News from Denmark 04.08.00
Created | Updated Jun 21, 2003
Swedish cars polluting city
An environmental pressure group is using the new Øresund link as a platform to protest against the growth of road traffic. NOAH, which campaigns against traffic pollution, is hoping its can persuade Swedes to take the train across the 17km long crossing into Denmark, leaving their cars at home.
"Copenhagen is drowning in traffic," said the group's Ivan Lund Pedersen. "Things were bad enough before it opened, but now the Øresund link is making the situation even worse." Traffic congestion in Copenhagen city centre has recently led to buses being delayed by up to half an hour, with much of the blame levelled at short-stay visitors from across the Øresund.
CD covers vanishing
Storekeepers in Copenhagen are complaining that the illegal copying of CDs is producing an unfortunate side effect. Now, those who illegally copy or buy pirate CDs are stealing printed covers from music stores. Although they are stealing the CD covers, the thieves - usually teenagers - are leaving the actual disc and plastic box behind in the store.
'Hamlet's Castle' a heritage site
Kronborg Castle in the north Zealand town of Helsingør is to be declared one of UNESCO's world heritage sites. The historic building, known throughout the world as the setting for Shakespeare's play Hamlet, joins Roskilde Cathedral as one of Denmark's officially recognised historic buildings.
Restoration work on the 600 year-old castle has been ongoing throughout the last 20 years, and will continue until at least 2012. Some historians believe that William Shakespeare visited the former trading centre, which inspired him to write the world's most famous tragedy.
Discount air wars escalating
Lawyers working for low-price UK airline Go started proceedings in London on Monday against SAS, charging the Scandinavian airline with price dumping on the Copenhagen - Stansted route.
The court action comes after SAS announced at the weekend a plan to continue offering a special discount 'summer-rate' of just DKK 700 return on the route, through to mid-December.
"We are treating the SAS action as a direct provocation, and an attempt to squeeze us out of the market,"GO director Stefan Vilner said. "Their partner airline Lufthansa did the same in Germany, and that knocked us off the Munich-London route. We are just not going to sit still and let it happen again."
GO's cheapest Stansted - Copenhagen fare is DKK 900 return.
The UK airline has already laid a case against SAS over the Munich-London route in the European Court.
Meanwhile, SAS is currently engaged in an action of its own against discount airline Ryan Air. SAS is demanding police action against Ryan Air for running deliberately misleading price adverts in the press for its Aarhus-London route.
Minister for Trade and Industry Pia Gjellerup has already issued a warning to Ryan Air on the same grounds.
