As a rule of thumb if you do long – distance or motorway driving then a diesel engine is better for fuel efficiency and lower carbon dioxide emissions. For town driving, we suggest petrol may be better, because it emits fewer pollutants.

Investigate converting your petrol car to run on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). You’ll pay over £900, but the fuel costs are almost half those of petrol. Drawbacks include fewer filling stations and being banned from the Eurotunnel.

Keep the pedal off the metal. Driving at 60mph uses up to 25 per cent less fuel than driving along at 70mph.

You can also cut consumption by removing roof racks when not in use, leaving the air conditioning off and keeping tyres properly inflated.

Simon Bush of Britannia Driving School said: “Save money and help to save the plant by sharing lifts to work. You can find suitable lift through car pooling schemes at your workplace – or check out websites such as liftshare.com or carplus.org.uk”

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THOUSANDS of motorists are at risk of being fined up to £1,000 because they are unwittingly driving without a valid licence.

They risk prosecution after failing to spot the extremely small print on their photocard licence which says it expires after 10 years and has to be renewed – even though drivers are licensed to drive until the age of 70

The fiasco has come to ligh t a decade after the first batch of photo licences was issued in July 1998, which have now expired. Motoring organisations blamed the Government for the fiasco and said ‘most’ drivers believed their licences were for life.

To rub salt into wounds, drivers will have to a pay £17.50 to renew their card – a charge which critics have condemned as a ‘stealth tax’ and which will earn the Treasury an estimated £437million over 25 years.

Official DVLA figures reveal that while 16,136 expired last summer, so far only 11,566 drivers have renewed, leaving 4,570 outstanding.

At the heart of the confusion is the small print on the tiny credit-card-size photo licence, which is used in conjunction with the paper version. Just below the driver name on the front of the photocard licence is a series of dates and details – each one numbered. Number 4b features a date in tiny writing, but no explicit explanation as to what it means.

The date’s significance is only explained if the driver turns over the card and reads the key on the back which states that ‘4b’ means ‘licence valid to’.

Even more confusingly, an adjacent table on the rear of the card sets out how long the driver is registered to hold a licence – that is until his or her 70th birthday.

A total of 25million new-style licences have been issued but, motoring experts say, drivers were never sufficiently warned they would expire after 10 years.

Motorists who fail to renew their licences in time are allowed to continue driving. But the DVLA says they could be charged with ‘failing to surrender their licence’, an offence carrying a £1,000 fine.

Transport ministers are expected to press ahead with plans to allow the police to issue fixed penalty fines for careless driving offences, despite objections from magistrates today about the rise of “out of court justice”.

The proposal would mean motorists guilty of minor careless driving offences being issued with a £60 fine and three penalty points on their licence. At a magistrates court the maximum penalties would be a £5,000 fine and nine penalty points.

The Association of Chief Police Officers says it intends to issue strong guidance on the dividing line between minor careless driving offences, when an on-the-spot fine should be issued, and more serious cases which should go to court.

John Thornhill, the Magistrates’ Association chairman, said that recent years had seen a rapid rise in the use of “out of court” justice. In 2003, 68% of all criminal cases were decided by the courts, but this had fallen to only 48% by 2007.

“We have been investigating the use of out-of-court disposals, on-the-spot fines, for the last 12 months, and the evidence we have suggests that on many occasions where the matter is serious police go for the easy option of the on-the-spot fine, because it is done and dusted, dealt with there and then,” said Thornhill.

“What this is doing is turning the police into jury and sentencer. Many of the police actually don’t want to do this, because they believe it’s more important that an independent tribunal which is not fettered by financial considerations or targets makes that decision.”

The Open Road promotional scheme for Driving Instructor Association (DIA) members has been closed down, due to the company going into liquidation.

Open Road Ltd, the company responsible for running the scheme in association with the DIA, blamed current economic conditions.

The scheme offered driving instructors a range of discounts on high street purchases.

The scheme’s website has now been shut down and emails have been sent to individual driving instructors who signed up to the scheme.

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A man was convicted of drink-driving his mobility scooter under an 1872 law to cover anyone in charge of horses and cows.

Disabled Peter Bright, already banned from using a car after a boozing conviction, was stopped by police doing 8mph. He was 50% over the limit.

He could not be prosecuted under driving laws as he did not need a licence.

Norwich magistrates told Bright, 63, of Tasburgh, Norfolk, to pay £65 in fines and charges. He said later: “Someone grassed me up.”

London Councils has revealed that parking penalties in the capital were down by 11% last year.

Figures released by the organisation show a total of 4.68M penalty charge notices (PCNs) were issued for parking offences between April 1 2008 and March 31 2009

A two-tier parking penalty system was launched throughout the capital in July 2007 to represent the seriousness of offences. The new figures show that three-quarters of the PCNs issued were for contraventions in the ‘higher seriousness band’.

In total, 5.466M PCNs were issued across the capital for a range of motoring offences. The number of penalties issued for illegally driving in bus lanes was down by 20% from last year to 233,927. This figure has halved over the course fo the past two years.

The number of PCNs issued for moving traffic contraventions stood at 540,000.

Cllr Mike Fisher, chairman of London Council’s transport and environment committee, said the figures showed the two-tier parking system was successfully targetting motorists that caused the most disruption on the capital’s streets.

‘It appears that people are beginning to heed the warnings that if they break the rules they will get a ticket. At the same time, councils are successfully making more efforts to focus their activities on parking contraventions that matter most while spending less time penalising minor cases such as overstaying on a meter for a few minutes.

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Motorist will be able to sleep, read, work or watch television behind the wheel of their cars at 70 mph on the motorway or dual carriageway, using technology being developed by scientist.

A system which will lock cars together using sensors and wireless technology, allowing up to ten at a time to cruise in “car train” convoys. The only steering and braking would be done by a professional driver at the front of the convoy.

Drivers would pay a subscription of around 10p for every 1.6 miles travelled and would have to book ahead to secure a place in the convoy at a designated time or particular slip road.

At the point where the driver has booked to leave the convoy, their car would be guided by the new technology on their chosen slip road.

Inventors have been investigating “car trains” since the 1990s but previous projects have failed because they required dedicated roads to be built.

Volvo, the developers of the new system, claims the convoys would be 20 to 40 per cent more economical than cars travelling independently.

Simon Bush of Britannia Driving School said: “The car train convoy would be the same as sitting on a bus or a train, with the big difference that when you come to your exit you take over and go directly to your destination without having to switch vehicles. Volvo claim this technology could be unvalued within two years.”

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More than 1,500 motorists on Teesside have been fined in the last year for using their mobile phones while driving.

Cleveland Police today slammed the figures, claiming no phone conversation was worth the risk to life involved.

Middlesbrough was the worst offending district with 619 fixed penalty notices issued in the 12 months ending June 30 this year.

It was followed by Stockton with 551 mobile phone offenders, Hartlepool with 235 and Redcar and Cleveland with 137.

The total number of mobile phone driving offences recorded in the Cleveland Police area in the year was 1,542.

Acting Inspector Gary Hatton, head of Cleveland Police Road Policing Unit, said: “It is well known and accepted that using your mobile phone while driving is a major contributory factor to collisions and this is why it is an offence.

“Even using a hands-free kit can still be a distraction to the driver.

“Our message is to not use your phone at all, switch off your phone before you start driving and pick up any messages at the other end.”

Acting Insp Hatton said there remained a “hardcore” of motorists on Teesside who continue to flout the law by using their phones when behind the wheel.

“It is unacceptable that they would endanger their own life and other people’s lives by doing this,” he added.

“We see first hand the misery that these collisions cause and we want to prevent those crashes occurring.”

The law changed in February 2007, making drivers caught using phones while driving liable to a £60 fixed penalty fine and three penalty points on their licence.

If the fine is not paid within 28 days the case will go to court and the penalty can be increased to £90.

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Thousands of cars were checked in a traffic operation aimed at taking travelling thieves off the roads.
A team of more than 20 police officers mounted Operation Redcarpet during the weekend, which saw checkpoints set up around one of the busiest routes through the region.

Cars which passed through the monitors around Dalton Park, off the A19 at Murton, had their number plates scanned by automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) systems.

Any cars which were flagged up by the equipment were then pulled over and checked.

Two thousand cars passed through the posts on Saturday, triggering the ANPR equipment 181 times, with a further 126 alerts recorded yesterday as a further 1,500 vehicles passed through the locations.

Inquiries led to six cars seized for being driven without insurance and other motoring offences, including driving without a licence.

One man was arrested for driving while disqualified.

A spokesman for Durham Constabulary said: “This was launched to target travelling criminals who strike on the coast of East Durham, and Seaham in particular, and aimed to reassure retailers and shoppers in the area that there are efforts by police to make is a safe place to visit and work.”

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A driving test candidate had his test cancelled after an examiner refused to sit in the car, saying it was too dirty.

Mr Hyde arrived at the Oxford Driving Test Centre in his father’s five year old Volkswagen Golf, but the examiner failed to even set foot in the car due to croissant crumbs on the seat.

Mr Hyde said: “I turned up and everything was normal. Then as soon as the examiner opened the passenger door, he said “I can’t take you out in this’

“I couldn’t believe it. He said he came to work in suit trousers and expected to sit on a tidy seat.

“It’s really annoying. He could have at least given us five minutes to clean it, but there was just no negotiation.

A Driving Standards Agency spokesman said: “If the candidate makes a complaint or asks for a refund, we’ll look into it when we receive it.”

Simon Bush of Britannia Driving School said: “First impressions in all walks of life are very important and especially when taking the driving test. Be well dressed and groomed. The appearance of you and your vehicle make a greater impression than anything you say, and are crucial. Remember: there is no second chance to make a first impression.” 

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