Thursday, November 17, 2011
BMW driven sensibly up motorway
Police have revealed footage today of a BMW being driven courteously and within the speed limit along a twenty mile stretch of the M5. The grainy footage clearly shows the driver showing consideration to other road users and consistently using his rear view mirror and indicators.
PC Gerry Strachan of the Avon and Somerset force said he had never seen anything like it before in his ten years in the police service. ‘We came onto the M5 at Junction 12 and we saw a BMW behaving strangely; the driver of the car was aware of other road users and even let someone in front of him when using the outside lane.’
The police followed the car for some miles, on suspicion that it must have been stolen by a non-BMW owner ‘There was no attempt at any time by the driver to drive any closer than three foot of the car in front. Even in queuing traffic the car made no attempt to beat the queue by diving up the fast lane to cut in, the driver obviously was not thinking for a moment that he was any more important than any other road user.’
A spokesman for BMW said ‘This is a one off incident and the public should not draw any general conclusions about BMW drivers from this one unrepresentative driver. Anyway, can’t chat too long – I’m driving…
DATED:
FEED: PTL
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Southgate Group goes into administration
Poole-based Southgate Group has gone under after appointed administrators failed to create a rescue plan for the business last week.
The company went into administration due to cashflow difficulties, poor trading and the current economic climate.
The company was placed into administration by Begbies Traynor on November 11 and the affairs, business and property is now being managed by joint administrators Julie Palmer and Kirstie Provan.
The dealer group’s website has been closed down with a holding message to contact the administrators.
Southgate closed its two Mitsubishi dealerships and a joint Subaru and Peugeot site last week, leaving it with Peugeot sites in Southampton, Winchester and Andover which continue to trade. A total of 111 staff have been made redundant.
Palmer, a partner at Begbies Traynor, told the Southern Daily Echo there had been some parties interested in purchasing the business, but had decided to wait for the administration to go through to set up fresh dealerships on the Southgate sites. She said some staff could be rehired.
DATED: 15.11.11
FEED: AM
Government backs national register of electric vehicle charging points
A national register of charging points for electric vehicles is to be created for the UK.
The database is being set up by the Government, which has appointed charging post maker POD Point to develop the database.
It is hoped to help EV users to plan their journeys and mitigate the challenge of restricted range.
Currently there is no centralised official record of where all the charge points are, but the Department for Transport estimates that the actual figure is closer to 2,500.
Transport Minister Norman Baker said the database would help motorists to reach their destination.
Baker said: "We know there is public appetite out there for plug-in vehicles, and as a government we are doing everything possible to make them a real option for both motorists and industry."
The DfT estimates that there will be 10,000 charge points in the UK by 2013, with 8,500 provided by the government's £30m Plugged-In Places scheme.
DATED: 15.11.11
FEED: AM
3 Series most searched for used car: October
The BMW 3 Series was top used car searched for on Netcars.com in October.
The Volkswagen Golf and Ford Focus came in second and third place respectively.
Position Manufacturer Model Number Of Clicks
1 BMW 3 SERIES 59459
2 VOLKSWAGEN GOLF 47776
3 FORD FOCUS 45197
4 AUDI A3 39155
5 FORD MONDEO 32607
6 VAUXHALL ASTRA 31914
7 NISSAN QASHQAI 28158
8 AUDI A4 27461
9 VAUXHALL ZAFIRA 22448
10 AUDI TT 21657
11 FORD FIESTA 19978
12 HONDA CR-V 19199
13 VAUXHALL INSIGNIA 18630
14 HONDA CIVIC 18405
15 BMW 5 SERIES 17896
16 BMW 1 SERIES 16820
17 BMW X5 14762
18 AUDI A5 13233
19 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT 12957
20 VAUXHALL CORSA 12273
DATED: 15.11.11
FEED: AM
