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Years of Warnings, No Clear Safety Net: What Happens When a Solar Provider Fails?

Over the last few months I have been trying to answer what should be a fairly simple question. What actually happens to the consumer when a company behind a long-term domestic solar or battery arrangement fails? Who owns the equipment? Who maintains it? Who can demand money from the homeowner? What happens if the homeowner wants to sell or remortgage? What happens if the original contract cannot be found? What happens if rights are sold to another company? And most importantly of all: Who is actually responsible for protecting the consumer? The more information I have obtained, the clearer one thing has become. There is no simple answer. What I have found instead is a fragmented system, spread across different regulators, government departments, insolvency rules, consumer law, property law and contractual arrangements. And the worrying part is that many of these problems are not new. THE WARNING SIGNS WERE THERE YEARS AGO Two separate internal reviews by the Department for Business and...
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UK Bus Summit 2026: What I’ll Be Listening For From the Front Line

I’m writing this on the train to Liverpool, heading up the evening before the UK Bus Summit 2026. Tomorrow, people from across the bus industry, local and regional government, passenger organisations, operators, technology companies and other parts of the transport sector will come together at The Spine in Liverpool. The timing feels important. Bus policy is changing quickly. Devolution is gathering pace. Franchising is moving from discussion into delivery in more areas. Enhanced Partnerships continue to evolve. Questions around funding, reliability, accessibility, affordability, safety and accountability are becoming increasingly important. And tomorrow’s programme reflects that. The UK Bus Summit will feature sessions on devolution, the future of urban and rural bus networks, and what the programme describes as the “non-negotiables” of reliability, accessibility, affordability and safety, alongside a keynote from Simon Lightwood MP, Minister for Buses and Local Transport. I’m looking...
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FIFTEEN YEARS OF WARNINGS – AND NOW OUR SOLAR ARRANGEMENTS COULD BE SOLD ON. WHO IS PROTECTING US?

For months I have been asking one question. When a green-energy business model collapses and homeowners are left with somebody else’s solar panels and batteries attached to their homes, long-term agreements, disputed property rights and no obvious way out, who is actually responsible? I still cannot get a straight answer But what I have now uncovered makes that question much more urgent. This is no longer only about looking backwards at Tomato Energy, Tomatopia and Senapt Assets. There is now a possible third-party transaction involving the Senapt portfolio. Before somebody acquires whatever rights, contracts and assets are said to exist, affected households deserve to know: WHO IS PROTECTING US? THE WARNING SIGNS GO BACK TO 2011 HM Land Registry documents obtained through Freedom of Information show officials were dealing with the growth of domestic solar airspace leases as far back as March 2011. They were already expecting potentially large numbers of applications and acknowledged t...
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“Unfair, If Not Discriminatory”: Andy Burnham Was Right About the 09:30 Rule — So Why Are Older People Now Being Left Behind?

Sometimes politicians say something that cuts through all the technical language and gets straight to the heart of an issue. Andy Burnham did exactly that in December 2025. Speaking as Mayor of Greater Manchester about the 09:30 restriction on concessionary bus passes, he said: “The 09.30am restriction is unfair, if not discriminatory.” He then made the argument even clearer. People’s lives do not begin at 09:30. Older people have health appointments. They look after grandchildren. Disabled people need to travel to work. Greater Manchester therefore decided to remove the restriction for both older and disabled concessionary pass holders. I agreed with him then. I still agree with him now. Which is why this week’s Government announcement leaves me with one very obvious question. If the rule was unfair for older people then, why isn't it unfair for them now? The Government has announced that from 1 April 2027, eligible disabled concessionary bus pass holders across England will be ab...
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Life Doesn't Start at 9.30am: Government Has Acted for Disabled Passengers — Now Finish the Job

This week brought genuinely good news for disabled people across England. The Government has announced that from 1 April 2027, eligible disabled concessionary bus pass holders will be able to travel free on local buses all day, every day. The national time restriction is finally going. I wholeheartedly welcome it. It is a tremendous step forward for some of the most vulnerable people in our society and recognises something I have been saying throughout my campaign: Life doesn't start at 9.30am. Disabled people work. They attend college and training. They have hospital and GP appointments. They care for relatives. They volunteer. They have families, responsibilities and lives to lead. None of those things conveniently begins at 9.30am simply because that is when a concessionary bus pass traditionally becomes valid. Removing that barrier is therefore about much more than a free bus journey. It is about independence, dignity, equality and opportunity. The Government deserves credit fo...
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Maximum Workplace Temperatures: Government Confirms Policy Work Is Live — Bus Cabs Must Not Be Left Out

There are some Freedom of Information responses that quietly close a door. And there are others that open one. The latest response I have received from the Department for Work and Pensions is one of the important ones. For months, I have been asking a simple question: When Government talks about workplace heat, does it understand that a bus cab is a workplace? Not a normal workplace. Not an office. Not a factory. Not a shop. A safety-critical, mobile workplace where a driver may be expected to sit for hours in live traffic, carrying passengers, managing hazards, dealing with pressure, and staying alert while the cab temperature rises into the high 30s or 40s. That question now matters more than ever. The DWP FOI response can be read in full here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bEnFi2VPrw5GtQOmGS0sAbLZyZJZJ9H4/view?usp=drivesdk I have included the full response so readers can see the wording for themselves, rather than relying only on my summary. DWP has confirmed that ...
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