Month: September 2022

A third of drivers who have been issued with penalties for driving non-compliant vehicles in the London Ultra low Emissions zone (ULEZ) have yet to pay up.
Official figures released following a freedom of information request show that close to a million penalty charge Notices (PCNs) have been issued since the charges were introduced in April 2019, but over 330,000 of the 980,000 issued are still outstanding.

London’s ULEZ expansion could fundamentally alter UK’s used-car market

The backlog has been attributed to a range of factors by carry for London (TfL), which operates the ULEZ, most of which are related to the Covid pandemic. however there’s no idea that errant drivers are being let off the hook. With penalty charge Notices set at £130 (reducing to £65 if paid within 14 days under normal circumstances), tens of millions of pounds are at stake.
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After auto express approached TfL for an explanation of the figures, Paul Cowperthwaite, TfL’s general manager of road user Charging, said this: “There are many reasons a PCN may remain open, including the customer contacting us to query the PCN, non-payment of notices and the debt recovery process.
“The coronavirus pandemic has also had an impact, with the initial suspension of the scheme and associated impacts to the recovery of any PCNs, and we have allowed people more time to pay fines and interact with us given the impacts the pandemic has caused for many.”
“We want to make clear however that those with non-compliant vehicles who do not pay the ULEZ charge will still be fined, and we remind drivers to check their vehicle ahead of the expansion of the zone to the North and South circular roads next month.”
According to TfL, compliance with the ULEZ has been high since it was implemented in 2019.
“The Ultra low emission zone helps keep the most polluting vehicles off the roads and compliance is consistently high, at around 87 per cent, with fewer than one per cent of those entering the zone going on to receive a PCN,” it says.
Drivers with non-compliant vehicles entering the ULEZ zone who wish to avoid a penalty charge can do so by paying the £12.50 daily fee via the TfL website.

Hungry for more information? read our explanation page on the London ULEZ zone…

It utilized to be that premium cars and trucks were unaffordable as well as inaccessible to motorists on low to medium earnings (that’s many of  ’em).
Not any type of longer. True, such cars aren’t cheap. however numerous ooze value for money as well as are smart investments thanks to relatively strong resale values. No question much more than one in four factory-fresh cars and trucks offered in Britain today are full-blown premium-brand models. regardless of exactly how swank or moderate your street is, you will see such motors in it.
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• finest high-end cars and trucks on sale
That’s led some to suggest that premium products are ending up being as typical as muck, shedding their cachet as well as exclusivity. however their makers counter by discussing that rocketing production volumes result in favourable economies of scale, which in turn result in much more economical (not cheap) listing costs – minus discount rates – for consumers.
Most essential of all, millions of youngsters who grew up simply dreaming of possessing premium-brand cars and trucks can now, for not unreasonable prices, possess them. Why would a child or child work out for the moderate automotive marque their father utilized to have, when they can own the relatively attractive brand their preferred musician, actor or footballer has? They wouldn’t.
The tasty truth is that if you’re in full-time employment, over 25 as well as have a good no-claims bonus, you’ll most likely discover it simpler than you envisioned to jump on the premium bandwagon. If you’ve around £50 a week to spend on wheels, you’re on program to lease a factory-fresh premium cars and truck – albeit one that’s little as well as with a moderate spec. in spite of registrations being down last year, around 666,000 of us obtained unused premium cars and trucks in 2017.

This is the Cupra Ibiza, a potential rival for the Ford Fiesta ST and potentially a crucial component of SEAT’s bid to build its performance division into a brand in its own right.
Shown at the official Cupra launch event, the Cupra Ibiza is ostensibly just a show automobile for now; SEAT’s management say they want to gauge reaction to the automobile from customers and dealers before committing it to production. However, automobile express understands that only a strong negative action is likely to halt the hot Ibiza’s development process – and that it will also be joined in the line-up by a Cupra Arona.
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• New Cupra Ateca revealed with 296bhp
Both the Cupra Ibiza and Cupra Arona will have 200-220bhp at their disposal when they hit showrooms, SEAT has confirmed.
SEAT has not revealed any technical details on the Cupra Ibiza but the show automobile features lowered suspension, two-tone alloy wheels, an aggressive front splitter and a mix of gloss finish and Cupra’s copper-tinted ‘brand colour’ on exterior details. 
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The cabin reveals the show automobile to be DSG dual-clutch automatic – something that may upset the purists – but also shows that the Cupra Ibiza gets a flat-bottomed Alcantara steering wheel and front sports seats that feature a mixture of the suede-like fabric and a pattern stitched into the base. 
The facia, meanwhile, is finished in a carbonfibre weave material, and incorporates SEAT’s touch-screen infotainment system. There’s also a fully digital instrument panel – a big step for the Ibiza – and a switch that suggests the automobile will have a number of different driving modes.
If, as expected, the Cupra Ibiza makes it through to production, it must have a price identify of around £20,000. but with bosses insisting that it won’t get the green light until dealer and customer demand is established, it’s unlikely to appear before 2019 at the earliest.
Would you like to see the Cupra Ibiza make production? let us know in the comments section below…