Author: PA Media

Vehicle breakdowns reached record levels on Monday due to freezing conditions across the UK.

The RAC said it received around 12,000 call-outs from stranded motorists.

That was the most for a single day since the company began uniformed patrols in 1901, including during the so-called Beast from the East freeze in 2018.

RAC spokesman Rod Dennis said: “Monday was officially our busiest day for breakdowns on record.

“We believe two key ingredients have combined to create the worst-ever winter breakdown cocktail.

“There has been a sustained period of cold weather with an absence of widespread snow that would otherwise keep people indoors, and a big rise in the number of drivers who can’t afford to maintain their vehicles as well as they’d like to due to the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis.”

Many motorists were stuck on a stretch of the M25 in Hertfordshire which was closed for several hours on Monday morning due to snow.

Mr Dennis went on: “Hazardous road conditions are continuing following another major refreeze overnight.

“Those who have to use more rural roads that haven’t been gritted will need to exercise great care, or delay or abandon their plans.”

Jack Cousens, head of roads policy for the AA, said icy roads are “the biggest problem for drivers” on Tuesday.

Motorists are “slipping and sliding” as sub-zero temperatures have frozen snow and uncleared ice, he warned.

Mr Cousens advised drivers to use main roads “as much as possible”.

He added: “Slow and steady is the only option when driving on frozen roads.”

Meanwhile aviation analytics firm Cirium said a total of 233 departures were cancelled from UK airports on Monday as the wintry conditions hit airlines.

Stansted was the worst affected airport, with 78 flights axed.

Reliability returned to normal levels on Tuesday.

Demand for electric vehicles (EVs) is falling amid the cost-of-living crisis and doubts about the Government’s electrification ambitions, new figures show.

Auto Trader said EVs accounted for fewer than a fifth (19%) of new car inquiries sent to retailers through its online marketplace last month.

That is down from 27% in June.

The company also reported that the number of searches and advert views for used cars has fallen by 13% in the past 12 months.

That is the first year-on-year decline since April 2020, shortly after the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Auto Trader noted that the fall in demand for EVs coincides with rising energy prices, petrol and diesel prices softening, and concerns about Government policy over EVs.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced last month that new zero-emission cars will no longer be exempt from vehicle excise duty from April 2025.

Auto Trader has pushed back its forecast for when EVs will account for 50% of new car sales from 2026 to 2027.

Editorial director Erin Baker said: “Although current sales figures look positive, the rapid decline in consumer appetite for electric vehicles reveals the market is on thin ice where mass electric adoption is concerned.

“And with the forecast of new car electric sales reaching 50% being pushed back to 2027, the market faces a precarious combination of factors which could cause major potholes on the road to 2030 without further action from Government and industry to encourage mass adoption.

“There are some positive signs with running costs still in EVs’ favour and more affordable models in the pipeline, particularly those from Asia.

“But today’s slowdown in demand for EVs translate into lower sales as we enter 2023.”

Separate figures issued by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders showed plug-in cars such as pure electrics and plug-in hybrids accounted for 28% of the new car market last month.

Sales of new petrol and diesel cars and vans in the UK will be banned from 2030.

Drivers are being warned to expect lengthy traffic jams on major routes in the run-up to Christmas.

The busiest days for getaway travel will be December 23 and Christmas Eve – which will both see nearly 17 million cars on UK roads, the AA estimated.

A survey of more than 12,000 motorists indicated that 51% plan to make a car journey on December 23, with 50% expecting to make a trip the following day.

Disruption to rail services due to strikes and engineering work mean more people are likely to switch from trains to road vehicles for their getaway journey.

Potential congestion hotspots identified by the AA include the M25, the M5 between Bristol and Weston-super-Mare, and the M6 around Birmingham.

Long delays are also anticipated on the M1 from Luton northwards, the M60 and M62 in north-west England, the M4 which runs between west London and south-west Wales, and the M27 in Hampshire.

December 17 is expected to be the busiest day for High Streets, retail outlets and shopping centres as 20% of respondents to the survey said they will go Christmas shopping on that day.

Business-related travel is expected to drop off after December 16 until the new year.

AA president Edmund King said: “While December 23 and Christmas Eve look set to be the busiest travelling days, planned industrial action by rail staff may lead to increased levels of cars on our roads.

“Our expert patrols will be working throughout the holidays to help fix cars that suffer problems, while providing assistance to drivers should they be involved in a crash.

“Many breakdowns are preventable, so checking your vehicle before you set off is very important.”

He urged drivers to examine levels of fuel, oil, coolant and screen wash, and ensure tyres are correctly inflated.

Drivers of used electric vehicles face a “tax penalty” that could keep older, polluting cars on the road for longer, according to new analysis.

Green consultancy New AutoMotive warned that vehicle excise duty (VED) reforms will see motorists charged up to £145 more per year for choosing a cleaner vehicle.

Pure electric cars are currently exempt from VED.

But Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced last month that from April 2025 new zero-emission cars will be liable for a first-year rate of £10, and an annual rate of £165 in subsequent years.

Zero-emission cars registered from April 1 2017 – which is the vast majority of all electric cars on the road – will also be liable for the £165 rate.

VED for cars registered before that date will continue to be based on their fuel efficiency.

New AutoMotive calculated that 7.6 million petrol and diesel cars in that category will be liable for no more than £30 VED from April 2025.

“These changes undermine the running cost advantages of owning an EV (electric vehicle),” the consultancy’s co-founder Ben Nelmes told the PA news agency.

“There will be a large disparity between the VED on electric cars and on many of the more polluting cars on the road.

“This tax penalty may cause people to continue to run older polluting cars for longer.

“That would increase the UK’s emissions of CO2, as well as reduce lower income households’ ability to access the running cost benefits of purchasing a second hand EV from 2025.”

Mr Nelmes urged the Chancellor to “rethink” his announcement and introduce a minimum level of VED for all vehicles, which “rises slowly” as the number of electric vehicles grows.

Applying increases to older, more polluting cars “could help usher these ageing vehicles off the road”, he added.

New AutoMotive also estimated that the decision to remove the exemption for electric cars from the Expensive Car Supplement from April 2025 would affect 30-40% of current electric car registrations.

The supplement adds £355 annually to VED bills for five years for new cars priced at more than £40,000.

A Treasury spokesman said: “Electric vehicle registrations have increased 1,730% since 2016 and sales continue to reach record highs, which is why now is the right time to normalise their role on our roads even more by levelling the playing field on tax with petrol and diesel.

“We continue to support the electric vehicle revolution through over £2.5 billion in incentives, including less year one road tax, nil-rating the Van Benefit Charge and grants to bring down buying costs, and there is also a high bar for the expensive car supplement – around four in five new cars do not cost enough to meet it.”

Insurance firms have been warned not to undervalue cars and other items when settling insurance claims.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it has seen evidence some people left with written off cars after an accident are being offered a price lower than the vehicle’s fair market value by their insurance providers.

In some cases, insurers are only increasing offers to the fair market price when the customer complains, the regulator said.

Offering a price lower than fair market value is not allowed under FCA rules.

Sheldon Mills, executive director for consumers and competition at the FCA, said: “When making an insurance claim, people shouldn’t need to question whether they are being offered the right amount for their written off car or other goods that they need to replace.

“Insurance firms should offer settlements at the fair market value. This is especially important now as people struggling with the cost of living will be hit in the pocket at precisely the time they can ill afford it.

“We are watching the behaviour of firms closely and will act quickly to stop firms and prevent harm to consumers where we see it.”

The regulator said the rising cost of living may be putting increasing pressure on insurers to control claims costs.

But it said attempts to control claims costs by making offers lower than the customer is entitled to under the policy would be unfair and likely to disproportionately affect customers in vulnerable circumstances.

Those who think their claim may have been undervalued can complain to their insurer and then to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) if their complaint is not resolved.

Firms can offer cash instead of repair or replacement to settle claims. However, settling claims in this way may sometimes not be in the consumer’s best interest if they are not able to easily arrange repairs or replace an item themselves, or if inflation means they lose out in real terms, the FCA said.

The regulator expects firms to make sure people have enough information to understand the implications of the different settlement options, particularly those in vulnerable circumstances.

They should also have adequate systems and controls around claims handling processes and not incentivise their staff to engage in potentially harmful claims settlement practices, the regulator said.

The average premium paid by customers for private motor insurance in the third quarter of this year was 2% higher than a year earlier, as vehicle repair costs increased, according to an insurance industry body.

Motorists typically paid £436 in the third quarter of 2022, which was a 3% increase compared with the second quarter of this year, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) said.

It said insurers have been finding it increasingly challenging to absorb rising costs, such as more expensive repairs and rises in used car prices.

The average cost of repairing vehicle damage under a policyholder’s own motor policy jumped by 16% to just over £3,000 in the year to the second quarter of 2022, the ABI said.

The continued shortage of semiconductor microchips and global supply chain issues have led to longer waiting times for many new vehicles and vehicle parts. This has contributed to a rise in the demand for second-hand cars, the association said.

This reflects increasing vehicle sophistication, leading to more expensive repairs, as well as rises in the costs of raw materials such as paint, it added.

The ABI’s tracker looks at the prices people pay for their cover, rather than quoted prices.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) introduced new rules on the pricing of motor and home insurance on January 1 this year.

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

Jonathan Fong, the ABI’s senior policy adviser, general insurance, said: “Insurers recognise that these continue to be difficult times for many households dealing with the rising cost of living.

“Like many other sectors, motor insurers are facing sustained higher costs, which are becoming increasingly challenging to absorb. Despite this, they continue to do all they can to keep motor insurance as competitively priced as possible.

“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.”

Nearly half (49%) of drivers say they frequently or occasionally avoid using lane one on smart motorways without a hard shoulder, a new survey suggests.

The RAC, which commissioned the poll of 1,904 motorists, claimed the research “completely undermines” the main reason for turning hard shoulders into running lanes, which was to boost road capacity.

A fifth (21%) of respondents who have driven on these all-lane running smart motorways said they frequently stay out of the left-hand inside lane, while 28% said they do so occasionally.

Asked why they deliberately avoid driving in lane one, 77% said they are worried they may encounter a stationary vehicle, while 40% are fearful of being hit if they had to stop.

Almost three in four (74%) people questioned said they would feel safer if there were more emergency refuge areas.

The Highway Code says drivers should “keep in the left lane unless overtaking”, but there have been long-standing fears about smart motorways following crashes in which vehicles stopped in live lanes were hit from behind.

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.

These all-lane running smart motorways boost capacity at a lower cost than widening roads.

RAC road safety spokesman Simon Williams said: “Ever since the first all lane running smart motorway opened on the M25 in April 2014, there has been a considerable amount of controversy about safety which worsened significantly following several high-profile fatal collisions.

“Consequently, these roads continue to be deeply unpopular with drivers who, before their introduction, had been used to having the relative refuge of a hard shoulder available in an emergency.

“Our latest research worryingly shows that half of drivers actively avoid using the inside-most lane for a variety of reasons, not least the fear of being crashed into, meaning much of the extra carriageway capacity they were meant to bring is wasted.

“Motorists know they should always drive in left-most lane they can, but with so many feeling theirs and their passengers’ lives are in jeopardy, it’s going to be very hard to convince them otherwise no matter how much extra safety technology is introduced.”

National Highways has insisted smart motorways are safer than conventional motorways and completed a series of improvements by the end of September.

Stopped vehicle detection technology was retrofitted to all smart motorways without a hard shoulder.

Installation of additional signs showing the distance to the next emergency stopping area was completed, and all enforcement cameras were upgraded to enable detection of closed lane violations.

A target of traffic officers reaching stopped vehicles on all-lane running smart motorways within 10 minutes was also achieved for the first time.

A National Highways spokesperson said: “We are committed to taking action to help drivers and their passengers feel safe and be even safer on all our roads.

“We are taking steps to further increase confidence in smart motorways. We have already added technology to detect stopped vehicles and are preparing a £390 million programme to retrofit an additional 150 emergency areas by 2025. This will represent around a 50% increase in emergency areas, giving drivers added reassurance.”

Hundreds of thousands more drivers face a daily fee of £12.50 for using London’s roads after mayor Sadiq Khan announced he will expand a pollution charge zone to boost air quality.

Mr Khan said extending the ultra-low emission zone to cover the whole of the capital from August 29 next year is “one of the toughest decisions I’ve taken”.

The scheme, which operates at all times except Christmas Day, is currently limited to the area within the North and South Circular roads.

Transport for London (TfL) estimates that on an average day about 160,000 cars and 42,000 vans that use London’s roads would be liable for the £12.50 Ulez fee.

But transport officials believe that by the end of next year the expansion of the scheme will have encouraged tens of thousands of those drivers to switch to vehicles that comply with the minimum emissions standards or use other modes of getting around such as walking, cycling or public transport.

Whether or not a vehicle is liable for the charge depends on how much nitrogen dioxide it emits.

For diesel cars and vans to avoid the charge they must generally have been registered from 2016, while most petrol models registered from 2006 are exempt.

Drivers can check the status of their vehicle by entering its registration number on TfL’s website.

Mr Khan said air pollution is making Londoners “sick from cradle to the grave”, with illnesses such as cancer, lung disease, dementia and asthma.

He described the Ulez as “transformational” and claimed extending it will mean “five million more people will be able to breathe cleaner air and live healthier lives”.

The mayor insisted that the rising cost of living was a “key consideration” in his decision on whether to implement the proposal, which was featured in a public consultation between May and July.

This led to him introducing measures such as a £110 million scrappage scheme to support Londoners on lower incomes, disabled people, small businesses and charities to scrap or retrofit their non-compliant vehicles.

There will also be a major expansion of bus services in outer London.

Mr Khan added: “Expanding the Ulez London-wide has not been an easy decision.

“The easy thing for me would have been to kick the can down the road.

“But in the end, public health comes before political expediency.”

Billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg, who is the UN Secretary-General’s special envoy on climate ambition and solutions, claimed Mr Khan’s leadership is “helping to clean London’s air and set an example for cities around the world”.

But RAC head of roads policy Nicholas Lyes said the announcement will be “a hammer-blow for desperate drivers and businesses already struggling with crippling fuel costs”.

Michael Lloyd of the Federation of Small Businesses said a “heavy-handed” Ulez expansion will “leave many small firms in a precarious position”.

He added that a recent survey of affected small businesses suggested 18% planned to shut down if the extension went ahead, and 25% intended to pass the extra cost on to customers.

US researchers said they have successfully used artificial intelligence (AI) in a group of wirelessly connected cars to help ease rush hour traffic on a major road.

During an experiment in Nashville, Tennessee, 100 test cars sent traffic information back and forth on the Interstate 24 route (I-24).

Their adaptive cruise control was modified to react to the overall flow of traffic using AI, in a bid to reduce so-called “phantom” traffic jams with no obvious cause.

Researchers are still examining the data, but say the experiment was a success. In addition to easing driver frustration, less stop-and-go driving means fuel savings and less pollution.

Professor of civil and environmental engineering at Vanderbilt University Daniel Work is one of a group of engineers and mathematicians from universities around America who have been studying the problem of phantom traffic jams after a simple experiment in Japan a dozen years ago showed how they develop.

Japanese researchers put about 20 human drivers on a circular track and asked them to drive at a constant speed.

Before long, traffic went from a smooth flow to a series of stops and starts.

Prof Work said: “Phantom traffic jams are created by drivers like you and me.”

He explained that if one person taps the brakes, for whatever reason, then the person behind them takes a second to respond and has to brake even harder. Then, the next person has to brake even harder. The wave of braking continues until many cars are at a standstill.

However, as traffic clears, the drivers accelerate too quickly, causing more braking and yet another jam.

“We know that one car braking suddenly can have a huge impact,” Prof Work said.

The experiment showed that a few cars driving slowly and steadily could have an impact as well – for the better.

The experiment utilised 100 cars that travelled in loops on a 15-mile section of I-24 from about 6am to 9.45am each morning.

Working on the premise that if 5% of the cars on the road were acting together, they could lessen the prevalence of phantom traffic jams, the researchers equipped those 100 cars to communicate wirelessly, sending traffic information back and forth.

They also took advantage of the adaptive cruise control that is already an option on many new vehicles.

This technology lets the driver set a car to cruise at a certain speed, but the car automatically slows down and speeds up as needed to keep a safe distance from the car in front.

In the experiment, the adaptive cruise control was modified to react to the overall traffic flow – including what was happening far ahead – using AI.

The cars’ decision-making occurred on two levels, Prof Work said. At the cloud level, information about traffic conditions was used to create an overall speed plan. That plan was then broadcast to the cars, which used AI algorithms to determine the best action to take.

The researchers were able to evaluate the effect the connected cars had on morning traffic flow using a special four-mile stretch of I-24 outfitted with 300 pole-mounted sensors.

The experiment is a project of the Circles consortium, a group that includes several car makers and the US Energy and Transportation departments. Other lead researchers are based at the University of California, Berkeley; Temple University; and Rutgers University-Camden.

Liam Pedersen is deputy general manager for research at Nissan, a Circles consortium partner who was in Nashville last week for the experiment. He said one of the exciting things about it is that it builds on technology that is already in many new cars.

“This is not autonomous driving,” he said. “This is something we could realise very soon.”

The driver of a Mini decorated in 3,000 twinkling lights hopes to “bring little moments of joy to people’s lives” this Christmas and raise over £10,000 for charity.

Nicholas Martin, 33, is celebrating his fifth year behind the wheel of his “Festive Mini” but has gone to new lengths to create an illuminative show with thousands of app-controlled, battery-powered lights – each one customisable to generate different light patterns, messages, and animations.

With each individual light available to sponsor for £2, Mr Martin will take to the streets of his local town Bracknell, in Berkshire, in the run-up to Christmas with an aim to support The Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Trust and Duchenne UK.

“The Festive Mini actually has a purpose and its purpose is to bring joy to as many people as possible,” Mr Martin, a software engineer, told the PA news agency.

“People just get blown away when they see it.

“They have an expectation of what it might look like but when they actually see it, their jaw just drops.

“It brings little moments of joy to people’s lives.”

Mr Martin first started driving his decorated Mini in 2018 “as a bit of fun,” when he wrapped his red car in around 600 supermarket-bought LEDs.

It garnered attention on a local Facebook group and when people were asking for its return in 2019, Mr Martin wanted to go “bigger and brighter and a lot more festive”.

He drove around public spaces and near shops but did not do any street visits – until he was invited to the home of then-11-year-old Marcus Rooks, who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a genetic condition that causes degeneration of muscles.

“With a muscle wasting disease, you lose the ability to walk and stuff like that – it’s a really horrible thing,” Mr Martin explained.

“So he wasn’t able to go out to all of these wonderful places to see Christmas lights because he’s wheelchair-bound.

“Somebody invited me and said, ‘Why don’t you surprise Marcus with a visit from The Festive Mini?’ So I did just that.

“When I saw his face light up, it hit me with so many emotions.”

Mr Martin continued to spread festive cheer throughout the Christmas Covid lockdowns for the next two years, raising £6000 and £8000 in 2020 and 2021, respectively.

Mini UK were in touch to provide him with an electric Mini in 2021, keeping the project “economically friendly” as Mr Martin gives the British public an opportunity to have their say in the appearance of The Festive Mini – even allowing them the chance to draw a design on the car via an iPad.

“People haven’t seen the finished product yet, (but) it’s amazing,” he said.

“You can actually draw on the Mini, which is fantastic, you can put writing on it as well.

“In terms of the effects, there (are) two stand-outs for me – there’s one which is a Christmas cracker, a green and red striped pattern which I love.

“And then the favourite, of course, is the rainbow pattern… It just shows off all the colours, it’s beautiful.”

Mr Martin is raising money for two charities close to his heart – The MS Trust and Duchenne UK, the country’s leading DMD charity.

His mother lives with MS, which he said has made hearing other people’s stories “really hit home”.

“There’s one person, in particular, that was really, really emotional,” Mr Martin said.

“It was during lockdown and this woman had unfortunately just lost her husband to MS.

“And she suddenly started crying… And she just held my arm and said, ‘I am so sorry, I’ve just lost my husband to Multiple Sclerosis and what you’re doing is absolutely fantastic, but this is the first time I’ve actually processed the fact that he has gone.’

“That was the most touching thing, with my mother suffering from MS.

“It is just amazing that The Festive Mini can bring out all of these emotions.”

He spent “roughly two weeks, four hours every night,” wrapping the car ready for its official switch-on at The Lexicon shopping centre in Bracknell on November 25 and plans to drive it up until Christmas eve.

Mr Martin’s wife, Rachel Martin, said it has been “amazing to see how happy it makes him”.

“It does look great,” Mrs Martin, a 28-year-old claims advocate, told PA.

“I have to live with him when he’s putting all the lights on, which can be a long task.

“But it’s worth it… Seeing how everyone reacts to it and how much work is put into it, it’s really lovely.”

To find out more about The Festive Mini, go to: www.festivemini.com