Chris Bowen declares rush on jerry cans ‘un-Australian’ as he urges end to panic buying of petrol

Chris Bowen has insisted the country’s fuel supply is yet to be affected by the war in the Middle East while criticising a rush to buy jerry cans to fill up with petrol as “un-Australian”.The energy minister made the comments after an emergency meeting with major fuel suppliers and retailers that was convened by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to demand explanations for the recent surge in petrol prices.Australian fuel prices have soared amid a 40% rise in global oil prices in the past fortnight, in response to the Middle East conflict and closure of the strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping channel largely controlled by Iran.The government has said it was concerned some retailers were price gouging and that panic buying has exacerbated the situation. Some regional retailers have also run out of fuel in recent days

Train delays: compensation claims to be easier under Great British Railways

Rail passengers will be able to claim compensation for delayed trains directly from the website where they bought their ticket, the government has said, as part of a shake-up to make rail travel simpler.Passengers who use third-party retailers such as Trainline to buy tickets currently, have to submit applications for refunds to the relevant train operator for processing.Compensation claim systems for individual train operators will be merged into a single consolidated service under Great British Railways (GBR), the new nationalised rail body.The Department for Transport said the GBR site will also process refunds for customers using private ticketing websites, if the retailer and passenger opt in to share their purchase details.The latest full-year figures from the rail regulator, the Office of Rail and Road, showed that train operators paid out £138m in 2023-24 for delayed journeys

Thames Water rescue deal talks rumble on interminably but its future remains unclear | Nils Pratley

It is two years since the shareholders of Thames Water threw in the towel, declared the company “uninvestible” and accepted their shares were worthless. Yet the water torture goes on and on. We are now in the ninth month of negotiations between Thames’s senior creditors and the regulator, Ofwat, on a rescue deal – and still an outcome is thought to be weeks away.Monday’s updated sketch of the proposal contained a few new details. The amount of fresh equity that would be injected into Thames has increased from £3

Car park firm NCP falls into administration, putting nearly 700 jobs at risk

National Car Parks, the UK’s biggest car park operator, has fallen into administration, putting nearly 700 jobs at risk.NCP’s board of directors called in PwC as administrators after it ran out of cash, leaving it unable to pay its landlords and creditors, with significant rent payments due at the end of March.PwC said it would take steps “to stabilise the business while assessing options for its future” including a sale, with all car parks staying open “for now”, and staff remaining in post. NCP, which dates back to 1931 and is a familiar sight in town centres with its black and yellow signs, employs 682 people.The Japanese-owned company, which manages 340 car parks across the UK, including in major towns and city centres, airports, hospitals and transport hubs, has struggled in recent years, with “continued shifts in commuting and customer driving patterns,” according to PwC

IEA to consider release of more oil reserves as Iran war keeps prices high

The world’s energy watchdog will consider releasing further emergency crude stocks into the global market to cool rising oil prices after warning that it will take time for markets to recover from the ongoing crisis in the strait of Hormuz.Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency, said its members continued to hold large reserves of emergency oil stocks even after agreeing to the biggest release of government crude in the history of the market, meaning more emergency oil reserves could still be released “as and if needed”.It came as the price of Brent crude rose almost 3% within minutes of the market opening on Monday, to about $106.50 a barrel. It later dipped by about 2%, but was still trading at just above $100 a barrel

UK mortgage rates jump, and petrol prices rise, amid ‘Trumpflation’ worries; Oil price falls as Bessent says US is letting Iran ship its crude – as it happened

Oof! Average UK mortgage rates have jumped this morning.Data provider Moneyfacts has reported that the average 2-year fixed residential mortgage rate has risen to 5.20% today, up from 5.10% on Friday. It was just 4