Will We Ever Know What The Queen’s Private Papers Contain?

Princess Diana’s biographer is worried that the late Queen’s private letters could be burnt by royal aides before a historian is able to look at her papers to write her official biography.

More than a year on from Her Late Majesty’s demise, no announcement has been made about which historian will be gifted the job of writing the official account of her life.

Earlier this year it emerged that King Charles had assigned loyal Palace aide Paul Whybrew with the job of sorting through the Queen’s private papers before they were repositioned to the Royal archive at Windsor.

However, Andrew Morton, the author of the revelation-filled 1992 work Diana: Her True Story, voiced his fears that the Queen’s papers would be filleted to remove any material that the Royal Family didn’t want to become public knowledge.

Speaking to the Scandal Mongers podcast, he said he was ‘enormously’ concerned that aides might be ‘burning the letters’ and added that ‘an awful lot’ could be ‘disguised’ and ‘camouflaged’.

He noted how Princess Diana’s mother Frances Shand Kydd and her sister Sarah burnt much of her correspondence after her death in a car crash in 1997.

Mr Morton told fellow historians Andrew Lownie and Phil Craig that they have two major biographies about to be commissioned. One on Prince Philip and one on Her Majesty The Queen.

So, which one will be chosen? Well, they don’t know. And who’s going through the archives, that would seemingly be the Queen’s footman, Paul Whybrew, Tall Paul.

He said that it concerned him enormously. Are they going to be burning the letters like Princess Margaret did with the Queen Mother’s correspondence?

He said, like the Spencer family did. Like Sarah McCorquodale and Frances Shand Kydd with Diana’s correspondence. They even burnt the ink jotters that she had.

He also questioned whether the Royal Family should be permitted to control access to the Queen’s papers.

He asked if it should be left to the family. Clearly, they would argue that it’s their mother and it was their property, so the letters would be her copyright. He said it was a pretty seductive argument.

He added that they wear different hats. They wear the privacy hat when it’s about shielding correspondence and memos and so on, and then they wear the public hat when it’s about cost.

He said that the quicker the Queen’s biography was commissioned the better because the people who were her friends were all dying. It was as simple as that.

Over the years the Royal Family have been supported by the taxpayer’s money via their gilded lives, and because of that we the people deserve to know what is in those papers. 

Some might say that the Queen worked all her life for our country and that she did an excellent job.

Some would also say that they’re not supported by taxpayers’ money at all. So, how did all the Royals over the centuries attain their wealth? Well, it’s simple, war and taxes from the peasants. Then some extremely clever investing. When you’re a Royal you give up your privacy because the public wants to know everything, and so they should.

Royal papers are a record of our history and the history of our country and they should be available. You just can’t be a Royal and private, they have to choose.

They are servants to the public and must uphold the highest standards and if it’s believed that hasn’t been the case, then their papers should be available to the people.

Conman Faked Heart Attacks In 20 Restaurants

A conman faked having a heart attack to dodge paying the bill.

The man known as Aidas J, a Lithuanian who lives in Spain, scammed 20 restaurants in the city of Alicante before he was jailed.

During his performances, he would drop to the floor and clutch his chest in feigned agony.

The manager of El Buen Comer said that it was all very theatrical. He pretended to faint and slumped himself down on the floor.

Aidas even asked for medical attention for his fake heart problems and was only found out when he tried his routine twice at El Buen Comer.

Another restaurant worker told Spanish newspaper El Pais that he laid down on the floor, acted as if his chest hurt and began to shake.

As part of his act, Aidas dressed in ‘designer clothes’, according to local police, and pretended to be a Russian tourist who didn’t speak Spanish.

The manager of El Buen Comer sent Aidas’ picture to another restaurant in the region to warn them and to prevent the conman from striking again.

Another restaurant owner targeted by Aidas said he had ordered several glasses of expensive whiskey, a Russian salad and a main dish like entrecote or lobster before he faked the heart attack.

The trickster has now been jailed for 42 days after he refused two fines he received for his theatrics. As each bill he skipped was considered a small amount – ranging from €15 to €70 (£13-£60), Aidas only committed ‘minor crimes’.

His crime spree went on for two months, during which he was arrested several times but let go because he only owed a small amount to each restaurant.

However, the proprietors of the scammed restaurants want to file a joint complaint to get the conman locked away for longer.

The dine-and-dash incidents amount to €766 (£666) in combined bills.

Emergency services were presumably called, so he also needed to be held accountable for wasting their time and resources that someone who really needed could have had.

The man that cried wolf and when he really needs emergency services they won’t come in time, that’s what you get for telling fibs.

How could anyone enjoy their meal knowing they’re going to carry out this kind of palaver? I’d rather stay at home and have a Pot Noodle, but then I suppose it’s difficult to imagine the depths people will sink to.

Isn’t immigration just amazing, now we get complimentary theatre with them as well, and this is just a brazen insult to people who have had heart attacks, and all to get a free meal out of it?

Why on earth would anyone bother doing something as tragic as this? It seems far too much work and I’d rather pay the bill than give an Oscar-winning performance!

There are con artists everywhere, in every part of the world, and it’s such a shame that the punishment that was dished out didn’t match the sentence he should have got. Jailing him for 42 months instead of 42 days might have taught him something, but because this sentencing was so indulgent, it would teach him nothing.

He should then be deported back to Lithuania. That would have sent a far stronger message, but in 42 days he’ll be back on the streets pulling the same old stunt again, and in the meantime he’s in prison, being fed for free – the judge must have walked into that one!

Wombles To Return To TV 50 Years After First Airing

Beloved British children’s TV show The Wombles is being reclaimed for a third time, 50 years after the Wimbledon Common burrowers first appeared on screen.

The fuzzy, environmentally minded creatures, who lived by the motto ‘make good use of bad rubbish’, are being resurrected for a new TV series written by Will Davies, whose credits include How To Train Your Dragon and the Johnny English string of spy spoofs.

However, the cuddly creatures shot to international stardom in 1973 with a BBC series of stop-motion animated shorts, narrated by Bernard Cribbins.

The show came with an accompanying novelty band, led by musician Matt Batt, which performed the theme tune Remember You’re a Womble – and elevated the litter pickers to the status of timeless British icons.

Deadline reports the family subterranean fuzzy eco-warriors is due for a comeback under the guidance of screenwriter Davies and Altitude Television, which produced the 2022 spy thrillers series The Ipress File, based on the Len Deighton novel.

Altitude hasn’t specified how the show will be modernised, though the Wombles’ official Facebook page has featured clips of the creatures rendered in CGI for a number of years.

This is the third time that the Wimbledon residents have been the subject of a revival.

Wombles returned to British living rooms in the 1990s after three series worth of new episodes were produced by a Canadian TV company and screened on ITV, with Beresford and Batt returning to write the show and oversee its output.

Beresford died on Christmas Eve in 2010 at home on Alderney in the Channel Islands.

Five years later, Batt tried to reboot the show again with a cast including Cribbins and Ray Winstone.

But the musician’s attempts to get the CGI series off the ground ended in failure after he sold the rights to the show amid financial troubles, and he declared himself bankrupt in 2017.

Two episodes had been produced and screened at Cambridge Film Festival the year before but the programme was eventually cancelled.

Word of this third reboot first spread in 2020, when businessman Craig Treharne, who bought Batt’s share of the Wombles rights, sought to take the series in a new direction that some feared would be ‘woke’.

Elizabeth Beresford’s children, including son Marcus, lashed out at the plans. The family owns a 15 per cent stake in the Wombles brand.

This will be woked up to the max. Indoctrination for the new generation.

There was nothing wrong with the original Wombles, so why mess with it?

It shouldn’t be spoilt by becoming political either. It’s just a children’s programme and should remain the same.

I shudder to think how badly this is going to be destroyed with characters of more various types to embrace all this diversity rubbish.

Classics are best left alone and they should remain how they were because remakes ultimately turn out awful.

Perhaps they should just leave the Wombles in the past. I mean who would want to suddenly arrive in London in 2023?

Why is there even a need for a remake? Why not just show re-runs of the original series? The original Wombles was perfect just as it was! Otherwise, they’re going to take a brilliant show from yesteryear and turn it into woke trash. They should just leave it alone, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.

All sing along now, ‘The Wokels Of Wimbledon, Entitled Are We’.

Can’t someone just come up with an original idea? No one has any imagination these days, but they’re happy to ruin an original idea.

Storm Babet News: What We Know So Far

A rare red weather warning stating there’s a risk to life has been issued to parts of Scotland as Storm Babet is expected to batter the United Kingdom on Thursday.

The United Kingdom is bracing for heavy wind and rain from the storm, which is presently hitting Ireland after sweeping in from the Atlantic.

Here, the Met Office has released a deep dive video to explain what’s occurring.

The Met Office has revealed the first bands of rain associated with Storm Babet is set to move north across the United Kingdom this afternoon. The first warning starts at 2 p.m.

Teignmouth in Devon was being blasted by powerful waves and gale-force winds this morning as Storm Babet blew into the south coast of England.

National Rail has warned extreme weather is likely to affect Gatwick Express, Great Northern, Southern and Thameslink services until the end of Friday.

It said Storm Babet is expected to make contact with a considerable part of the Gatwick Express, Great Northern, Southern and Thameslink network.

It warned that routes in more exposed coastal locations are most likely to be affected, and flooding on the railways could lead to disruption.

First Minister Humza Yousaf has warned against all essential travel in parts of Scotland impacted by a red weather warning from Storm Babet.

The Met Office said that there’s a risk to life from flooding in Aberdeenshire and Angus.

He posted on Twitter that people should be aware of the challenging weather that we are due to experience across Scotland, most severe from Thursday 18:00-Friday 12:00.

Weather warnings across Angus and the North East have been upgraded to Red.

Travel should be avoided unless absolutely necessary.

David Morgan, flood duty manager for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa), urged people in the impacted locations to check for flood updates in the coming days.

He said that Storm Babet will bring heavy rain and high winds across Scotland from Wednesday evening, starting in the southwest before moving across to the northeast through Thursday and into the weekend.

He said that impacts from surface water and rivers were likely, and with catchments saturated from recent heavy rain and flooding, they were urging people to be prepared for potential flooding.

He added that there was also concern that surface water flooding might be exacerbated by debris blocking drainage, culverts et cetera as a result of the high winds.

Back in the day when I was a child, this time of the year it was always raining and thunderstorms, and the weatherman would stick his little cloud and lightning signs on his board and say ‘You’d better take your brollies’. There was none of this over-the-top nonsense there is today.

Don’t walk your dogs in the woods, you might get hit by a falling leaf, then you’ll be seriously traumatised. What a stupid name for a storm, why don’t they just call it a storm?

I can remember much worse weather when I was a child. Unbelievable thunderstorms, snow on the ground that lasted weeks, frozen lakes that you could skate on, and fog so dense you couldn’t see 10 feet in front of you, but guess what, we survived.

Now people are all braced, they’re all panicking. Could we have photographs of the braced and panicking, please? People will be enraged and in disarray and outraged that the country is experiencing, what for it, the weather – tune in for tomorrow’s daily hysteria.

Honestly, does anyone actually, bar the emotionally incontinent, take any notice of these warnings anymore? Perhaps the government should allocate adult nappies to anyone who likes these dim weekly colour-coded weather warnings.

A Couple’s Roof Leaked After Solar Panels Were Installed, Forcing Them To Catch Rainwater In A Wheelie Bin

A couple has been forced to collect rainwater in a wheelie bin after their roof started to leak following a solar panel installation.

Lauren MacLennan, 28, and Fraser Tracey, 26, from Port Glasgow, had signed up for a government-backed home energy improvement scheme, which involved replacing insulation, re-rendering the building and installing solar panels.

But they argued that after the solar panel installation, carried out by energy improvement firm Everwarm, they were left with a major leak in their bedroom.

The company meanwhile say they’re confident they were not at fault and were working on a resolution.

The couple, who moved into their dream home in 2021 after saving up for years, have now spent £100 on bins, buckets and tarpaulin to contain the leak.

Ms MacLennan said that it’s just a nightmare.

She said that they’d saved up for years to buy their own house and they don’t have the money to get a brand new roof.

‘We’ve been waiting at least two months and they promised us that they’d fixed the issues.’

Mr Tracey added that they did the work in the middle of the summer, so they were not going to notice that there were any issues until they got heavy rain.

‘The damage is under the panels, from what I can tell, where it’s leaking in.

‘We are under no illusion that it isn’t an old roof, but it wasn’t leaking before they carried out work on it, or at least not to the extent where it was pouring through the roof. It was never like that.

‘We would have got the roof seen to but with the way everything is at the moment we can’t spend that money.

‘If they said to us ‘sorry, we can’t put them [the solar panels] up, the roof isn’t fit for purpose’, we would’ve been fine with that.’

The couple have since been living with the bedroom leak, and dealing with it by catching water in a wheelie bin and laying tarpaulin to try and prevent damage.

Ms MacLennan, who works as a home carer, said that they were gutted by it. She said that she’s been stressed out and missing days of work.

A spokesperson for Everwarm said that the company was aware of the issues with the Port Glasgow property and was confident that they were not the result of their improvement work.

None of these green ideas appear to be working very well. Heat pumps, solar panels, cars, stay away from them all.

Everwarm should just send somebody to take a look at what has happened. Not from the ground because a lot of roofs are not designed to take the weight of solar panels, but then it’s all about money, they don’t care what happens after and never want to take responsibility.

All installation companies should survey the roof before installation to see if it’s fit for purpose.

Whoever did the quote and inspected the property should have told them that their roof wasn’t safe enough for it and that it couldn’t be done, after all, they’re the experts allegedly.

I reviewed Everwarm online on Trustpilot and they don’t have the most glowing feedback at all. There were hundreds of complaints from people who were far from happy with their service and installation.

One person said that they were a joke of a service. That they were 1.5 years into a job that they were told would only take about 6 weeks and they were still waiting for it to be finished.

Another said they were an absolute joke of a company. That they had their heating replaced and Everwarm’s reputation of having no care for people’s properties was upheld. They left damaged walls, ceilings and carpets. Their workmanship was extremely poor.

Their inspection couldn’t see any issues so they were left to deal with the aftermath and had to put the damage right themselves. The attitude of their office staff was disgusting – they didn’t pass on messages. Spoke to their customers like they were dirt, and said that anyone considering using Everwarm, should do themselves a favour and go elsewhere.

The comments go on and on, but I would be here forever telling you about them, but the bottom line is, NEVER use this company.

Flags Are Set On Fire And Chants Of ‘Allahu Akbar’ Are Heard In NYC’s Washington Square Park

A pro-Palestinian protester was filmed burning the Israeli flag as demonstrators from both sides of the Middle East conflict descended on New York City’s Washington Square Park Wednesday evening.

The demonstrations came after a blast at a hospital in Gaza that Hamas claims killed at least 500 people.

The attack sparked worldwide anger, with Palestine blaming Israel and Israeli officials saying it was a misfired rocket from inside Gaza.

Demonstrations erupted across the Middle East over the attack. The US was no different with Israel and Palestine supporters both heading to Washington Square Park.

A video from the event shows several Palestine supporters chanting ‘Allahu Akbar!’ as they burned the Jewish state’s Star of David flag. One protester wearing red added: ‘Come take this st! Fk Israel!’

Reports have suggested there were hundreds of pro-Palestine marchers and dozens of pro-Israel protesters at the park.

The leaders of the pro-Palestine faction were from the NYU Students for Justice in Palestine. Along with other campus organisations. They were marching to criticise the university’s president for denouncing the Hamas attack.

The accused NYU President Linda Mills of ‘erasure’ of Palestine in her comments on the shock Hamas attacks that have killed 1,400.

‘In her recent statement, President [Linda] Mills makes the decision to continue this trend of dismissal and blatant erasure of the experiences of Palestinians, both at NYU and in Palestine,’ the student group wrote.

‘The statement makes no mention of the excessive violence against Palestinians in the last few days, despite 413 Palestinians having been murdered in Gaza within the past 48 hours. It is framed to portray an untrue and misrepresentative picture where ‘terrorist attacks’ were only occurring against Israeli citizens.’

According to NBC New York, the huge crowd finally came face to face with the pro-Israel supporters. Aside from the flag burning, the event seemed peaceful but the NYPD attempted to create separation between the groups.

According to CBS New York, the NYPD Intel Division said it was monitoring social media postings for any potential threats.

‘You bombed a hospital! You bombed a hospital!’ chanted some of the pro-Palestinian demonstrators, the New York Post reported.

‘Bring them home! Terrorists! Terrorists! Terrorists!’ responded pro-Israel marchers, in reference to the many hostages taken by Hamas after the initial attack.

Some marchers held signs demanding the US cut funding to Israel, while another held a sign to remember Wadea Al-Fayoume, a 6-year-old from Illinois stabbed by a man thought to be influenced by coverage of the attacks this past weekend.

Perhaps they should go and become freedom fighters over in Gaza if they feel that passionate about what’s going on. Radicals are not needed in the US or any other country.

Sadly, baby boomer Democrats had a lot of venomous political rhetoric, but for most, it’s a game to them. The problem is they then passed it on to their children who now take it seriously, and hate has a home everywhere.

War has been with us since the dawn of time and sadly it will never end.

A 13-Year-Old British Girl Missing In Israel Following A Hamas Attack Has Been Killed; Her Sister And Father Remain Unaccounted For

A 13-year-old British girl who went missing after Hamas terrorists launched their vicious attack on Israel has been murdered, her heartbroken family have revealed.

Yahel, 13, disappeared after the terrorists attacked Be’eri Kibbutz and killed her British mother Lianne, who was born in Bristol.

Her family have now confirmed that the teenager was also killed in the invasion, reports the BBC. Yahel’s older sister Noiya, 16, and their Israeli father Eli are still missing.

The teenagers hadn’t been heard from since black-clad gunmen, wielding attack rifles and hand grenades went door to door of their small kibbutz looking for Israeli families to kill or kidnap in their brutal attack on October 7.

Yahel and Noiya’s heartbroken uncles told a newspaper outlet that they weren’t eating or sleeping since they reported the girls missing and were determined to do everything they could to bring them back to safety.

However, Yahel’s grief-stricken family, still reeling from the murder of her mother Lianne, confirmed the 13-year-old had been killed by the terrorists.

Her sister Noiya and father Eli, 51, remain missing whilst their uncle Yossi, 53, was kidnapped and taken to Gaza.

It was only yesterday that the family confirmed that the girls’ mother Lianne, 48, was killed in her home in last weekend’s attack.

The girl’s uncles, Raz Matalon and Sharon Sharabi, said they’d received a series of panicked messages from Lianne on October 7 who told them she heard gunshots outside their home.

They told a newspaper outlet that she wrote that she heard gunshots outside her home. People were screaming and calling in Arabic and people running all over.

‘So they stayed in the safe room until they heard the terrorists had entered the house and tried to open the door.’

It was at this point all contact between Lianne and her family ended, leaving her family waiting in vain for any news of their loved ones.

The uncles said it wasn’t until three days later that Israeli soldiers were able to enter Eli and Lianne’s home, where they saw bullets embedded in the walls of the bomb shelter in the children’s room.

‘There were too big blood stains on the floor,’ Matalon and Sharabi said. ‘They saw the dog lying there dead.’

The family have now confirmed that Yahel, 13, and her mother Lianne were killed by the terrorists.

Yet people are still waving banners and celebrating these atrocities – some people are just pure evil and it just proves that there is evil that lives amongst us.

They really are a disgrace to our humanity and if there is a God, where is he?

It doesn’t matter what’s going on and how long it’s been going on this war. The moment they started this sick attack on innocent children all their arguments became invalid. They say there are two sides to this war but there isn’t. There’s only one side and that’s the side that doesn’t slaughter innocent children and glorifying vengeance is just a portrayal of insanity and this is just a waste of innocent lives that have been lost.

And where is this God we all talk of, or whatever you might want to call him? Where is this mythical man in the sky who always wants money?

There’s a deluge of hostility and rage, but brutality is never the answer, but we are all barbarians whether we like to admit it or not!

For goodness sake, all these children are special irrespective of where they’re from, and they’re the children of our future. If they’re all killed off, there will be no future.

‘Sugar Rush’ Of Tax Cuts Before Election Fuels Recession Fears

A leading think tank has warned that the Government is in a ‘terrible bind’ – whoever wins the next election.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies says weak economic growth and stubbornly high inflation leave ‘no room’ for unfunded tax cuts or spending increases any time soon.

One problem is the amount the government is shelling out on interest payments on the nation’s debt mountain, which stands at almost £2.6 trillion at the end of August.

The IFS’s sobering assessment comes as Chancellor Jeremy Hunt prepares to announce his Autumn Statement next month. It warned unfunded tax cuts ahead of the next election could create a ‘short-term economic sugar rush’.

But this risked fuelling the chances of a recession if the Bank of England has to hike interest rates further to control inflation, the IFS said. It added that the Chancellor is in a terrible bind, as will be whoever is Chancellor after the general election.

Publishing its Green Budget, the IFS said that on one hand, the amount the Treasury is collecting in taxes has reached a record high, with government borrowing below the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecast in March. But it warned the government’s debt interest spending was on track to reach the highest level since the 1980s, and around £30 billion above levels the country is used to.

“That’s £30 billion each year that can’t be put to better use,” it said. While the nation’s debt is expected to rise, the economy is forecast to be stuck with feeble growth. That, in turn, is set to curtail government spending plans.

“With commitments on health, defence and childcare, among others, this would imply cuts to most public service spending,” the IFS said. Today’s report was produced in association with the bank Citi, which forecast the UK would experience a “moderate” recession in the first half of next year.

Paul Johnson, director of the IFS, said the country was in a ‘horrible fiscal bind’. He added that the price of our high levels of indebtedness, failure to stimulate growth, and high borrowing costs was likely to be a protracted period of high taxes and tight spending’.

It seems like the Tories are toast, but then I wouldn’t eat it as it would probably be stale. The kind you just toss in the bin.

It’s quite straightforward actually, the Tories are absolutely useless at handling our economy, and their unfettered capitalism model has no limitations and they will always fail. Labour would be no better because the Tories have been in power for far too long and have destroyed our economy to the point of no return.

The Tories have given tax cuts just before elections since the dawn of time, then they whack them back up again after they get back in.

They pledge tax cuts in our land of milk and honey just so they can get another five more years, then it’s the normal tax for the rich and additional tax for the poor.

‘The country is in a terrible fiscal bind’ – yes, it is but still the rich continue to get richer.

The Tories are obsessed with tax cuts, but in fact, they only benefit the rich. What is usually 1 or 2p in the pound means hardly anything on an average wage.

Pretty little lies are what we will see from the Tories in the run-up to the next General Election, and then a whole load of people will ignore the last 13 years plus of Tory economic mismanagement, greed, nepotism, and corruption and vote Tory because they like the sound of the pretty lies.

THE STARMER JUST HAS TO BE STAMPED ON

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is like a used car salesman who just sells soap.

He’s not the most interesting person and he’s certainly lacking in imagination.

The thing is, we don’t need a car salesman if he’s just going to sell us soap.

He doesn’t have to be the world’s finest speaker, but he does require vision, and that’s something he’s not got at the moment. If he was going to get into power, the only thing that he would do is put a sticking plaster on the problems that we have.

Labour will then fail us and we the people will have to deal with the despair and desperation that will face us.

The Labour Party has been stuck in the shadows for an extremely long time now. It did once resemble an effective party, but I hardly think that Sir Keir Starmer will save our country.

Sir Keir Starmer talks a lot about the need for change, but we don’t want politicians talking about it because actions mean more than just words.

He might look extremely nice in his tailor-made suits and his affluent North London home, however, that’s not enough to make Great Britain a better place.

Of course, he can be ruthless, but like so many other MPs he can also be dishonest and he definitely doesn’t communicate with any verve and he lacks any political vision.

Outside of politics, he is personable, gregarious and has a wry sense of humour.

The thing is, all that Sir Keir Starmer can deliver is Band-Aid politics and nothing more.

What we need is someone with a vision, not a yes man, but somebody who can deliver what they say they can deliver.

There are numerous reasons why Sir Keir Starmer should be feared though. He has no principles and he tells the people whatever he believes they want to hear. He condemns others for his own failures and he’s in favour of clamping down on free speech and he has a habit of U-turning on his policies.

Sir Keir Starmer has repeatedly come under attack for abandoning not just many of the policies that were part of their last manifesto, but also for his personal promises as well. He might be a bit of a fibber, but is he a conman?

Of course, we know there’s no magic money tree, but they also like to spend the taxpayers’ money willy-nilly and increase taxes as and when they see fit.

At present nobody actually knows what Sir Keir Starmer really stands for, but over the months Labour has embraced a host of policy positions, particularly on the economy, and they’re vastly more radical than Starmer’s critics might have expected.

A £190,000 McLaren Plug-In Hybrid Sports Car Bursts Into Flames On TEST DRIVE

This is the moment a £190,000 McLaren plug-in hybrid sports car exploded into flames during a test drive.

The McLaren Artura, the supercar manufacturer’s first electrified car was engulfed while being taken out for a spin in Leeds, West Yorkshire, just a mile away from the motor dealership.

Pictures show the charred wreckage of the plug-in hybrid, which was recalled in the US this year over a fire hazard.

Fire crews raced to Pontefract Road in Stourton, Leeds, just before 2.30 pm yesterday.

It’s understood that the 23-plate car was on a test run with a client and a showroom employee when it unexpectedly caught alight. Both passengers escaped uninjured.

The motor, which can race to 60mph in just 2.6 seconds and on to a top speed of 205mph was about a mile away from the McLaren Leeds dealership.

A spokesperson from West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said that they received a call from the driver regarding a hybrid McLaren which went up in flames during its demo drive in Leeds, on the roundabout near the M1 at junction 44.

The spokesperson said they sent crews from Hunslet, which arrived on the scene at 2.35 p.m. They also sent a Hazardous Material Officer to dispose of the electrical battery. The fire was put out at 3:02 p.m. with no report of injury.

The Artura is McLaren’s first foray into the electrical market, featuring a 7.4Wh battery that powers a 94bhp electric motor. However, the supercar, built at McLaren’s composite arm in South Yorkshire, has had a rocky start.

The first launch was cancelled at the last minute due to software problems and at the rescheduled event last summer a car caught fire.

Some 164 Arturas, which feature a 3.0-litre twin turbo V6 engine made in Britain, were recalled in December by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

It warned of a fire hazard that arises from a high-pressure fuel pipe that can become loose.

The cause of the fire in Leeds, near junction 44 of the M1, is not known.

In his Sunday Times review, Grand Tour star Jeremy Clarkson said that he was told at the press launch there were a number of other problems, including some ‘thermal powertrain management issues’, which he said sounded like ‘fire’ to him.

He said that he had a good old poke around in the interior of his test car and he had to say it seemed to be as well made as a Victorian tunnel.

This, however, has become a common problem with electric cars, and fires are common with batteries and extremely difficult to extinguish.

Cyclists are told to wear helmets. Now people driving electric cars should be told to wear fireproof clothing!

These Lithium batteries are undoubtedly extremely dangerous. I wouldn’t drive one because they’re evidently not fit for purpose.

There is only one way for this green agenda to pan out and that’s to go back to horse and cart. They’re green and environmentally friendly and if you hate the thought of animals being used, just walk everywhere!

It’s time we had an independent investigation into just how dangerous these EVs really are.

Imagine what would happen if one of these exploded into flames in a tunnel. It’s time to eradicate these electric cars because they’re not helping our so-called climate at all.

This is really green, isn’t it? Complete your journey and then the car sets on fire and meanwhile, it can keep you warm, they think of everything now!

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