Latest news with #RiverHumber
BBC News
6 days ago
- BBC News
Hidden East Yorkshire: The Hull to Grimsby hovercraft service
Why did a high-tech crossing over the River Humber that took people just 20 minutes to travel between Hull and Grimsby stop operating after a year?The BBC's Hidden East Yorkshire podcast has gone back to 1969 to explore the origins of the two companies running hovercraft services between the two a combination of fragile vehicles and debris in the estuary, meant the service would cease to exist long before construction of the Humber Drury-Bradey, who has been conducting a research project and hearing peoples' memories, said: "Some people used it for work or shopping but a lot of people used it just for the novelty. It was such new technology at the time." Two separate firms ran the hovercraft trips. The first service was called Hoverlink, with a craft called Mercury. A rival company was then set up in the same year named Humber Hoverferry craft, which uses a cushion of air to travel over land, water, mud, ice and other surfaces, ferried passengers from the Corporation Pier in Hull to the docks at Stamp, 63, remembers a trip to see the hovercraft set off across the Humber. His dad walked him to the pier when he was around seven years old. "That was very exciting for me", he said. "My dad had built it all up, telling me about these fabulous new devices, that hovered on air."We saw the people get on and watched it leave. It was quite choppy but then it built up speed."I never went on myself," he added. "But I would have loved to." Despite their novel solution for people crossing the Humber, the services were withdrawn never to return. The Humber Bridge, which was designed in 1964 while the hovercraft operated, would eventually open to vehicles in Drury-Bradey said: "With the technology of the 60s, they [the hovercraft] were a bit too fragile. In the end they lasted less than a year."The researcher also said he would like the banks of the Humber to be better connected with quicker journey concluded: "It's the way to grow economies, the way to grow jobs, the way to grow opportunities."But whether a hovercraft is the answer to that these days, I'm not so sure." Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here. Download the BBC News app from the App Store for iPhone and iPad or Google Play for Android devices
Daily Mail
30-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Labour accused of driving UK oil and gas to 'a cliff edge' as major refinery teeters on brink of collapse
Labour has been accused of driving the oil and gas industry to 'a cliff edge' as one of Britain's last remaining refineries teeters on the brink of collapse. The Lindsey Oil Refinery in north Lincolnshire has filed for insolvency – threatening the future of the site on the banks of the River Humber and its 440 workers. Lindsey's closure – after chemicals giant Ineos stopped refining oil at Grangemouth in Scotland this year – would leave Britain with just four major refineries. Union leaders at Unite have called for Labour to drop its ban on new oil and gas licences in the North Sea. And they have blasted Labour ministers over their handling of the industry. General secretary Sharon Graham said: 'The Lindsey oil refinery is strategically important and the Government must intervene immediately to protect workers and fuel supplies. 'Unite has constantly warned the Government that its policies have placed the oil and gas industry on a cliff edge. It has failed to act and put its fingers in its ears.' The Lindsey site, which can refine 113,000 barrels of oil per day, is owned by Prax Group, whose parent company, State Oil, has plunged into administration. Lindsey produces a range of fuels but has lost about £75million since it was sold by Total Energies of France to Prax in 2021.
