ROYAL DUTCH/SHELL is locked in a dispute with an 88-year-old war veteran who saw action in the Burma campaign and now runs a website, http://royaldutchshellplc.com, that publishes material critical of the oil company.

The roots of the row between Shell and Alfred Donovan go back to the early 1990s and have to do with earlier marketing campaigns. Mr Donovan and his son John say they do not want money for the site, which Shell unaccountably failed to register.

But they will not hand over the rights to the domain name until the company “gets rid of the management” responsible for its various woes, notably last year’s reserves scandal. (I thought they had.) Shell is going to the Geneva-based arbiter of such disputes next month to try to strip the Donovans of the right to the name.

It all brings to mind the delightful tale of John Bunt, his car and another huge oil company. Bunt “cybersquatted” BP after his vehicle was damaged in one of the company’s carwashes, displaying pictures of the wreck on his website and abusing the company. The Donovans might note that Bunt eventually won.

TRANSPORT for London (TfL) has shut down three busy escalators at Waterloo station – which is used by 64 million people a year — and a staircase nearby for a staggering six months for their regular refurbishment. “It’s a very complicated process to replace an escalator,” says Tubelines, one of the two contractors refurbishing the Underground.

None of this would normally concern us, except that I just happened to notice that before they were closed, the escalators were advertising London’s (hopefully doomed) Olympic bid, which TfL is heavily endorsing.

Now, what are the chances that a body that takes six months to service three escalators can have the capital’s entire transport system upgraded in the same number of years? Delusions of grandeur . . .

Tunnel vision

CONFUSE Eurotunnel, the body that operates the Channel Tunnel, and Eurostar, which runs the rail service, and journalists will without fail receive a pro forma letter setting them straight. But, eleven years after the Tunnel opened more than half the populations of both Britain and France still don’t know the difference, according to research.

Even Eurotunnel investors have trouble. “Why are you moving from Waterloo to St Pancras?” asked a British shareholder at yesterday’s meeting in the City. Er, not us, said a stony-faced Eurotunnel executive. That’s Eurostar.

As if Eurotunnel’s bosses didn’t have enough problems, it seems the British are falling out of love with France. Our favourite holiday destination is now Spain. Eurotunnel is working with the French tourist industry to reverse the trend but the unfortunate spat between Chirac and Blair has not raised their hopes.

HOW strong is the hostility between Diageo and Allied Domecq, the pair that battle it out as the world’s biggest drink companies? Allied said yesterday that the independent board set up to review its marketing from a social responsibility standpoint had decided it should refrain from motor sport sponsorship “on the basis that alcohol and driving does not mix”.

Fair enough. Except that in February, Diageo announced its Johnnie Walker Scotch whisky would sponsor the McLaren Formula One team.

city.diary@thetimes.co.uk

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