Here are the business stories making the headlines across Scotland and the UK this morning.
Claims vote to scrap Aberdeen’s Union Terrace right turn ban was ‘not legally competent’
Red-faced council leaders might have breached road rules as they scrambled to appease businesses by lifting an Aberdeen city centre traffic restriction.
In the summer of 2023 the council rolled out bus gates on Market Street, Bridge Street and Guild Street and banned drivers from turning right from Union Terrace.
This was done under rarely used legislation known as an “experimental traffic order”, (or Etro for short) which means the changes can be put in place first before any consultation is carried out.
Click here to read the full story in the P&J.
Scots make the least friendships on the bus
Scots are shunning striking up conversations with strangers in favour of plugging in their headphones or burying their heads in books while travelling on public transport as new research shows they are the region least likely to have made long-lasting friendships with people they have met on the bus.
The newly commissioned research by First Bus, one of the UK’s largest bus operators, reveals that the bus is a place where chance encounters evolve into lasting friendships.
However, only one in five (19%) Scots admit they’ve met friends in this way, the lowest in the country.
Read the full story here.
Under-fire care home to close after contract axed
A care home where residents were put at serious risk due to problems with medicine management has been forced to close.
Aberdeen City Council has terminated its contract with VSA, which operates Ruthrieston House, after the Care Inspectorate raised "serious and significant concerns" about the quality of care.
An inspection in October found one resident went 13 days without their prescribed medication, while another had medicine left in their mouth causing them to become drowsy. Inspectors issued an improvement notice after a follow up visit.
Royal Mail takeover by Czech billionaire approved
The sale of Royal Mail's parent company to a Czech billionaire has been approved by the government.
The £3.6billion takeover by Daniel Kretinsky's EP Group will be announced on Monday morning, the BBC understands.
The government will retain a so called "golden share" that will require it to approve any major changes to Royal Mail's ownership, HQ location and tax residency.
TalkTalk to sack hundreds of staff as it slashes costs by £120m
TalkTalk is to cut hundreds of jobs as the debt-laden broadband business scrambles to strip out £120million in costs.
In an update to investors last week, TalkTalk outlined plans for a “radical” restructuring that is expected to lead to hundreds of job losses.
The company has already begun a redundancy consultation as it prepares to scrap around 130 jobs at its Salford-based consumer division. It is understood that further cuts will follow at a wholesale business, dubbed Platform X, taking total losses into the hundreds.
Click here for the full story.
CPTPP: UK has joined Asia's trade club but what is it?
The UK has joined a trade pact with several countries in Asia and the Pacific, including Japan and Australia.
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is a trade agreement between 11 nations: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
Those founding members signed the Pacific trade pact in March 2018.