Victims robbed of £4bn in ‘insulting’ car loan redress scheme, say claims firms

Victims of the car loans scandal could miss out on more than £4bn in compensation if the City regulator ploughs ahead with plans for an “insulting” interest rate in its redress scheme, consumer groups and claims firms say.The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has been accused of offering a reduced rate of interest which will be added to compensation from banks for borrowers caught up in the car loan commissions scandal.Claims law firms and consumer groups say borrowers should be offered the same terms as Marcus Johnson: the sole driver whose case was upheld by the supreme court in a landmark case in August.While the terms of the final payout are sealed, Johnson is widely believed by industry experts to have received about 7% interest on his compensation package, after judges ordered the parties to negotiate a “commercial rate”. But the watchdog has proposed a rate of 2

Delivery firm DPD accused of ‘revenge’ sacking drivers who criticised pay cuts

The delivery firm DPD has been accused of “revenge” sackings after workers spoke out against a plan to cut thousands of pounds from their earnings, including their Christmas bonus.The company, which reported pre-tax profits of nearly £200m last year and plays a significant role in the festive rush to have gifts and parcels delivered, has even threatened to withhold money from some staff to pay for the cost of replacing them, the Guardian has learned.DPD confirmed it had dismissed workers after an estimated 1,500 self-employed drivers chose not to take on any work for a three-day period in protest at the plans.It emerged earlier this month that the company had told workers it planned to cut 65p from the rate it pays for most of its deliveries on 29 September.Drivers said the cut, which came to as much as £25 a day, and the loss of a £500 Christmas bonus, was likely to add up to more than £6,000 a year for each worker – and as much as £8,000 for those who take on a lot more deliveries over Christmas

Knee-jerk corporate responses to data leaks protect brands like Qantas — but consumers are getting screwed

It’s become the playbook for big Australian companies that have customer data stolen in a cyber-attack: call in the lawyers and get a court to block anyone from accessing it.Qantas ran it after suffering a major cybersecurity attack that accessed the frequent flyer details of 5 million customers.The airline joined the long list of companies in Australia, dating back to the HWL Ebsworth breach in 2023, to go to the New South Wals supreme court to obtain an injunction against “persons unknown” – banning the hackers (and anyone else) from accessing or using the data under threat of prosecution.Of course, it didn’t stop hackers leaking the customer data on the dark web a few months later.But it might have come as a surprise when the ID protection company Equifax this month began alerting Qantas customers that their data had been leaked – since access to the data was supposedly banned

Ducking annoying: why has iPhone’s autocorrect function gone haywire?

Don’t worry, you’re not going mad.If you feel the autocorrect on your iPhone has gone haywire recently – inexplicably correcting words such as “come” to “coke” and “winter” to “w Inter” – then you are not the only one.Judging by comments online, hundreds of internet sleuths feel the same way, with some fearing it will never be solved.Apple released its latest operating system, iOS 26, in September. About a month later, conspiracy theories abound, and a video purporting to show an iPhone keyboard changing a user’s spelling of the word “thumb” to “thjmb” has racked up more than 9m views

Saracens Women enjoy World Cup bounce with record crowd for derby

If fans had been told at the start of the day to predict which Canada international would be the star of the Premiership Women’s Rugby London derby, most would have picked out Sophie de Goede. The versatile world player of the year is in incredible form, after her starring role in Canada’s run to the Rugby World Cup final just over a month ago, but she did not have the chance to live up to those hypothetical expectations as she failed a fitness test a few hours before kick-off.Such is the Canadian presence at Saracens, though, that another Canuck stood out, with the wing Alysha Corrigan at the heart of the north London club winning 47-10 against Harlequins in this fierce rivalry in front of a record 3,733 spectators.Corrigan produced not only two skilful tries but she was also able to beat several defenders throughout the encounter and had defensive prowess which marked her out at a sunny but cold StoneX Stadium. Canadian flair was on display throughout, with Olivia Apps also an electric presence and Laetitia Royer impressing on her debut

Coco Gauff’s serving troubles return in WTA Finals defeat against Pegula

Coco Gauff’s serving woes followed her into the final week of the season, as the American’s title defence at the WTA Finals in Riyadh began with a bruising 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-2 loss to her compatriot Jessica Pegula in their first match of the group stages.Despite fighting hard and remaining competitive until the end, the third seed simply could not overcome her 17 double faults against an in-form Pegula, the fifth seed, who maintained her composure after getting pulled into a final set by her struggling opponent, and saved her best level for the closing stretch of the match.Pegula’s victory could prove to be an important win in the Stefanie Graf group, with Aryna Sabalenka looming and favoured to advance. Earlier on Sunday, the world No 1 opened her tournament with a confident 6-3, 6-1 win over Jasmine Paolini, the eighth seed. The victory was Sabalenka’s 60th of the season, the first time she has achieved this milestone