Two men hurt in M8 smash
Huge bill for devices on standby revealed
TWO men were hurt in a two-car crash on the M8 on Wednesday evening.
The men, both aged 53, were taken to Wishaw General Hospital for treatment.
A THEME park’s operators have been fined £1million over safety failings which led to the death of a girl on a water rapids ride.
Evha Jannath, 11, was thrown from Splash Canyon at Drayton Manor in Staffordshire during a school trip.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which brought the prosecution, said park bosses “failed to take the action that could have prevented Evha’s death”.
Evha, from Leicester, had been standing on one of the ride’s rafts when a jolt threw her into the water in May 2017.
She then fell from a lift conveyor and drowned in 12ft of water, also suffering blunt force injuries.
Mr Justice Spencer found the operator had failed to ensure customers were safe or act upon previous nearmisses.
He said: “This was an utterly tragic waste of a young life.”
Drayton Manor admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act but there is little chance of the fine being paid because the firm has since gone into administration.
“VAMPIRE” gadgets are draining our bank balances of £1.6billion a year because we leave them on standby, claims a study.
Households could save an average of £75 a year on a £474 bill by switching off, it revealed.
The British Gas study found set-top boxes were the device most often left on 24/7, costing UK households £285million a year.
The firm’s Marc Robson said: “‘Turn it off ’ is a great motto for fighting the vampires. A smart meter will... see the impact.”
According to the study, only four in 10 sometimes switch off gadgets when they are not in use.
Televisions were a big burner, blowing almost £212million on standby mode while permanently switched-on microwaves cost an extra £142.7million and games consoles £129.7million.
Computers racked up another £112.2million and phone chargers £6.7million.
On average, computers were left on for 20.5 hours a day, tellies for 19.6 hours, microwaves for 23 hours and phone chargers for almost 22 hours. The survey of 2000 adults found almost one in five were not aware that household appliances on standby still burned electricity.
Two thirds said they would make a point of switching devices and appliances off at night or when they were idle, rising to more than three quarters of those aged 65 and over.
But a fifth said they would leave them on regardless and of those, four in 10 said it was because they could not be bothered to go around switching off.
Robson said: “Just switching some of these off can really help save straight away and those with a smart meter will be able to see the impact of this in real time.”