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Woman attacked in Travelodge after staff gave abuser room key

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The domestic violence victim, who has not been named, told the BBC she was staying at a Travelodge in London in October last year when she was attacked in her room.

She contacted the broadcaster when she heard about the sentencing of a man who attacked a woman at a Travelodge in Maidenhead, Berkshire, in December 2022 after being given a key to her room.

Kyran Smith was jailed for seven-and-a-half years in February.

The domestic violence victim told the BBC she had booked a room at the hotel for a “night away from the fear” after a period of abuse.

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But her attacker was reportedly given access by reception staff.

The woman said of her abuser: “He walked into the hotel and told the receptionist that his girlfriend was upstairs having a seizure.

“He asked what room I was in and what floor I was staying on.”

Staff handed him a key and directed him to her room, she added.

Once inside, he physically attacked her and tried to grab her phone, the woman said.

She managed to convince him to leave, but he returned and became more aggressive.

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“Not long afterwards, I heard him knocking at the door. He was banging, shouting. He was just getting more and more aggressive,” she said.

“I was terrified. I was hoping that he was going to stop, but instead, he kicked the hotel room door completely off the hinges.”

The woman said she went downstairs “shaking” and “begging for help”.

She added: “I think the receptionist just panicked. She didn’t call the police. She didn’t check if I needed any medical attention.

“She didn’t ask if there were any family members I could call, anyone that I needed.

“She just she just offered me a room, another room in the hotel.”

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Responding to the woman’s reports, a Travelodge spokesperson said: “We are deeply sorry for the significant distress experienced by the customer, and we apologise for the way the incident has been handled.

“Customer safety and security is – and remains – a priority for us.

“Any case of an unauthorised person entering a guest’s room is a significant cause for concern, and we want to be clear that this should not have happened.

“Our room access security policies at the time were not correctly followed, which is not acceptable.

“Our investigation indicates that the individual provided the guest’s full name and room number at reception.

“Earlier this year, we made changes to strengthen our room access security policy and incident escalation procedures, supported by training for all of our customer-facing colleagues.”

Travelodge chief executive Jo Boydell previously said immediate changes were made to its room access security policy after Smith was sentenced for the 2022 attack.

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But Freddie van Mierlo, MP for Thame, Oxfordshire, where the chain’s head office is based, said changes have not gone far enough and called on Ms Boydell to step down.

He told BBC Breakfast that Travelodge cannot thrive if it cannot “get to grips with the most basic of responsibilities”, adding it needs to make “wholesale deep changes” to how it operates.

Mr van Mierlo said: “If a company is failing in its most basic duty to look after the safety of its guests, and we’ve heard the most horrific cases come forward, undermining the trust in the hotel industry, we’ve seen women, people feeling unable to stay in a hotel into the future, I think that does require accountability.”

He added: “I don’t think the changes that have taken place to date have been sufficient; that’s evident, and that’s why I think there needs to be a change at the top, because, ultimately, culture and safety need to come from the very top of the company.”

In line with the changes, explicit permission is now required from guests before additional or replacement keys are issued for their room.

It builds on Travelodge’s existing policy to never confirm to a third party that a guest is staying at one of its hotels.





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Richard Hammond on future of Top Gear and Grand Tour

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The former Top Gear star, 56, said he believes there is still a place for motoring shows and would welcome a return of Top Gear, amid rumours comedian Jimmy Carr could be involved in a reboot.

Speaking to the Metro, Mr Hammond reflected on the enduring popularity of the BBC programme, which he fronted alongside Jeremy Clarkson and James May.

He said: “I think there’s room for car shows looking back at what a wonderful machine the car has been and will continue to be.”

Mr Hammond also backed the future of The Grand Tour, which he presented with Clarkson and May after leaving Top Gear.

The trio are set to make a cameo appearance alongside the show’s new presenting team of James Engelsman, Thomas Holland and Francis Bourgeois.

He said: “We had our time with it. That’s great. That was our Grand Tour, but The Grand Tour can go on with other people doing it, and I wish them all the very best with it. Of course, I do.”

Looking beyond The Grand Tour, Mr Hammond said he would even consider returning to another of his former programmes, Total Wipeout, if given the chance, exclaiming he “loved it”.

Reflecting on Top Gear’s legacy, Mr Hammond said: “It’s really satisfying to have been part of a show that had that effect, that becomes that touchpoint for people.

“We never thought for a second that it would. We set out to make a car show all those years ago.

“It just grew into something that nobody foresaw, and I was really privileged to be a little part of that.”

He added that meeting fans who grew up watching the show makes him proud.

“It makes me mostly proud when people refer to it or come up to me and say they’ve watched it since they were a kid,” he said.

“It makes me feel old because often they’re fully fledged adults in their own right. But there we are.”

During the interview, Mr Hammond also spoke about his daughter Izzy Hammond’s crash in a Formula E car earlier this year.

The 25-year-old crashed into a wall at the Jeddah circuit but walked away unharmed.

The incident drew comparisons with Mr Hammond’s own near-fatal 2006 crash while filming Top Gear, when he crashed a jet-powered dragster at almost 300mph.

He admitted he felt “a little uncomfortable” watching from the sidelines.

“I’m a father, like any other father. I don’t want to see my little girl hurt, but I don’t want to hold her back from opportunities that present themselves,” he said.

“She’s carving her own career, so I can sit back and watch her do that and only applaud.”





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Jeremy Clarkson’s Cotswolds farm shop ranked best in UK

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Diddly Squat Farm Shop sits in the Cotswolds, near the village of Chadlington, just outside Chipping Norton in West Oxfordshire.

It has topped the list in a ranking by the country lifestyle experts at Welligogs, who analysed Tripadvisor ratings, Google review scores and Instagram following to reveal the UK’s highest-scoring farm shops.

Tess Annan, manager at Welligogs, told the Express: “Farm shops are such an important part of the British countryside experience because they give visitors the opportunity to experience a destination beyond its traditional tourist attractions.

“Whether you’re picking up locally produced food, stopping for lunch or simply browsing what a farm has to offer, visiting a farm shop can be a lovely way to slow down and experience the character of the surrounding countryside.

“Diddly Squat is obviously one of the country’s most recognisable farm shops, but what’s particularly interesting about this ranking is that there are so many brilliant alternatives across the UK.”

Diddly Squat Farm Shop scored 3.7 stars on Tripadvisor, 4.4 on Google, and boasts 2.8 million Instagram followers.

It was opened by the former Top Gear presenter, Jeremy Clarkson, in 2020, and features in the hit Amazon Prime series Clarkson’s Farm.

The shop sells produce from the 1,000-acre farm as well as locally sourced food and drink, including meat, honey, jams, chutneys, cheeses, and Hawkstone beer.

Its popularity has made it a major visitor attraction, with customers regularly travelling from across the UK to visit.





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UK pub chain announces great value concept at its locations

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Cornerstone Pubs, introduced on August 26, is part of a strategy to bring together some of Greene King’s existing value and carvery venues under a single concept focused on community pubs.

Greene King, which operates around 2,600 pubs across the UK, including 18 in Oxfordshire, said the move is not a large-scale rebranding, but rather a consolidation of select venues.

Speaking to the Daily Express, Clair Preston Beer, chief digital and commercial officer at Greene King, said: “Cornerstone Pubs helps to strengthen our value-led offering in local communities across the country, bringing together our existing value and carvery formats to enhance customer experience and drive operational excellence.”

Customers are not expected to notice immediate changes, as the pubs will retain their current branding for now, and staff and management teams will remain in place.

However, Greene King has indicated that future updates to menus and entertainment options could be introduced at these locations.

Cornerstone Pubs will operate alongside Greene King’s other pub brands, including Chef & Brewer, Flaming Grill, and Wacky Warehouse.

The launch coincides with wider changes across Greene King’s estate, including a review of 65 pubs for potential sale and plans announced earlier this year to convert 150 venues into tenanted pubs.

These changes are unrelated to the Cornerstone Pubs rollout.

Greene King’s focus remains on supporting its core estate while exploring new ways to deliver value and improve the customer experience in neighbourhood pubs.





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