Michael Lord-Castle (born 5 September 1959 in Birmingham) is an English citizen, who has appeared in numerous news stories worldwide, courting controversy with his actions.
Michael Lord-Castle (born 5 September 1959 in Birmingham) is an English citizen, who has appeared in numerous news stories worldwide, courting controversy with his actions.
In 1985 he founded the Insolvency Advisory Service. [1]
In 2001 Lord-Castle attempted to launch a business class only airline, Blue Fox Executive Airlines, with Rt Hon Lord Tebbit as Chairman. [2] The airline formally launched after the 11 September attacks in a period of uncertainty for airlines, [3] and failed to fly. [1]
In 2004 Michael Lord-Castle was labelled an 'Anglo-Saxon thug' by French President Jacques Chirac after upsetting the French trade unions engaged in action on behalf of a British business with a factory in Dourdan. [4] [5]
In 2005, he was involved as an 'insolvency expert' with direct action taken by a haulage supplier to retailer Tesco, which involved blockading a number of Tesco sites with lorries in order to demand payment. [6]
In 2006, Lord-Castle was present in the Maldives as part of the "Global Protection Committee", which Lord-Castle claimed was a group working since 1943 on behalf of a number of governmental agencies, during the run up to rallies intended at bringing about democratic change. The group was accused of being mercenary, and of plotting a coup. Lord-Castle and four of his associates were deported from the Maldives and banned for life. [7] [8]
Also in 2006, Lord-Castle appeared in court after he was stopped by police who found that he had fitted his car with blue lights and a siren. This case law precedent led to all vehicles not capable of fitting a stretcher (including response cars and motorbikes of NHS ambulance trusts) being unable to lawfully fit blue lights or sirens, [9] and was used in this way in subsequent cases. [10]
British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main hub at Heathrow Airport.
Tesco plc is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in the world measured by revenues. It has shops in five countries across Europe, and is the market leader of groceries in the UK.
An ambulance is a medically equipped vehicle which transports patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient.
Stephen John Byers is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wallsend between 1992 and 1997, and North Tyneside from 1997 to 2010. He was implicated in the MP expenses scandal and retired from politics in 2010.
Virgin Australia, the trading name of Virgin Australia Airlines Pty Ltd, is an Australian-based airline. It is the largest airline by fleet size to use the Virgin brand. It commenced services on 31 August 2000 as Virgin Blue, with two aircraft on a single route. It suddenly found itself as a major airline in Australia's domestic market after the collapse of Ansett Australia in September 2001. The airline has since grown to directly serve 33 cities in Australia, from hubs in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
Hatzalah is a volunteer emergency medical service (EMS) organization serving mostly areas with Jewish communities around the world. Most local branches operate independently of each other, but use the common name. The Hebrew spelling of the name is always the same, but there are many variations in transliteration, such as Hatzolah, Hatzoloh, and Hatzola. It is also often called Chevra Hatzalah, which loosely translates as "Company of Rescuers", "Group of Rescuers", or "Rescue Squad".
The Hunting Act 2004 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which bans the hunting of wild mammals with dogs in England and Wales; the Act does not cover the use of dogs in the process of flushing out an unidentified wild mammal, nor does it affect drag hunting, where hounds are trained to follow an artificial scent.
Emergency vehicle lighting is one or more visual warning lights fitted to a vehicle for use when the driver wishes to convey to other road users the urgency of their journey, to provide additional warning of a hazard when stationary, or in the case of law enforcement as a means of signalling another driver to stop for interaction with an officer. These lights may be dedicated emergency lights, such as a beacon or a light bar, or may be modified stock lighting, such as a wig-wag or hide-away light, and are additional to any standard lighting on the car such as hazard lights. Often, they are used along with a siren in order to increase their effectiveness.
Laurence Paul Fox is an English actor and political activist, who played the supporting role of DS James Hathaway in the British TV drama series Lewis from 2006 to 2015.
Emergency service response code systems vary from country to country, with different methods used to categorize responses to reported events.
Charles Lamb Allen, Baron Allen of Kensington, is a British businessman and broadcaster, and the chairman of Global Radio, 2 Sisters Food Group, ISS and Advisory chairman at Moelis & Company. Lord Allen was chief executive of Granada Group from 1996 to 2000, executive chairman of Granada Media plc from 2000 to 2004, chief executive of ITV plc from its formation in 2004 until 2007, and chairman of the music company EMI. He was chairman of Endemol, a non-executive director of Tesco plc and Virgin Media. In March 2012, he was appointed by Ed Miliband, the leader of the Labour Party, to the position of chairman of the executive board of the party. He has been chairman of the British Red Cross.
Virgin Australia Holdings Limited is the holding company that owns and operates Virgin Australia, Virgin Australia International Airlines and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines. It previously operated Pacific Blue Airlines, Tigerair Australia and joint-venture airline Polynesian Blue which were absorbed into Virgin Australia in December 2011. Its head office is located in South Bank, Brisbane. After being placed in administration in April 2020, it was purchased by Bain Capital in August 2020.
Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market was a chain of grocery stores in the western United States, headquartered in El Segundo, California. It was a subsidiary of Tesco, the world's third largest retailer, based in the United Kingdom, until November 2013 when it was purchased by Yucaipa Companies. It had plans for rapid growth – the first stores opened in November 2007 and, after a pause in the second quarter of 2008, the opening program recommenced. While there were over 200 stores in Arizona, California, and Nevada by December 2012, Tesco confirmed in April 2013 that it was pulling out of the US market, at a reported cost of £1.2 billion. On September 10, 2013, Tesco announced they were transferring ownership and operations of more than 150 stores to supermarket-owner Ron Burkle's Yucaipa Companies group. At the beginning of October 2013, Fresh & Easy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in U.S. bankruptcy court. The sale cost Tesco £150m, taking the total cost of its failed US venture to nearly £2bn. On October 23, 2015, Yucaipa announced that it would close all Fresh & Easy stores.
Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom provide emergency care to people with acute illness or injury and are predominantly provided free at the point of use by the four National Health Services (NHS) of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Emergency care including ambulance and emergency department treatment is only free to UK residents and a charge may be made to those not entitled to free NHS care. The NHS commissions most emergency medical services through the 14 NHS organisations with ambulance responsibility across the UK.
Criticism has been directed at Tesco from various groups, including national organisations, trade bodies, individuals, consumer groups and watchdogs, particularly since the early 2000s.
Flybmi, styled as flybmi, legally British Midland Regional Limited and formerly branded as bmi Regional, was a British regional airline that operated scheduled passenger services across the UK and Europe. The head office of the airline was at East Midlands Airport in North West Leicestershire, and it had operating bases at Aberdeen, Brussels, Bristol, East Midlands, Newcastle and Munich.
A Community first responder (CFR), is a person available to be dispatched by an ambulance control centre to attend medical emergencies in their local area. They can be members of the public, who have received training in life-saving interventions such as defibrillation, off duty paramedics, nurses or medical doctors, or indeed professionals from a non-medical discipline who may be nearby or attending emergencies, such as firefighters. Community first responders are found in the emergency healthcare systems of Canada, United Kingdom, the United States, Ireland, Israel, Italy (soccorritori), Australia, Singapore and Romania.
William Grimsey is an English businessman who has specialised in the food and DIY sectors, most notably at Wickes, Iceland, and Focus (DIY).
Pre-packaged insolvency is a kind of bankruptcy procedure, where a restructure plan is agreed in advance of a company declaring its insolvency. In the United States pre-packs are often used in a Chapter 11 filing. In the United Kingdom, pre-packs have become popular since the Enterprise Act 2002, which has made administration the dominant insolvency procedure. Such arrangements are also available in Canada under the Companies' Creditors Arrangements Act.
Triple Alpha Luftfahrtgesellschaft was a German charter airline headquartered in Düsseldorf and based out of Düsseldorf Airport. It operated charter, general aviation, business, cargo, flight school, air ambulance, aerial evacuation and organ transport services.