Page 20 QQQ Daily Mail, Tuesday, August 27, 2019Fracking site
hit by biggest
tremor yet
HOUSES near Britain’s only fracking
site were left shaking yesterday after a
record-breaking tremor produced a
‘guttural roar’.
Dozens of furious residents in Blackpool,
close to the site, described how pictures
fell off their walls as their radiators rattled
during the incident at 8.30am.
Heather Goodwin, who lives near the
plant, said: ‘I really thought my house was
going to fall down. We’ve been afraid of
this happening.’
The quake, which measured 2.9 on the
Richter scale, came two days after another
record-breaking tremor was recorded
close to the Preston New Road site in
Westby-with-Plumptons, Lancashire.
The Oil and Gas Authority yesterday
suspended fracking operations pending
an investigation, which will look at the
effectiveness of measures taken by Cuad-
rilla – the energy firm which runs the site- to decrease the likelihood of quakes.
A Government fracking adviser likened
the event to a 2.3-magnitude tremor at
Cuadrilla’s Preese Hall site in Lancashire
in 2011, which led to the suspension of
fracking in the UK for seven years.
Yesterday’s tremor was the 93rd seismic
event recorded at the site by the British
Geological Survey since drilling began at
a second well on August 15.
Environmental campaign group Friends
of the Earth said: ‘This issue of earth-
quakes in connection to unwanted frack-
ing has always been serious. Now it’s get-
ting out of hand.’
Cuadrilla yesterday said the tremor had
lasted for only a second.
JEREMY Paxman has
attacked the state of
Parliament and called
the three most
recent prime minis-
ters the ‘worst in
modern times’.
The broadcaster,
pictured, lambasted
David Cameron over
the 2016 referendum,
and described Theresa May as a ‘cornu-
copia of failure’. Speaking about Boris
Johnson, Paxman, 69, told the Radio
Times: ‘Now we find ourselves required
to entrust the country to a man you
wouldn’t trust alone with your sister.’
He also criticised MPs about delivering
Brexit, saying: ‘What’s wrong with our
politicians that, three years after the
event, they can’t decide how to imple-
ment Brexit?’ He said MP numbers should
be halved to reform our democracy.Paxo blasts May,
Dave and Boris
BIG retailers are selling cabin
luggage as ‘suitable for Ryanair’
despite the fact that it is too
large to take on flights free.
The Moneysavingexpert con-
sumer website found a number
of bags sold by stores including
Argos and Debenhams fall foul
of the budget airline’s strict
cabin baggage rules. Passengers
who want to carry on a bag free
are limited to one no bigger
than 40cm by 20cm by 25cm.
But the website found Deben-
hams is selling a ‘cabin suitcase’
measuring 55cm x 39cm x 20cm,
claiming it ‘fits all major airlines’
including Ryanair. Argos and
Ryman had similar offerings.
Debenhams said the bag was
listed by a third party retailer
that apologised for the ‘confu-
sion’. Argos said it has issued a
clarification on its website, while
Ryman said ‘at no point do we
state that it is free to take hand
luggage on to a flight’.Cabin bags
of trouble
Of f on holiday, union
boss bringing misery
to 450 k BA passengers
By James Salmon
Transport EditorHE was certainly dressed the
part – loose shirt, sleeves rolled
up, trainers – but Brian Strut-
ton didn’t look as relaxed as
might be expected as he
wheeled his suitcase off for the
holiday of a lifetime.
Perhaps it is little wonder the
general secretary of the pilots’
union Balpa appeared somewhat
sheepish. Just hours earlier he
had announced strikes that could
ruin the travel plans of around
450,000 BA passengers.
Last night Tory MP Julian Knight
branded the £141,000-a-year union
boss a ‘hypocrite’ and said the
images of him arriving at Bourne-
mouth airport on Saturday would be
a ‘slap in the face’ for passengers.
Mr Strutton was flying to Majorca
and is thought to be enjoying a
seven-night Mediterranean cruise –night and early Saturday morning to
alert them flights are set to be
scrapped. The airline insisted that
its priority was to give customers ‘as
much notice as possible’. ‘We will do
everything we can to get as many
people away on their journeys as
possible,’ a spokesman said.
Pilots working for the airline have
rejected an 11.5 per cent pay rise over
three years plus a bonus worth 1 per
cent of this year’s salary.
Mr Strutton said: ‘I met BA on
Thursday and they said they would
not offer any more than the pilots
have already massively rejected.
Therefore we had little choice but to
issue strike dates.’ He added that the
union ‘will be there’ if the airline was
prepared to negotiate further.‘Airline cancelled
flights too early’
I’m all right: Brian Strutton heads off to the Medcosting around £1,000 a person – with
his wife and two sons.
Asked why he should enjoy a holi-
day while threatening the breaks of
so many, he told The Sun: ‘Hmm,
well we are trying not to affect other
people’s holidays of course.’
The reality is that more than 3,000
Balpa members who fly for BA –
including captains paid £167,000 a
year on average – will strike on Sep-
tember 9, 10 and 27.
This could trigger the cancellation
of around 850 BA flights on each of
the three strike dates.
Balpa last night accused BA of can-
celling its flights early ahead of the
strikes. Passengers will receive com-
pensation only if given fewer than 14
days’ notice before a cancellation.
A Balpa spokesman said: ‘By can-
celling flights so early, to avoid com-
pensating customers, the airline has
got its focus wrong and is compound-
ing the mess it has created.’
BA contacted passengers on FridayPicture: NEWS LICENSING