FirstGroup put more of its bus services on the block today after admitting fuel costs, lower demand and reduced subsidies were hurting the division.

Any hope that the 21st-century, high-tech corporate giants might be more ethically aware than their older, dirtier cousins has been sadly scotched.

The operator of Hong Kong's metro system, the French state rail group SNCF, and the UK companies FirstGroup, National Express and Stagecoach are among 13 transport operators that have been shortlisted by the Government to run the £2bn Great Western, Thameslink and Essex Thameside train franchises.

Our reformed approach will give more flexibility to operators on how they configure services

The Government has fired the starting gun on its £2bn train-franchising programme, asking operators to bid to run the Thameslink, Great Western and Essex Thameside routes for up to 15 years.

A government minister was today accused of dashing hopes of saving thousands of jobs after refusing to change a controversial decision to award a lucrative train-building contract to a German firm.

Soaring oil prices are prompting people to ditch their cars and to holiday in the UK, FirstGroup, which runs the FirstGreat Western and ScotRail train services said yesterday.

Market gossips returned to an old tale last night, as vague speculation that Heritage Oil could be about to receive an approach helped it spurt up the leaderboard of the mid-tier index. Not for the first time, the reheated chatter turned towards China for possible aggressors, picking out the state-owned Cnooc once again as a prospective bidder.

In a session the miners will be eager to forget, Fresnillo was left at the foot of the top-tier index after commodity prices headed south in another major sell-off.

Robust trading on UK buses and trains failed to boost FirstGroup yesterday after the transport giant revealed more pressure at its US school bus arm.

The search for the next chief executive of the £15bn Heathrow-to-Essex Crossrail megaproject has moved one step closer with the appointment of City headhunter Odgers Berndtson.