Daily Mail, Thursday, August 8, 2019 Page 33
QQQAfter half a century,
Britain exits Interrail
FOR almost 50 years the Inter- By Glen Keogh
rail scheme has served as a
rite of passage for teenagers
and young people, allowing
them to travel around Europe
on a single ticket.
But now Britain is to end its
membership of the scheme,
after a dispute with the Eurail
Group which runs it.
The Rail Delivery Group [RDG],
which represents Britain’s rail-
ways, confirmed domestic
train companies will no longer
be part of the Interrail and
Eurail schemes, which allow
tourists to travel across
Europe on a single pass.
A spokesman for RDG saidthe decision was nothing to
do with Brexit, but acknowl-
edged that the timing was
‘unfortunate’.
Britain has been part of Inter-
rail since its launch in 1972 and
began a trial of new Eurail
passes, for non-European
tourists, in January.
But after the trial, the RDG
decided to stick with its own
‘Britrail’ pass for those travel-
ling to the UK from outside
Europe, which includes two-
for-one deals on attractions
across the country.
The Eurail Group subse-quently ended Britain’s asso-
ciation with its Interrail and
Eurail schemes as it intends to
merge the passes.
The move has prompted fears
that tourism in cities outside
of London could be affected.
Labour transport spokesman
Andy McDonald said the RDG
had been ‘deeply irresponsi-
ble’ over the decision.
Eurostar trains are not
affected and Britons travelling
to Europe on an Interrail ticket
are unlikely to suffer. However,
they will now have to cover
the cost of rail travel to Lon-
don before boarding a train to
the continent.Banker who
drowned
himself in
his own pool
feared probe
by watchdog
Tragedy: Bank
boss Adrian
Hill. Left:
His homeA BANK boss drowned himself
in his swimming pool after
fearing he was going to be
investigated by the City watch-
dog and sent to prison, an
inquest heard.
Adrian Hill, 60, had been suffer-
ing night terrors before commit-
ting suicide at his estate.
He told his wife Belinda he was going
downstairs to make a cup of tea but
instead crept out into the garden and
got under the cover of the swimming
pool where he drowned.
The inquest heard his body was
found during a search by the cou-
ple’s groundskeeper, who lived on
the estate.
The millionaire had become con-
vinced that the Financial Conduct
Authority was going to send him to
jail and he began to suffer from manic
episodes in the months before his
death. Mr Hill was involved in a bitter
dispute with the regulator last year.
He called the FCA ‘a very nasty
bully’ and sent it a photo of him hold-
ing a hunting rifle, blaming it for the
bankruptcy of one of his businesses,
The Times reported in December.
The watchdog threatened to call in
police due to his furious messages,
which also described senior bosses at
the regulator as being akin to the
former East German secret police the
Stasi, according the paper.By Josh White‘Posed with
a shotgun’He said at the time: ‘I’m, of
course, not out to shoot them.
It’s beyond ridiculous.’
The Oxford inquest heard Mr
Hill told his wife he was going
to make tea at their home near
Henley-on-Thames in March.
He was found face-down in
the water and was given CPR
by paramedics before being
taken to hospital where he was
pronounced dead.
Mrs Hill, 58, told assistant
coroner Sonia Hayes she hadhistories. He also held other
senior positions at Tesco Per-
sonal Finance Group and Brit-
ish Credit Trust Holdings.
The inquest heard that on
March 19, shortly after return-
ing from a holiday in America,
he visited GP Dr Shams
Aljoboori, who said he was suf-
fering anxiety and feeling under
a lot of pressure.
Dr Aljoboori said: ‘He was
having some manic-like
episodes, like going out and
buying expensive pictures, for
example. Mrs Hill said the
episodes had been going on
for months.’
Recording a conclusion ofsuicide, the coroner said she
was satisfied Mr Hill had got
into the swimming pool
intentionally, saying it was
unlikely he had opened the
cover and then fallen in.
She added: ‘I am satisfied on
the balance of probabilities
that Adrian did intend to do
this action. He was not under
the influence of alcohol and
drugs and I am satisfied that he
did not fall into the pool acci-
dentally and that he did intend
to end his life.’
nFor confidential support,
call the Samaritans on 116
123, go to a branch or visit
http://www.samaritans.orgbeen concerned about her
husband’s manic episodes last
year. The widow said in a
statement: ‘Adrian had
become very hyped-up and
manic about certain issues
and started to write excessive
compulsive letters.
‘He was talking under his
breath and there was a lot of
getting himself into a pickle
and worrying about things –
worrying about his paperwork.
He was concerned that a regu-
lator was going to come and
arrest him.’
Father-of-two Mr Hill was a
director of HFC Bank before it
was taken over by HSBC.
As a sub-prime lender, his
bank gave credit to borrowers
with low incomes or poor creditV1ПОДГОТОВИЛА
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