An annual travel warning has been issued ahead of what is always one of Manchester’s “busiest” weekends of the year.
Greater Manchester‘s social calendar is never any more packed than it is on August bank holiday weekend, and 2024 is set to be absolutely no different – with Manchester Pride, Bolton Food & Drink Festival, Festa Italiana, major gigs at Wythenshawe Park, Peter at the AO Arena, and loads of other exciting fringe events on the lineup this weekend.
That’s not all either, as it’s also a big weekend for sport too, as Premier League football returns to the Etihad Stadium when Manchester City face Ipswich Town, as well as Test cricket at Old Trafford for England vs Sri Lanka.
So, as you can see, we’ve got a pretty hectic few days on the horizon… and along with that comes thousands of people travelling into Manchester city centre and across the wider borough.
We are celebrating Pride in Manchester! 🌈
Tag us in your snaps if you spot our newly wrapped tram, Pride bus sponsored by Diamond and Aura Graphics or Starling Bank Bikes around Greater Manchester ahead of the parade this weekend. 🚌🚲@ManchesterPridepic.twitter.com/vDDVRIr70r
With an influx of people expected, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has, unsurprisingly, done what it does every year and issued a travel warning, urging passengers to “plan ahead” if they want to avoid delays with the number of different events taking place over the next four days.
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Saturday is set to be the “busiest day”, according to TfGM, with the cricket, football, annual Manchester Pride Parade, Peter Kay, and New Order at Wythenshawe Park all happening on this day, so in this instance, the region’s transport provider is reminding people that the tram is the best way to travel in and out of the city.
On top of this, TfGM is also “strongly advising” against driving into the city centre, due to a number of road closures that will be in place over the weekend.
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There will be several road closures and parking suspensions around Wythenshawe Park over the weekend, with New Order and Blossoms headlining the Saturday and Sunday night events respectively, and more details for this can be found on TfGM’s dedicated Wythenshawe Park webpage, while everything you need to know about the two gigs can be found here:
TfGM has issued its annual travel warning ahead of Manchester’s ‘busiest’ weekend of the year / Credit: TfGM
On the Sunday for Blossoms, a dedicated shuttle bus service will operate between Stockport Interchange and Wythenshawe Park – with buses leaving the interchange every 10 minutes from 4pm, and following the concert, services will run to Stockport until the site is clear (approximately 1am).
Trams will be running with a 15-minute frequency across the whole Metrolink network, and 7.5 minute frequency for the weekend events.
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“This bank holiday weekend is shaping up to be a busy one with lots of fantastic events happening across Greater Manchester,” commented Fran Wilkinson, who is TfGM’s Customer and Growth Director.
“While you’re heading out for a good time, we’ll be here to keep you moving and make sure you can get where you need to be, so if you are heading to one of the many fantastic events this weekend, we’d urge you to plan ahead to make your journey as smoothly as possible.
“But most importantly, we hope everyone has a great time.”
More general travel information about the bank holiday weekend can be found on TfGM’s dedicated webpage here.
Featured Image – TfGM
News
The hearing over Manchester City’s 115 FFP charges will officially start next week
Danny Jones
After more than a year of speculation as to when proceedings will finally start, it has been confirmed that the hearing regarding Manchester City and their 115 FFP charges is set to begin next week.
Man City were first slapped with the laundry list of alleged breaches of FFP (financial fair play) and failure to comply with Premier League rules on profit and sustainability (PSR) back in February 2023, but little movement on the case has been reported since then.
In that time, they also won the coveted Treble and their record-breaking fourth league title in a row; meanwhile, the club have continued to deny all claims of rule-breaking.
However, it has now been revealed that City‘s hearing will now kick off on Monday, 16 September.
BREAKING: The hearing over Manchester City's 115 charges will start on Monday 🚨 pic.twitter.com/9ujOCryVMF
As explained in various reports, given the extended nature of the claims made against the Manchester side, it is estimated that the case could run on for up to two months if not longer.
Furthermore, it is thought a decision isn’t expected to arrive until spring 2025 – again, this is simply due to the number of charges brought up over the best part of a decade.
In case you need a refresher, the allegations levelled at Man City date back to 2009 and concern a supposed nine years of financial irregularities, as well as subverting UEFA FFP rules.
Some of the accusations made against them also include failing to cooperate with the European football body and the Premier League, as well as offering ‘secret contracts’ so as to pay one particular manager a larger sum than what they recorded in their financial statements.
The final verdict, whenever it is reached, will be handed down by an independent commission and City will still be able to make an official appeal.
It goes without saying that were they to be found guilty, it would be the biggest financial scandal in English football history and could be seismic for the future of money in the sport and regulations surrounding ownership, which have already grown tighter following the charges being issued.
And in case you needed a more detailed refresher on what exactly they are being tried for and what the possibilities are regarding punishment if found guilty, here’s a quick rundown:
Featured Images — Arne Müseler (via Wikimedia Commons)
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The NHS found to be in a ‘critical condition’ following an independent investigation
Emily Sergeant
A landmark independent investigation has found the NHS to be in a ‘critical condition’, it has been revealed.
Lord Ara Darzi – who is an independent peer and practising surgeon, with 30 years’ experience in the NHS – was commissioned to write a report that will inform the Government’s 10-year plan to reform the nation’s health service.
He examined more than 600 pieces of analysis from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHS England, and external organisations during his investigation.
70 organisations were brought together in an ‘Expert Reference Group’ during the investigation, while Lord Darzi also sought input from NHS staff and patients through a number of focus groups and frontline visits.
Overall, his probe concluded that the service is in a “critical condition”.
NEW: @ImperialNHS Professor Lord Darzi has published his independent investigation into the state of the NHS.
This report will inform the government’s 10-year plan to fix our broken NHS.
The report particularly highlighted surging waiting lists, and a deterioration in the nation’s underlying health, as well as identifying “serious and widespread problems” for people accessing its services.
“Although I have worked in the NHS for more than 30 years, I have been shocked by what I have found during this investigation,” Lord Darzi admitted.
“My colleagues in the NHS are working harder than ever, but our productivity has fallen.
“We get caught up frantically trying to find beds that have been axed, or using IT that is outdated, or trying to work out how to get things done because operational processes are overwhelmed.
“It sucks the joy from our work – we became clinicians to help patients get better, not to go into battle with a broken system. We need to rebalance the system towards care in the community, rather than adding more and more staff to hospitals.”
Lord Darzi declared that the NHS is now “an open book”, and added that the Government needs to have a “more honest conversation” about performance.
"I've worked in the NHS for more than 30 years, but I've been shocked by what I've found during this investigation."
Despite the damning analysis, Lord Darzi did insist that the NHS’s vital signs “remain strong” and he praised staff for their “shared passion and determination to make the NHS better for our patients”.
In response to Lord Darzi’s investigation and the publishing of the report, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the scale of the damage done to the NHS revealed by the report is “unforgivable” and that “major surgery” is needed to reform the service “not sticking plaster solutions”.
“People have every right to be angry,” the Prime Minister said.
“It’s not just because the NHS is so personal to all of us, it’s because some of these failings are life and death. Take the waiting times in A&E. That’s not just a source of fear and anxiet, it’s leading to avoidable deaths.
Emily Sergeant -
22nd August 2024 
