Transport news

A memorial at the scene of the crash in Grangetown, Cardiff, has grown, as loved ones leave messages in memory of the teenager

A memorial for a teenage boy who died in a crash continues to grow as more messages of support flood in. The 16-year-old died in a crash involving his bike and a car at around 12.25pm on Wednesday, March 25. The incident happened at the junction of Penarth Road and Clare Road, Grangetown, which was shut for around nine hours.

Paramedics joined police and the fire service at the scene but despite their efforts, the boy was pronounced dead. Police previously said that his family is being supported by specially trained officers.

On Thursday following the incident a memorial was erected at the crash site, with flowers and posters reading “RIP Miracle” and “Forever 16”. On Monday, March 30 the tribute has grown significantly, now adorned with flowers, candles and balloons — many of which feature messages from the boy’s family, friends and neighbours.

“Forever 16; we miss you and we love you,” read one message left by a school friend. “Love and miss you. Always brought a smile to my face,” read another from a friend.

“Rest in peace champ,” another message read. “You was one of a kind, always in everyone’s heart, forever 16 our boy.” Never miss a Cardiff story by signing up to our daily newsletter here

Also left at the memorial was the boy’s school shirt, plastered with messages of love and support from his school friends, along with a ‘Class of 2025’ hoodie which the boy received from his school.

A mother of one of the boy’s friends spoke to WalesOnline at the memorial on Monday. “I’ve been crying for three days,” she said. “Today is the only day when the tears have finally stopped.”

The most recent statement from South Wales Police reads: “South Wales Police are continuing their investigation into the fatal road traffic collision which occurred on Penarth Road at its junction with Clare Road, Grangetown, on Wednesday, March 25, at 12.27pm.

“The collision involved a red SsangYong Tivoli motor car and a bike. A 16-year-old boy from Grangetown, who was on the bike, died at the scene despite the efforts of the emergency services — his family are being supported by specially trained family liaison officers. The driver of the SsangYong Tivoli is assisting officers with their enquiries.”

Detective Sergeant Debbie Hobrough is leading the investigation. She said: “Our investigation into this very sad and tragic incident is ongoing and we are asking for the public’s help as we piece together what happened.

“The junction where the incident occurred is a busy junction and anyone in the area at the time – who witnessed what happened – is urged to make contact. People are also asked to check dashboard cameras or private CCTV for any footage which may be relevant.“I would also like to urge people to consider the impact on the family of the victim and refrain from sharing footage online, which we know has been circulating.“The road closures put in place caused significant disruption whilst the investigation took place and I would like to thank members of the public for their patience and understanding during that time.”

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Easter bank holiday expected to be UK’s busiest on roads in four years

Drivers are being warned to expect delays this Easter, with roads expected to be the busiest they have been over the bank holiday in four years, despite a surge in fuel prices caused by the conflict in the Middle East. Drivers are planning nearly 21m leisure journeys between Thursday and Easter Monday, according to a study by the RAC and the traffic analytics specialists Inrix.

The traffic and motoring experts have warned that one stretch of the M4 will be one of the congestion hotspots as families look to get away spend the bank holiday weekend.

Over a million more trips are planned than last year, with the roads this Easter expected to be busiest since 2022.

In total the RAC expect 21m leisure journeys to be taken at some point over the Easter bank holiday weekend. It added that with early indications that the weather could warm up in time for the weekend, the number of ad hoc journeys could rise.

The RAC calculated the figure based on responses to a survey of 2,219 UK adults conducted between March 20-23, when fuel prices had already risen significantly.

The AA predicted that traffic during the Easter period will peak on Thursday. Drivers getting a head start on bank holiday getaways will compete for road space with commuters on what is the last working day of the week.

They are advised to set off before 10am if possible to avoid the worst of the congestion. Stay in the know by making sure you’re receiving our daily newsletter

Many major roads are expected to remain busy on Good Friday, with most people making journeys between 10am and 7pm. On Saturday, April 4, drivers are advised to avoid the roads from 10am to midday when traffic will be at its busiest.

The AA forecast that routes to coastal destinations are likely to be especially busy over Easter, alongside roads around town and city centres, plus major retail sites.

Likely Easter congestion hotspots identified by transport analytics company Inrix include:

• The M4 westbound from the Severn Crossing to Bridgend
• The M25 clockwise from Junction 15 to Junction 19.
• The M5 southbound from Junction 15 to Junction 23.
• The M40 northbound from Junction 12 to the M42.
• The M1 southbound from Junction 16 to Junction 6.

As families return from their Easter trips on Easter Monday, the roads are expected to be busy once again. Delays of over an hour (65 minutes) are expected at midday in the south west on the M5 northbound between J25 for Taunton and J15 at the RAC tower.

The RAC said the cost of filling up a typical 55-litre family car with diesel is about £19 higher than on Good Friday last year, while a tank of petrol is £8 more expensive. It commissioned a survey indicating that 31% of UK drivers are increasingly worried about rising fuel costs. But only 6% expect to drive shorter distances because of the issue, and another 6% said they will stop driving.

RAC mobile servicing and repairs team leader Sean Kimberlin said: “Despite fuel prices rising dramatically due to the conflict in the Middle East, our research suggests Easter remains incredibly important to people as it’s often the first chance to get away since Christmas or to meet up with friends and family.

“While a significant number of drivers are concerned about rising fuel prices, a much smaller contingent are actually changing their plans this Easter as a result. We expect traffic levels to be consistently high from Thursday, when many schools break up.”

Lee Morley, AA expert patrol, said: “After what feels like a very long, wet winter, lots of families are looking forward to the Easter break. With more than 20 million journeys expected on the busiest days, it’s shaping up to be one of the busiest Easters on the roads in recent years.”

Mr Morley urged drivers to carry out vehicle checks before setting off, such as fuel, lights, oil, water and tyres.

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‘Vital work’ is being carried out on the railway lines meaning bus replacement services are in operation

Engineering work is taking place on the train line between Cardiff and Port Talbot on Sunday. It means no trains are running between Cardiff Central and Port Talbot Parkway.

Great Western Railway (GWR) and Transport for Wales (TfW) services are affected.

It has been described as “vital work” to maintain the “continued safe and reliable running of train services for years to come”. Never miss a Cardiff story by signing up to our daily newsletter here.

A spokesman for National Rail said: “If you are travelling between these stations, or between Cardiff Central and Swansea, you will need to complete your journey using provided rail replacement buses.

“If you are travelling with GWR there will be buses in operation between Cardiff Central and Swansea.

“If you are travelling to or from Bridgend, Port Talbot Parkway, or Neath you’ll need to use the rail replacement buses provided by TfW.

“If you’re travelling with TfW there will be buses in operation between Cardiff Central and Maesteg via Pontyclun, and between Cardiff Central and Port Talbot Parkway via Pontyclun, and also between Rhoose Cardiff International Airport and Bridgend.

“In addition to this, before 12.30pm, there will be rail replacement buses in operation between Cardiff Central and Penarth and between Cardiff Central and Barry Island.

“There will be no trains via Fairwater and if you are travelling to or from the station you can use your ticket at no extra cost on Cardiff Bus services.”

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Officers received multiple calls from member of the public concerned at the erratic driving and officers made a dscovery when they forced the driver to stop

Police eceived numerous calls from members of the public raising concerns about the erratic way a Range Rover was being driven. North Wales Police officers tracked down the vehicle in Rhuddlan and brought it to a stop.

On inspection, it emerged that the driver possessed neither a driving licence nor insurance for the car.

As officers were in the process of seizing the vehicle, further information came to light.

It was revealed that the Range Rover had been stolen earlier that morning.

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This led to the driver being arrested and taken into custody, reports North Wales Live.

A police spokesman said: “We received several reports regarding the manner of driving and the presentation of the driver of this vehicle in the Denbighshire Coastal and Abergele area this morning.

“The vehicle was located and stopped in Rhuddlan. It was seized for having no driving licence or insurance.

“While this was taking place, we received a report from the owner of the vehicle stating that their vehicle had been stolen this morning from outside their home address.

“The driver of the vehicle was arrested on suspicion of aggravated unauthorised taking of a motor vehicle, theft, driving other than accordance with a driving licence, driving without insurance and drug driving. He remains in police custody

“Police custody seems to be a familiar setting for this male, he was arrested last night for exactly the same offences in a different area of the force.

“The vehicle will now be reunited with its owner. We thank the members of the public who reported this vehicle to us, we will not tolerate this kind of behaviour on our roads.”

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National Rail says it is ‘working to tackle fare evasion which costs the industry millions’

National Rail is changing the conditions on refunds for some train tickets from the start of next month. It says changes are being introduced affecting anytime tickets, off-peak tickets, day travelcards, rover tickets, and ranger tickets.

From Wednesday, April 1, if you have one of those tickets and decide not to use it you will have until 11.59pm the day before it becomes valid to request a refund from the retailer which sold it to you.

After that you will only be able to claim a refund if your train service has been delayed or cancelled or if an exceptional circumstance has stopped you from travelling, National Rail says. For the biggest stories in Wales first sign up to our daily newsletter here.

A statement reads: “We will be ending the practice of accepting refund claims up to 28 days after the date of travel.

“We’re working to tackle fare evasion which costs the industry millions annually.

“The changes will stop fraudulent claims for refunds on tickets that have been used for travel.

“They bring our terms and conditions into line with the railways of most other countries where most day tickets are not refundable once they become valid for travel.”

It adds that if you do not travel or complete your journey because your train is delayed, cancelled, or rescheduled you can still claim a refund from the retailer that sold you your ticket.

Delay Repay also still applies when you have used your ticket to travel but been delayed.

It adds: “The refund conditions are based on the date of purchase, not the date of travel. If you bought your ticket prior to April 1 it will be processed in accordance with the rules that were in place when your ticket was purchased.”

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The A499 on the Llyn Peninsula was closed for several hours after the incident

A serious crash took place on a Gwynedd road on Saturday night. Wales Air Ambulance attended the incident which took place on the A499 near Y Ffor. Police were also in attendance with officers closing the road and helping manage the scene.

A Wales Air Ambulance was sent from Cardiff to the incident.

It took off at around 10.30pm and arrived on the scene at 11.31pm. It then departed the scene at around 1.15am on Sunday.

Helimeds flew to the Stoke University Hospital where there is a specialist trauma unit. Stay in the know by making sure you’re receiving our daily newsletter.

The road remained shut overnight as crash investigations continued, NorthWalesLive reports.

Drivers reported it reopening at around 9am on Sunday.

North Wales Police and the Welsh Ambulance Service have been contacted for more details on the incident.

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The A499 crash took place on the outskirts of Pwllheli, Gwynedd with two people airlifted to hospital and four ambulances at the scene

A man has died in a horror crash which saw three people hurt and two airlifted to hospital with serious injuries.

The crash took place at around 10pm on the A499 near Y Ffôr, near Pwllheli in Gwynedd and saw four ambulances rush to the scene alongisde a Wales Air Ambulance and the Coastguard helicopter.

The Welsh Ambulance Service has confirmed individuals were airlifted to Stoke University Hospital where there is a specialist trauma unit. A third casualty was transported to hospital by road ambulance.

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Dwyfor Meirionnydd MP Liz Saville Roberts confirmed the tragic news that a young man tragically died in the collision. Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox

Mrs Roberts said: “I am deeply saddened to hear of the tragic death of a young man in a road accident near Y Ffôr, Pwllheli last night. My heart goes out to his family and his friends.”, reports North Wales Live.

“I am also thinking of those who were injured in this incident. I also thank the emergency services for their response in challenging circumstances.”

A Welsh Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We were called yesterday (28 March) at approximately 10:14pm, to reports of a multi-vehicle road traffic collision on the A499, near Pwllheli.

“We sent four emergency ambulances, one Cymru High Acuity Response Unit, one operations manager and one response manager to the scene.

“Advanced critical care support was delivered by the Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service in a Wales Air Ambulance charity helicopter.

“Additional support was provided a search and rescue helicopter and pre-hospital immediate care specialists.

“Two patients were conveyed by air and one patient was conveyed by road to hospital for further treatment.”

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Road improvement work in Cardiff’s Castle Street is expected to last for 52 weeks but businesses say narrower paths, noise, and dust is affecting their trade

02:58, 28 Mar 2026

Businesses have raised concerns about how year-long road improvements on a busy Cardiff road are causing reduced footfall and trade. One fast food manager said he now has days where he has no customers as a result of the work going on outside his business.

Work on making the temporary road layout and cycleway permanent in Castle Street, in the city centre, has been ongoing for just over a month and is expected to take 52 weeks to complete.

As part of the improvements the road will be fully resurfaced, the footpaths will be upgraded, there will be changes to the bus stop, and a permanent cycleway will be built. The configuration of the traffic lanes will stay the same. Never miss a Cardiff story by signing up to our daily newsletter here.

A Cardiff council spokesman said the authority worked with businesses before they announced the work and were making sure it was being completed in stages to allow the road to stay open throughout.

Richard Matthews, one of the supervisors at Elevens Bar and Grill, told WalesOnline he’d noticed a very obvious change in trade and was disappointed that now the weather had got better they had been unable to use the 1.2m of outdoor space they pay Cardiff council for.

He said: “It’s definitely impacted us and we now can’t use the space we that we pay for to put furniture outside. We were going to persist with putting furniture out anyway but then there wouldn’t be enought space for wheelchairs to go along out there if we did. Instead we’ve moved them around the side.

“The council haven’t said anything about whether we’ll be reimbursed for that money that we pay.”

Another food establishment on the street is extremely worried about the next few weeks of trade having already seen business take a huge hit. Chicken.com, a halal fast food shop, said they can’t justify having the usual number of staff members working as some days they don’t even get one customer.

The manager of Chicken.com said: “It has impacted our business and we’re getting a lot quieter. It’s affected us massively. We normally have a minimum of 30 customers come in every day and now we’re only getting four to five.

“I’ve spoken to the people nextdoor and all the businesses along here are saying the same thing. I’m now really worried about the next four to five weeks which they’ve said they’ll be doing the work outside for because trade has been so quiet.

“Normally we have two people working but at the moment it’s just too quiet for both of us. Sometimes we are finding that there’s no customers in the day and that had never happened before these roadworks.”

He said it wasn’t just the noise and obstruction of the work harming trade but also the dust being produced. Living above the restaurant he said he was also struggling to sleep while the work was ongoing.

“Sometimes they’re using machines which are quite noisy and it’s been really hard to work. It’s not a good experience being here and they start so early that it often wakes me up too as I live upstairs.

“Also as we’re a food shop people are concerned about the noise and the dust from the work impacting hygiene. People don’t want to come in with their family and sit in noisy environment.”

A Cardiff council spokesman said: “The council communicated with businesses on Castle Street as part of the public engagement process prior to the public announcement being made. Details relating to deliveries and access will be agreed with businesses as works progress.

“The council is carrying out the required work while ensuring that the road remains open for the majority of the works so access to businesses is not restricted and east-to-west and west-to-east traffic movement is not affected. Pedestrian access to businesses will be maintained at all times. Ongoing liaison with business owners will take place as works progress.

“When the work is complete footways along Castle Street will be improved and the look and feel of the street will be significantly enhanced, helping to encourage further footfall and improve trading opportunities in this part of the city.”

Councillor Rodney Berman, leader of Cardiff council’s Liberal Democrat group, said the council needed to be “mindful” about the impact the roadworks would have and said local businesses were already competing against a number of tough conditions.

He added: “I hope the council will do what it can to keep the disruption down to a minimum but clearly this won’t be easy as Castle Street is a key route through the city centre.

“As fuel and energy prices rise due to the hostilities [in the Middle East] this will no doubt drive up inflation and lead to higher prices in our shops. That, in turn, could hit trade. So it’s possible that this disruption could be coming at a really difficult time for traders in the city centre.”

John Lancaster, leader of the Conversative group on Cardiff council, said the current measures should have stayed in place to save money and reduce the impact on local businesses.

He added: “When Cardiff council made temporary road layout changes to Castle Street during the Covid pandemic the fear amongst residents and businesses was that these would be a pretext to permanently close the street to traffic.

“We are pleased that Castle Street will remain open to through traffic. However it is mystifying why it will take so long to make the temporary changes permanent. The current measures should remain in place to save ratepayers’ money and to avoid disruption to local businesses.”