Ahead of the highly-anticipated opening of the Manchester Christmas Markets, Northern Rail has issued a plea to all those planning to travel on its trains during the festive season.
In case you’d forgotten, the Manchester Christmas Markets officially open today (12 November) and will be spreading festive cheer across the city centre right through until Wednesday 22 December – but as the iconic markets are known to attract millions of visitors each year, rail provider Northern is warning customers choosing to travel by train that stations and services may be much busier than usual due as a result.
The company has therefore released a statement ahead of the markets opening.
“The Christmas Markets are fantastic for Manchester and there is a genuine buzz around the city, as it’s transformed into a winter wonderland,” explained Chris Jackson, Director at Northern.
“Many visitors choose to the leave their cars at home and travel by train to enjoy all the markets have to offer [and] it’s a great way to travel to and from the city, but the additional customers mean our trains and stations are likely to be busier than normal – particularly in the evenings and at weekends.
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“And sadly, with alcohol often playing a large part in people’s enjoyment of the markets – coupled with the start of the Christmas party season – the festivities can be spoiled by anti-social behaviour which impacts on other customers and rail staff.”
Northern Rail has issued a plea to all those planning to travel on its trains during the festive season / Credit: Flickr
The company has also issued some updates regarding scheduled maintenance works that passengers should be aware of over the next couple of weeks.
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As part of the work by Northern to “keep rail customers safe this Christmas”, on Saturdays, the 21:43 train from Manchester Piccadilly to Stoke-on-Trent will operate as a ‘dry-train’ until 18 December (including on 18 December), and this means that the consumption of alcohol is not permitted on the service.
“We want to make sure all our customers have a great festive season, so I’m asking everyone to act with patience and respect,” Chris added.
“Our trains will be busy, but we’ll have extra staff on duty and all at Northern will be working round-the-clock to help people get where they need to be.”
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Northern customers should also be aware that Deansgate station closes at 6pm on Fridays and Saturdays during the Christmas Markets, so during this time, customers will need to use Manchester Victoria, Oxford Road, or Piccadilly stations – which are just a few minutes’ walk away.
The body of woman who was found in the River Mersey last year has finally been identified.
Following what has been described as an ‘extensive investigation’ by Greater Manchester Police‘s (GMP) Major Incident Team to determine the identity of the body, which was sadly discovered in the river adjacent to Chorlton Water Park on 21 March 2024, the family of the victim has now been informed and supported by specialist officers.
The victim has been formally named as 38-year-old Laura Stanley, who was originally from Derbyshire but was living in Stockport.
After the body was discovered, and ‘exhaustive and determined’ investigation by GMP officers began to identify here, including detailed checks of both national and international databases.
The Major Incident Team (MIT) also closely worked in collaboration with specialist forensic service providers to create an anthropological profile, which eventually culminated in the creation of a facial reconstruction image.
Following several media appeals, a relative of Laura contacted officers and then a DNA match was confirmed through a familial link.
“Laura was a kind and gentle person with a great sense of fun and adventure,” Laura’s family said in a heartbreaking tribute to her.
“She was generous, thoughtful, caring and always keen to volunteer within the community. Laura was a proud and loving mum and she will be greatly missed by her girls and all of her friends and family who loved her dearly.”
The River Mersey, across from Chorlton Water Park, where Laura’s body was discovered / Credit: Wikimedia Commons
While Laura has now been identified, police say further investigations will take place to understand her last movements, the events that led to her death, and her discovery in the river.
Additionally, as is standard practice, GMP’s Professional Standards Directorate is also reviewing a previous missing report relating to Laura in the time before the discovery of her body, which will determine prior contact relating to Laura, and whether the appropriate measures were enacted.
#UPDATE | A woman who was discovered in the River Mersey last year has been identified following an extensive investigation by officers in GMP’s Major Incident Team.
Thank you to those of you who have shared our appeals over the last year.
Anyone who knew Laura and thinks they may be able to assist with the investigation is asked to contact police by calling 101, or by using the Live Chat Service at gmp.police.uk, quoting log number 1191 of 21 March 2024.
Alternatively, you can contact the Major Incident Team Syndicate 3 directly on 0161 856 9479, or the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
More than 70,000 home buyers across England are estimated to have missed the stamp duty relief deadline.
This sadly means they’ll be required to fork out thousands of pounds extra.
In case you hadn’t heard, up until yesterday (31 March 2025), anyone who was moving and had bought a home in the past was not required to pay Stamp Duty Land Tax, better-known as just stamp duty, on the portion of the property price up to £250,000.
But from today (1 April), this threshold has now fallen back to £125,000, which unfortunately means that property purchasers are facing an extra £2,500 in moving costs, on average.
While the end of the stamp duty relief will mostly affect those Greater Manchester buyers who had already previously purchased properties, first time buyers are sadly not exempt from the deadline changes too, as their current stamp duty threshold of £425,000 has now fallen back to £300,000 as of today.
Person holding the keys to a new house in their hand / Credit: Maria Ziegler (via Unsplash)
Given that the average property price for a first time buyer-type home is currently around £227,965, according to Rightmove, the new £300,000 threshold may hit those purchasing properties in more expensive areas – particularly the South East.
A third of those estimated 70,000 home buyers who have missed the deadline are thought to be first time buyers.
Leading property platform Rightmove published an analysis in February into just how much of an impact the end of the stamp duty relief would have on home buyers, all while calling on the UK Government to announce a short extension to the deadline to help people in the middle of the property purchasing process avoid potentially thousands of pounds in extra moving costs.
But despite these calls from industry leaders, there was no extension to the deadline announced in the last week’s latest Spring Statement.
“It’s extremely disappointing that the Government has not used the Spring Statement as an opportunity to extend the impending stamp duty deadline for those currently going through the home-moving process,” commented Rightmove’s property expert Colleen Babcock.
“We estimate over 70,000 people are going to miss the deadline and complete in April instead, and a third of those are first time buyers.”
Emily Sergeant -
12th November 2021 
