News from the UK Cars Sales SMMT has announced that the latest monthly sales figures for all cars sold in Britain are the lowest since 1966. Porsche down by 50% Mercedes-Benz down by 2% Nissan down by 33% GM down by 45% Overall the UK market is down by 25%. Photo-Card Driving Licences If you possess one of the above, check the expiry date as failure to renew will incur a fine of up to £1,000. Renewal costs £17.50. Photo-card licences do not display clearly the expiry date. In 2007 photo-card licences were issued to 7.8 million drivers raising £136 million for the DVLA. Paper licences are valid until a driver is 70 and is then renewed free every 3 years. Photo-card licences must be renewed every ten years. The first photo-cards were issued in 1998. The DVLA no longer issues paper licences. Heathrow The UK’s Sustainability Commission has called for the Government to delay the building of a new runway at Heathrow until fresh evidence on CO2 and toxic emissions has been properly evaluated. 100 MPs have signed a motion opposing the new proposed runway. The Government is believed to be still committed to a new runway but is growing concerned about all Parliamentary opposition. DFT – More Fines Traffic Wardens are to be given the authority to issue fines to motorists who, when stuck in traffic, refuse to turn their engines off. The wardens will ask drivers to switch off; those who refuse will be given a Fixed Penalty notice. This measure is aimed at improving air quality in city centres. Lorries with freezer units would be exempted. Work Place Parking Changes As reported in previous updates, Nottingham City Council is determined to press ahead with charging commuters to park at their work place. All companies with more than 10 parking places will be charged £185 in the first year (2010) rising to £350 p.a. in 2014. Disabled bays and car showroom forecourts will be exempt. When the DFT gives approval, as it is expected to do, many Local Authorities are expected to follow suit. It will be up to each company’s discretion whether to pay these charges or pass them onto employees. It is believed that if companies absorb such charges, Customs & Excise may view this as a taxable benefit. Other cities looking to follow Nottingham include Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Bristol, Liverpool, Newcastle and Sheffield. UK Speeding The Government will announce, in late October/early November that drivers who exceed speed limits will face much tougher penalties. These are: Travelling at 45 mph in a 30 mph zone – 6 points Travelling at 55 mph in a 40 mph zone – 6 points These penalties will be enforced by average speed cameras other than the normal Gatso cameras. Two convictions of the aforementioned penalties will mean the loss of a drivers licence for at least a year. UK Car Production Nissan has stopped producing its Micra and Note models for 3 months and when production recommences it will be on a 3 day week basis. Honda is cutting one shift from its Swindon plant. UK – Car Makers With new car registrations at their lowest levels since 1966, car manufacturers are responding not only with record low prices but also cut backs in production. Some examples are: Ford – Southampton Transit plant now operates a 4 day week. Bentley – Crewe plant now operates a 3 day week. Jaguar – 1 week shutdown in October at Halewood plus shutdowns at Castle Bromwich.

   

Land Rover – now operates a 4 day week. Toyota – no night shift at Derby has meant a cut in production of 15,000 vehicles / annum. EU – CO2 - Aviation The EU has rejected a call from the UK to exclude aviation from strict CO2 limits. All aviation will now be included despite the fact that alternative fuels are not yet viable for aircraft. UK - Aviation The new Transport Secretary, Geoff Hoon, has given the go ahead for a new runway at Stansted. A public announcement will occur before Xmas. The EU will seek to block this expansion on air quality grounds. Shell – Wind Farms Shell has sold its stake in its last wind farm project, off the Blackpool coast. This follows Shell’s withdrawal from the London Array project in the Thames Estuary. Shell has no investments left in any UK wind farm and is quoted as saying it will only invest in wind power if it makes economic sense, which would appear to mean that UK wind farms are uneconomic. UK Motorways The Government is becoming increasingly alarmed at the possibility of gridlock on the UK’s motorways. Proposals due to be announced in early 209 include: Use of hard shoulders on the M1, M6, M27 and M62 plus M4 & M5 and sections of the M23, M3 and M20. This will either be on a free to use or pay as you drive basis. The latter will be based on transponders fixed to vehicles windscreens and read by overhead gantries and priced at 42p/mile. Motorists will have to register an account to use these toll lanes. Widespread opposition from motorists is expected who argue they already pay significant amounts of money in road and fuel taxes. Many business users will be prepare to pay if congestion can be avoided. News from the World Global c02 A significant new report has been published on global CO2. Published by the think tank Policy Exchange and entitled the Root of the Matter – Carbon Sequestration in Forests and Peatlands. This report places a real life cost on the various ways of trapping or sequestrating global CO2 and challenges the climate change policies of the UK Government. According to the Government’s latest figures environmental taxes cost the average family £1,417 per annum. The Policy Exchange documents sets out the costs of various option of cutting CO2 emissions. The overwhelming conclusion is to invest heavily in protecting existing forests and Peatlands and plant more trees. Latest figures on global CO2 set out the average CO2 outputs per person per day. UK 27 kgms CO2 per person per day USA 60 kgms CO2 per person per day China 9 kgms CO2 per person per day Climate campaigners are demanding that the average should be 6 kgms CO2 per person per day. The main global problem appears to be coal power stations which produce 11 billion tonnes of CO2 per annum against an overall total of 49 billion tonnes / annum. Transport accounts for 13% of manmade CO2. Coal is the cheapest and most abundant source of power globally and is viewed as the single most important source of manmade CO2. Capturing CO2 emitted by power stations is unlikely before 2025, despite repeated claims for such technology to be introduced quickly. Plastic 6 billion tonnes of plastic is produced globally every year, of which only 5% is recycled. An area known as the North Pacific gyre, the size of North America, is a becalmed part of the Pacific which now contains many millions of tonnes of dumped plastic in what has been described as a gigantic plastic soup. It has been estimated that 95% of all plastic ever produced still exists either in landfill or dumped in the oceans. Plastic bags thrown into the ocean kill 25 million birds and turtles every year.

   

USA – Car Companies GM, Chrysler and Ford are asking the USA Government to give them 25 billion dollars in loans to help them overcome their present problems. It is believed that one of the three may go bust causing widespread chaos in the US economy. GM and Ford GM and Ford are believed to be seeking a new 40 billion dollar support package from the US Treasuring in order to overcome severe cash problems facing the US auto industry. EU Emissions – CO2 The EU’s Legal Affairs committee has ruled that legislation introduced to regulate CO2 emissions from cars has been illegally drafted. Rules relating to motor car CO2 emissions have been introduced under single European Market regulations rather than environmental legislation. This will effectively mean a long delay in introducing CO2 legislation for passenger cars. EU – CO2 The EU has set a target of 95gms CO2/km for all passenger cars by 2020. The proposed cap of 120gms CO2/km has run into steep opposition from France and Germany. These 2 countries have proposed, via France’s tenure of the EU presidency, to delay implementation from 2012 to 2015. This has been warmly welcome by ACEA which believes that a 120gm cap by 2012 will add 3,600 euros to the price of every new car. A majority of EU members, including the UK, are opposing the France/German position. Greenpeace has described the delay as an environmental disaster. Car Merger General Motors and Chrysler are in negotiations to merge. Talks have been underway for over a month as all US manufacturers suffer severe financial problems. Light Bulbs The EU Energy Ministers have voted (10/10/08) to phase out all high energy filament bulbs by 2010. The EU uses over 2 billion such bulbs each year and this measure is estimated will save some 30 million tonnes of CO2 each year in reduced energy use. The downside of this measure is: 1. High energy filament bulbs cost on average 38p each, low energy bulbs £1.38 2. Low energy bulbs contain mercury. They will have to be treated as hazardous waste and disposed of properly i.e. no landfill 3. Consumers complain about dimness of low energy bulbs 4. The Health Protection Agency has warned people not to sit close to low energy bulbs as they cause headaches and in some cases sunburn. EU Revolt A major revolt has broken out in the EU over climate change. Poland, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Latvia and Slovakia have threatened to veto the EU’s plans to reduce CO2 by 20% by 2020. These countries believe the target is unattainable and will cause major economic damage. EU – Speeding Fines The EU has decided to introduce a number plate recognition system designed to catch all speeding motorists. This will enable member states to share data and issue fines throughout the EU, irrespective of where the speeding offence occurred. Global Warming Emissions Methane produced by cows is growing at a much faster rate than man-made CO2 (Source: Journal Climate Change). Methane from cows has risen by 150% in the last two hundred years and CO2 by 31%. Methane is 23 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2. Porsche/Volkswagen Porsche’s long held desire to takeover Volkswagen is under threat. Now holding 75% of VW’s shares, Porsche has been alarmed by huge fluctuations in share price fuelled by speculators. Porsche is also concerned about a potential tax bill of £12 billion if the takeover goes ahead. Fuel Cells – EU The EU has allocated 1 trillion euros for investment in fuel cell research and development. This represents a major boost for fuel cell research and development in the EU.