The German carmaker had advertised the Audi A3 TDI as “the most fuel efficient Audi ever” achieving “a quite remarkable 68.9mpg on a combined cycle”.

However, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received a complaint from somebody who had bought the car and had been unable to achieve that fuel consumption.

Audi told the ASA that fuel consumption figures did not give an accurate representation of the actual fuel consumption which could be expected from any particular vehicle and were provided only to enable comparisons between different vehicles or models.

Fuel economy figures are based on rolling road tests in laboratory conditions carried out in accordance with European regulations.

However, the ASA upheld the complaint against Audi and it will now force carmakers to include a disclaimer in adverts to explain that quoted mpg figures may not reflect real-world performance.

“This is a significant ruling that draws a line in the sand,” said an ASA spokesman.

“It is not just about Audi. It sets a precedent that will have ramifications for other car manufacturers.

“The ruling sets out quite clearly that qualification is needed when quoting mpg figures. There will be an industry-wide communication to manufacturers and trade associations so they are aware of what to expect in future.”

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Following the announcement, the Freight Transport Association (FTA) issued a comment stating that improving cycling infrastructure is good news: but the freight industry should not be overlooked.

Praise was given to the idea of introducing segregated cycle lanes in the capital, particularly as they should result in increased security as well as making cycling more attractive and potentially reducing congestion.

However, concerns were raised that the needs of businesses might be overlooked in the design process: with the FTA asking that consideration be made for trucks when considering how shops and offices will take deliveries.

There was also strong opposition to the proposal for lorries to be banned from certain locations in the capital during fixed hours.

The FTA believes this could place burdens on businesses and instead believes it would be more beneficial to lift restrictions on driving at night so the haulage industry can avoid peak hours when there are usually more cyclists on the road.

Commenting on the decision, Christopher Snelling, who is the head of urban logistics and regional policy for the FTA, was welcomed the plan but was cautiously optimistic.

“If it gets motorists who currently drive in London to switch to bikes that would be good news for everyone,” he said, “but it must be remembered that some users, including freight, have no choice but to use the roads, so enough space must be left so that traffic can still flow, and HGVs can still use the roads safely.

“We were pleased to see that the report reflects the successful work of TfL with the haulage industry and that there are plans to continue the work in encouraging out-of-hours deliveries, as FTA sees this as a key way to improve the use of London’s roads for all types of traffic.”

In other Forecourt Fuels news, Seven Success Tips For Choosing The Right Fuel Card For Your Business

Did you know we can save you a guaranteed 3 pence per litre on diesel pump prices when using one of our fuel cards?  

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Featuring data from the Governments 2011 road accident dataset, the Map plots details of road accidents throughout the country, allowing visitors to view how many, and what type of incidents are occurring where. To view information around traffic collisions in your local area, simple enter a postcode or click on a region and zoom to view details.

The creation of this interactive map which plots accidents on UK roads is call for motorists and cyclists to contribute to its database in order to improve road safety.

Motorists are being encouraged to enter details of accidents in which they’ve been involved into the UK Road Accident Map, which also includes information taken from the Government’s 2011 Road Safety Accident dataset.

The Map, which was designed by Osbornes Solicitors and is free to view, lets you filter results according to severity of accident as well as type of vehicle and the weather conditions.

The idea is that the data can reveal information about accident blackspots, which can then be used to campaign for improved road safety in these areas.

For more information visit the UK Road Accident Map website.

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The  FTA is asking ‘Transport for London’ the organisation responsible for the congestion charge – to drop the charge on freight operators who have no option other than to use the city’s roads and Congestion Charge zones. The London Congestion Charge was introduced on 17 February 2003 and includes the whole of the City of London, the financial district, and the West End, London’s primary commercial and entertainment centre, and remains today one of the largest congestion charge zones in the world.

In order for London businesses to thrive, to be at the centre of the world economy and to attract tourists, the capital is dependent on the thousands of deliveries made to shops and businesses every day, and FTA is asking ‘Transport for London’ to recognise that this inevitably leads to an essential requirement for goods vehicles to enter central London, which are subject to the Congestion Charge.

FTA’s Head of Policy, Natalie Chapman, said:

“Whilst traffic has now risen back to pre-charging levels, there is no doubt that congestion in central London would be far worse without it. However, FTA believes that the Congestion Charge is purely a tax on deliveries and its focus should be to deter discretionary or non-essential journeys where there is an option to choose an alternative time or to use public transport.”

FTA states it fully recognises that the aim of the Congestion Charge is to reduce congestion, CO2 emissions and improve air quality, but considers the charge to be a ‘tax on deliveries’ as in many cases the delivery driver has no choice but to enter the Congestion Charge zone. In addition, FTA is asking that where the vehicle is essential to the journey and the user has little or no choice, such as is the case for blue badge holders, a 100 per cent discount is and should continue to be offered.

FTA also makes the point that it is not feasible to deliver goods on public transport and nor are alternative modes practical for the to-the-door deliveries that central London requires. With no charge-free breaks available in the daytime to encourage deliveries to be made outside of rush hour, the Association is appealing to ‘Transport for London’ to consider all available options for providing discounts and exemptions to the scheme for freight.

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Features such as breakdown by vehicle in showing the registration and mileage at the time of the transaction cannot be demonstrated by any other purchasing method, including credit card.

This makes life far easier for businesses that need to break down costs by individual or vehicle in order to help manage their fleet efficiently.

VAT breakdown is also an very useful feature for your accountant or accounts department and will save you money alone as it means you won’t need to trawl through mountains of receipts working out the VAT element!

If you’re running a larger fleet of vehicles, you may need to break the standard transaction reports down further into cost centres to enable different parts of the business to show their individual costs.

Examples of this may be separating out different office or depot locations or departments within one location such as sales, engineering, manufacturing and admin etc.

Many Fuel Card providers don’t have the technology available to meet these requests and in the case of those that do, will charge for it in most instances.

Forecourt Fuels offer this additional service completely free of charge on a bespoke basis and would be happy to discuss your business fleet’s requirements.

To open a Fuel Card account with no hidden costs or set up fee and take advantage of the only fuel price saving guarantee on the market, visit www.forecourtfuelcards.co.uk

The survey revealed that 66.7% of the drivers asked were satisfied with the amount they were eligible to claim for. During 2011 the Government released guidelines on fuel mileage rates for business vehicles, with the objective to reduce the time spent on calculating fuel rates for both employer and employee alike.

According to the survey there is controversy surrounding the government guidelines, as employees have the possibility of losing out if the guideline rates are used too rigidly. The report shows that employees can be left financially out of pocket; warning employers that this may leave them susceptible to the danger of employees inflating their claims in order to make up their financial loss.

Time to look at getting a Fuel Card?

If you spend too much time carrying out administrative tasks for your fleet or want to circumvent rising fuel costs we can help. Our Fuel cards will allow you to purchase fuel at the most cost efficient rate form our UK networks.

Our range of fuel cards will make the process of managing your fleet simple; you can make excellent savings and gain additional purchase control over your fleet’s costs. We supply a large number of fuel cards for both UK and European coverage, giving us the ability to meet almost any need.

Did you know we can save you a guaranteed 3 pence per litre on diesel pump prices when using one of our fuel cards?  

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If what your looking for is consistently low diesel prices coupled with the ultimate in operational flexibility, the UK PLUS Fuel Card is an ideal solution!
 The UK PLUS Fuel Card is a new and unique concept in the Fuel Card market, our UK PLUS account enables you to create your very own site network from more than 6000 garages across the UK, including all the major brands.
This makes it especially attractive to operators of large (and often multi depot) fleets where a single brand solution just doesn’t work, or companies who operate specialist/HGV vehicles whose refuelling options are severely limited by a lack of suitable sites.

Below mentioned are some of this Fuel Cards features:

• E-billing – the UK PLUS card invoices are conveniently sent via email
• Significant savings on diesel through our unique price guarantee
• Eliminate regional price fluctuation and provide greater stability in your fuel costs
• Interest free credit (subject to status) with payments conveniently collected by direct debit

UK PLUS cards can offer access to more than 6000 garages (including Shell, Esso, BP, Texaco, Total and Morrisons), making it an ideal card for large and multi depot diesel fleets, or HGV operators

There are many other advantages of the UK PLUS Fuel Card which can help you save your cash.
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According to the AA official figures showed almost 500 million fewer litres of petrol sold between April and June compared with the same period last year.

The figures, released by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, followed a near-120 million litre rise in petrol sales in the first three months when the tanker drivers’ dispute led to some panic buying.

Edmund King, the AA’s president, said: “Ever-increasing prices in recent years have sent petrol sales into steady decline and the panic-buying at the end of March may have brought forward sales in early April. Wet weather may also have played a part.

Mr King continued: “A fall of 2.27 billion litres in UK fuel sales over the first six months of this year compared to the same period in 2008 has got to bring some sense of reality to the fuel market and the Government.”

Did you know we can save you a guaranteed 3 pence per litre on diesel pump prices when using one of our fuel cards?  

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Members of Greenpeace carried out the planned attack on the Shell garage in Beddington Lane, which left the station unable to trade for three hours, in a protest over the company’s plans to drill for oil in the Arctic.

Shocked staff could do nothing but look on as protesters stormed the forecourt at around 7.45am on Monday and chained the pumps, using padlocks to stop them working.

Station manager Shailesh Patel said: “I had just arrived after it happened and one of the workers was here; he did not know what to do.

“He had been serving customers and a load of people from Greenpeace came and padlocked all of our pumps so they could not be used.

“They were coming in and waiting for customers to finish fuelling then as soon as they put the pumps down, they were chaining them up.

“We were shut for three hours; in that time normally we would have sold 4,000 litres of petrol here.”

And Croydon was not the only place to be targeted by the campaign group.

Activists shut down more than 50 other petrol stations in London and Edinburgh in their protest on Monday.

As well as padlocking the pumps, the activists were also shutting down stations by using an emergency shut-off switch to stop petrol going to the pumps, then removing a fuse to delay it being switched on again.

In other news, Shell employ petrol pump attendants to fill your tank

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