will hamper the efforts of many businesses transitioning to cleaner transport. Countless business owners wish to move away from dirty diesel vans and to electric alternatives, they should be supported and not hindered doing so”.
Oliver Lord, from Clean Cities, says: “How is it right that a dirty diesel van pays the same as a cleaner electric vehicle in the most polluted part of the UK?”.
Meanwhile, City Hall is said to be working with TfL to “see what more could be done to mitigate the effect of this phasing out and further incentivise businesses to make the switch to cleaner vehicles”.
Crazy News
People on board a Qantas flight from Sydney to Tokyo were forced to sit through an 18 rated sexual movie after there was a supposed glitch in their in-flight entertainment system.
Unable to turn off, pause or dim individual screens, the film Daddio (starring Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn) was forced on passengers for an nearly an hour – including families with young children.
One of the passengers took to Reddit: “The movie they played was extremely inappropriate. It featured graphic nudity and a lot of sexting – the kind where you could literally read the texts on screen without needing headphones. They switched to a more kid-friendly movie, but it was super uncomfortable for everyone, especially with families and kids on-board."
Happy News
An anonymous donor has given £18,000 to a fundraiser to adapt a four-year-old boy's home.
Kit has epilepsy, motor dysfunction and partially blind after a two hour seizure damaged his brain when he was only 18 months old.
His family have been quoted £135,000 to adapt their garage into a wheelchair ground-floor bedroom with bathroom access, and have so far raised more than £30,000. Their goal is to fundraise £45,000 for the extension, as well as a specialist bath at £16,000.
Speaking of the generous donation, Kit's mother Katherine Slessor-Pavely said she had “no idea who this generous benefactor is”, but it “catapulted” their fundraising. She talks about the aim: “The only setbacks in his life we’re trying to overcome, which is why we’re trying to get this build because it would make life so much easier for him, so much safer and easier for our entire family”.
To donate, click here.
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