Latest Fuel News

According to the Institute of Advanced Motorists, drivers failing to look before making a manoeuvre have been a contributory factor in 29 per cent of serious collisions and 36 per cent of slight accidents in the last six months.

The study also found that 58 per cent of drivers had been cut-up in the last six months by another road user who didn’t look properly, and that 40 per cent of these incidents took place in a 30mph zone. The Institute also

Drivers face record petrol prices of 160p a litre even though the threat of a crippling fuel strike was almost over last night.

Hauliers and union leaders at Unite moved close to a deal after six days of talks at conciliation service Acas.

But motoring experts have warned that tensions over the situation in Iran and the rising cost of crude oil could send fuel prices soaring within weeks.

And the Government angered unions by pressing ahead with plans for coping with a strike.

Unite’s Nick Dennis said: “They are not being helpful in the way they’ve handled this situation.”

TomTom has blamed a ‘leap year’ bug for causing some of its devices to fail and has released a new software update in an effort to solve the problem.

The firm said that a problem with its global positioning system firmware – code embedded into the devices – had caused models worldwide to fail to identify their location.

With over 98% of Fleet drivers using a Sat Nav frustrations have been running high. Users affected with the bug have been presented with a grey screen and a message saying the machine lacked a GPS signal. The issue first emerged on March 31.

A new initiative is underway to help fleet companies reduce the amount of accidents and bad driving incidents by using Black Box technology. This technology is now being offered to fleet companies for vehicles with multiple drivers in order to help with sky high insurance costs.

The first sets of data have now come back and Co-op Insurance has analysed the driving habits of 10,000 young drivers who have been fitted with the new technology, they found that they were 20 per cent less likely to have a crash than those with standard insurance.

Thames Water has printed hundreds of bumper stickers ansd handed them out to fleet and road drivers with the slogan “Proud to be Dirty” in an attempt to encourage drivers to stop washing their vehicles over the summer.

Restrictions brought in across the South East ban drivers from using hosepipes to wash their cars, patios, and the outside of houses.

Simon Evans, of Thames Water, said that as long as a car’s windows and lights are clean the rest of the chassis should be filthy.

“People should wear dirty cars like a badge of honour. You should be proud to have the dirtiest paintwork in Britain,” he said.

Talks have resumed today as planned to avert a strike by fuel tanker drivers over conditions and pay, a Unite union spokesman said, in a dispute that has led to criticism of the government and panic-buying of petrol by motorists.

The Unite union represents the 2,000 drivers who voted for a strike and supply fuel to 90 percent of British forecourts. The union needs to give seven days notice of any action.

The parties involved were in talks this morning, after a 15 hour discussion yesterday that went on till late in the night, the independent industrial mediation body ACAS said.

The threat of a tanker driver strike is again causing chaos at Britain’s forecourts today as motorists are still following confusing advice issued by government ministers to keep their tanks topped up. This has left Fleet Fuel companies and HGV drivers feeling the strain especially as bigger volumes of fuel are needed to keep these companies on the move.

Queues got so bad in some areas causing problems on the main roads, that forecourts were temporarily closed by police.

Mark Wilson, operations manager at Oxfordshire-based Fraser Retail, compared the situation to the last major fuel crisis more than a decade ago.

Fleet Companies and HGV Drivers were left feeling uneasy today.

It comes after Downing Street was accused of sparking panic buying of Petrol / Diesel last night after urging motorists to fill up ahead of a potential fuel strike.

Forecourts across Britain have started to run dry this morning as motorists rush to the pumps ahead of a possible driver tanker strike.

It comes as a Government minister today suggested people should prepare for a fuel shortage by filling up any spare jerry cans – even though the strike hasn’t been called yet.

A committee of MPs has said it is disappointed at the lack of progress on new measures to tackle fuel fraud in Northern Ireland.

The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee said customs officials should work harder to acquire new technology.

This is to prevent red diesel from being sold illegally by paramilitaries and criminal gangs.

The report comes after the committee heard evidence from a series of witnesses at Westminster.

Laurence Robertson, chairman of the committee, said it was “bitterly disappointed at the seemingly slow pace of progress on acquiring effective technologies to tackle fuel crime”.

MoreCompany cars and fleet companies that drive low emissions cars face an increase in costs under the new rules detailed in the Budget today.

Several changes to the way company car tax is charged were announced and although a decision to a cut the 3% diesel supplement will be welcome for company car drivers other changes will mean higher costs.

The removal of the 3% diesel supplement will now put fuel-efficient diesels on par with petrol models but further changes published by Chancellor George Osborne to the company car tax rules will put a further £375million on the Government’s coffers and hit the company car driver harder.