Daily Digest
“If they hear you crying while they’re chanting then-word outside, then you’ll get it worse.”
Trisha Goddard on trying not to cry at school after being racially abused.
Nissan is to place hundreds of staff at its Sunderland plant on furlough next week as a global parts crisis caused by the covid pandemic hits the firm’s supply chain.
The company is to suspend the late shift on line two –which produce sQ ashqai and Juke - for one week as a result of a shortage of semiconductors used in its cars' electrical systems.
A round 750 staff will be affected.
The Echo understands there may be more suspensions on the way as the worldwide shortage continues.
The situation is a worldwide problem that has already seen Honda and Mazda impose temporary stoppages in Japan.
A Nissan spokesman said yesterday: “A global shortage of semiconductors has affected parts procurement in the auto sector.
"Due to the shortage, Nissan will adjust production and take necessary actions to ensure recovery .”
The Sunderland plant is due to start production of the third-generation Qashqai, which was unveiled to the public last week, in the coming
months.
The furlough news comes after an industry leader warned car-makers were‘ paddling furiously below the water’ to maintain their supply chains after Brexit.
Mike Hawes, chief executive of trade body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, told MPs the movement of parts has been ‘difficult’ since the end of the transition period.
Giving evidence to the Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, Mr Hawes said there was a “pervading sense of relief ” within the sector that an agreement had been negotiated between the UK and the European Union.
“We ended up, I think, with a deal that in many ways works for the sector, most obviously in the avoidance of tariffs and quotas which would have been a severe brake on the industry ,” he said.
“However, it doesn’t mean zero cost.
"The industry is trying to manage its supply chains. We are integrated within the European,if not the global, industry, so the supply chains do stretch far and wide.
“All the industry is… I characterise it as paddling furiously below the water to keep things going.”
Mr Haw es said the administrationrequired to move goods in and out of the UK was‘ significant’ and a‘ major challenge ’.
A takeaway owner has been given a ban on managing another food business after a court heard of extensive problems with his rat-infested curry house.
Sunderland City Council’s environmental health officers inspected Curry Village, in Front Street, Chilton Moor, followingreportsthatstaffhad been throwing food waste into the yard.
They uncovered evidence of a substantial rat infestation, with droppings under the food preparation area and signstheyhadbrushedagainst thegrease-coveredwallasthey had moved along a cable from a fridge, sparking an immediate call out to pest control specialists.
South Tyneside Magistrates’Courtheardthatduring a series of follow-up visits, an officer stepped on a live rat in the upstairs flat, with many holes found where the rodents could access the building.
The work surfaces and walls were dirty, with the floor covered in food debris and, as rats are incontinent, the court was told they would have been urinating on the ground.
In the fridge, sauces and ingredientswerefoundstoredin unclean containers.
Theovergrownyardwaslitteredwithfood,withconcerns over an uncovered manhole and holes in the bins.
Now owner Jakaria Ahmed has admitted six charges of failing to comply with EU provisions on food safety and hygiene dating back to May 2019.
They were linked to cleanliness, keeping the premises in good repair, protecting food fromcontaminationandthereforefitforconsumption,failing to ensure pest control was in place and ensuring staff were supervised and trained in food hygiene.
While it was agreed with Ahmed the business would stoptradingstraightaway,they hadfoundnosigncleaninghad takenplaceduringsubsequent checks and the owner and his wifetoldofficerstheywouldbe handingbackthebuildingkeys to the landlord.
When later asked in interview why there was an issue, the 49-year-old owner said it had been Ramadan, so cleaning was only being carried out fortnightly.
He said he had never seen evidence of rats, mice, smear marks or gnawing on the furniture when they were put to him, leaving inspectors with “little confidence” the takeaway would be operated safely.
Tony Southwick, prosecuting for the council, said: “The officers commented it would have been obvious to anyone entering these premises it was dirty and had a rat problem.
"Thatwasevidentsimplyby the amount of droppings that
were observed on the floor.”
As a result of the charges, Ahmed, from James Street in Elswick, Newcastle, has been givenaFoodHygieneProbation Order,banninghimfrommanaging a food business.
It is limitless in time, but he canapplyforittobeliftedonce it has been in place for more than six months.
He was also ordered to pay a fine, costs and victim surcharge totalling £2,447.
Richard Copsey, mitigating, said the dad-of-three now works as a tandoori chef.
He said Ahmed had been “naive” and said: “We are not talking about a long period of timewherestandardsslipped.
"It was Ramadan in May 2019 and he says that’s how things got bad and it was in a terrace of houses which were not in the best condition.
"He is extremely sorry for what happened.”