Money blog: Ryanair to axe thousands of flights in row with Germany (2024)

Waitrose has become the latest supermarket to launch on Just Eat.

In the coming weeks, millions of customers will be able to order their favourite Waitrose food and drink from 229 locations across the UK, with the aim of it being delivered in under half an hour.

More than one million Britons now regularly get their groceries delivered by Just Eat.

It comes as the supermarket chain confirmed plans to open up 100 convenience shops across the UK in the next five years.

IKEA has reported a slump in UK sales for the past year.

The company revealed retail sales dropped by 6.8% to £2.3bn for the year to August, compared with the previous financial year, as shoppers held off buying bigger-ticket items.

It linked the drop to a "strategic decision to prioritise affordability" as it invested more than £117m into lowering prices over the year for customers hit hardest by the cost of living crisis.

The retailer said more than 3,000 products, representing about a third of its range, were reduced in price.

Ryanair has said it will cut 12% of its traffic through German airports next year in a row with the government there over high location charges.

The cuts will result in a loss of 1.8 million seats from the start of the summer flight plan in April 2025 and will see Ryanair close its Dortmund, Dresden and Leipzig operations as well as reducing its Hamburg operations by 60%.

The closure of specific routes means as many as 10,000 flights will be hit, The Telegraph reports.

The move "will be devastating for jobs, tourism and connectivity", Ryanair has said, calling on Germany's transport minister Volker Wissing and the government "to act immediately to lower access costs and fix Germany's broken air transport system".

The airline has repeatedly warned that it would switch capacity to other EU countries if Germany did not meet its demands to reverse an aviation tax increase and reduce air traffic control charges.

Our inbox is full of comments from readers about Sam Williamson (see post earlier this afternoon), who is facing prosecution for falling foul of a confusing railcard rule.

Here's what some of you had to say...

Interesting how Northern Rail have the resource to follow up such heavy handed frivolous prosecutions, while they so often struggle to fulfil their scheduled trains due to "no staff being available". Perhaps a shift in focus is required?

DisgruntledNorthern Rail Patron

Surely it is false advertising by Northern Rail by selling the ticket as an anytime day return. Anytime means anytime, not between certain times.

JSL

Others have reached out to say they have experienced similar heavy-handed prosecutions.

Reader Caden's dispute was with TransPennine Express.

"I was fined £115 for accidentally purchasing my ticket 48 hours after my railcard had expired," he said.

"The conductor who issued the fine was very aggressive, making the situation quite uncomfortable, and treating me like a criminal. They obviously got some power trip out of it.

"Even though I bought a new railcard just two minutes later and showed it to the inspector, I have now received a letter demanding the fine and stating that if I don't pay, I will be prosecuted."

Other readers say they have faced similar problems.

I made an error on the train - my ticket was for a later train that day, I never realised and because I was already half way through my journey, no money etc. They charged me £85, even though my ticket was in date just the wrong time, and I'd just been to court for a [domestic violence] hearing.
Bianca

Northern rail isn’t the only company doing this. I took my son to London on a Saturday on SWtrains. We were booked the 10.30, but was ready early so just jumped on an earlier train. The ticket was "off peak", so we were forced to spend another £70 on tickets.
H's mummy

I purchased a full price ticket for the 13.30 train [on Northern Rail] and the previous train was late so I arrived for my train and got on the earlier train and they took me to court.I won my case because they fraudulently completed the paper.
Phil S

Shein has overtaken its fast-fashion rival Boohoo for sales.

Sales rose 38% to £1.55bn - some 30% more than Boohoo's £1.09bn last year.

Shein opened a UK head office in Manchester last year, which is also home to Boohoo and PrettyLittleThing. It now employs around 33 people, primarily in the marketing department.

It is also considering a float on the London Stock Market, in a debut estimated to be worth £50bn.

The company has been at the centre of controversy over its use of cotton from the Xinjiang region of China and other issues related to workers' rights and its vast supply chain.

ByMegan Harwood-Baynes, cost of living specialist

A man faces being taken to court by Northern Rail after he was caught out by an obscure rule on his railcard.

Sam Williamson, from Glossop, has been threatened with prosecution after he mistakenly bought an invalid £3.65 ticket using his 16-25 railcard. The full price of the ticket was £5.50 - £1.85 more.

The ticket he bought was the cheapest available on the app, and was for the 10.29am train - but was listed as an "anytime day single".

Sam used this ticket to board a train just after 7am, not realising that under the fine print of the railcard terms his ticket was invalid. A minimum fare of £12 applies to any ticket bought with a railcard before 10am.

He bought the anytime day single via the Northern Rail app and said "nowhere is it made explicit that my railcard will not, in fact, be valid on any services before 10am".

Sam had been travelling from Broadbottom to London, via Manchester, but purchased the first part of his journey separately. The second ticket (from Manchester to London) cost £22 - so that would have taken him above the £12 minimum fare.

Once he boarded the first train, the conductor told him his ticket was invalid. Sam says he immediately offered to pay for a new ticket or a fixed penalty notice but he was told a report had to be filed directly to Northern Rail.

A month later, he received a letter (seen by Sky News) telling him he faced prosecution and inviting him to explain the circumstances of his journey.

"It was a mistake, but it was an innocent mistake," Sam told Money.

He says he saw multiple other people in the same carriage getting caught out by the rule: "One man was travelling on a senior railcard, but he got off the train before giving his details, so I can't imagine he would be facing the same prosecution."

Sam accepts the mistake was his, but thinks the response has been "heavy-handed". If prosecuted, he could face a fine of hundreds of pounds and a criminal record.

He is not the only person to fall foul of these rules - a 23-year-old from Bolton was fined £462 after she used an anytime day return before 10am. She was prosecuted at Manchester Magistrates' Court in May of this year.

Another 27-year-old from Keighley was ordered to pay £462 after travelling during peak time on an off-peak ticket.

Northern Rail confirmed to Sky News it was in contact with Sam about his case.

A Northern spokesperson said: "As with all train operators across the UK, everyone has a duty to buy a valid ticket or obtain a promise to pay voucher before they board the train and be able to present it to the conductor or revenue protection officer during a ticket inspection.

"The overwhelming majority of our customers – upwards of 96% - do just that."

By Daniel Binns, business reporter

After a volatile few days, oil prices have edged up again as Hurricane Milton slams into Florida.

The storm has fuelled demand, with the price of the benchmark Brent crude up almost 1% this morning to (£59) a barrel.

The cost almost hit $80 (£61) earlier in the week amid escalating violence in the Middle East, but then eased back over the last two days.

Fears still remain that supplies could be hit if Israel targets Iran's oil infrastructure, although those worries have been tempered by concerns that weaker outlooks for the economies of China and the US could dampen demand.

Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 is pretty flat this morning. The index has risen only slightly, by just 0.1% in early trading.

Top of the pile is pharmaceutical giant GSK – formerly known as GlaxoSmithKline - which is up more than 5% after it settled several potentially damaging lawsuits in the US.

Performing badly this Thursday is housebuilder Taylor Wimpey, which has slipped nearly 5%.

On the currency markets, £1 buys $1.30 or €1.20.

Rates are slightly up on previous days when Sterling fell amid expectations that the Bank of England will soon cut interest rates again, potentially making the UK less attractive to international investors.

Wilko has launched a webshop on Amazon as the discount retailer revives its brand with a digital expansion.

Household and DIY products from the own-brand range have appeared on the e-commerce giant's site.

Clicking through to the shop front, a big banner says "Your favourite brand! Coming soon..."

The budget retailer collapsed into administration in August last year after a crucial loan fell through amid the fallout from the disastrous mini-budget from the Truss government in September 2022.

It was then bought out by CDS Superstores (the company behind The Range) and has reopened seven stores in Exeter, Luton, Plymouth, Poole, Rotherham, St Albans and most recently Uxbridge.

There are just six months left to fill any gaps in your national insurance records (going back as far as 2006) if you want to boost your state pension entitlement.

New data from HMRC this week shows more than 10,000 payments (worth £12.5m) have already been made through the new digital service since it launched in April this year.

Usually, people can pay voluntary top-ups for the past six years, but the last government opened this up so contributions can be filled in all the way back to 6 April 2006.

The deadline, though, is 5 April next year.

Who can top up?

Men born after 6 April 1951 and women born after 6 April 1953 are eligible to make these voluntary NI contributions to boost their new state pension. You can find out more about making contributions online.

HMRC said further analysis of the use of the online service shows the majority (51%) of customers topped up one year of their NI record, with the average online payment being £1,193.

Why does it matter?

If you reached pension age after 6 April 2016 you need 10 years of NI contributions to get a state pension - and 35 years to get the full £221.20 a week. Before that 2016 date, it's 30 years.

People may have gaps in their record for numerous reasons including being unemployed, on a low income, self-employed, having worked abroad, or having taken a break from work to raise a family.

How much could topping up earn you?

We answered this question for one Money blog reader who had a 10-year gap in his record.

We found it would cost £907.40 to cover all NI contributions from the 2023-24 tax year - each year is different but this was a good guide.

If he then went on to enjoy 20 years of retirement, he would get back £6,000. It would take just three years to get his original £907.40 investment back.

Who might want to think twice?

The first thing anyone should consider is if they'll fill gaps naturally through working - in which case there'd be no point topping up - but check your state pension forecasthereto see if that is the case.

There are lots of other things to factor in and you should seek independent financial advice.

Wealth management firmCharles Stanleysays a key consideration is whether a higher pension would either:

• Drag you into paying tax when you retire;
• Mean you no longer qualify for certain benefits.

"You might not benefit from the full amount of extra money as some will be taken in income tax," they say.

"In addition, boosting state pension income can affect entitlements to means-tested benefits. Notably, if you claim pension credit, which tops up the income of very low earners over state pension age, any increase in the state pension would normally reduce an award. This often means that you would be no better off paying voluntary contributions."

Another consideration - and this isn't something most people want to contemplate - is that if you don't think you'll live long enough into retirement (you might be in ill health or have a terminal illness) to benefit from topping up, then it's probably not worth it.

People should alsolook into whether they could transfer contributions from their spouse or civil partner.

One more way to top up

Which? advises: "Ensure that you are getting any NI credits you are entitled to before contemplating paying voluntary NI contributions for a particular year.

"These are free and will apply, say, if you are caring for a child in the family as a parent or grandparent, claiming statutory sick pay or looking after a sick/disabled person."

TheEmployment Rights Billwill beintroduced into parliament today and includes 28 measures to improve worker rights.

The major package of reforms includes granting workers protection from unfair dismissal from the first day of their employment, ending the existing two-year qualifying period.

The measure will be accompanied by a statutory probation period of up to nine months for new hires, during which staff can be dismissed under a "lighter touch" process.

But a consultation required means officials do not expect the measures to reach the statute book until autumn 2026 at the earliest.

Measures in the bill include:

• The right to statutory sick pay from the first day of illness, ending the current three-day waiting period, and removing the lower earnings limit;
• Day-one rights to paid and unpaid paternity leave. Currently fathers have to be employed for 26 or 52 weeks respectively to receive the benefits, and there will be a new statutory right to bereavement leave;
• The right to flexible working. Where employers say no they will have to demonstrate the decision is reasonable against eight criteria;
• A ban on "exploitative zero hours contracts". Workers on zero or short-hours contracts will have to be offered a contract based on the hours worked in a 12-week reference period, receive notice of shift patterns and entitlement to payment for short-notice cancellation.

Among the measures excluded from the bill is the introduction of a single category of worker, a measure long-promised by Labour and seen by unions as crucial to ending exploitation and inequality in the gig economy.

Currently there are broadly three categories - employee, worker and self-employed, with many gig-economy providers such as food delivery and ride-hailing apps classifying workers as self-employed, denying them access to sick pay and other benefits.

The "right to switch off", which would have prevented employers contacting staff outside working hours, has also been left out, and will instead be subject to an agreed code of conduct.