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A charge increase of up to 50p for vehicles using the M6 Toll will come into effect from 6am on Monday, July 30. M6 Toll operator, Midland Expressway Limited has announced the increases which will be the first price rise for goods vehicles since 2012. • Prices will rise for cars by between 30p and 50p […]

Leaders of towns and cities from across England and Wales have called on the government to ban the sale of new ‘pure’ diesel and petrol cars and vans by 2030.

The mayors and city chiefs said that banning the sale of new ‘pure’ diesel and petrol cars and vans by 2030 would encourage car manufacturers and other businesses to innovate, helping ensure the UK was a world leader in low emission technology.

To ensure the roll out of an electric vehicle infrastructure needed to support such a move, cities should have the power to install charge points at petrol stations and private car parks that were publicly accessible.

Some large fleets are extending leasing contracts due to uncertainty surrounding the new WLTP fuel consumption and emissions test on company car benefit-in-kind tax impact, says Arval.   Information on taxation has only been made available by the government up until tax year 2020/21, meaning that many drivers and their companies acquiring cars now do […]

CAP HPI has found an average rise of 10% in vehicle CO2 emissions following the introduction of the new Worldwide harmonised Light vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP).

WLTP CO2 emission and MPG testing is now being phased in. The UK government has said that it will retain the ‘old’ New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) vehicle testing procedure for tax purposes until April 2020.

However, during the current ‘transitional period’ vehicles tested to WLTP protocols are ‘converted’ into a so-called NEDC-correlated value using a European Commission-produced mathematical tool.

The CAP HPI study of more than 600 models examined emissions data between September 2017 and May 2018.

The government is to continue offering Plug-in Car and Van Grants until ‘at least’ October 2018. The grants will be maintained at the current levels with a review to be carried out in the autumn. The government said it would try to provide as much notice as possible before any changes to grant levels were […]

Fleet budgets are under pressure from rapidly increasing petrol and diesel pump prices and further rises are on the cards – potentially reaching record levels.

Average UK fuel prices reached a record high in April 2012 when a litre of unleaded petrol cost 142.48p and diesel was 147.93p.

Now the RAC has warned that unleaded petrol could reach 143p a litre with diesel certain to cost a few pence more – up from the current UK average of 128.9p and 131.8p as recorded by website petrolprices.com.

UK pump prices have been on an upward spiral for the last few weeks due to the cost of oil increasing to above $80, combined with a poor pound to dollar exchange rate of $1.33 which negatively affects the cost of fuel on the wholesale market.

Within three years all new vehicles must be equipped with 11 advanced safety features, such as advanced emergency braking (AEB), lane-keeping system, over-ridable intelligent speed assistance or driver’s distraction recognition, as proposed by The European Commission.

Coinciding with the European Commission’s announcement, Thatcham Research, the motor insurers’ automotive research centre, called on the UK government and carmakers to not stall on the mandatory fitment of AEB on all cars and vans.

A further four features will follow a few years after 2021 with the European Commission explaining that such features offered significant potential to compensate for human errors, a major factor in most road accidents.