| TRISHBITS July 2014 The Walkie-Talkie London skyscraper which drew ire for having a reflective glare so strong it melted nearby cars and shops is to have a sunshade. Britain continues to be the best market for Ferrari with 168 cars sold in the first 3 months of 2014. In W. Yorkshire a special task force is to investigate theft of head lights from Land Rovers and Range Rovers. These are removed in a few seconds by gangs who sell them for use in the production of marijuana which is speeded up with the use of LED lamps. Gangs are also stealing doors, bonnets, mirrors, wheels and grilles. The vicar of Bingley All Saints in W. Yorkshire was so annoyed that her congregation was getting parking tickets on Sunday while in church that she checked the traffic wardens vans and found them parked on double yellow lines. Bradford council has agreed they should obey the rules…… A British man is thought to have paid over £6m for a McLaren F1 car. Jaguar is building 6 lightweight E types to sell for over £1 million each. This year’s Mille Miglia involved over 3,000 people in the organisation, 9,000 meals, 4,000 rooms booked (1,400 in Brescia) for 435 entrants, 1,500 accredited media, 90 support vehicles, 6 medical cars, 2 sweepers, 6 organizational cars and 2 video cars. The standard of driving was again ‘dangerous’ and a number of cars including a Bugatti and a Gullwing were severely damaged whilst several civilians were hurt according to a friend who thinks there will be more deaths during the event. So far in 2014, GM has announced 55 different recalls in North America, affecting almost 29 million vehicles. They have just added a further 7.6 million for ignition switch problems. Optare is to build the MetroDecker, a new double-decker bus in Leeds weighing under 10 tonnes with a Mercedes engine, ‘ecolife’ gearbox. New trains ordered in a £2.43bn deal to expand the network in regional France have been found to be too wide for many of the platforms. A total of 1,300 platforms out of a total of 8,700 will need to be modified to accommodate the new trains. Hyundai is recalling 32,525 of its ix35 because the airbag in the steering wheel may not be secured properly and the horn may not work. In January it recalled 137,500 cars due to a faulty seatbelt pre-tensioner. Toyota has now recalled 2.75 million vehicles over a possible airbag fault. The Tube carried a record number of passengers last year. UK car production rose 21.3% in April to 133,497 cars, the biggest monthly increase since July 2012. Jaguar Land Rover achieved a record profit of £2.5bn this year but its parent company Tata Motors was down £395m. Jaguar sales rose 16% to 43,587 in the first 6 months of 2014 with Land Rover sales up 14% to 196,785. China is the largest market taking 23% of total sales. Rolls-Royce sales are also up with Bentley 23%. However British cars, particularly Jaguar and Land Rover, are the least reliable of the world’s leading brands according to Warranty Direct. Henry Marsh, a leading London neurosurgeon has criticised cycle helmets saying they are "too flimsy" to protect the heads of people he treats after bike accidents. The Stobart company is now split into 5 businesses and after selling 51% of its trucking division, paid £31.1 million to its shareholders. A primary school in Wolverhampton had to cancel its sports event after 40 vehicles owned by travellers set up camp on the publicly owned playing field. Hornby, the struggling maker of Scalextric cars and train sets has agreed an extension on its loan with Barclays. Joe Cornell, saw a bag of cash fall out of the back of a Brinks armoured cash transport car in Fresno. He was given $5,000 for his honesty and another $5,000 donation to the Salvation Army for whom he worked as part of a substance abuse rehabilitation programme. Jim Bachor began filling in Chicago city potholes with mosaics to make pictures a little more than a year ago. The city has not stopped him! More pedestrian crossings will get "how-long-have-I-got?" countdown signs as part of a new safety action plan for London's roads. China says 30% of newly purchased government cars will be electric to try to help with the pollution. 150 of the iconic London Routemaster buses rallied through Finsbury Park in July to celebrate their 60th anniversary. |
