Merseyrail: Changes to train timetables for Sunday 28th August and Monday 29th August and Mersey Tunnel Closure

Due to the Matthew Street festival, Wirral Line trains will be following a temporary timetable. James Street station will be closed on Sunday 28th August and Monday 29th August. The Wirral Line temporary timetable is in addition to a temporary Northern Line timetable. Also The Queensway (Birkenhead) Tunnel will be closed to all traffic travelling … Continue reading “Merseyrail: Changes to train timetables for Sunday 28th August and Monday 29th August and Mersey Tunnel Closure”

Due to the Matthew Street festival, Wirral Line trains will be following a temporary timetable. James Street station will be closed on Sunday 28th August and Monday 29th August.

The Wirral Line temporary timetable is in addition to a temporary Northern Line timetable.

Also The Queensway (Birkenhead) Tunnel will be closed to all traffic travelling in both directions from 1930 on Saturday 27 August until 0630 Tuesday 30 August.

The Kingsway (Wallasey) Tunnel will be open, however due to water main renewal works at Liverpool on the exit road towards the city centre, traffic will be limited to one lane. The lane will be closed from the exit of the tunnel at Liverpool to Scotland Road. All lanes will be operational through the tunnel itself however, delays may occur and motorists are advised to allow extra time for their journey.

Trains running to the special timetables will not stop at the following stations:-

Wirral Line
Chester and Ellesmere Port trains: No stopping at James Street or Liverpool Central stations
New Brighton and West Kirby trains: No stopping at James Street or Moorfields stations

Northern Line
Hunts Cross and Southport: on Monday 29th August trains will run to a Saturday timetable
Kirkby and Ormskirk: on Monday 29th August trains will run to a Saturday timetable with an earlier start time.

Safety Alert issued: Neurofen Plus

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has issued a safety alert on packets of Neurofen Plus (taken for pain relief) after some batches were found to contain Seroquel XL 50mg (a prescription only anti-psychotic).

The affected packs of Nurofen Plus all contain 32 tablets and carry the following details: Batch Number Expiry Date Product Licence No: 13JJ 03/2014 00327 / 0082 (first distributed 30th April 2011) or 57JJ 05/2014 00063 / 0376 (first distributed 21st June 2011) or 49JJ 05/2014 00063 / 0376 (first distributed 1st July 2011).

People who take Seroquel may experience drowsiness and are advised not to drive or operate any tools or machinery until they know how the tablets have affected them.

Reckitt Benckiser, manufacturer of Nurofen Plus, said there have been three cases identified so far which have all been confined to south London.

It said “serious investigations” are under way to establish how the mix-up occurred, especially as Seroquel XL is manufactured by another drug firm, AstraZeneca.

If you do have a 32-pack of Neurofen Plus bought recently, please check the expiry date and batch number.

It makes you wonder what checks and balances are in place regarding medication.

E-petition – Hillsborough tragedy documents – Update – Nick Clegg visit/announcement

Two short days after I wrote “it’s only right that the public should have access to the documents surrounding the case. I hope the Coalition government responds positively to this request so the relatives of those who died and the public have full disclosure as to what happened decades ago.” Nick Clegg has visited the region and confirmed that all documents relating to Hillsborough will be released.

There’s a write up of the announcement and visit on the Birkdale Liberal Democrats website.

Two and a half years ago I was at a full Council meeting around the 20th anniversary of the tragedy. At this meeting all three political parties Lib Dem, Labour and Conservative voted together to make it official Wirral Council policy to push for the documents to be released. It’s nice to see things finally moving in the right direction.

E-petition – Hillsborough tragedy documents

I notice the E-petition with regards to releasing the documents surrounding the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 has passed the 100,000 threshold.

At the time it happened I was only eight, but I do remember it vividly as my family was affected by the death of someone who died. It deeply affected Merseyside and the Wirral at the time (and still does) as it happened at a FA Cup semi-final match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.

After that many football stadiums (including local Tranmere Rovers FC and others) were converted to all-seater stadiums. I remember going to a football match at the stands at Tranmere Rovers FC which are no longer there. The active substance in Ambien is zolpidem. It does the job well. Once I read about it at https://mi-aimh.org/generic-ambien-zolpidem/. I take the pill, start yawning and fall asleep in an hour. This drug is addictive. As the course ended, it became harder to fall asleep. Side effects are not observed save the addiction. It’s very, very sad what happened all that time ago and it’s only right that the public should have access to the documents surrounding the case.

I hope the Coalition government responds positively to this request so the relatives of those who died and the public have full disclosure as to what happened decades ago.

Wirral Council releases a document – all black boxed out

The legal department at Wirral Council (specifically Law, HR and Asset Management, Legal and Member Services section) have authorised a document to be released to me which I requested a while ago but received yesterday. You can see it below. Care to guess at what’s in the black boxes?

Document released by Wirral Council

Of course to be fair to Wirral Council the document might just be an error. It could be the photocopying settings were just set wrong or the ink from blacking out on one page managed to go on another when they were folded together.

Cllr Green (Conservative leader on Wirral Council) stated on 23rd May 2011 "he believed that under Labour there had been a lack of openness and secrecy in which the public had been excluded from decision making.".

However I did read a communication written by Cllr Steve Foulkes (Labour’s leader & Leader of Wirral Council) who sent out a side of A4 co-delivered with something from Wirral Council (I think it was the annual voter registration form). It left me highly amused. In it he’s trying to consult the public in the budget setting process for the 2012/2013 budget.

As some of the savings for 2012/2013 were identified for him by the previous Conservative/Lib Dem administration I’m wondering exactly why Labour councillors are trying to outsource the budget to the public. Are they trying to be popular or is it genuine consultation and engagement with the public in an effort to influence their decisions?

Or is it because with so few Labour councillors, if the Conservative and Lib Dem councillors disagree with the Labour Budget it won’t get passed in March 2012?