Business
GWR fined £1m over train passenger’s death in Bath
Tess de la MareWest of England
PA MediaA major rail operator has been fined £1m for breaching health and safety law when a young woman suffered a fatal injury after placing her head outside a droplight window.
Bethan Roper, 28, was killed on a Great Western Railway (GWR) train near Twerton in Bath on 1 December 2018 when her head struck a tree branch.
Regulator the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) prosecuted GWR on the grounds it was aware of the issue of droplight windows, and had not yet implemented steps identified in a risk assessment undertaken two months before Ms Roper’s death.
GWR was fined and also ordered to pay £78,000 after pleading guilty to two counts of breaching health and safety law.
Richard Hines, ORR’s chief inspector of railways, said: “Our thoughts remain with the family and friends of Bethan Roper.
“Her death was a preventable tragedy that highlights the need for train operators to proactively manage risks and act swiftly when safety recommendations are made to keep their passengers safe.”
GWR told BBC West: “Bethan Roper’s death was a tragic incident, and our thoughts remain with her family and friends.
“We accept the judge’s decision and remain committed to continuously improving passenger and colleague safety across our network.
“In sentencing, the judge recognised our strong safety record both before and after this incident, and the safety of our passengers and colleagues remains our highest priority.”
Ms Roper, from Penarth in Wales, worked for the Welsh Refugee Council, was a Unite union convener and also chaired the Cardiff West branch of Socialist Party Wales.
She had been returning home from a Christmas shopping trip in Bath and was intoxicated when she boarded the train, an inquest held in 2021 heard.
PA/Cardiff School of JournalismInvestigators told the inquest that a yellow warning label above the window bearing the words “Caution do not lean out of window when train is moving” was an insufficient deterrent.
Ms Roper’s death echoed a similar incident in 2016 in which a passenger died near Balham, south London, resulting in the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) issuing safety recommendations in May 2017.
GWR did not produce a written risk assessment until September 2017, but that assessment found droplight windows to be one of the most significant passenger safety risks.
The ORR found the assessment to be insufficient and wrote to GWR about its concerns.
However the assessment was not revised, and the actions GWR had set out to reduce the risk were not implemented before the fatal accident of 2018, the ORR said.
Since Ms Roper’s death, measures have been introduced across the rail industry to prevent passengers leaning out of droplight windows.
Trains with such windows have since been withdrawn from service or fitted with engineering controls to prevent windows being opened while trains are moving.
The ORR said it welcomed actions taken by GWR and the wider industry to reduce risk.
Business
Index reshuffle: IndiGo parent to enter Sensex from Dec 22; Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles dropped – The Times of India
InterGlobe Aviation, the operator of IndiGo, will be included in the BSE’s 30-stock benchmark index Sensex from December 22, the BSE Index Services said on Saturday.As part of the reconstitution exercise, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd will be dropped from the index, the announcement added, PTI reported.The changes will take effect from market open on Monday, December 22, and have been made by BSE Index Services Pvt Ltd (formerly Asia Index Pvt Ltd).In the broader BSE 100 index, IDFC First Bank Ltd will be added, replacing Adani Green Energy Ltd. Within the BSE Sensex 50 index, Max Healthcare Institute Ltd will be included, while IndusInd Bank Ltd will be removed.Further, in the BSE Sensex Next 50 index, IndusInd Bank and IDFC First Bank will replace Max Healthcare Institute and Adani Green Energy.
Last Updated:
US court orders Byju Raveendran to repay USD 1 billion to BYJU’s Alpha and GLAS Trust Company LLC. Raveendran plans to appeal.
Byju’s founder Byju Raveendran has challenged a recent default judgment by a US bankruptcy court that holds him liable for repaying over USD 1 billion.
In a major setback, the US Delaware court has ordered Byju Raveendran, the founder of ed-tech, to repay USD 1 billion to BYJU’s Alpha and US-based GLAS Trust Company LLC, according to a report of PTI. The court has held Raveendran personally liable for the damage upon the petition filed by the lender.
The court also found that Raveendran lapsed to comply with the discovery order and continued to be evasive on several occasions. “The court will enter default judgment against Defendant Raveendran…in the amount of USD 533,000,000, and on Counts II, V and VI in the amount of USD 540,647,109.29,” the judgement said, as reported by PTI.
Byju Raveendran is going to contest the US court judgement.
In a press statement, Raveendran’s lawyers said they will “promptly appeal” the ruling, arguing that the court issued the judgment on an expedited timeline that “precluded” him from presenting his side. Raveendran has denied all allegations made in the case.
The legal team also accused GLAS Trust of misleading the Delaware Courts and the public, claiming the judgment should not have been issued at all. According to them, the court granted monetary relief even though GLAS had withdrawn its damages claim in September 2025.
“This judgment stems from an accelerated procedure triggered by serious misrepresentations made by GLAS,” the release stated. The team added that Raveendran will soon submit evidence of this alleged misconduct as part of a separate claim worth at least USD 2.5 billion, which he plans to file before the US courts.
The statement further said the latest Delaware Court ruling was a direct result of GLAS “securing judicial relief by misleading the courts,” with the aim of harming Raveendran personally and indirectly affecting other suspended directors of Think & Learn Pvt. Ltd.
Raveendran’s team also highlighted that he was given insufficient time to hire legal counsel and respond to the accelerated court actions.
Varun Yadav is a Sub Editor at News18 Business Digital. He writes articles on markets, personal finance, technology, and more. He completed his post-graduation diploma in English Journalism from the Indian Inst…Read More
Varun Yadav is a Sub Editor at News18 Business Digital. He writes articles on markets, personal finance, technology, and more. He completed his post-graduation diploma in English Journalism from the Indian Inst… Read More
November 22, 2025, 18:19 IST
Read More
Getty ImagesThe publisher of the Daily Mail has agreed to buy the Daily and Sunday Telegraph for £500m.
The Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) said it had entered a period of discussion with RedBird IMI, which is a joint venture between the United Arab Emirates and the US private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners.
RedBird Capital’s own bid for control of the Telegraph collapsed last week.
The deal needs to be signed off by Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy. A spokesperson said Nandy would “review any new buyer acquiring the Telegraph in line with the public interest and foreign state influence media mergers regimes”.
DMGT and RedBird IMI have said they expect the deal to be finalised “quickly”.
DMGT chairman Lord Rothermere said he had “long admired the Daily Telegraph” and the deal would give “much-needed certainty and confidence” to its employees.
He said: “The Daily Telegraph is Britain’s largest and best quality broadsheet newspaper and I have grown up respecting it. It has a remarkable history and has played a vital role in shaping Britain’s national debate over many decades.”
He added: “Chris Evans is an excellent editor and we intend to give him the resources to invest in the newsroom. Under our ownership, the Daily Telegraph will become a global brand, just as the Daily Mail has.”
The purchase would see the Telegraph become part of DMGT’s portfolio of media organisations, which includes the i Paper, Metro and New Scientist, along with the Daily and Sunday Mail papers.
The group said the Telegraph would remain editorially independent from DMGT’s other titles.
It also said its case for having the deal approved was “compelling” and would comply with UK regulations, as there would be no foreign state investment or capital in the funding structure.
A spokesman for RedBird IMI said: “DMGT and RedBird IMI have worked swiftly to reach the agreement announced today, which will shortly be submitted to the secretary of state.”
RedBird Capital pulled out of a deal to buy the Telegraph last week.
It had a previous attempt to buy the group rebuffed by politicians as it was majority-funded by Abu Dhabi’s IMI group – which is owned in turn by the Abu Dhabi royal family.
A law change meant that foreign sovereign wealth funds could take a maximum stake of 15% in newspapers or periodicals.
Its more recent bid complied with that rule, but it was understood that the government intended to submit the deal to regulatory review.
Sources close to RedBird insisted that they were confident that the bid would have passed a government review process, but cited negative articles toward the bid from the current Telegraph newsroom as a factor in shelving their interest.
RedBird founder Gerry Cardinale had planned to expand the Telegraph’s reach and subscriber base in the US, believing there to be a gap in the market.
Among other investments, RedBird owns the Italian football team AC Milan.
The Telegraph has been in limbo for over two years, when the RedBird IMI consortium paid off the debts of the Telegraph’s previous owners, the Barclay family, hoping to take eventual ownership of the newspapers.
Kelsea Ballerini thought THIS of Chase Stokes right before breaking up
Index reshuffle: IndiGo parent to enter Sensex from Dec 22; Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles dropped – The Times of India
36 games you need to follow during a hectic Week 13
-
Tech7 days agoNew carbon capture method uses water and pressure to remove CO₂ from emissions at half current costs
-
Politics1 week agoBritish-Pakistani honoured for transforming UK halal meat industry
-
Business1 week agoThese 9 Common Money Mistakes Are Eating Your Income
-
Sports7 days agoTexas A&M officer scolds South Carolina wide receiver after touchdown; department speaks out
-
Fashion1 week agoAfter London, Leeds and Newcastle, next stop Glasgow for busy Omnes
-
Sports1 week agoApple scrapping MLS Season Pass service in ’26
-
Tech1 week ago$25 Off Exclusive Blue Apron Coupon for November 2025
-
Business1 week agoWhat’s behind Rachel Reeves’s hokey cokey on income tax rises?