Author: PA Media

The UK’s new car market has grown for six consecutive months, new figures show.

Some 131,994 new cars were registered last month, up 14.7% on January 2022, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said.

Electrified vehicles are driving the increase.

Registrations of hybrid electric vehicles were 40.6% higher in January than during the same month in 2022.

The market share for pure electrics was 13.1%, down from an average of 16.6% last year.

A new SMMT forecast anticipates total registrations across the whole of 2023 will reach 1.79 million, up 11.1% on last year.

The industry body warned that the rollout of new electric vehicle charge points is failing to keep pace with demand.

It stated that the ratio of new charge point installations to new plug-in cars fell from 1:42 in the final three months of 2021 to 1:62 between October and December last year.

SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said: “The automotive industry is already delivering growth that bucks the national trend and is poised, with the right framework, to accelerate the decarbonisation of the UK economy.

“The industry and market are in transition, but are fragile due to a challenging economic outlook, rising living costs and consumer anxiety over new technology.

“We look to a Budget that will reaffirm the commitment to net zero and provide measures that drive green growth for the sector and the nation.”

Ian Plummer, commercial director at online vehicle marketplace Auto Trader, said: “Against a backdrop of economic turbulence, six months in a row of year-on-year growth for the new car market is something to cheer, but sales of electric vehicles have come back down to earth.

“On our marketplace, demand for new electric vehicles is at a three-year low thanks to higher energy bills.

“They now account for fewer than one in 10 of all new car inquiries being sent to retailers – down from almost 30% last summer.”

Jim Holder, editorial director of magazine What Car?, said: “Electric vehicles were the success story last year.

“For uptake to continue growing this year it’s crucial the cost-of-living crisis is contained, as the technology continues to command a premium over petrol and diesel models.”

One in six drivers (16%) turn off their car’s heating in an attempt to save on fuel costs, a new survey suggests.

The poll of 2,000 British drivers commissioned by Vitality Car Insurance indicated that not driving too fast is the most common method of trying to reduce fuel usage, with 55% doing so.

Other ways of cutting petrol and diesel bills include keeping tyres inflated to the correct level (51%), removing unnecessary items (29%) and keeping windows closed (22%).

There are conflicting opinions about whether switching off a car’s heating saves fuel.

The RAC says it does, so advises drivers to “dress for the weather even inside your car” if fuel efficiency is a big concern.

Vitality Car Insurance managing director Andrew Webb said: “Our research shows that Brits are prepared to do a wide range of things in order to save money, with some even going as far as turning off the heating in their car despite the cold snap.

“For those looking to save, reducing speed – where safe – is generally the most effective way to cut down on fuel consumption.

“By modifying your driving habits in order to save on fuel, in many cases you are actually being a safer driver.

“This could be used to reduce your car insurance premium.”

The survey was conducted by Opinium in October 2022.

Red Bull has announced an engine partnership with Ford which sees the American giant return to Formula One after two decades away.

The new deal, which comes into force with the sport’s 2026 change in engine regulations, was confirmed at Red Bull’s season launch in New York on Friday.

Ford terminated its involvement in F1 when it sold Jaguar to Red Bull 19 years ago, but the American car maker has been keen to jump on the surge in popularity in the sport in the United States following the success of Netflix’s ‘Drive to Survive’ series.

However, Ford’s comeback will primarily be an advertising exercise, with Red Bull to remain in control of its own power units, built at its Milton Keynes headquarters.

Ford chief executive Jim Farley appeared alongside Red Bull team principal Christian Horner and double world champion Max Verstappen as the tie-up was confirmed in Manhattan.

“At Red Bull Racing we always strive to do things first and do things differently,” said Horner.

“This is the first time we have launched our season outside of the UK and the first time any F1 team has launched in the USA.

“The growth of our sport in America cannot be ignored. There are over 50 million F1 fans in the USA, of which 72 per cent follow us, and the way the fans have embraced our team here has been very special to see.

“We also wanted to celebrate with, and welcome, Ford in their home country, as they become Red Bull Powertrains new partner from 2026. This will be a true strategic technical partnership.

“Ford will assist with battery and hybrid technology and much more to keep the team ahead of the competition. I am already very excited about the possibilities that this partnership will offer both of us globally.”

Farley said: “We looked at a lot of options and we wanted to go in the direction that was authentic to us so we decided to have a strategic and technical partnership with Red Bull powertrains.

“We want to help Christian and the whole Red Bull Racing team to deliver the goods on the track. it is a huge moment for the Ford family and we cannot wait to go racing.”

F1 boss Stefano Domenicali, who was also in New York for Friday’s announcement, said: “The news today that Ford is coming to Formula One from 2026 is great for the sport and we are excited to see them join the incredible automotive partners already in Formula One.

“They are a global brand with an incredible heritage in the racing and automotive world and they see the huge value that our platform provides with over half a billion fans around the world.

“We believe that our sport provides the opportunity and reach unlike any other and we cannot wait for the Ford logo to be racing round F1’s iconic circuits from 2026.”

Red Bull’s Verstappen secured his second title with four races remaining last year, while his team comfortably took the constructors’ crown.

The Dutch driver, 25, opens his championship defence in Bahrain on March 5.

The average price paid for motor insurance jumped by 8% in the last three months of 2022, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI).

The typical premium paid for private motor insurance was £470, up by 8% on the previous quarter.

The average premium was also 7% higher compared with the final quarter of 2021.

Rising costs have added to upward pressures on insurance policies.

The ABI said delays in finding parts, the increased cost of paint and the jump in energy prices are among the factors adding to vehicle repair costs.

Courtesy car costs have increased, as have second hand car prices, the trade body said.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) introduced new rules on the pricing of motor and home insurance from January 2022.

The rules ensure that the price paid by renewing customers for motor and home insurance is no greater than the price charged to an equivalent new customer for the equivalent policy bought through the same distribution channel, such as via an insurer, broker or price comparison website.

The price of cover continues to reflect a range of factors, including the cost of settling claims.

The ABI said the average price paid for a new policy during the fourth quarter of 2022 rose by 7% (£37) compared with the previous quarter to £531 – a record high.

The average price paid on renewal of an existing motor policy increased by 8% (£31) to £428.

Taking 2022 as a whole, the average price paid to renew an existing policy fell by 7% on the previous year to £392, while the average price paid for new cover rose by 11% to £500.

The changes during the year in part reflected the introduction of the pricing rule changes, the ABI said.

Jonathan Fong, senior policy adviser, general insurance, at the ABI, said: “Every motorist wants the best insurance deal, especially when coping with cost-of-living pressures, and insurers continue to do all they can to keep motor insurance as competitively priced as possible.

“Yet, like many other sectors, insurers continue to face higher costs, such as more expensive raw materials, which are becoming increasingly challenging to absorb.

“Anyone concerned about being able to continue paying their motor insurance premium should speak to their insurer about any alternative payment options that may be available.”

Up to one in 10 drivers risk being fined for ignoring lane closed signs on motorways, new figures suggest.

National Highways said the proportion of drivers who comply with the red X signs is “more than 90%”, indicating nearly 10% do not.

Since September 2022, all police forces have been able to use enforcement cameras to prosecute motorists who illegally pass under a red X or enter a lane beyond one.

This can result in a fine of up to £100 and three penalty points, or more severe penalties and a court appearance in some cases.

Surrey Police was one of the first forces to prosecute offenders caught by cameras in November 2019.

New figures show it has issued 9,427 Notices of Intended Prosecution since then.

Some 4,926 recipients completed a safety awareness course, with others selecting alternative options such as paying a fixed penalty or having the matter heard at court.

The roads policing unit covering Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire said nearly 300 vehicles were seen contravening a red X displayed on the M25 near Junction 20 on a single day in December 2018 while emergency roadworks were carried out following a crash.

One of the offending drivers contested the matter at court, where he was ordered to pay a fine and costs amounting to almost £1,000.

He also received three penalty points.

Adherence to red X signs is critical to smart motorway safety.

National Highways’ staff switch on the closed lane signs when stopped vehicles are detected in live lanes to prevent them being hit from behind and to help and protect the emergency services.

Chief Constable Jo Shiner, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for roads policing, said: “Red X signals are in place on the motorway for your safety and the safety of others.

“Sadly, there are too many instances where motorists fail to comply with a red X signal and put others in incredible danger by driving in a closed lane.

“This is unacceptable and drivers who do so need to understand they face prosecution.”

National Highways traffic officer Dave Harford said: “We don’t take the decision to close lanes lightly, but when we do, drivers must obey the closure.

“A red X signal is there for the safety of everyone on the road – including people in difficulty, traffic officers, recovery and emergency services helping them, and all other road users besides.”

AA president Edmund King said: “As more than a third (38%) of breakdowns on smart motorways happen in live lanes, it is vital that all drivers avoid lanes with a red X as soon as possible, as you never know what danger may lie ahead.”

RAC road safety spokesman Simon Williams described the proportion of drivers using closed lanes as “very worrying”.

He said: “For some time we’ve been concerned that red Xs displayed on signs at the side of the road aren’t nearly as clear as those positioned on gantries directly above each lane.

“We fear this may be a factor in some of the non-compliance.”

A new deadline has been set for meeting smart motorway safety targets.

National Highways chief executive Nick Harris told MPs that the Government-owned company is aiming to meet “very challenging” performance specifications for stopped vehicle detection (SVD) technology by July.

SVD uses radars to detect vehicles stopped on all-lane running (ALR) smart motorways, which do not have a hard shoulder.

Retrofitting of the system to every ALR smart motorway was completed as part of a series of safety measures last year, but a report by the Office of Rail and Road in December revealed it was “not working as well as it should”.

The average time it was taking to detect stopped vehicles in four out of five regions was longer than the target of 20 seconds, ranging from 43-65 seconds.

The amount of false alerts was also higher than expected, increasing the workload for operators receiving the notifications.

Giving evidence about SVD to the Transport Select Committee, Mr Harris said: “It is working and it is adding significantly to the tools that we have available to further improve road safety.

“I have a very, very closely-managed programme going on at the moment to ensure that the systems that we’ve already implemented – and we’re ongoing with commissioning new ones – will achieve the performance specification later this year.

“I think we’ve set July as the target for that.

“But this is the largest implementation of this technology in the world.

“We’re the first to be doing this. It’s an important addition to road safety and we’re very committed to getting it to that standard, but it is adding significantly to road safety at the moment.”

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.

ALR smart motorways boost capacity at a lower cost than widening roads.

There have been long-standing safety fears following fatal incidents in which vehicles stopped in live lanes were hit from behind, but National Highways insists the roads are safer than conventional motorways.

The Department for Transport halted the development of new ALR smart motorways in January 2022 until five years of safety data has been collected for schemes introduced before 2020.

A project developing what the Government believes will be the world’s first full-size self-driving bus service will test if smaller vehicles can operate without a staff member on board.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis) said the Edinburgh scheme will be expanded after becoming one of seven autonomous passenger and freight vehicle programmes to win a share of £81 million in combined Government and industry funding.

Five self-driving single-decker buses will begin carrying members of the public between Ferrytoll park and ride in Fife and the Edinburgh Park train and tram interchange via the Forth Road Bridge from the spring.

These will be captained services, meaning a member of staff will be on the vehicle to help passengers with boarding, buying tickets and queries.

Beis said the new funding will enable the CAVForth II project to test deployments with smaller vehicles which “could operate with no staff on board”.

Bus operator Stagecoach said the 14-mile route launching in spring will be extended to Dunfermline city centre.

That will take the total distance to nearly 20 miles and feature more complex autonomous driving scenarios with busy A and B roads and city centre traffic.

Hub2Hub, another scheme to get funding, is developing self-driving hydrogen-powered lorries in partnership with supermarket Asda.

Testing of the vehicles, which would be controlled by a remote driver, is due to begin next year.

Other self-driving vehicle projects awarded funding are based in Belfast, Cambridge and across Solihull and Coventry, while there are two in Sunderland.

All the schemes will be expected to demonstrate they are capable of sustainable commercial services by 2025.

Business Secretary Grant Shapps said: “In just a few years’ time, the business of self-driving vehicles could add tens of billions to our economy and create tens of thousands of jobs across the UK.

“This is a massive opportunity to drive forward our priority to grow the economy, which we are determined to seize.

“The support we are providing today will help our transport and technology pioneers steal a march on the global competition by turning their bright ideas into market-ready products sooner than anyone else.”

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said: “Self-driving vehicles including buses will positively transform people’s everyday lives – making it easier to get around, access vital services and improve regional connectivity.

“We’re supporting and investing in the safe rollout of this incredible technology to help maximise its full potential while also creating skilled jobs and boosting growth in this important sector.”

The Government says it is committed to introducing legislation that will enable the safe use of self-driving vehicles on UK roads.

Drivers are being hit by rising fuel prices after an increase in oil costs.

The average price of a litre of petrol at UK forecourts on Monday was 148.8p, figures from data company Experian show.

That was up from 148.4p a week earlier but remains considerably lower than the record high of 191.5p in July 2022.

AA fuel price spokesman Luke Bosdet said: “After a fall of close to 43p a litre since the summer record, drivers feared that a rebound in petrol prices would eventually happen.

“So far, pump price averages have risen only slightly.

“But today’s price is only 0.9p below the average price at the start of the Ukraine war on February 24 when pump prices surged.”

Diesel averaged 170.4p a litre on Monday, having fallen to 170.3p on Wednesday and Thursday last week.

It hit a record of 199.1p last July.

Oil had dropped below 78 US dollars (£63.33) a barrel at the start of January but was valued at 86-88 US dollars (£69.83-71.45) last week, sparking rises in the wholesale cost of fuel.

A report by competition watchdog the Competition and Markets Authority published in December said drivers were the victim of “rocket and feather” pricing – when pump prices quickly reflect rising wholesale costs but are slow to fall when costs drop – in 2022.

RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “Our data shows the slight rise in the average price of petrol has been caused by smaller retailers passing on increased costs when they’ve bought in new supply because there is no indication that the supermarkets have upped their prices.

“We hope this will remain the case, but drivers are likely to see pump prices rise gradually this year as oil is predicted to be go up due to growing demand from China as it reopens after its Covid restrictions.

“But while the price of petrol has clearly bottomed out, diesel is still too expensive based on its wholesale cost.”

Nearly a quarter of drivers believe punishments for not wearing a seat belt are too lenient, a new survey suggests.

Some 24% of 1,800 UK motorists polled for the RAC said the existing maximum penalty in Britain of a £500 fine is not strong enough.

More than two-thirds (69%) of those people think offenders should receive at least three points on their licence as well as a fine.

Drivers can lose their licence if they get 12 or more points within three years.

The results of the survey were released on Tuesday to mark the 40th anniversary of a law coming into force requiring drivers to wear seat belts.

The poll indicated that 68% of drivers believe the person behind the wheel of a vehicle should be responsible for ensuring all their passengers wear seat belts.

UK drivers are currently only required to ensure themselves and children under the age of 14 are buckled up, with older passengers responsible for being secured.

Four percent of respondents admitted having driven without a seat belt in the previous 12 months, with 22% of these saying they do not belt up on at least half of journeys.

Seat belts are a legal requirement for all vehicle occupants, with a few exemptions, such as a driver who is reversing; a vehicle being used for police, fire or rescue services; or a delivery driver travelling no more than 50 metres between stops.

Almost half (48%) of people questioned said compliance with the rules could improve if offenders were sent on dedicated courses similar to speed awareness classes, while 36% were in favour of either more police on the roads or the use of camera-based technology to detect whether seat belts are being worn.

RAC road safety spokesman Simon Williams said: “Today’s anniversary provides the ideal moment for the Government to show it’s serious about improving safety on our roads and put an action plan in place for getting more of us to buckle up in the first place.

“For most people, getting into a car and putting on a seat belt is second nature but it’s obvious more needs to be done to get those who haven’t developed this habit to change their ways.

“Our research shows drivers are clearly supportive of greater penalties, which we know the Government is considering.

“But, arguably, toughening the law isn’t enough: drivers need to think there’s a good chance of being caught in the first place.”

AA Charitable Trust director Edmund King said: “The humble seat belt is arguably one of the greatest road safety inventions, but they are pointless unless people wear them.

“A fine for not wearing a seat belt simply isn’t enough and we will continue to push for greater Government focus on what interventions can be usefully instigated to ensure improved compliance with this life-saving law.

“This could include penalty points for all legal-age car occupants caught not wearing a seatbelt.”

Department for Transport (DfT) figures show the proportion of car occupants killed in crashes on Britain’s roads who were not wearing a seat belt reached 30% in 2021, the most in records dating back to 2013.

In a written response to a parliamentary question published in October 2022, then-transport minister Katherine Fletcher described the figure as “unacceptably high” and said the DfT was “considering options to tackle this including the potential merits of introducing penalty points”.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was issued with a fixed penalty notice by Lancashire Police after he was spotted not wearing a seat belt in an Instagram video he filmed while travelling as a passenger in a moving car during a visit to the county on January 19.

Drivers caught not wearing a seat belt in Northern Ireland face a fine of up to £500 and three penalty points.

– The RAC commissioned research agency Online95 to carry out the survey earlier this month.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay appeared to criticise the Labour Mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s planned ultra-low emissions zone expansion for imposing an “additional cost” on NHS staff and others.

But a spokesperson for Mr Khan said it was “surprising for a Health Secretary to ignore the advice of their own chief medical officer” on the dangers of air pollution.

London’s ultra-low emissions zone (Ulez) is due to be expanded to cover the whole of the capital from August 29 to boost air quality, with a £12.50 daily fee for vehicles not meeting minimum standards.

Speaking in the House of Commons during a session of questions to transport ministers on Tuesday, Conservative MP Louie French warned of the effect the charge would have on London’s emergency workers.

The MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup said: “One of the biggest issues my local hospital has raised with me in outer London is the impact of Sadiq Khan’s Ulez expansion, with nurses and other staff facing charges of £12.50 per shift, or £25 if working nights.

“Given 50% of London’s emergency workers live outside the capital, does the minister agree that the mayor and the Labour Party should stop ignoring Londoners and drop their Ulez tax rate?”

Mr Barclay responded: “My honourable friend raises an extremely important point in terms of the additional cost that the London mayor is imposing, not just on NHS staff but all staff working in the capital, and how that contrasts with the approach the Chancellor has taken in terms of energy support and how that helps staff across the workforce, including in the NHS, in terms of cost of living.”

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London, said: “It is surprising for a Health Secretary to ignore the advice of their own chief medical officer.

“Chris Whitty has been clear that air pollution is everyone’s problem. Not only is toxic air causing 4,000 premature deaths in the capital, it’s also expected to cost the NHS and social care system in London around £10.4 billion by 2050.”

They added: “Most vehicles, more than four in five, seen in the zone will not need to pay the Ulez charge.

“It’s only the most polluting vehicles doing the most damage to our health that are affected.

“The mayor has also announced the biggest scrappage scheme yet, £110 million, to help the Londoners who need it most.”

Mr Khan issued an air pollution alert at the weekend in response to weather conditions he said were temporarily causing poor dispersal of vehicle emissions.

He said: “We all need to be careful over the next few days.

“I’m urging Londoners to look after each other by choosing to walk, cycle or take public transport where possible, avoiding unnecessary car journeys, stopping engine idling and not burning garden waste, all of which contributes to high levels of pollution.”