Page 28 - Londra Gazete Sayı 1099

Londra Gazete, 31 March 2022 LondraGazete.com/English 5

Ikea plans to shut Tottenham superstore putting 450 jobs at risk

IKEA is set to shut its huge native jobs for “as many as pos-
superstore in Tottenham in sible” of the staff,
north London putting 450 jobs The closure will leave Ikea with
at risk. just four full scale stores in the
The Swedish furniture giant London area at Croydon, Green-
said the shift to online shop- wich, Lakeside and Wembley. It
ping and the redevelopment of also has a smaller format outlet
the area where the store is locat- in Hammersmith that opened
ed forced it “to assess the long- last month with a first West End
term viability of the site”. outlet opening in Autumn 2023,
The surprise announcement on Oxford Circus in the former
comes just weeks after the re- Topshop flagship site.
tailer said it was committing Retail trade union Usdaw Na-
£1 billion to new and upgraded tional Officer Dave Gill said
stores in the capital, including “This is devastating news for
outlets in Hammersmith and staff working at the Tottenham
the West End. store and Usdaw will now enter
It has not yet confirmed the into meaningful consultation
closure date and the store will talks with the company to inter-
continue to trade normally for rogate the business case for the
now. Ikea pledged to find alter- proposed closure...”

24-hour Tube strikes cost Full fuel duty cut not being passed on to drivers

TfL £13 million in lost fares THE Average petrol prices are

not fully reflecting a recent cut
in fuel tax, according to motor-
THE two strikes that virtually outline the scale of TfL’s losses ing group the RAC.
shut the Tube earlier this month from the strikes, Mr Khan said: While fuel duty was cut by 5p
cost Transport for London an es- “Overall, Transport for London per litre last week, petrol has
timated £13 million in lost fares, estimates that London Under- fallen less than 4p, and diesel by
Sadiq Khan has revealed. ground fare revenue was around less than 3p, it said.
It came as a review of TfL’s staff £13 million lower across the week Big retailers such as supermar-
pension scheme — one of the is- as a result of the strike.” kets and oil giants Shell and BP
sues that sparked the first net- The pensions review was or- have already passed on the tax
work-wide strikes in five years — dered by the Department for cut.
found reforming it could save TfL Transport as a condition of TfL’s But smaller retailers said last
up to £182.4 million a year. week that it would take time for
Last week Mr Khan was accused bailout. the fuel duty cut to be passed
by his Tory critics on the London The review said modifying the on.
Assembly of failing to do enough final salary scheme could save be- The price of fuel was rising
to prevent strikes “crippling” tween £79.3m to £182.4m, while rapidly in the UK even before
London – while awarding 15,000 switching to a “CARE” (Career Av- Russia invaded Ukraine, as the RAC said at the time. before the chancellor made his
Tube staff an 8.4 per cent pay rise erage Revalued Earnings) scheme economies started to recover Now, the motoring group says announcement on fuel duty last
from April. could save up to £154.4m – or from the Covid pandemic. that the cut is not being fully week.
Asked by Caroline Pidgeon, a could increase TfL’s costs by up to But the war has pushed up passed on to consumers. “This meant retailers were
Lib-Dem assembly member, to £23.1m. crude oil prices, which has fed Since last Wednesday, the av- buying fuel in at a higher cost
through to pump prices. erage price for a litre of petrol than they were a week earlier,
The 5p cut in fuel duty an- which meant drivers may not
nounced by Chancellor Rishi has fallen by 3.71p to 163.30p have immediately and fully ben-
Sunak last week is intended to per litre, while diesel has fallen efitted from the duty cut.
help people struggling with the 2.79p to 177.11p. “Wholesale prices are current-
cost of living crisis - but because RAC spokesman Rod Dennis ly falling, but it’s likely to be
prices have risen so quickly, its said: “Unfortunately, wholesale next week before we see what
impact is likely to be minimal, fuel prices were already rising impact this has at the pumps.”

Warning millions would struggle if cash phased out

TEN million people would der threat. wholly reliant on cash is un-
struggle to cope in a cashless The RSA said the “dash to dig- changed.”
society even though only 17% ital” held huge risks as finances The report said that although
of payments are now made with were stretched. millions of people benefitted
notes and coins, a report has “For millions of people, their from the convenience of things
found. relationship with cash is critical like smartphone payments, oth-
Going cashless would make to the way they manage their
budgeting difficult and would be weekly budget,” said Mark Hall, ers felt forced into a world they
a “major inconvenience” to an- author of the report called The were not equipped for.
other 15 million, the Royal Soci- Cash Census. An estimated 15 million peo-
ety of Arts (RSA) found. “Despite online banking and ple used cash to budget, the
Thousands of bank branches shopping becoming more com- report said, which was all the
have closed in recent years, and mon, our research shows the more important when the cost
access to cash withdrawals is un- percentage of the population of living was rising.