Anger as Parking Fine is Issued Every 4 Seconds

Anger as Parking  Fine is Issued Every 4 Seconds

Ministers and campaigners  called for an end to rip off parking fines as it emerged  one is issued every four seconds.

Car insurance company Churchill said ‘ Town Halls have raked in £255millions as they dished out 7.8million tickets last year.

Meanwhile, civil liberty campaigners Big Brother Watch said councils raised £311 millions in traffic fines from CCTV alone in five years and urged  ministers  to probe whether cameras were being illegally used to snare motorists.

Local Government minister Brandon Lewis backed their call and said “ it is clear CCTV is being used to raise money in industrial volumes for town halls and we intend to clamp  down on this clear abuse. The public wants CCTV to be used to catch criminals, not to prosecute shoppers. “

Figures obtained under Freedom of Information laws, show that 23,000 tickets on average were issued by each town hall and Only 1 in 15 were successfully challenged.

Big Brother Watch  reported 87%  rise since 2009 in those councils using CCTV to spot road offences. That came despite Government guidelines urging cameras to be employed “ sparingly “ for this purpose. At least 58 councils used them with London accounting for 90% of all cash raised.

Big Brother watch’s Emma Carr said “ Ministers should investigate whether use of cameras to snoop on motorists breaches surveillance laws. Using CCTV for parking should be banned.

WORST HOTSPOTS IN LONDON       WORST HOTSPOTS OUTSIDE LONDON

Councils          PCNs issed in 2013                 Councils          PCNs issued in 2013              

Westminister City       455,390                         Cardiff                       56,766

Newham                      186,414                       Cornwall                    47,002

Barnet                         171,545                        Oxfordshire County    37,777

Haringey                     163,627                        Merseyside                 37,320

Croydon                      108,409                       Swansea City              35,543

Kingston upon                                                  Lincolnshire                35,275

Thames Royal             94,618                          Bournemouth              34,936

Enfield                        92,886                          Portsmouth City          34,510

Hackney                      90,095                         Milton Keynes            32,421

Barking &                                                        Maidstone (Kent)       30,848

Dagenham                   88,566

Merton                        86,817

NB – Source of data Churchill Insurance.

Toyota recalls more than 6.5m cars over steering and seat problems



  Toyota is recalling more than 6.5m cars worldwide to fix a variety of problems, including faulty steering wheels and seats.

The company said there had been no reported accidents or injuries relating to the problems identified. Some 27 Toyota models are affected, including the Corolla, RAV4, Hilux, Yaris, Tacoma, Urban Cruiser and Scion xD.
The global recall tally is a huge blow to the world's biggest selling carmaker that has seen its reputation battered by a string of damaging recalls.

Since early 2012, the company has recalled around 20m vehicles and sold 18.7m. The latest recall is not even the biggest in a single day: in October 2012 it was forced to call back 7.43m cars, mostly the Yaris and Corolla models to fix faulty window switches.

Toyota's reputation has not fully recovered since a faulty accelerator pedal led to it taking 10m cars off the road in 2009-10. The company later admitted the faults were caused by over-hasty expansion, and last month was fined $1.2bn (£720m) by US regulator over an investigation into misleading statements the company had made about safety problems with its cars.

"Each announcement puts another dent in Toyota's efforts to recover its reputation and resurrects questions about the impact of its strategy of rapid expansion on previously enviable standards of design and production quality," said Peter Shervington, an associate specialising in product liability and recall at Eversheds law firm.

More responsive?

David Bailey, a car industry expert at Aston Business School in Coventry said Toyota was being more responsive after being "badly scarred" by not being seen to respond fast enough to the pedal problems in 2009-10. "The scale of the [current] recall is a big one but if they can identify a fix and communicate it to customers, customers aren't going to be too bothered."

Most of the affected cars in the current recall are in North America, with 825,000 in Europe (35,000 in the UK), and 300,000 in Australia, where the recall affects the Hilux "utes" and Yaris city cars.

In the UK, the recall affects some 25,000 RAV4 and Hilux models bought between June 2004 and December 2010; these cars have a faulty connection from the steering wheel to the airbag, meaning that a certain turn of the wheel could cause the airbag to deactivate. "If connectivity is lost, the airbag warning light will illuminate on the instrument panel and the driver's airbag may be deactivated," the company said. In the US, that problem affects 1.3m vehicles, including certain models of the Corolla.

Toyota has also found a problem with the sliding mechanism in the front passenger seat of some models of the Yaris and the Urban Cruiser – sold in the US as the Scion xD – meaning they could break with repeated use. "Should the spring break, the seat may not lock into its adjusted position, and could move in the event of a crash," the company said.

This problem with the seat mechanism affects 10,263 UK-registered vehicles built between January 2005 and August 2010.

Toyota said the recall figure rises to 6.76m when the some models of the Pontiac Vibe and the Subaru Trezia are taken into account. The Pontiac Vibe, a General Motors model, is involved because Toyota and GM made cars at the same plant in California and the recalled model is the same as the Toyota Matrix. Subaru is partly owned by Toyota, and the model was the same as the Toyota Ractis.

The company said it would contact customers in the coming weeks to make an appointment for the free repairs. Drivers can check if their vehicle is affected by using a registration number search function on the Toyota website.

GM under-fire too

The latest recall comes one day after General Motors was accused of "a culture of cover-up" by a US senator for failing to own up fast enough to faulty ignition switches implicated in 13 deaths.

For full story visit :

 http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/apr/09/toyota-recalls-over-6m-cars-worldwide

Theory Test Fee To Be Reduced by £6.

        Theory Test Fee To Be Reduced by £6.

The cost of theory test could be cut by 25%, saving learner drivers £14.5m a year. The plan would see the cost of a car driving theory test fall by £6 in October this year, taking the cost of theory test from £31 to £25, with a further cut of £2 planned in October 2015.

The consultation follows the government’s commitment to reduce the cost of motoring. The proposal also sets out reductions in motorcycle, bus and lorry theory tests.

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