TOPS NEWS – January 2006
100,000 drivers who have failed to pay parking
fines or the congestion charge, could have their cars removed under plans for a
national database which will trace them wherever they are in the country. Wardens will be able to check a car’s record
on their handheld computers and summon a clamping van. Drivers will have to pay
all the outstanding fines as well as release and storage fees in order to
recover their vehicles.
3,000 closed-circuit surveillance cameras are being linked to an automatic
number plate recognition computer, national car records and police control
rooms. The system will indicate stolen
cars, lack of MOT or road tax and lack of insurance. It will also check if there is a warrant for the arrest of the
owner. 32m vehicle records are held by
the DVLA and 5.8m criminal records by police with 2m vehicles ‘of interest’ to
the police. The cameras rely on cars
having the correct spacing, size and shape of characters on plates. The Home Office has advised MPs that 1 in 5
cars are incorrectly identified by automatic number plate recognition cameras. (As previously reported - many plates are
cloned.)
A driver who bought a number plate spray to evade capture by speed cameras has
complained to Trading Standards after the spray proved ineffective.
The James Bond 1964 Aston Martin DB5 will be sold in Arizona on 20th January. The car is one
of four created for the films and has two .30 (non-firing) Browning
machine-guns which operate from the headlights, a wheel-mounted tyre slasher,
an oil-slick device and revolving number plates. The ejector seat has been
replaced with a standard passenger seat. The car was formerly owned by JCB’s
Anthony Bamford.
Burglars stole a 23-stone safe from an Austrian ski resort and
escaped down the mountain on an old wooden sledge. (Note non-metric weight for Austrian safe!)
Stroud council has spent £3,000 taking a woman to court for not paying a
40p parking ticket although the meters had been vandalised. Magistrates were
forced to drop the case after the council bungled paperwork.
A runaway ostrich caused severe damage when it
attacked a Mercedes car during a three-hour rampage.
What Car magazine claims that car dealers charge women hundreds of pounds more
than men for identical vehicles.
The Istanbul GP circuit is For Sale. There
is a British-based company called Formula 1 Istanbul (UK) Ltd, in North London
but it is not clear who owns this company nor what it does. Many circuits are concerned over costs and
Nürburgring and Hockenheim are talking of alternating Grand Prix years. The Spa
GP "Bus Stop" chicane is expected to be re-vamped – again - under a
new deal between FOM and the Spa promoters Wallonian regional government to
save the Belgian GP. Imola is to be
given a €10.5m grant from the local government to fund necessary upgrading
work.
Devon C.C. sent a road-sweeping vehicle to clean up salt just
laid down by a gritter lorry around Barnstaple in the bad weather.
The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has released alarming statistics
about the safety of fleet drivers. 16% of fleet driver training sessions had to
be cancelled because at least 1 tyre was below the legal limit for tread depth
(1.6mm). Another 5% were stopped for faulty lights, 2% for unsafe brakes, and
2% because the driver did not have a valid licence. 3 because the driver was
under the influence of drink or drugs and 2
because the driver was over tired.
London Councils are considering a new parking meter
which photographs your car on arrival and accepts payment. It can call your mobile to warn your time is
up and issue fines the second a car
overstays. Photo Violation Technologies
claim the office staff will be human.
An 85-year-old Canadian man spent hours inside his impounded
car in freezing temperatures after his vehicle was ticketed for illegal parking
and then towed to a police compound.
Albanians are so fed up with police doing nothing about the theft and hijacking
of luxury cars that they've started their own network of hot-lines and
roadblocks retrieving many stolen cars.
No one was allowed a car in Albania until the collapse of communism in
1991.
A helicopter and 6 police cars using three stinger devices took an hour
to stop a stolen tractor after a slow-speed chase across Devon.
VW intend to build cars in Russia.
According to guidelines issued by the Association of Chief
Police Officers, for drivers to be issued with a court summons rather than a
fixed penalty, they should usually have been travelling at more than 50 mph in
a 30 mph zone, more than 66 mph in a 40 mph limit, more than 76 mph in a 50 mph
limit and more than 86 mph in a 60 mph limit.
In November an Italian court ordered that F1 cars will need to be
fitted with silencers at any future F1 races at Monza in order to appease local
residents whose houses were built after the 1920s circuit. The Judge described the sport as a “superfluous,
dangerous and socially useless activity.”
City officials are confident they will be able to have the ruling
overturned on March 7th in court
Nissan has developed a clear paint which has an elastic resin which prevents
scratches on car bodywork affecting the lower layers.
Yes Car (credit business), bought by Provident for £141m in 2002 is to close
after reporting a trading loss of £24m for 2005.
There are new race regulations for fire extinguishers and overalls
for 2006.
Police cars answering emergency calls accounted for the death of
44 members of the public in 2004.
The British International Motor Show is moving from the NEC Birmingham
to the ExCel centre in Docklands.
The DVLA admitted that it has been selling the names and addresses of 100,000
people per month since 2002, earning £9m+.
Concern has been expressed that the details are also given to criminals.
Police officers were amazed when a car crashed into
their patrol car and they found a three-year-old boy was responsible.
Lancia is considering again offering right-hand-drive versions for all
models, starting with a revival of the Delta in 2008.
German police have set up a quick reaction task force equipped with 190
mph Porsche sportscars to chase drivers taking part in illegal Cannonball
Run-style races.
Several bidders are considering buying Ford owned
Jaguar’s historic headquarters at Brown’s Lane in Coventry.
900 motorists will have speeding convictions in the Vale of Glamorgan
quashed because a road signposted as 30 mph was not legally changed from 60
mph.
BMW is moving part of its business out of London because the
congestion charge is costing them £300,000 p.a.
An 'absent-minded' professor was stopped by police as he tried
to drive 110 miles down a German motorway in his wheelchair. A policeman said: “I'm not sure if he
realised that it would take him 20 hours to get home."
Peugeot is halving production of the 1007 just 6 months after its
launch because sales for the premium-priced small minivan are far below
expectations.
A Swiss driver, flashed by a speed camera, attacked
it with a pickaxe, ran it over with his car and threw it off a cliff. He faces
a fine of up to £13,000 for destruction of public property.
Speed humps which flatten for motorists travelling within the speed
limit are about to be introduced in Britain.
The hump has a rubber canopy filled with air and a pressure valve
attached which determines a vehicle’s speed.
Rogue wheel-clampers are continuing to work without a
licence.
The legal minimum width for street parking bays is 71” but
many cars are wider than that and may still be given a ticket for extending
beyond the white lines.
Someone noticed that the RAC’s online route finding
service advised drivers going from Nottingham to Devon to go via Ireland, Wales
and France – a two-day drive of 1,070 miles.
British police are searching for £85,000 of
Courvoisier cognac after a French truck driver was robbed as he slept in his
truck.
A Dutch 15-year-old pretending to be a bus driver stole
three separate buses and took dozens of
passengers along for the ride.
He was later arrested.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council has issued 6919 parking fines on five car
parks which it does not own or lease.
The LTI 20.20 mobile speed trap has been proved very unreliable. A cyclist was clocked at 66 mph, a brick
wall was travelling at 44 mph and a parked car at 22 mph. 97% of police forces
are using the equipment marketed by Frank Garratt who regularly appears as an
expert witness for the machine.
Willie Green tells us that the plans for the new historic race
circuit near Toulouse have been submitted and approval is expected shortly.
That 11-year-old boy who was caught driving a BMW by
police (November TOPS NEWS) was disqualified from driving for a year and given
nine points on his non-existent licence.
A Russian thief was caught after he stole a car
from a repair shop - without realising the brakes had been removed.
The newly launched Aston Martin Rapide is based on the
DB9 using the same 450 bhp 5.9-litre V12 engine and six-speed ZF auto
gearbox. The rear seats tip
forward and the load deck extends 6’
from the rear hatchback, with secret panels for magnums of champagne, picnic
baskets and a chess board. In 2005
Aston sold 350 £174,000 Vanquish models, 2,000 £103,000 DB9 coupés, 1,500
£112,000 DB9 Volantes and 600 of the new £79,999 V8 Vantage, indicating an estimated
sales income of £483m.
TOPS NEWS is an abridged version of one
section of the TOPS magazine sent to members.
Trisha Pilkington