Month: March 2024

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has pledged not to expand the ultra low emission zone (Ulez) scheme if he returns to the role after May’s election.

In a letter to London’s transport commissioner Andy Lord, Mr Khan wrote that he had “categorically” ruled out the introduction of a pay-per-mile scheme as well as any tightening of Ulez emissions standards.

He wrote: “There is clearly still more to do to tackle air pollution, and I’m determined to continue leading from the front in London.

“But my commitment to Londoners is this will not include a new pay-per-mile road user charging scheme or amending the standards for the Ulez scheme.

“The introduction and expansion of the Ulez has been necessary and effective. But now it’s in place and working, I will ensure the goalposts are not moved for drivers.”

Mr Khan adds in the letter that he would focus on other measures to tackle air pollution, including improving walking and cycling routes, making buildings more energy efficient and expanding the network of electric vehicle charging stations.

Susan Hall, the Conservative mayoral candidate, said: “Promises are worthless from the man who has been dishonest with Londoners about his plans to tax drivers.

“Sadiq Khan said he wouldn’t expand Ulez at the last election, then went ahead and did the opposite.

“He has spent £150 million building the technology for pay per mile, and now wants us to believe he won’t use it.

“Sadiq Khan is taking Londoners for fools and he just won’t listen. That’s why we need to vote for change on May 2.”

A spokesman for the mayor said: “Sadiq has been clear that he has ruled out the introduction of a pay-per-mile road user charging scheme but the Tories are clearly trying to mislead Londoners by repeatedly saying this is not the case.

“The mayor has now put in writing to the TfL commissioner his clear pledge to London: no pay-per-mile scheme will be introduced while he is mayor.”

Liberal Democrat candidate Rob Blackie said: “The Ulez could have been so much more successful if the mayor hadn’t rushed the 2023 extension, giving people in outer London just a few months to adapt.

“If we’re going to crack climate change we need to bring people with us.

“It’s crucial that the mayor focuses on fixing the problems that still persist, especially for tradespeople who need vans for work.”

Green Party candidate Zoe Garbett said: “It’s really disappointing that the current Labour Mayor of London is refusing to listen to what Londoners are saying about Ulez.

“Whilst Greens absolutely support action to reduce air pollution, the mayor’s current scheme has a lot of unfairness built into it. I would work to tackle this.

“London needs an improved system that will bring down air pollution in a fairer way and I believe the best way to do that is to replace both the Ulez and congestion charge with a new road charging system.

“At the moment, some of the worst polluting vehicles are able to avoid fees whilst many people on low incomes in small older cars are being charged.

“If elected, I would consult with Londoners and start to develop a new system which takes into account the distances driven, vehicle emissions, time of day and location.

“I would also look for ways to take into account how many people are in the car to encourage car sharing.”

Dacia has added more choice and more power to its value-orientated Sandero and Sandero Stepway lines.

Buyers will now be able to get the Sandero Stepway Extreme model with a turbocharged TCe petrol engine – which produces 108bhp and can return 45.6mpg, while the standard Sandero can now be ordered with a new trim level called Journey.

The Journey trim level is already used on the popular Duster SUV and will be the new flagship model in the Sandero range.

As standard, the Sandero Journey comes with automatic air conditioning, rear parking sensors, a reversing camera, an electronic parking brake, blind spot warning and the MediaNav infotainment system with an eight-inch screen which houses both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone mirroring systems, alongside DAB radio and Bluetooth connectivity.

Additionally, it comes with 16-inch alloy wheels, black door mirrors and a shark-fin antenna while inside you’ll find a high central armrest with console storage, removable phone support, flexible boot floor and door sill protectors.

Furthermore, the Sandero Journey can now be ordered with an automatic gearbox with the TCe 90 engine.

Prices for the Sandero Journey start from £15,795 – while the Sandero Stepway Extreme with the new TCe turbocharged engine is priced at £18,645.

Both models will be available to order from April 3 2024 via Dacia’s retail network or online.

A huge blaze inside a multi-storey car park at Luton Airport started by accident, a new report has found.

An investigation by Bedfordshire Police and Bedfordshire Fire & Rescue Service into last October’s fire discovered that ‘all evidence’ pointed towards the cause most probably ‘being an electrical fault or component failure’ in the engine bay while the vehicle was moving.

The fire and rescue service said in a statement that the cause was accidental.

According to the report, the owner tried to stop the fire but it spread to other components and then to other parked vehicles.

The report also concluded that the car had a diesel engine, and stated that ‘it was not a mild hybrid, plug-in hybrid or electric vehicle’, quashing widespread internet claims that the blaze was started by a battery-powered model.

The massive fire destroyed more than 1,400 cars on October 10 and was declared a major incident, with over 100 firefighters tackling it at its height. The flames also spread across multiple floors of the car park, causing a partial collapse of the structure.

The incident saw aircraft grounded until the next day.

At the time, Luton Airport said it had provided the Motor Insurers’ Bureau with the registration details of 1,405 vehicles and, along with parking provider APCOA, had responded to almost 16,500 customer queries since the fire.

Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service says that a full incident report is expected to be published during the summer.

Adrian Hallmark has taken up a new role as Aston Martin’s CEO.

It comes just hours after the former Bentley boss announced his departure from the Crewe-based firm ‘at his own request and by mutual consent’ following a six-year stint as the luxury car manufacturer’s CEO.

Hallmark said: “Bentley has had a great influence on me. To redefine luxury mobility for the future with such a strong brand is a task that I took on with full commitment and great pleasure. The time has now come for me to turn to new challenges.

“I would like to express warm thanks to the entire Bentley team for all that we have achieved together in the last few years.”

Hallmark will now take up a role as executive director of Aston Martin and become its CEO ‘no later than October 1, 2024’.

Existing CEO Amedeo Felisa will remain in the position until Hallmark takes up his new post to ensure a ‘smooth transition in leadership’, according to Aston Martin.

Commenting on the move, Lawrence Stroll, executive chairman of Aston Martin, said: “In Adrian Hallmark, we are attracting one of the highest calibre leaders not just in our segment, but in the entire global automotive industry.

“Complementing our world-class leadership, Adrian will bring to Aston Martin unrivalled experience in both the ultra-luxury and British manufacturing sectors to progress our strategy and continue recent momentum.”

Hallmark added: “Like many working within the ultra-luxury segment, I have admired the continued transformation of Aston Martin’s brand and products from afar and feel honoured to have the opportunity to work with Lawrence, the Board and the Company’s employees to lead its next chapter.

“The transformation of Aston Martin is one of the most exciting projects within the ultra-luxury automotive industry. I am looking forward to continuing the Company’s great momentum and utilising my experience and passion to further unleash this iconic brand’s potential and take it to even greater success.”

One in eight UK supermarkets now offer electric vehicle (EV) charging despite Asda deactivating most of its devices, according to new research.

Analysis by the RAC and charger locator service Zapmap found that the number of supermarkets with EV chargers rose from 1,015 at the end of 2022 to 1,616 12 months later.

The latest figure equates to 13% of all 12,839 supermarkets, including those that do not have parking facilities.

Morrisons is the supermarket chain with the highest proportion of stores offering EV charging at 69%, followed by Lidl (30%).

Asda has charging facilities at just 2% of its stores as many of its devices were deactivated after its contract with infrastructure supplier bp pulse ended.

RAC EV spokesperson Simon Williams said: “Concerns about the lack of public charge points are one of the biggest reasons why drivers aren’t choosing to go electric when buying their next car, with six-in-10 telling us this.

“It’s very encouraging to see supermarkets doing their best to allay these fears by ramping up EV charging facilities across a greater proportion of their estates.

“The data also shows a surge of investment in the very fastest chargers. These rapid and ultra-rapid units are the closest drivers can get to filling up with fuel because they offer the fastest charging speeds.

“As the supermarkets currently dominate UK fuel sales, it makes sense for them to try to retain as much of that market as they can by catering to the needs of all EV drivers looking to recharge as quickly as possible.”

Zapmap co-founder Melanie Shufflebotham said: “With around 3,000 charge points now in place at supermarkets across the UK, it’s really positive to see this sustained growth at such popular charging locations for EV drivers.

“Not only did the total number of supermarkets offering EV charge points rise by almost 60% last year, but we also saw significant growth in the number of those all-important rapid and ultra-rapid chargers.”

An Asda spokesperson said: “Our operating agreement with bp pulse came to an end in October last year.

“These EV charging points remain on site with clear signage to indicate to customers that the equipment is currently not in use, whilst we review our options.”

Nearly 90 per cent of UK motorists prefer physical buttons rather than touch-sensitive controls, according to recent research.

Out of the 1,428 motorists surveyed by What Car?, 60 per cent would be put off buying a car that prioritised touch-sensitive buttons over physical ones.

Furthermore, 60 per cent also admitted that they had been distracted from driving safely while operating in-car controls– but were not just towards touchscreen interfaces.

Driver distraction was a contributing factor in 29 per cent of all road deaths in 2022, compared to 23 per cent in 2013, according to new data published by the Department of Transport.

The figures are backed up by What Car’s? latest consumer test of 20 different infotainment systems.

The test found that drivers were more distracted by limited voice control systems and touchscreen-led interfaces than driving with physical buttons and clear voice control systems.

BMW’s iDrive 8 in the latest BMW 5-Series came out with the best result with 87 per cent, followed by the OpenR system in the Renault Austral at 83 per cent and in third place was the Google-based system found in the Volvo XC60 at 68 per cent.

Claire Evans, What Car? consumer editor, said: “The key to providing the easiest-to-use, least distracting infotainment and air-con systems is to offer drivers plenty of control options.

“The very best systems, such as BMW’s iDrive, Renault’s OpenR and Volvo’s Google built-in, give drivers a number of ways of accessing frequently used functions.”

The worst performers were the Interlink system in the petrol-engined Vauxhall Corsa, finishing in last place with a score of just 22 per cent, while the Suzuki S-Cross scored just 24 per cent with its Pioneer SLDA system.

Both systems were criticised for being limited in providing functionality, neither had voice controls that could comprehend normal speech and instead would get the driver to remember specific commands.

Making the switch to an electric car is a big transition – and one that needs careful thought and consideration.

Owning an EV and using it as a daily driver works for many people, but there are other circumstances where it can become a challenge – even a chore – when compared to a petrol or diesel equivalent.

But with the government-mandated transition to electric vehicles already begun, it’s a change in lifestyle that many drivers will have to make in the coming years.

My choice was made for me. I have been very fortunate to run a very-much-petrol-powered Audi RS6 for the past nine months, but in February that was swapped for an electric SUV – Audi’s SQ8 e-tron.

Now, a few weeks into life with the new model is probably the perfect time for some reflection, but before I get on to that, a quick ode to the Audi that went before it.

The last hurrah for the RS6 was a family trip to the Alps for our annual ski holiday. Four up and packed with kit, the RS6 devoured middle France with aplomb. Complete with top box, it easily swallowed all of the equipment needed and was incredibly comfortable for the entire 13-hour journey to Chamonix.

Audi had swapped the tyres for all-weather winters before the trip and I was glad they did. A huge dump of snow continued for the entire week we were there and the Audi’s four-wheel-drive and snow tyre combination made it practically unstoppable.

The tyres had huge grip and it managed to climb hills that had left many other cars stranded at the roadside. It was a wonderful last trip for the RS6 and made it very hard indeed to hand the keys back.

In the meantime, I had been preparing for the arrival of the SQ8 by attempting to get a charger installed. I live in a listed building so it wasn’t the easiest of processes. The council required a full planning application to be submitted – at a cost of more than £500 – just to get it signed off. A public consultation on the tiny box was also required and, all in, it was an eight-week-long wait to finally get the nod.

I chose PodPoint as the provider as they were recommended by Audi, but I can’t say I endorse them. The install was relatively pain-free, as I had planned a power supply to my garage in anticipation of one day adding a charger to the drive, but when I went to use it for the first time it didn’t work.

You’d think plugging a car into a socket would be as simple as you kettle, or a laptop, but sadly not. The Audi blamed the charger and the charger blamed the car. After a call to both Audi’s technicians and the PodPoint customer services team, the latter logged into the charger over wifi and made some adjustments. After that it worked, but I was left baffled at why something that should have been so simple, was so hard.

I must admit I found the first couple of weeks hard to adjust to the new Audi. It didn’t help that it has an awfully annoying speed limit warning ‘bong’ that sounds even 1mph over the speed limit. Now I’m not admitting to being a reckless driver here, but I am sure all of us have accidentally clicked 1mph over the speed limit now and again. What you don’t need is a constant alarm telling you you’re doing it.

Apparently, this isn’t an Audi thing, but a mandated addition to all new cars from 2024 onwards. I have worked out a way to turn it off in the SQ8 – but it’s buried deep in the car’s digital systems and has to be turned off every time you get in the car. If I am brutally honest it’s enough to make me not want to buy a new car ever again – but reporting on them is kind of my job.

I have also been a little shocked by the Audi’s range. This is a car that costs, wait for it, £118,105 and most of the time I struggle to get more than 200 miles range out of a full charge.

Theoretically, the car should offer 265 miles, but I’ve never seen anywhere close to that. Now I don’t really buy the argument that ‘most people don’t need to travel further than that’, because occasionally I do – and when I do it means battling with the woeful public charging infrastructure.

That last point is something most people will desperately want to avoid. There are still too many different apps needed to get them to work, far too many are out of order and when you do get connected they’re painfully expensive to use.

Talking of cost, the Audi isn’t really that cheap to run either. I’m paying between £50-£100 per week on my electric bill to top the car up which is largely the same amount I was using in fuel for the RS6. I have recently fixed on a standard tariff which works out best for us as we work from home too, so can’t even get a cheaper electric car rate.

I’m trying to remain positive about life with an electric car because the Audi is actually very nice to drive. It’s comfortable, quiet and has some clever tech. I’m still getting used to a lot of it and the shock (pun intended) of switching to an EV, but at least it’ll be an interesting experiment over the next few months.

Next time I’ll delve into the details of the SQ8 a little further and let you know whether I’ve finally managed to get used to life with an EV. I promise I’ll try.

Facts at a glance
Model: Audi SQ8
Price as tested: £118,105
Engine: Electric motor with 114kW battery
Power: 496bhp
Torque: 973Nm
0-60mph: 4.5 seconds
Top speed: 130mph
Range: 265 miles (claimed)
Emissions: 0g/km CO2
Mileage: 1,346

The rate of pothole repairs on local roads in England and Wales has reached an eight-year high, according to a new report.

This shows highways are heading towards “breaking point”, according to the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), which carried out the research.

The annual Alarm survey found that local authorities expect to fix 2.0 million potholes in the current financial year.

That is up 43% compared with 1.4 million during the previous 12 months, and is the highest annual total since 2015/16 when 2.2 million potholes were filled in.

The AIA report said: “This indicates that local authorities, who have a statutory responsibility to keep local roads safe, don’t have the funds to do so in a cost-effective, proactive way, which would allow them to carry out the appropriate maintenance interventions at the right time.”

Just 47% of local road miles were rated as being in a good condition, with 36% adequate and 17% poor.

The survey found that average highway maintenance budgets increased by 2.3% in the 2023/24 financial year compared with the previous 12 months.

But the impact of rising costs due to inflation meant local authorities “effectively experienced a real-terms cut”, the report warned.

Meanwhile, the amount needed to fix the backlog of local road repairs has reached a record £16.3 billion, up 16% from £14.0 billion a year ago.

AIA chairman Rick Green said: “Local authorities have a bit more money to spend this year but the impact of rising costs due to inflation means they have actually been able to do less with it.

“Couple this with the effects of the extreme weather we are increasingly facing, and the result is that the rate at which local roads are suffering is accelerating towards breaking point.”

The survey found that an estimated 2.0 million potholes will be filled by councils in the 2023/24 financial year, up from 1.4 million during the previous 12 months.

This is the most since 2015/16.

In October 2023, the Government announced it would provide £8.3 billion of extra funding over 11 years to fix potholes in England.

This was part of the Network North strategy to use money saved by scrapping the planned extension of HS2 north of Birmingham.

Mr Green said: “There’s still a mountain to climb when it comes to fixing our local roads.

“While it’s great that English local authorities should be getting more money from the Government through its Network North funding, it’s clearly not going to be enough to halt the decline.”

Local Government Association transport spokesman Darren Rodwell said: “This report reveals in stark terms the huge challenge facing councils in maintaining the local roads network, which nearly everyone relies on.

“The backlog of repairs now stands at almost double the extra amount that Government has promised over the next 11 years.”

AA president Edmund King said: “Our breakdown data shows that 2023 was the worst year for potholes for five years.

“Arguably the road network is a local council’s biggest asset, but not enough planned investment and repairs are being made to make streets safer and smoother for drivers and those on two wheels.”

Nicholas Lyes, director of policy and standards at charity IAM RoadSmart, said: “The AIA’s report lays bare the crumbling state of our road network as well as the effort and money now required to fix it.

“Notwithstanding the financial headache pothole-related damage does to the vehicle’s owner, our crater-laden roads are posing a serious road safety hazard.”

A Department for Transport spokesman said: “We’re taking decisive action to resurface roads and fix potholes by investing an extra £8.3 billion of reallocated HS2 funding, the biggest ever funding increase for local road improvements and enough to resurface over 5,000 miles of roads across the country.

“In addition, we have made £150 million available for local authorities right now meaning funding for most authorities has increased by almost a third compared to last year, with a further £150 million to follow in the coming financial year.”

Driverless cars have been described as a “game-changer”, despite MPs expressing concerns on safety and the potential weaponisation of autonomous vehicles.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper told the Commons that the Automated Vehicles Bill is part of the Government’s plans to make the UK “the natural home for the self-driving vehicle industry”.

The Bill aims to set the legal framework for the safe deployment of self-driving vehicles.

During its second reading, Mr Harper suggested the Bill will help the industry take root and would be a “game-changer” for road safety.

He later added: “Despite Britain having some of the safest roads in the world, it is a reality that the levels of serious injury and road deaths remain too high.

“That could soon change, as I said, if we can eliminate driver error which is involved in 88% of road collisions, you could actually get to the point where self-driving vehicles were a game-changer for road safety.

“They don’t drink and drive, they don’t get stressed, they don’t get distracted, they don’t speed, they don’t get tired and they don’t bend the rules of the road or push their luck.”

Mr Harper also said self-driving cars could help improve accessibility, adding: “For example, giving those who cannot drive at the moment, such as the 340,000 people who are registered blind or partially-sighted, new options to travel independently, opening doors to economic and social opportunities that so far have remained closed.”

Labour MP Clive Efford (Eltham) urged the Transport Secretary to ensure that the makers of self-driving car technology cannot cover “their own backs” if accidents happen.

Mr Efford said: “We have also just experienced the Horizon scandal where the manufacturers themselves had access to the technology. What security have drivers got that we won’t have the designers of this software that will be governing these cars actually covering their own backs?”

Mr Harper replied: “One of the things we will have in place is a duty of candour. We are also going to be setting up a regulatory process with investigations of every self-driving vehicle involved in an incident.

“But importantly, the manufacturers will be legally obliged to have that duty of candour to disclose the information so that these issues can be got to the bottom of.”

Transport committee chairman Iain Stewart said there is a possibility of self-driving cars being “hacked by malevolent actors”.

The Conservative MP told the Commons: “That’s where you have what might be called a ‘black swan event’ where there is a significant, co-ordinated cyber attack that instructs many vehicles simultaneously to behave in a way that could cause mass public injury.

“The instruction might come to drive at high speed, turn sharp right into a crowded pedestrian area. The concern is that as things stand, the absence of a mutualisation of risk potentially could lead to such level of claims that would bankrupt the car insurance sector.”

Mr Stewart flagged several other areas in relation to safety, saying that the committee did have concerns “that the broad definition of self-driving vehicles being as safe as a competent or careful human driver were just a bit too vague and weak”.

He added: “The need to ensure that drivers have the relevant level of skill and experience to intervene when that technology requires them to do so, and as I said those are moments that are obviously going to be immediate and often in challenging conditions, and that’s going to require, I think, over and above what the general driving competence is and what the driver ought to do in those circumstances.”

Earlier in the debate Mr Stewart said “there are many, many upsides” to legislation on self-driving cars, adding: “To give some idea of the scale of this, figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders estimate that by 2040 the annual economic impact to the country will be £66 billion.”

The shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh said driverless cars can play a “huge role” in reducing collisions caused by human error.

She told MPs: “It has been estimated that road collisions cost our economy as much as £43.2 billion in 2022 and that 85% of all road crashes involve an element of human error.

“Automated vehicles can play a huge role in reducing that human error, avoiding tragic accidents and helping to reduce the burden on the state in the process.”

The Bill will undergo further scrutiny at committee stage at a later date.