The Times - UK (2020-08-06)

the times | Thursday August 6 2020 2GM 5

News

The Italian authorities have threatened
to ban Ryanair from operating in the
country amid fears the airline is breach-
ing coronavirus rules.
The country’s civil aviation authority,
Enac, said last night that it was consid-
ering suspending the Irish budget air-
line’s permit for “repeated violations of

Ryanair faces Italian ban over fears it flouts Covid rules

Ben Clatworthy Assistant Travel Editor the Covid-19 health regulations cur-
rently in force and imposed by the Ital-
ian government to protect the health of
passengers”.
Sources at Enac told Italian media
that the airline’s breaches included cab-
in crew failing to enforce the wearing of
masks by passengers and sufficiently
stagger disembarkation. There are said
to be particular concerns about passen-

gers rushing to remove cabin baggage

from overhead lockers upon landing.

The regulator said that if the airline

failed to make changes it might be able

to operate at only 50 per cent capacity.

If “further non-compliance” was wit-

nessed the airline would be stripped of

its right to operate, it said.

Under Italian regulations, social dis-

tancing can be relaxed if a carrier uses

high-efficiency particulate air filters on

board, but passengers must wear masks

and standing in the alley be kept to a

minimum.

“Not only is the obligation to distance

passengers not respected, but the con-

ditions for making an exception to that

rule are also being ignored,” Enac said

in a statement.

A Ryanair spokesman said: “Ryanair

is committed to the highest level of

safety for our passengers and crew at all

times. The claims made today are factu-

ally incorrect. Ryanair complies fully

with the measures set out by the Italian

government and our customers can

rest assured that we are doing every-

thing to reduce interaction on both our

aircraft and at airports to protect the

health of our passengers.”

Marks & Spencer is undertaking a huge
operation aimed at hanging on to
Ocado customers when it replaces
Waitrose as the online grocery com-
pany’s supplier next month.
M&S has copied some of Waitrose’s
most popular items and developed 750
new ones in the hope that it will prevent
an exodus of shoppers loyal to its rival.
Ocado had been delivering Waitrose
groceries for 20 years. Waitrose will
continue to deliver groceries directly to
customers.
Bosses at M&S have set up an Ocado
readiness team and food developers
have carried out dozens of reviews to
ensure that it can match Waitrose prod-
ucts in flavour, ingredients, price and
size. They have even gone as far as repli-
cating a mushroom, feta and spinach

M&S copies rival to boost food deliveries

Ashley Armstrong Retail Editor pizza after Ocado’s customer data
showed that it was a Waitrose bestseller
and that customers would simply not be
happy with M&S’s chargrilled vegeta-
ble alternative.
When the M&S deal with Ocado was
announced in February last year there
were questions about how suitable its
ranges would be for family weekly
shops.
Archie Norman, 66, the chairman of
M&S, said that he was prepared for
some customers to quit Ocado and
switch to Waitrose. “There will be some
fallout of Waitrose customers for sure.
Do I think there are some Waitrose
products that they really like? Well,
every brand has some loyalists.”
He believes that the boom in demand
for online deliveries during the pan-
demic means that there will not have to
be such a vicious battle at the start. “We

would have had to pedal like mad to

build up the customer base, but now we

will have a soft start. We won’t have to

plaster posters on buses,” he said.

The product development team said

that most of its work was in replicating

the larger packets Waitrose offered to

weekly shoppers. M&S now sells large

blocks of cheddar and 450g bags of

green beans in addition to the 100g bags

of microwaveable vegetables it typical-

ly sells in stores to appeal to solo diners

looking for a quick evening meal.

About 4,670 M&S products appeared

on Ocado’s website yesterday, three

weeks before the official start of their

joint venture on September 1. Customers

could only place orders for M&S prod-

ucts, including Percy Pig sweets and

tights, for delivery slots in September.

Only 40 of M&S’s 1,000 food stores

offer its full grocery range because the

majority of its shops are Simply Food

convenience stores, but it will be replac-

ing Waitrose’s range of 4,000 products

on Ocado with 6,000 food items and

adding 1,600 popular clothing items,

such as tights and underwear.

Stuart Machin, 49, who is in charge of

food for M&S, has also focused on

lowering prices across its everyday

ranges. “We want to be a credible solu-

tion for families”, he told The Times.

Mel Smith, 46, chief executive of

Ocado Retail, said that she was aware of

the challenge M&S faced. “I even had a

group of friends, mums in Chiswick [in

west London], say ‘How dare you do

this to me’, but I’ve now won them

round, particularly with our work on

organic and gluten-free ranges and

we’re 100 per cent sure we have more of

a range than we did before,” she said.

Retail battle for Middle England, page 34

A

small but

devoted

group of

celebrity

pond

enthusiasts has been

joined by Bob Geldof,

who has submitted plans

for a wildlife haven at

his house inspired by the

paintings of Claude

Monet (Jack Malvern

writes).

The musician and

political activist is

installing the feature as

part of the Million

Ponds Project, a plan by

the charity Freshwater

Habitats Trust to

“reverse a century of

pond loss” in Britain.

Geldof, who has

applied to excavate the

pond at the 12th century

Davington Priory near

Faversham in Kent,

which he has owned

since the 1980s, joins

other pond builders

including David and

Victoria Beckham and

Ed Sheeran.

Sheeran, who

dug a pond at

his home in

Suffolk, was

told he was

not allowed

to swim in it

after a

neighbour

said that it

looked

like a swimming pool.

Geldof, 68, submitted

proposals to Swale

borough council for a

40-metre pond in his

paddock. “The

design

inspiration for

the pond

has come

from Monet's

pond at

Giverny, with

a mix of

fresh-water

plants and

trees to

maximise the

biodiversity value,” the

proposal stated.

Geldof, who included

documents from the

Million Ponds Project as

part of his application,

noted: “A critical

element of the project is

that these new ponds

will have clean water.

This is important

because most

countryside ponds are

now badly damaged by

pollution, and evidence

shows that pond wildlife

is declining across the

UK.”

Jeremy Biggs, director

of the Freshwater

Habitats Trust, said that

Geldof ’s example would

give momentum to its

aim to double the

number of ponds in

Britain from 500,

over the next 40 years.

He said the Beckhams’

3,000 sq m pond at their

house in the Cotswolds

would also help,

although he encouraged

them to fill it with water

that contained low levels

of nitrogen and

phosphorus. The trust

defines ponds as a body

of water smaller than

20,000 square metres.

Geldof was supported

in his bid by Jennifer

Pout, a neighbour. She

wrote: “It’s great news

that this area will

benefit from another

type of wildlife haven.

Let’s hope it’ll not get

swamped with the

mozzies we’re already

plagued with.”

I do like

Monets:

Geldof ’s

pond plan

Bob Geldof wants to

build a wildlife pond

inspired by Monet’s

garden at Giverny at

his home, Davington

Priory in Kent

PAUL ANTHONY MOORE/GETTY IMAGES; ALAMY

Price comparison

M&S Fairtrade dark Seville orange

marmalade, 340g, £1.

Waitrose Duchy organic thick cut

marmalade, 340g, £

M&S Select fine beans, 300g, £

Waitrose fine green beans, 300g, £

M&S stone-baked pizza with garlic

mushrooms & spinach, 443g, £4.

Waitrose stonebaked garlic

mushroom & spinach, 395g, £4.

M&S chopped Italian tomatoes,

4 x 400g, £1.

Essential Waitrose chopped Italian

tomatoes, 4 x 400g, £1.

M&S organic beef meatballs,

300g, £3.

Waitrose Duchy organic beef

meatballs, 300g, £4.

In at the deep end

David Beckham The

former England

footballer applied in July

to build a 3,000 sq m

pond at his home in the

Cotswolds

Elizabeth Hurley The

actress has a fishing lake

at her Georgian mansion

in Herefordshire

Ed Sheeran In 2016 the

singer-songwriter built a

400 sq m pond at his

home near Framlingham,

Suffolk, on the condition

that he did not use it as a

swimming pool

Michelle Keegan The

Coronation Street actress

has a pond filled with koi

carp and spanned by a

bridge at her home in

Essex