More than three out of five tradespeople will be caught off guard by a £100 million tax raid, a new survey suggests.

Some 62% of respondents to a survey of more than 1,000 van drivers by online vehicle marketplace Auto Trader said they were unaware of the looming rise in company van tax quietly announced in Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement.

Under the plan, basic rate taxpayers currently paying £720 as a benefit in kind to use company vans for personal journeys will pay an additional 10% or £72 a year from April 6 next year.

Higher rate taxpayers face a £144 extra annual charge.

Increasing the tax in line with the Consumer Prices Index measure of inflation – currently near 40-year highs – will raise an extra £15 million a year, according to Treasury forecasts.

That will be worth more than £100 million by the end of the decade.

April’s tax rise follows soaring fuel costs driven by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The results of Auto Trader’s survey, shared with the PA news agency, indicated that more than a quarter (27%) of van drivers have been hit by at least £500 in extra running costs this year.

Van purchase costs have also increased.

The average price of used vans on its marketplace has risen by £1,300, or 7%, to £19,429 since November 2021.

New vans have seen an even bigger rise – up £4,300, or 14%, to £33,821 amid supply problems.

An Auto Trader spokesman said: “Our findings show that the new fresh tax raid coming their way in April will be a complete shock to most van drivers, adding to the heavy burden that they’ve already faced this year.

“It might even be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for many of them.”

Mr Hunt also announced in his autumn statement that new zero-emission cars will no longer be exempt from vehicle excise duty from April 2025.

A Treasury spokesperson said: “Drivers who only use their vans for business are not subject to the Van Benefit Charge because it only applies to private use – and those who do pay it will not see a real-terms increase next year.

“In addition, this year’s £2.4 billion fuel duty cut continues to save van drivers around £200 each.”

Road traffic officers and control room staff are to launch a two-day strike in the latest outbreak of industrial action sweeping the country.

Members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) working for National Highways in South West England and the West Midlands will walk out on Friday.

Other National Highways workers will strike on January 3 and 4.

The union said the action is likely to have an impact on signs and signals being set up to warn motorists of blockages and incidents, a reduced ability to respond and deal with collisions, and delays in reopening carriageways and motorways.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “Previous strikes elsewhere in England have caused disruption for people travelling over the Christmas period, and this strike is likely to do the same.

“While we regret people’s travel plans will be affected, we make it very clear this strike could be called off today if the Prime Minister or Chancellor put money on the table.”

Border Force workers in the PCS based at a number of airports are continuing with strike action until New Year’s Eve.

Military personnel will continue to cover for striking workers at Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff and Glasgow airports, as well as the Port of Newhaven.

The dispute is over pay, jobs, pensions and conditions, with more strikes set to be announced in the new year.

Duncan Smith, executive director of operations at National Highways, said: “The PCS strikes involve a small minority of frontline operational staff. We have well-rehearsed resilience plans to continue managing and operating our network safely, and we’re confident that this action will have minimal overall impact.

“Millions of people rely on our roads and there is a possibility that they may be busier than usual on strike days, particularly when they correspond with industrial action on other transport modes. We’d urge drivers to take extra care during the cold weather.”

At the start of every new year, many of us often make resolutions as we aim to try and improve as a person.

It may be going on a diet, exercising more or taking up a new activity or hobby, which can all get the year off on the right foot. The same applies in the motoring world, too, as small checks and measures you can do on your vehicle can make a big difference in the long run.

Here are some top tips to get your motoring year off to a good start.

Begin the year off with a good clean

Though winter might be far from over – and the dirty road season might still be in full force – it’s a good idea to start 2023 by cleaning your vehicle. Be sure to get as much of the grime and salt from the car with a jet wash before you start using a wash mitt to clean it any further, as this will help prevent any marring to the paint.

Work in straight lines with a dedicated wash mitt – a sponge can often scratch the vehicle if any specks of grit are on the surface – and be sure to rinse the car off thoroughly after. Don’t forget the door shuts, wheelarches and wheels themselves, either. Once the car is dried off, it’s a good idea to apply a layer of hard wax to the paint to help maintain the finish and repel the dirt.

Don’t forget the interior

Giving the interior a good onceover is a fantastic idea, too. This is the place where you’ll spend the most time, so it’s always best to keep on top of it. Empty the car of any rubbish or items you don’t need, and then give the car a good vacuum. You might want to remove the mats, if fitted, if you want to go a step further.

Giving any leather surfaces a good clean will help to freshen the cabin, as will wiping over the dashboard. You might want to apply an air freshener to keep the car smelling pleasant as well.

Make a note of the motoring deadlines for the year

Organisation can solve all kinds of problems, particularly when it comes to cars, so at the start of the year it’s a good idea to make a note of all the key motoring dates.

Whether you like a traditional calendar or reminders in your phone, jot down when your car’s tax expires, when it will need an MOT and service and also when your insurance is up for renewal. Not only will this help driving around a vehicle that’s not legal by accident, but knowing when these dates expire can also help you with your budgeting.

Check the fluid levels

Regular vehicle checks are key to safe motoring, so it’s a great way to get your motoring year off to a safe and hopefully trouble-free start.

Start by popping open the bonnet, and having a look at the fluid levels under there. Look at the engine oil first, which can be measured with the yellow dipstick. Remove this, wipe it clean with a paper towel, and then re-insert it once again to reveal the oil level. If it’s below the reading, top it up straight away. You can search for the correct oil for your car online, but a local motor factor will be able to help with this.

Washer fluid is another important one to check, particularly over winter when the roads are often salted, and generally muddier. It’s best to use a dedicated solution (most petrol stations and larger supermarkets sell ready-to-use screenwash), rather than water, as this is more likely to freeze.

Tyres

Looking at your tyres is something you should do at all times of the year, and are particularly important as they’re the only part of your vehicle actually in contact with the road.

First, check the tread depth, which can be measured using a 20p piece. Insert the coin in the groove, and if the outer edge of the coin can be seen, your tyres aren’t legal and need replacing. However, we’d recommend changing tyres well in advance of them getting this low on tread, particularly in winter.

Looking for any signs of cuts, slow punctures and other damage, while also checking your car’s tyres are correctly inflated. You’ll be able to find the correct tyre pressures in your vehicle’s handbook, as well as often in the petrol filler flap and in the door shuts. Most petrol stations have air facilities for this.

Windscreen

Ensuring your windscreen in good condition is another good way to start 2023 for your car. We’ve mentioned having plenty of washer fluid already, but looking for any signs of chips, and damage is important.

Windscreen chips can quickly develop into cracks over winter, so you should ring your insurer to arrange a repair before the damage gets any worse. Making sure the wipers are in good condition and not showing any signs of degradation is also an important check.

Classic car owners are taking detours to avoid smart motorways because they are “frightened” of being hit from behind while stopped in live lanes.

Drivers of cars which are typically older than 25 years said motorways without a hard shoulder have “too many risks” because their vehicles’ age makes them particularly susceptible to breaking down.

AA president Edmund King told the PA news agency the Government and National Highways should “go back to the drawing board” and return lane one of all-lane running smart motorways to a hard shoulder.

Alan Hames, who worked as a highways engineer for more than 50 years before retiring, said he takes detours to avoid smart motorways when driving his 1972 E-Type Jaguar V12 Roadster.

He added 26 miles to a return trip from his home in Northamptonshire to a recent rare-car event in south-west London by using the M40 – which has a hard shoulder – rather than the M1, which does not.

Breaking down on a smart motorway “brings too many risks for classic car owners”, the 80-year-old said.

“I know many other classic car owners who take long detours to avoid these deadly smart motorway death traps.

“Our classics are well looked after but cars like mine built 50 years ago are not as reliable as modern motors.

“At least a hard shoulder gives drivers the option of getting to relative safety.”

Around 10% of England’s motorway network is made up of smart motorways.

They involve various methods to manage the flow of traffic, such as converting the hard shoulder into a live running lane and variable speed limits.

Gaynor Cauter, editor of Jaguar Driver magazine, said she is one of many car enthusiasts who try to steer clear of smart motorways.

“I hear regularly from drivers of Jaguars – classic and modern – who are so frightened of breaking down on smart motorways that they make every effort to avoid them, and I include myself in that number,” she said.

“However, on some journeys, they are almost impossible to avoid.”

A National Highways report into SVD (stopped vehicle detection) trials published in 2016 stated that there were difficulties detecting small cars such as the Mazda MX5 sports coupe, which has a height of only 1.2 metres.

But the company is confident the development of the radar-based technology means there is no longer a specific problem related to the size of vehicles.

Safety regulator the Office of Rail and Road said earlier this month that detection rates of stopped vehicles by SVD in National Highways’ five regions with smart motorways without a hard shoulder is between 59.6% and 79.6%, whereas the company’s target is 80%.

Classic car owner Alice Kimberley, 61, of Wiltshire, said: “I have been driving my classic MX5 fearlessly for 30 years but now am concerned about venturing out on the new M4 smart motorway with the added danger of perhaps going under the radar or having nowhere to go if I did happen to break down.

“I try to avoid smart motorways if I can.”

National Highways operational control director Andrew Page-Dove said: “Stopped vehicle detection is required to detect all types of vehicles that use our motorways.

“We have met our commitment to put it in place on existing all-lane running motorways, and work is now under way to further improve the system to make journeys on our busiest roads even safer and more reliable.”

In January, the Department for Transport halted the development of new smart motorways without a hard shoulder until five years of safety data has been collected for schemes introduced before 2020.

Multiple surveys have indicated that many drivers do not use the inside lane on smart motorways as they are worried there might be a broken-down vehicle ahead.

Mr King said: “Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described smart motorways as ‘unsafe’.

“It really is time for National Highways and transport ministers to go back to the drawing board.

“The rollout of new smart motorways has been halted but urgent action is needed on the current confusion.

“Reinstating the hard shoulder and enforcing better lane discipline might just do the trick.”

The Sun newspaper has said it regrets the publication of Jeremy Clarkson’s column about the Duchess of Sussex and is “sincerely sorry”.

The apology comes after the piece, in which Clarkson said he “hated” Meghan, became the Independent Press Standards Organisation’s (Ipso) most complained-about article.

Ipso said the piece, which was removed from The Sun’s website on Monday at Clarkson’s request, had received more than 17,500 complaints as of 9am on Tuesday – rising to 20,800 by 5pm.

The reaction surpassed the total number of complaints the media regulator received in 2021 – 14,355.

On Friday the newspaper said in a statement: “In last Saturday’s Sun, Jeremy Clarkson wrote a comment article about the Duchess of Sussex. It provoked a strong response and led to a large number of complaints to Ipso, the independent press regulator.

“In a tweet earlier this week, Jeremy said he had made a ‘clumsy reference to a scene in Game of Thrones’, which had ‘gone down badly with a great many people’ and he was ‘horrified to have caused so much hurt’. He also said he will be more careful in future.

“Columnists’ opinions are their own, but as a publisher we realise that with free expression comes responsibility. We at The Sun regret the publication of this article and we are sincerely sorry.”

The newspaper added that the article had also been removed from their archives as well as their website.

The statement continued: “The Sun has a proud history of campaigning, from Help for Heroes to Jabs Army, Who Cares Wins and over 50 years of working in partnership with charities, our campaigns have helped change Britain for the better.

“Working with our readers, The Sun has helped to bring about new legislation on domestic abuse, provided beds in refuges, closed harmful loopholes in the law and empowered survivors of abuse to come forward and seek help. We will continue to campaign for good causes on behalf of our readers in 2023.”

In the piece published on Friday, Clarkson wrote that he had dreamed of Meghan being paraded through British towns and publicly shamed, adding that “everyone who’s my age thinks the same way”.

The article attracted criticism from high-profile figures, politicians, and his own daughter, Emily Clarkson.

Writing on Twitter, Clarkson said he was “horrified to have caused so much hurt” following the backlash and that he would “be more careful in future”.

It follows the recent broadcast of Harry and Meghan’s explosive six-part Netflix documentary, in which the couple made allegations of mistreatment by the royal family.

The first three episodes saw Meghan accuse the British media of wanting to “destroy” her and claim “salacious” stories were “planted” in the press.

The duchess also took the publisher of The Mail on Sunday – Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) – to court, after it published parts of a personal letter to her father, Thomas Markle, winning the case in 2021.

Millions of people are braced for disruption to Christmas Eve getaway journeys due to severe road traffic and strikes decimating train services.

The AA predicted that nearly 17 million cars will be on UK roads on Saturday, leading to severe congestion on major routes.

Pressure on the roads will be raised due to industrial action on the railways.

A walkout by thousands of members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at Network Rail means trains will stop running early, and some routes will have no services all day.

The RAC and transport analytics company Inrix said the worst Christmas Eve traffic on major roads will be between midday and 1pm.

They highlighted a southbound stretch of the M6 from junction 27 (Chorley, Lancashire) to junction 13 (Stafford, Staffordshire) as the most likely location for long queues.

Many drivers battled a band of heavy rain on Friday which moved north from southern England and Wales to southern Scotland and Northern Ireland.

National Highways said a 10-mile queue built up due to the M25 being closed from junction 11 (Woking, Surrey) to junction 12 (the M3) while standing water was cleared.

Heavy traffic stretched for three miles on the M20 as the westbound section of junction 4 (Leybourne, Kent) was closed after a serious crash on Thursday.

The AA reported “severe congestion” on several motorway stretches on Friday, including the north and west sections of the M25, the M1 around Luton, Bedfordshire, the M4 and M5 near Bristol, the M5 north of Birmingham, the M60 west of Manchester and the M8 near Glasgow.

AA president Edmund King said: “We’re expecting Christmas Day to be quieter with shorter local journeys.

“On Boxing Day traffic will pick up again with approximately 15 million trips as people head out to see friends and family.”

Network Rail said trains will stop running at around 3pm on Christmas Eve.

The early closure means the last departures on some long-distance routes will be before 1pm.

Examples of last train times include 10.45am for Leeds to London, 11am for London to Edinburgh and 12.48pm for London to Manchester.

East Midlands Railway will only run an “extremely limited service” between London St Pancras and Corby, with no trains on routes such as London St Pancras-Sheffield and London St Pancras-Nottingham.

No South Western Railway trains will run on several routes to and from London Waterloo, including Reading, Twickenham and Dorking.

Chiltern Railways will not operate any trains to or from Oxford, or north of Banbury.

No trains operate on Britain’s railways on Christmas Day.

The normal limited Boxing Day schedule has been scrapped due to the strike, while services will start later than usual on December 27.

Christmas is a key period for maintenance work on the railways.

Network Rail planned a £120 million programme of more than 300 projects over the festive period this year.

It said “around 85%” of this work will still go ahead despite the RMT action.

Border Force strikes continue at six UK airports but there was minimal disruption on the first day of the walkout on Friday as armed forces personnel were deployed to check passports.

Drivers are being warned to prepare for long queues as millions of people embark on journeys to spend Christmas with friends and family.

The AA said Friday will be the busiest day on the roads this week, with an estimated 16.9 million journeys being made across the UK.

A further 16.6 million journeys are expected to be made on Christmas Eve.

Congestion could be increased due to a strike by thousands of members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at Network Rail causing train services to finish at around 3pm on Saturday.

The RAC said roads will be busiest on Friday – the last working day before Christmas – between 10am and 7pm.

Transport analytics company Inrix expects journey times to be around 14% longer compared with the same period last year.

The RAC singled out the M25 clockwise between Junction 7 and Junction 16 as an area to avoid on Friday afternoon – with data from Inrix suggesting average vehicle speeds for this stretch of road could be as low as 26mph.

Other roads likely to be hit by congestion include the M60 near Manchester, the M6 in north-west England and the M40 in Oxfordshire.

RAC spokesman Rod Dennis said: “We’re expecting to see lengthy delays on parts of the M25 today as Christmas getaway and end-of-the-week commuter traffic combine.

“We advise drivers, if possible, to avoid these roads around this time or delay their trips until after 7pm this evening when traffic is predicted to be lighter.

“A single vehicle breakdown also has the potential to add to the queues, so we encourage motorists to complete a few pre-drive checks before setting out – in particular ensuring oil and coolant levels are correct, and tyres have plenty of tread and are properly inflated.”

National Highways said almost 98% of England’s motorways and major A-roads will be fully open until the end of January 2 due to it completing and lifting roadworks.

AA head of roads policy Jack Cousens said: “We are advising those heading out in their cars to be prepared for some congestion, especially on popular routes heading out of London.

“The rail strikes have convinced more people to travel by car this year, and while hundreds of miles of roadworks have been removed to ease the pain, it might not be enough to keep the queues away.”

Inrix transportation analyst Bob Pishue said: “With pre-pandemic levels of travellers hitting the road this holiday, drivers must be prepared for delays – especially in and around major cities.”

Drivers over the age of 50 are enduring significant increases in car insurance premiums, new figures have shown.

Data released by Comparethemarket shows that the average premium for a driver aged between 50 and 64 was £320 in November 2022 – a £45 increase on the same month in 2021.

The average insurance premium for drivers aged between 65 and 80 has also increased, rising by £39 year-on-year to £274. There’s an even steeper rise for motorists aged over 80, too, with premiums increasing by £66 to £435.

Though insurance premiums have increased for all age groups, insurance costs for the over 50s are rising faster than the national average. A separate study by Comparethemarket found that drivers aged over 55 are also more likely to stick with their current insurance providers rather than shop around for a new deal. However, doing so could save £328 on average.

Julie Daniels, motor insurance expert at Comparethemarket, said: “Drivers will be concerned that the cost of car insurance is rising, especially when household finances are already being strained. Our research shows the average motor premium has increased by 14 per cent year-on-year. However, the cost of car insurance is rising faster for drivers over 50.

“This could mean that these motorists end up paying much more than they need to for car insurance, as they are also less likely to switch insurers. Our figures show loyalty doesn’t pay. By shopping around, drivers could save hundreds of pounds when their policy ends. We encourage everyone now, more than ever, to check if they could save by switching.”

The overall average premium has risen by 14 per cent year-on-year to £629 in November 2022, representing a £76 increase on the same month last year. This increase is attributed to rising values for second hand cars and increased vehicle repair costs.

Rishi Sunak has refused to rule out the prospect of motorists facing a 12p-a-litre hike in fuel duty in March.

A 23% increase in the duty is pencilled in for March, but chancellors have repeatedly frozen the levy in the past.

Asked to confirm that the rise will not go ahead, the Prime Minister told MPs he would not comment on matters which are the responsibility of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.

“Having previously had his job, I always preferred it when the Prime Minister made absolutely no comments about future tax policy, so I will absolutely adhere to that,” he told the Liaison Committee.

Treasury Select Committee chairwoman Harriett Baldwin told him the policy would mean extra taxes of “£6 billion a year during a cost-of-living crisis”, and said there is a need for a “better approach to fuel duty”.

Mr Sunak said: “Tax decisions are those that are made by the Chancellor in fiscal statements and that’s the way it should be.”

At the time of Mr Hunt’s autumn statement in November, the Office for Budget Responsibility said a “planned 23% increase” in fuel duty in March will add around 12p per litre to pump prices.

The figure is based on a combination of the scheduled end of the 5p cut in duty, and the long-standing policy of duty rising in line with the RPI rate of inflation.

But no chancellor has increased fuel duty in cash terms for more than a decade and the Treasury insisted a final decision on the rate would not be taken until the next budget, scheduled for March 15.