Latest news with #Rickmansworth
Daily Mail
18-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
UK engineer Senior sells aircraft parts business in £200m deal
Senior will sell its aerostructures business to US private equity firm Sullivan Street Partners in a deal worth up to £200million. The Rickmansworth-based manufacturing and engineering firm said had previously flagged the potential sale as it pursues a leaner structure. It follows production issues at its key supplier Boeing and the enduring damage to its operations caused by the pandemic. Aerostructures, Senior's largest division, builds the structural components of an aircraft's airframe, including the wings and flight control surfaces. The FTSE 250 firm will receive an initial consideration of £150million and could bag an additional £50million in the first half of next year if the Aerostructures business meets certain performance targets in 2025. Senior said the sale helps position the business 'as a market leading pure play fluid conveyance and thermal management business'. Boss David Squires added: 'This sale aligns with the long-term interests of our shareholders, customers, employees and other stakeholders. 'Our remaining high quality fluid conveyance and thermal management business is well positioned to deliver attractive growth, improved margins, and better returns on capital with strong operating cash flow performance. 'With our global footprint and operating in attractive and structurally resilient end markets, Senior is well-placed to deliver sustained profitable growth and create enhanced value for our shareholders.' Senior shares jumped 8.4 per cent to 204p approaching midday, aided by a £40million share buyback programme also announced on Friday. The shares have added around 25 per cent since the start of 2025 and more than 250 per cent over the last five years.
BBC News
27-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
'Loneliest owl' keeps calling for a mate at Rickmansworth farm
An owl whose calls for a new mate have gone unanswered has been dubbed the "UK's loneliest owl" by an agricultural male little owl, which lives on Woodoaks Farm near Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire, close to the M25, has been calling out several times a day."It is devastating to see him all alone calling out from his perch day after day, but getting no response," said Rose Lewis, who leads the team at the farm on behalf of the Soil little owl species has been in decline by nearly 25% since 1995 and the charity said this case highlights "the fragility of his species". The Woodoaks owl has been calling out following the loss of two mates and their owlets since first mate died after being caught on a barbed wire fence, whilst the death of the second was unexplained. "We're surrounded by quite urban centres so we're a little isolated island - so the little owl calling and calling and calling earlier this year – there's no other owl that could hear because of the noise and disconnection," Ms Lewis added. Liam Edwards, co-founder of L&L Wildlife Monitoring, said: "We're already seeing numbers decline in the Royal Parks because of the numbers of jackdaws and parakeets. "Anything we can do in order to help working with landowners, working with farmers, creating those homes and habitats, hopefully those numbers will be up on the rise."Woodoaks Farm was donated to the Soil Association by Sally Findlay in 2020, and the charity has been working to create habitats and convert it to fully organic wants to raise £2.5m to help protect the wildlife at the farm and build an education hub. Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
14-06-2025
- BBC News
Chesham: Two arrested after man shot at from car
Two men have been arrested after a pedestrian was shot at from a Valley Police said the victim, a man aged in his 30s, was targeted on Broad Street in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, at about 18:10 BST on Tuesday before a silver coloured VW Scirocco was driven from the scene. The car was later found burned out in Rickmansworth at about 22: victim suffered injuries to his shoulder and was taken to hospital, but his injuries are not life-threatening and he has since been discharged.A 31-year-old man from Chalfont St Gile has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, while a 37-year-old man from Chesham has been arrested on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon. Officers said that both men remain in police Insp Phil Turner-Robson said: "I would again appeal for anyone in the area who saw or heard anything; if you have any footage from the area and haven't already spoken to the police, we would urge you to please come forward."Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101. Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Daily Mail
24-05-2025
- Automotive
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Pensioner furious after being slapped with 'ridiculous' £170 parking fine... but claims there is a big catch
A pensioner is furious after being hit with a 'ridiculous' £170 fine for overstaying in a car park - even though he wasn't parking. Garth Burden, 80, pulled into an Esso Garage in Rickmansworth to get his car washed and waited patiently in a queue. Little did he know that there was a 15-minute limit in place, enforced by Euro Car Parks, whether parked in a space, washing your car or changing your oil. Mr Burden told MailOnline: 'I was in a queue, and there was a car in front of me and eventually once they drove off, I was able to use the car wash. 'The actual car wash itself took about 10-15 minutes, and I just accepted that would be fine.' However, Mr Burden was later slapped with Parking Charge Notice (PCN) from Euro Car Parks on their doorstep to the tune of £170. He said: 'They said I had stayed for more than 15 minutes but I replied saying "That's ridiculous, I'm going to obviously fight this.' Having been hit with the fine in the run-up to Christmas, while staying with their son in between moving homes, his wife, who owned the car 'was really, really upset' about the fine. But when he asked about the appeal process, Euro Car Parks informed him he had missed the opportunity as he was late collecting the letter containing the PCN from his former home. 'It's so stupid to pay and get done for 15 minutes in a car wash. It's just common sense says you've got to have a bit more time than 15 minutes,' he added. Despite attempting to argue for an opportunity to appeal, Mr Burden was hit with another blow - a letter from Debt Recovery Plus on behalf of Euro Car Parks demanding the sum for the alleged contravention. 'I kept saying to everyone, "I wasn't parking my car in the garage. I was going through a car wash". 'I wrote to them and said, as far as I'm concerned I'm not guilty of an offence cause I wasn't parking my car. I was in a car wash. 'If you want to pursue this with the court, tell me where you're will seek legal action, and I will come along and defend myself. 'They claim I have broken a rule about car parking, so anyone that's spending more than 15 minutes in the queue behind me for the car wash no doubt got a ticket. 'So I just thought this is just crazy.' Over the last year-and-a-half, Mr Burden has received around 20 letters from various debt recovery companies about the issue, including Debt Recovery Plus, GCTT Enforcement Agents, QDR Solicitors, ZZPS and DCBL. 'It is an ordeal because of the time involved and whenever I tell anyone I've had another letter about my car wash debacle.' Referencing Euro Car Parks, he added: 'They are trying to screw as much money out of poor motorists as possible. 'It's absolutely ludicrous,' he said: 'And they come up with all sorts of amazing warnings. You have only got to read the reviews on the notices. 'But if you've got an old lady at home or somebody who doesn't know the process of courts, the threat of enforcement agents coming to your home without any sort of court action can be frightening. 'I find it absolutely galling. It's absolutely daft,' as he dubbed the service: 'The most expensive car wash in town.' Mr Burden also claimed there was no signage on the kiosk where he paid for the car wash to suggest there was a 15-minute limit to queue and was your car, adding the only notice about a limit was high-up on a sign that's 'hardly read[able]'. However the 80-year-old is ready and determined to see the situation all the way up to small claims court, adding: 'I would love them to do it. 'I can guarantee the day before or the couple of days before, they will say "We're not going do anything further" or they will say "this is your last chance" or something like that. 'Car parking is a very, very, lucrative business for some of these companies and they really are, you know, raking in the money.' And Mr Burden isn't the only person to fall victim at the garage forecourt with single mother, Natalie Carby, hit with a £100 fine just an hour after she picked up her new car up from the garage. The mother-of-two queued for around 25 minutes for her turn before she headed home on the 15 February, 2023. She didn't give much thought about the experience until a Euro Car Parks fine landed on her doormat 12 days later. Signs at the garage do indicate that the maximum stay for the car park is 15 minutes, but the 41-year-old believes this should not apply to the car wash. With the fine, the £9 wash could now set her back £100. Ms Carby said: 'I'm just absolutely appalled. 'I think it's absolutely outrageous that they can do this. Fair enough there may be signs around for a car park, but the car wash queue is not a car park.' Ms Carby had only bought her new car an hour before she went to get it washed at at the same Esso Garage in Rickmansworth. She had planned to go to the BP garage along the road but found it was closed, forcing herself and other drivers to go to Esso. She said: 'The only reason I went there was because the car wash at the BP garage down the road was closed, which is why there were so many cars queuing in the Esso car wash that day.' She added: 'It has taken a lot of time and effort and help from family members to get this car and then within an hour I'm whacked with a £100 fine. 'I had my previous car for over ten years and I never got a parking fine. An hour of this car and I'm getting a fine for having a car wash - I'm just appalled.' MailOnline has approached Euro Car Parks, DBCL, Debt Recovery Plus, GCTT Enforcement Agents, QDR Solicitors, and ZZPS for comment.
Daily Mail
13-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
I have small genitals, no sex drive and can't smell... meet the men who didn't go through puberty because of this little-known syndrome that affects thousands
While other boys his age were dealing with acne and mood swings, as a teenager, Neil Smith experienced none of this. For Neil, now 55 and a biomedical scientist from Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire, never went through puberty. He has Kallmann syndrome – a condition where puberty is delayed or absent, due to a problem with the release of sex hormones. Those affected have small genitals and no sex drive; they also have a reduced or total loss of smell.
