Could This Be Another Example Of Health & Safety Gone Crazy?

Tuesday, 21. September 2010

I’m all for making roads safer, especially when we are talking about making roads safer for children but sometimes I thing we go a little too far when it comes to health and safety when actions seem to be taken for the sake of taking them. Some of my favourite country fetes have been stopped from taking place because, thanks to health and safety, the insurance costs would be more than they raised for their local Read more »

The Main Cause Of Road Rage Exposed

Sunday, 19. September 2010

IAM car drivers badge
Image via Wikipedia

Are you a ‘rager?’ Not to be confused with the street slang ‘hater.’ Apparently a rager is someone who suffers from road rage. And what is the biggest cause of road rage? Well, according to the Institute of Advanced Motorists, who surveyed 1,400 motorists, they rated tailgating as being the most likely cause for road rage and turn you into a ‘rager.’ For those that aren’t too sure of the expression, tailgating, it’s when Read more »

In Car Service Warnings Can Be Misleading

Wednesday, 15. September 2010

Peugeot
Image via Wikipedia

Beware of service intervals. As most people know service intervals have been extending and it’s not uncommon for cars to have 18,000 or 20,000 mile service intervals. If you are a low mileage user this could suggest that if you had a car for 3 years, covering around 6,000 or less miles per annum, you wouldn’t have to carry out a single service to retain the car’s warranty. But this is unlikely to be the case as most Read more »

Wealthy Drivers That Refuse To Pay Parking Fines Revealed

Tuesday, 14. September 2010

Bugatti Veyron
Image via Wikipedia

Moving on to legitimate parking fines, it turns out that local authorities may follow the Westminster council lead and name and shame the worst culprits for not paying their fines. It seems that some of the worst culprits are the very wealthy and Westminster has taken the unprecedented step of announcing the worst offenders on it’s website. It would seem that many of those that refuse to pay the fines are Arab Read more »

Car Clampers Already Have A Replacement For Soon To Be Illegal Clamps

Tuesday, 14. September 2010

A parking ticket!
Image by David Jones via Flickr

There was a lot of euphoria when the Government announced that they were going to ban the clamping and towing of cars parked on private land. The ban comes into force in November 2010, under new laws set to stop unscrupulous clampers from charging ridiculous amounts of money, to either have the clamp removed, or get your car back from a pound where the car has been towed to. However, before the anti- Read more »

Most Brits Illegally Drive Abroad

Sunday, 12. September 2010

As more Brits decided to reduce their holiday costs and drive to their European destination this year many were caught out by the different European laws that apply to safety equipment that you must carry or face an on the spot fine. In a survey carried out by Sainsbury’s Finance they found that a third weren’t aware that they needed a reflective jacket, 15% didn’t know about the need for a warning triangle. 2% said Read more »

Eggs Thrown At Cars – Is It Another Hoax?

Tuesday, 7. September 2010

Another email warning, again believed to be a hoax, warned drivers of attacks from criminals who throw eggs at the windscreen of your car or van causing the driver to operate the windscreen wipers, making matters worse. Driving becomes impossible if the driver then sprays the windscreen with windscreen wash as it reacts with the eggs to produce an opaque goo, making it impossible to drive and force you to stop, which is exactly what the criminal wants. Again, there is evidence of eggs being Read more »

New Drugalyser For Police Stations By 2012

Sunday, 29. August 2010

A Cannabis sativa leaf.
Image via Wikipedia

Drug driving, which is considered as dangerous as drink driving and punishable by exactly the same penalties, is being targeted by the police as an area where more accurate technology is needed. As a result a new ‘drugalyser’ has been developed and will be in all police stations from 2012. The analyser will test drivers’ saliva and make it easier for police to prosecute drivers who drive whilst high on illegal substances Read more »

Government To Clamp Down On Uninsured Drivers

Sunday, 15. August 2010

Insurance premiums should start to fall soon as the Government introduces a tough new law next year to clamp down on the 1.5 million uninsured drivers. The legislation will put the onus on the registered keeper of the car to ensure that the vehicle is on cover. This will be monitored via a link between the Motor Insurance Database (MID) and the DVLA with the uninsured automatically fined £100. Andy Drane, Read more »

Car Servicing Allowed At Non Franchised Dealers

Thursday, 12. August 2010

If you’re an avid reader of my newsletter and blog you will have read that you no longer need to have your car serviced by a main dealer in order to maintain your warranty. The rules that were relaxed several years ago that prevented you from having your car serviced wherever you wanted are known as the EU Block Exemption Rules. These rules have just been reviewed again and the rules pretty much left as they Read more »