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I certainly notice less drivers using mobile phones whilst driving, possibly as a result of more prosecutions and fines, but we now see local authorities turning more of their attention to smokers in company vehicles. Whilst some issue warnings many are starting to issue more £30 penalties. A recent case saw a self employed painter and decorator, Gordon Williams fined £30 by his local council for smoking in his van, even though it is privately owned and he wasn’t working at the time. Read more »

My quote of the week goes to a spokesman for BMW‘s UK operations following an announcement that BMW cars were to receive a substantial price hike. He was trying to reassure us in the UK that we were not included in the expected increases. The company had issued a profit warning and said that due to increased oil and raw material costs they would be forced to increase prices – but not in the UK – he said, Read more »

Concerns have been raised over the noise levels of hybrid and electric cars. Not that they are loud, quite the reverse – they are too quite making it virtually impossible for pedestrians and cyclists to hear them before they reach them. As a result, Lotus have used new technology to synthesise the noise of an engine. They have developed a Safe & Sound Hybrid demonstrator, a Toyota Prius with a loudspeaker on the roof which Read more »

Whilst there are plenty of opponents to the congestion charge scheme in London for those that have no choice but to travel around the city centre it at least cuts down delays and enables them to get on with their business even at the cost of £8 per day – NOT! It would seem that London’s roads are just as gridlocked as they were 5 years ago when congestion charging was introduced. Now some may argue that without congestion charging London would have Read more »

As more people understand the benefits of leasing over purchase Tesco have announced the launch of a staff leasing scheme in association with Lombard Vehicle Management. They have launched a pilot website under the name of Tesco Cars. This is the supermarket giant’s latest handle on the service industry where it already sells finance, insurance and warranty. Could this be their inroad into car leasing plus Tesco points? Under the new scheme Tesco will Read more »

After all the public outcry over the Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) reforms that were proposed by the Chancellor, a cross party committee has come out in favour of the proposals. When the Chancellor announced his plans to introduce the green banding retrospectively on not only new cars but also old cars pushing millions of used cars into higher tax bands the Tories and some Labour MPs condemned him for Read more »

Very bad news if you have bought a car or are buying it on HP but great news if you are leasing! EurotaxGlass’s has warned that used car prices will fall by at least 12% between now and the end of the year as retail demand continues to ease and the supply of second hand cars exceeds demand. The drop is around three times the drop experienced Read more »

Not much has been reported for a while about speeding fines. Probably because the local authorities are carefully playing it down as latest statistics show that speeding fines have increased four fold since labour came to power. Home office statistics show that 1.8 million tickets are issued annually or 4,850 every day, compared to 713,000 in 1997. In 1997 the amount of money raised in fines was £28.5 million, in 2006 the figure had risen to Read more »

You can tell when we are in the silly season when normally sensible companies carry out silly surveys. The latest by Protyre discovered that one in ten motorists would like an in-car refreshment system for the summer. They would choose a fridge, ice cream machine, cold drinks dispenser or fully stocked bar (?!) as options for their new vehicle. Almost half said they would like a flat screen TV with games console or DVD player. See what I mean – bloody daft! By Graham Hill

Few people are aware of their obligations if they have medical problems. Gavin Jones, risk management expert at Masterlease pointed out ‘All drivers are required by law to notify the DVLA of any medical condition which may affect their fitness do drive but many drivers are failing to report this and could be using the road illegally.’ He added ‘When the DVLA is notified of any medical issues, a full investigation is carried out before the motorist is deemed fit to continue with their licence.’ If this is the case and drivers are driving Read more »