TOPS NEWS – July/August 2005
Drivers stopped on the hard shoulder to help two distraught motorcyclists whose money-filled rucksack had broken open on the M3 near Winchester. But strong winds quickly blew the £20 notes across both carriageways and only £500 of the £11,000 was recovered. The unlucky motorcyclists’ Kawasaki then broke down again and police decided to investigate their story that they were carrying so much money because they were on their way to buy a car.
A man who
had his leg amputated three years ago has been told he must have a medical
examination before his disabled parking permit can be renewed in case his
circumstances have changed.
According to the DVLA there are 4.9m driving licence
holders over the age of 65.
When 85 year old Marian Foulkes was denied a renewal
of her driving licence because of old age she and her husband decided to
protest by setting off on a 1400 mile trip in their car. Their children reported them missing to the
police who eventually arrested them when they abandoned the car and took a
bus. The chase lasted three days and
was ‘great fun’ said Marian.
Two bomb-proof BMW X5s are being used to drive Brooklyn
and Romeo Beckham to school. The cars
have bullet-proof tyres and their own air supply in case of chemical attack.
Chelsea FC has bought a £600,000 bullet-proof bus. Club owner Roman Abramovich has also had the
bus fitted with massage tables and a hydrotherapy pool.
Swiss researchers have developed the world's most
economical car which, using hydrogen fuel cell technology, could circle the
globe on only eight litres of fuel.
The Portsmouth Le Havre ferry crossing is to close. P&O sold it to Brittany Ferries but they
wanted to raise the ticket prices by 40% and the Office of Fair Trading refused
permission.
Cheffins are to
close their classic car auction business following the resignation of Julian
Shoolheifer and Damian Jones. Damian
has joined H&H who have also taken on Michael Ware in an advisory
capacity. He was curator of the Montagu
Motor Museum for many years.
Toyota UK is to reduce the amount of components sourced in the UK from 65% to
47% but says it will invest more money in the UK.
24% of convictions for causing death by dangerous
driving in 2003 were of drivers under 20
despite only 2% of licence holders being this young. 53% of cars exceed
30 mph limits, 27% exceed 40 mph limits, 10% exceed 60 mph limits. 19% exceed 80 mph on the motorway.
Speed camera fines totaling £68,000 are to be repaid
to motorists after signs at a roadworks were placed at the wrong spot and
trapped 1,136 motorists. And dozens of motorists could escape punishment
for speeding because they were served with wrongly worded legal forms which did
not say they were issued on behalf of the chief constable
The Avon & Somerset safety camera
partnership are
delighted with the results of a temporary 40 mph limit at roadworks near Bath,
where they have caught 20,000 motorists in two months and issued fines of
£1.2m.
The bicycle has been
voted the most significant technological innovation since 1800.
Andris Piebalfs, the EU’s Latvian Energy
Commissioner, has suggested that EU drivers ought to adopt the 100 kph (60 mph) upper speed limit. This has not been well received in Germany
where there is no speed limit on the motorways.
The Dunlop curve at Le Mans is to be reprofiled as part of an £11m redevelopment aimed at bringing the size of the grid back to the traditional 55 cars by 2007.
It has been
stated that GM has too many brands, too many models, too many
factories and too many workers - GM is offering a discount to all employees who
buy one of their cars. GM’s liability to pay the medical expenses of its
pensioners is now calculated by Standard & Poor analysts at $61billion.
Synovate, the company who produced a survey for Ken Livingstone supporting his
tram scheme, has admitted the consultation was a sham.
More Cubans have tried to reach America using a converted car. This time 13 of them converted a 1949
Mercury blue taxicab into a boat, with a prow jutting out of the front and a
taxi sign on the roof, but it was intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard
about 20 miles off the southern tip of
Florida.
Seven illegal immigrants were found at Calais in a GP2
transporter returning from testing at Paul Ricard. They had caused minor damage
to two cars.
Ferrari has begun work on the California to compete with
Aston Martin's V8 Vantage. The £85,000 model, powered by a front-mounted,
400bhp 4.2-litre V8 engine, will also be available as a drophead.
Volvo has recalled 13,000 trucks because of a risk of steering failure.
Different odours affect the way motorists drive,
with fast food scents likely to increase road rage, and other smells, like
peppermint, said to improve concentration, according to the RAC Foundation
motoring organisation. Good vehicle odours include cinnamon, lemon and coffee.
A blast of salty sea air can also encourage deep breathing and help relieve
stress. ‘Dangerous’ odours are camomile, jasmine and lavender because they can
cause drivers to over-relax or fall asleep.
German police, alerted to a potential kidnapping, "freed" a man
from a car trunk only to discover the would-be victim was actually a willing
sex slave. Police stopped the car after a concerned caller told them he had
seen a woman locking someone in the boot. However, on opening it, they were
greeted by the sight of the 39-year-old man wearing nothing but a leather thong
and a collar. "It turned out they were a couple from the S&M scene.
The 'mistress' was driving, with the slave in the boot," said a police
spokesman in Bayreuth. Deciding the rear of the car was not safe for the man,
officers told him to sit inside the car and sent the pair on their way.
A lorry driver pushed a Smart car two miles down a busy motorway because
he didn't know it was stuck to his truck.
He said he was surprised when a patrol car signalled for him to stop as
he was not driving too fast. "I
couldn't believe it when I got out of the truck and saw there was a car stuck
on the front of it," he said.
A man has been arrested in Kentucky for 'driving' a horse under the
influence of alcohol. Dwyer says he
will fight the charge but Kentucky State law classes a horse as a vehicle.
"If they can charge you with something for being on an animal like that it
shouldn't be DUI because a horse has a mind of its own," Dwyer said.
German firemen have destroyed a teenage driver's ‘first’ car after they
mistook it for scrap and used it for practice.
They used hydraulic scissors and axes to cut off the roof and doors as
practice for freeing people from crashed cars.
Public health officials are concerned that mosquitoes are
breeding inside used car tyres and being imported into the UK. They would like them caught and sent to
them.
The 100 millionth Volkswagen was completed in May. 21.5 million
Beetles, 23 million Golfs, 13 million Passats and 9 million Polos are included
in the 100 million total. In 2004,
Volkswagen delivered 3.06 million vehicles to customers in more than 150
countries around the world. The Volkswagen brand has a global workforce of over
133,000.
Peter Hartz, head of the general works council at Volkswagen has
stepped down in the midst of an alleged bribery scandal. It is thought that
this is the "tip of the iceberg."
A former Nazi graphic designer is suing Volkswagen because he says he
designed the famous VW logo in 1939.
Nikolai Borg, 86, who now lives in Austria, says he can prove his
involvement in the development of the VW logo 65 years ago.
The only car Pope John Paul II ever owned has not been a blessing
for a father and son whose fight over the impending auction of the humble car
is now in court. The powder blue,
four-door 1975 Ford Escort is expected to sell for £2.6m but Jerome Rich says
his son Jim has no right to sell it.
Jim Rich obtained the keys to the car from the pontiff himself a decade
ago after purchasing it through an Indiana auction house for $102,000. Jim Rich
put the car on display at his Chicago restaurant but now wants to auction the
car to settle what he owes his father.
In May, the Volkswagen Golf once owned by Pope Benedict sold for £130,000 in a
frenzied online auction with 8.4 million visits to the eBay site during the ten
day auction. Bishop Josef Clemens, the
Pope’s former secretary, was unable to confirm that the Pope actually had a
driving licence.
Zhang Xinquan, from China, used his ears to pull a 24 tonne train 40
metres within 4 minutes, to achieve a record.
He can also pull a car with his ears while walking on eggs without
breaking them.
A new ambulance service has been launched in Chile
- for plants. Customers with dying plants call the company's emergency line and
they send out a horticultural expert in an ambulance.
A British team's bid to break the world speed record for
an electric car was abandoned when it wouldn't start.
Sid Watkins’ wife
Susan has now completed the biography of Bernie Ecclestone. As each chapter was finished she sent it to
him for approval. Apparently he never
read them and has now ‘allegedly’ withdrawn his consent to publication.
A scooter ban has been enforced in the centre of Naples to aid police
chasing common crooks who famously rob pedestrians and speed away through the
historic centre's narrow alleyways.
Maria Brunner, a mother-of-three has chosen to go to prison so that she
can get a rest rather than pay a parking fine.
A motorcyclist captured on film by German police racing at 155 mph on a
road near Berlin has set a new unofficial national record for speeding but
authorities don't know who the speeder was because motorcycles have no front
licence plates.
A Porsche driver who had permission to use a local
runway to practise high speed driving had a lucky escape when a plane landed on
his roof.
New Jaguar cars are to have noisier engines
(enhanced sound) to give the driver an indication of power, excitement and
sportiness.
An artist who vandalised 47 cars for a project said the owners should be happy
that they were part of his ‘creative process.’
Road atlases published by the AA are to include the location of
fixed speed cameras. The A65 between
Rawdon and Leeds has a camera nearly every mile.
Scotland Yard says it cannot cope with the number of drivers being
caught by its cameras. 500,000 vehicles
were caught last year but only 118,168 drivers paid the fine.
MOT testing stations are now linked to a central
computer. To check the status of a
car’s MOT call the government enquiry line 0870 330 0444 or check
www.motinfo.gov.uk (Didn’t
work when we tried it! Ed)
Only 16% of motorists would refuse to have tracking
devices fitted in their cars to allow the introduction of road-charging, according
to a survey by Mori for IT consultancy Detica.
Others said they would be encouraged to install a "black box"
if it would also help emergency services locate them after a crash (27%), give
them discounts on road-user charges (24%), allow them to avoid repeated
payments for road use (21%), help reduce their insurance premiums (20%), relay
traffic information to their car (15%), provide proof of payment (13%) or
provide directions and information about places of interest (9%). When presented with a list of potential
benefits, 73% of vehicle owners spoken to said they would consider having a
device fitted. “So the Government needs to push the benefits message home” said
Detica's head of transport Grant Klein.
France’s famous N7 is to be broken into segments so
that each department owns the bit which passes through it - thus the N7 is
likely to be re-named - several times!
In 1811 it was known as the Route Impériale N8 from Paris to Rome not
becoming the N7 until 1871. In 1893 René
Panhard’s son Hippolyte took 6 days to drive from Nice to Marseille, returning
to Paris with his car on the train.
A German man has canned the noxious-smelling exhaust fumes of
East Germany's cult Trabant car and is doing a brisk trade selling the scent to
those nostalgic for the former Communist state.
TOPS NEWS is an abridged version of one
section of the TOPS magazine sent to members.
Trisha Pilkington