“London Chauffeur News – by Le Tour Worldwide”

Chauffeur London News: A passenger plane operated by the British tour operator Thompson and the German tour operator TUI has overshot the runway at Newcastle International airport.The accident happened around 9 pm London time when the Boeing 737-800 series travelled a short distance past its runway stop position, Newcastle police have remarked.None of the 188 passengers on board have been injured in the incident and all were allowed to leave the aircraft as soon as it was safe to do so. The Newcastle International airport had to be closed and incoming flights may have hd to be diverted to other International airports such as Manchester, Birmingham and London Heatrow.

The spokesman for Newcastle Airport confirmed that a Thomson Fly Boeing 737-800 aircraft came to a halt at the eastern end of the Newcastle International Airport runway. The plane may have flown in from Lanzarote or Paris but that was not confirmed by the spokesperson. The plane was towed from the runway after being cleared of all the passengers on board and the airport remained closed for the duration.

London roads network:
Many road users were last night stuck on motorways like the M25 that runs along the Greater London area. Some road users have been on the road since the morning and didn’t make much progress into the early hours of the night and were thinking of abandoning their cars on the M25. The worst affected areas around London were Kent, Surrey and Essex. North London seems to have been spared until now but severe weather warnings for London are in place and road users are being warned not to use their cars unless it is absolutely necessary. This morning there are many problems with the road networks in London and the main motorways feeding into the capital.
The M3 which runs from Southampton,Hampshire,to London has major traffic issues around the Bagshot and Lightwater region southbound into London.
A lorry has jack knifed in Essex on the M25 towards Canterbury in Kent resulting in lane closure for several hours. Furthermore the Dartford crossing Thurrock in Essex and Dartford in Kent had to be closed for several hours for safety reasons.
Many minor accidents in and around London brought traffic to a complete standstill forcing travellers out of their cars and walking for up to 12 miles home or to work. One of these was on the South Circular near Mortlake. The latest reports have warned about icy roads in all of the Essex, Surrey and Kent counties but no reports as such for Hertfordshire.

London Rail Network

South East trains have come under a lot of pressure from the public with the help of the London radio station LBC where the spokesperson for the train company clearly did not know how many trains have been delayed from the night before and indeed stayed put over night with passengers trapped with nowhere to go. To add insult to injury, the website had all trains running on time in and out of the main London train stations that they operate from such as Charing Cross station and Victoria station.
At St Pancras International Station there were many London chauffeurs and drivers from vast minicab companies waiting for hours on end for the Paris and Brussels trains that kept being put back further more and some were even cancelled due to the tunnels being blocked with one train braking down in Ashford and with the excess trains coming into both directions from London to Paris and Brussels. All trains were full of passengers due to many flights from both Brussels and Paris to London’s Airports Heathrow and Gatwick being cancelled.

London Airports

At London’s Gatwick airport the snow was not easing off at all so much so that clearing the runways became impossible to handle and therefore the airport had to be closed down until further notice. This of course put added pressure on other London airports such as London Luton, Stansted and Heathrow but even there the incoming flights from cities like Paris were being cancelled and diverted to other UK airports such as Birmingham International airport and West Midlands.

LBC radio station was as usual talking to many London Taxi driver and chauffeurs who were updating regularly on the latest traffic jams. Many Taxi rides became too expensive to take with the London Black Cabs being on meters charging waiting time but there was an increased demand for minicabs and Chauffeur driven cars in London and the home counties where many people opted out for a chauffeur driven 4X4 / off road vehicle to get safely to their destinations.

Mr Nick Williams of Mercedes Benz UK who is the E class product manager stated that his employers are considering to produce the long wheel base E class in Germany and have started an enquiry into how many national sales companies would be interested in selling the car.

Mercedes Benz United Kingdom have registered their interest being that they expect to be selling at least one thousand units of this new model in the UK mainly in the Greater London area, the biggest chauffeur market in Europe, followed by Manchester and Cardiff. On the continent the E class long wheel base would be expected to do well in the major cities such as Paris, Geneva and Berlin where there is also a very high demand for chauffeur driven cars serving the corporate clients on roadshow and airport transfers. So far the overall interest from Europe in the Mercedes Benz E class LWB has not reached a high enough level to secure the tooling up of the production line for the E class in Germany. Currently Mercedes Benz are producing the long wheel base version of the E class in China for the chinese market where buyers of such cars preferred to be chauffeur driven in large saloons/sedans and executive luxury cars. If and when the plans are approved for building the long wheel E class, Mercedes Benz will probably opt out for a one size fits all engine/model, the most popular E250CDI, and a limited choice of colours based on what chauffeur companies mainly favour and that is likely to be silver and black.

Unlike many London Chauffeur companies that have mainly regular account work, most small to medium London car service and minicab companies rely on their cash circuits which are casual one off clients. Many bosses that are running such operations are taking the steps of warning their drivers in advance of the problems that can be encountered through the busy festive season especially since the country has been suffering financially over the last two years. One boss explained that people are finding it hard to buy Christmas presents for their children this year and are finding it very easy to rob a London minicab driver of his takings, mobile phone and even his car sometimes. A London minicab driver who works at night can have up to £250 on him after 2 AM on a Friday night going into Saturday morning and in the festive season with all the Christmas parties in the West End of London this amount could easily be double that figure. Organisations such as the GMB have called for security screens to be fitted to every PCO (Public Carriage Office) licensed vehicle on the street of London just as those fitted to the London Taxi the black cab. A lone minicab driver going from central London into other boroughs like Croydon, Essex and Kent would find himself very helpless if attacked for his takings and the London Metropolitan police will probably not be able to turn up on time to help him even if he could be located.

Minicab firms’ bosses are telling their drivers not to pick up from private addresses if the person is already standing in the street as opposed to coming out when ringing the bell. The same applies for the licensed drivers who will still be tempted to tout in the West End picking up total strangers which will result in possible attacks on them adding to the fact that their private hire insurance will be void for that taxi journey should they have an accident.

Green, Eco friendly, Hybrid and Electric cars seem to have taken over the Paris Motor show this year. The main car manufacturers in the world are becoming more and more interested in the Taxi, Chauffeur and private hire market and recognise the potential this market has in promoting the cars of the future since a chauffeur driven car or an executive car service driver is likely to spend 70% or more of its lifetime on the roads of cities like London as opposed to the private car that may only spend 10% doing the same.

Mercedes Benz

The Stuttgart based manufacturer is probably holding the biggest market share when it comes to the chauffeur industry be it individual operators or large executive car hire companies and this is highly demonstrated in cities such as Paris, Berlin and London which is the biggest chauffeur market in Europe. There is a new kid on the block in the shape of the S250 which will return 50 mpg but this is not scheduled for the United Kingdom chauffeur market. One Mercedes Benz S class however which is already in the company’s chauffeur programme will get a new engine efficiency package which will improve the Mercedes Benz S350L CDI BlueEfficiency, the chauffeur’s favourite, MPG readings even further.

Audi

Just like following Mercedes Benz in the London chauffeur market with the Audi A8 long wheel base and the off road 4X4 Audi Q7 which is the new addition to the UK Audi chauffeur programme, the third German manufacturer of luxury and executive cars is competing yet again with the first manufacturer of such luxury cars in the form of the new 4 door coupes that even VW has started to produce.
The Audi A7 will be a direct threat to the new Mercedes Benz CLS which is anticipated to be a more successful chauffeur driven car than its predecessor. This remains to be seen since the rear legroom and headroom are still not equal to the Mercedes Benz S class.

Volkswagen, Seat and Skoda

Even the London minicab and car service companies market had its fair share of new vehicles suitable for the professional driver. Seat, VW and Skoda are all seemingly competing with vehicles that have a good MPG return and up to 7 years warranty making them a very attractive option to be used as a minicab in London and as a Taxi in the rest of the United Kingdom.

Lotus

The British sports and performance car manufacturer may have been the biggest surprise at the Paris Motor Show this year. Following in the footsteps of other sports car and executive car manufacturers such as Porsche, Aston Martin and Maserati we now find another potential London chauffeur driven car in the shape of the Lotus Eterne. What remains to be seen is what price it will be retailed at and if the figures add up to be worth it put on the roads of the UK as a chauffeur hire car.

Speaking about the chauffeur programmes that some of the big manufacturers of luxury and executive cars are introducing into the London chauffeur market, VW too seems to want to gather momentum with the chauffeur driven Volkswagen Phaeton.

Since its humble beginnings in 2002, the Volkswagen Phaeton has not really sold as well to the chauffeur market it was targeting although on paper this car had all the criteria it needs to be used for the car service industry. It is a sedan/saloon as big as the chauffeur cars available on the London scene such as the BMW 7 series and the Mercedes Benz S class but as some would have it the VW badge has always been the one thing to let the Phaeton down. This is very clear on the streets of London where you can only see a few examples of this luxury executive car every now and then.

Volkswagen is trying to revive the image of its flagship executive sedan with a price starting at just over £41000 for the standard wheelbase in the UK which has the 3.0 litre V6 diesel engine delivering 240 bhp. The. LWB (long wheel base) VW Phaeton will offer an additional 12 cm legroom for the rear seat passengers. At the top of the model range will still be the LWB 6.0 litre 450 bhp W12 engined model which has the same engine as the Bentley Flying Spur but costs almost half of the prestigious executive marque at a fraction under £80000. With a new headlight and rear lights too the VW Phaeton will surely appeal to newcomers to the chauffeur and car service industry in London as a new car but will probably end up as did its predecessor in the home counties as an executive minicab and taxi.

In the past, whenever there was more than four passengers, clients used to book a chauffeur driven limousine to do their London to Heathrow/Gatwick airport transfer or evening hire in until the Chrysler Grand Voyager came on the London Chauffeur scene which changed the rules forever. Today we don’t see many limousines in and around London with the exception to the American limousines like the Hummer and the Cadillac appearing around the West End of London every weekend and the chauffeur driven Mercedes Benz E class and Pullman limousines in the Central London area every summer used, favoured and afforded almost only by the Middle Eastern Arab Royals and dignitaries visiting the United Kingdom. Since the launch of the Mercedes Benz Viano / Vito, the use of the chauffeur driven Chrysler Grand Voyager became less and less. As a matter of fact, the chauffeur driven Mercedes Benz Viano / Vito has become so popular, its name should become the official Oxford dictionary replacement for people carrier with driver.
Now recently Mercedes Benz have managed to get the Mercedes Benz Vito People Carrier up to spec to equal and indeed rival the famous London Black Cab / Taxi. Legislation has been put through and approved by the LTPH (London Taxi Private Hire) formerly known as the PCO (Public Carriage Office) which is the licensing authority for all London Taxis / Cabs and Private Hire Vehicles including Chauffeur driven cars, sedans and saloons. At the beginning the London Taxi trade has been a little bit wary of buying the Mercedes Benz Vito Black Cab / Taxi but today for every Standard FX4 cab sold there is one Vito Taxi going onto the London streets.

Now we hear that the London Taxi drivers and companies are complaining about the confusion caused by the Vito and the Viano looking similar and that the public will soon be hailing down Private Hire chauffeur driven Viano thinking they are London Taxis. This is obviously a ridiculous attempt by the cabbies in London to have yet another go at the other side of the ground transportation industry in London namely the chauffeur companies just like they tried to attack many London companies who supply a very professional car service to the Capital’s restaurants and clubs.

There are many differences between a London Vito Taxi and Chauffeur driven Viano motor cars that are doing a professional job in and around the city. It is time yet again for the licensed Private hire chauffeur companies using the Mercedes Benz Viano and any London car service company using the Mercedes Benz Vito to stand up and be counted against this weak attack from the London hackney carriage trade.

London ( Reuters); it was reported last Friday that Birmingham International Airport had to close its runway to all flights due to light aircraft crashing on landing. The light aircraft had a difficult landing at the airport which resulted in the crash and the plane catching fire according to the West Midlands Police and airport officials. The pilot of the plane which was carrying a donor organ was trapped in the wreckage with serious injuries but his co-pilot escaped with minor bruises. The organ was safely delivered to the Birmingham hospital after the two passengers were taken out of the aircraft.

Any chauffeurs from Birmingham or London companies would have had to meet their clients flying into Birmingham airport on board private jets at the nearest airports available for landing such as London Heathrow airport, London Luton, Liverpool’s John Lennon airport or Manchester international airport.

The smallest engine Mercedes Benz S class yet has been unveiled at the motor show in Paris recently. Mr Nick Williams from Mercedes Benz UK said that the S250 has been designed and engineered for left hand drive only and therefore won’t be on sale in the United Kingdom for the foreseeable future. However, added Williams, there will be a four cylinder Mercedes Benz S class for the UK market scheduled in line with the next major model change. The current entry level model S class, the S350CDI, will soon receive an engine efficiency package which will see the chauffeur’s favourite car becoming more fuel efficient.

The DAILY TELEGRAPH recently wrote an article/report highlighting the regular abuse of British laws happening blatantly on the streets of London by drivers of foreign registered motor cars entering the city centre. It has been investigating a trend of high powered performance and executive cars being parked illegally on the streets of London’s Knightsbridge, Mayfair, Belgravia and Edgware road Marble Arch. These cars could be anything from the smaller sports cars such as the BMW M3 and Mercedes Benz C63 AMG to the high powered supercars such as the Bugattti Veyron, the Lamborghini Murcielago and the Ferrari 599 GTB.

The culprits, as the Daily Telegraph called them, get away with this blatant disregard to the law because they simply can and there is no law apparent that can be enforceable by any traffic warden, police officer or special units working with TFL (Transport For London) such as the force called TOCU (Transport Operational Command Unit) who are responsible for the anti touting operations in Central London in conjunction with the LTPH (London Taxi and Private Hire) formerly known as the PCO (Public Carriage Office). An ongoing operation led by the London Metropolitan police called “Operation Tripper” (Source:Google) has been finding interesting facts where criminals from Europe are working in the London courier industry and UK residents holding UK driving licenses driving around in German cars serving the Arab tourists mainly in Arab with private hire and chauffeur duties ignoring all the regulations including private hire insurance, driver and vehicle private hire PCO license and that the job/mission has to be pre-booked through a licensed PCO operator. This operation is likely to catch up with most of the offenders sooner or later since the communication channels have been widely opened recently between London and other capital cities in Europe such as Paris and Berlin where the sharing of information on these chauffeur driven cars and their drivers has seen a high success rate recently leading to successful prosecutions both in the UK and mainland Europe including France and Germany. What remains to be seen is if this operation will extend to the much further located countries such as those in the Middle East. Visit Chauffeur London Service

With the Mercedes Benz chauffeur programme gathering momentum recently and with it including their people carrier, the Viano, alongside the two chauffeur driven sedans the Mercedes Benz E class and the long reigning top of its class Mercedes Benz S class it is no wonder that the other three manufacturers of luxury and executive chauffeur driven cars are once again looking very seriously at entering into this fast expanding market.

The Audi chauffeur programme has a new car to offer, the Audi A8L (long wheel base), and a monthly lease / contract hire price that looks very attractive for chauffeurs to consider the Audi marque for the second time around. With the new Audi A8 there are also the 4X4 off road Audi Q7 and the smaller and Mercedes Benz E class equivalent, the Audi A6.
The programme has had a makeover and now offers a like for like replacement vehicle for those times when a chauffeur has his car off the road. The programme was developed in conjunction with Ray Allen who has tried previously to enter the chauffeur market in London when he was representing Lexus UK.
What most of these manufacturers seem to forget when trying to conquer the lucrative market that is the chauffeur and private hire industry is that ultimately as much as they seduce the driver with special offers and extras but it is the passenger who decides what car they will use and today most passengers still only want one car; the Mercedes Benz.  Visit Chauffeur London UK

A man was found in the back of a white Mercedes Benz Sprinter van yesterday on the A30 in Sunningdale. This looked like a kidnap operation carried out by at least four men from Eastern Europe aged between 40-50 who were arrested at the scene where the van was stopped by armed officers of the London Metropolitan police working on an intelligence led operation.

The man was wrapped in what looked like a builders cement bag and there were signs of blood. Officers seem to think that the man has been tortured and a sledgehammer was recovered from the van at the scene. The van may have been driven from the London Heathrow area and was on his way to the cruise terminal in Southampton to border a ferry to escape to Portugal or Spain.This incident comes as a great shock to the residents of the quiet village of Sunningdale and the surrounding villages of Windelsham, Windsor, Ascot and Runnymede which are well connected to the M4,M3 and M25 and are home to Elton John, many wealthy London City brokers, Russian Oligarchs and Arab Princes and Royals. Sunningdale is also home to the famous Sunningdale Golf Club, The Guards Polo Club, an American school/college and also nearby there are The Wentworth Golf Club, Ascot Racecourse and Thorpe Water Park. Attempts to revive the dying man in the bag have failed after 40 minutes of trying to resuscitate him and this has now turned into a murder inquiry.

One of the items on the agenda to be discussed at last month’s LPHCA (Licensed Private Hire Car Association) held at London Heathrow’s Marriott Hotel, Bath road, was the consultation paper issued by the LTPH (London Taxi and Private Hire Directorate) formerly the PCO (Public Carriage Office).
Many issues were raised, discussed and ultimately rejected and here are the main items:

PRIVATE HIRE DRIVERS PROPOSALS (including London Chauffeurs, car service and minicab drivers)
NVQ training was suggested but turned down as being a “too expensive” an idea. A requirement of at least a three year UK residency was also turned down being that a lot of minicab companies in London are recruiting a lot of their taxi drivers from Eastern European agencies. This would not affect the London chauffeur companies so much and would in fact be appreciated by most due to the issues facing the industry. Certificates of good conduct issued in some countries are not worth the paper they are written on and in no way are they as good as the CRB (Criminal Record Bureau). A suggestion to have an enhanced driving test was also refused on similar grounds to the above ones but once again this may be necessary to be reviewed in the future. The banning of engaging in talk of sexual nature or flirting with passengers was completely refuted by Mr Wright the chairman of the LPHCA (Licensed Private Hire Car Association) on the grounds that this is an issue relating to touting and touts and not the legal minicab driver or chauffeur who is driving a client on a pre-booked journey. Additional ID was also rejected on the rounds of expenses and the fact that it didn’t add any value to a pre-booked journey carried out by the London chauffeurs or minicab drivers.

PRIVATE HIRE VEHICLES PROPOSALS (includes London’s minicabs, executive sedans/saloons and chauffeur driven cars)
A suggestion to change the license disc and red route signage that allows the driver of a minicab or chauffeur driven car in London to use the bus lanes and red routes for the pickup and drop off was discussed but no decision was made being that there are big differences between the job a driver of a chauffeur driven Mercedes Benz S class or Rolls Royce Phantom does and that of a driver of a minicab or car service. The signage does not really befit the image and prestige of most chauffeur driven cars used in London such as the Range Rover Vogue, the Mercedes Benz S class, the Rolls Royce Phantom and both the Bentley Arnage and the Bentley Flying Spur.

It was suggested in the consultation paper that the private hire companies of London are to use only one type of car and that this car should have a single colour. There are 50000 private vehicles on the roads of London today and to have all of them changing to one colour or one make and model must be one of the most ludicrous suggestions the licensing authorities at TFL (Transport For London) could come up with. Once again, LTPH (London Taxi and Private Hire) are demonstrating clearly that they have clue as to how to distinguish between the need for a Mercedes Benz S class for a chauffeur driven client in Central London and a minicab or car service sedan / saloon that is just used for a simple transfer from the airport to the city center.

PRIVATE HIRE OPERATORS PROPOSAS (includes London minicab and chauffeur companies)
“No” was once again was the answer coming from the panel of the London private hire and chauffeur companies owners sitting in the consultation when to the suggestion came up that all premises will need a planning permission to obtain a private hire license.
A suggestion that all private hire operators should have a minimum of 10% of vehicles in their fleet with wheelchair access was also rejected on the ground that most private hire companies in London especially chauffeur companies may well have a lot of self employed drivers and therefore making it impossible to implement such an idea.
CRB checks for operators is to become a necessity in the future and it is surprising that the PCO (Public Carriage Office) didn’t put this in their requirements from day one when the licensing of minicab offices and chauffeur companies started. By default, London private hire operators will be privy to so much confidential information about their clients including their address, credit card details and movements. Such information could be used by an unscrupulous operator who may have been in prison for fraud prior to becoming an operator.
Joe Royle of the London MET police commended the support he has been given by the LPHCA (Licensed Private Hire Car Association) especially on the main task he and his force TOCU (Transport Operational Command Unit) are working on which is clearing the West End of London from any illegal activities such as touting for private hire passengers. He mentioned that that LPHCA has been a critical friend and that the 1300 arrests last year would not have been possible had it not been intelligence led with the help of the LPHCA. In August 99 touts were arrested in the West End of London and 82 were found guilty of the offences. TOCU 1300 arrests in 12 months , 99 charged in august

A London cab driver / taxi proprietor was yesterday hailed as the main negotiator in the talks with Somali pirates to secure a deal with the aim to release two British hostages from their captors.

Mr Dahir Abdullahi Kadiye from Leytonstone, East London, said that he took it on himself to get involved with this ordeal since his children watched in horror from London the hostages crying for help from the West to secure their release. Mr Kadiye’s children said they were ashamed to see this happening in their father’s country of origin and that it would affect them personally as British Somalian citizens.

Mr Kadiye who used to own a chauffeur and car hire company in Marble Arch, West London, and later a minicab / car service in the East of London said that he had no financial interest in brokering to deal with the Somali pirates and that he just wanted to secure their release for the sake of his children. Mr Kadiye owns a privat security firm in London and classes himself as a businessman. Visit Chauffeur London

A North West London black cab taxi company was last week finding itself in a bad PR ordeal after one of their taxis had a crash with a passenger in the car travelling from Wanstead to the West End’s Trafalgar Square. The London taxi company Com Cab tried to charge the lady an additional amount that clocked up at the accident scene on High Holborn near the City.

The passenger actually saw that the taxi driver was going to hit another taxi that came to a full stop on one of London’s bus lanes that allows only buses and taxis to drive on them. A passer by who witnessed the accident said that the taxi driver was looking down and it seemed that he was busy texting on his mobile phone.

The London taxi cab that was hit in the back actually moved forward at least 15 feet and lost its exhaust and fuel tank due to the impact. The taxi driver asked his passenger if she was ok and proceeded to the other driver of the London Taxi cab to talk him. The lady passengers was on the floor of the cab suffering from concussion but luckily a passer by noticed the movement of her head and went to her rescue and called the ambulance.
Compucars, a London Taxi and black cab firm demanded £77 from the lady although the fare was only £50 at the time of accident.

The general manager later retracted Compucars request and opted for the sensible option of not charging the client anything.

An incident like this would not have had this much injury and heartache for the passenger had she been in a London Chauffeur driven Mercedes Benz S class for several reasons. The chauffeur would have pointed out to the client that she has to put her seat belt on since he is getting the warning lights flashing on the dashboard and secondly a Mercedes Benz is designed in such a way that if it is involved in accident on the streets of London, the bumpers will cushion the blow of the impact and the chauffeur and passengers would hardly feel a thing. VisitChauffeur London

It was at the Elton John charity ball on the 30th of October 2010 which was held at the building and grounds that will soon be turned into the new American Embassy in London. Many stars including Liz Hurley, A list celebrities and property developers from London and Cardiff Wales in addition to a fine collection of the most luxurious chauffeur driven cars in the world were all present as usual at this exclusive event.

Guests were arriving to a red carpet reception with a selection of the finest paparazzi on hand to take hundreds of photos along the long walk into the building.

The car park at this venue is large enough to fit all the guest’s cars but a lot of drivers of minicabs and chauffeur driven saloons/sedans had to leave the premises until pick up time.

The corned off area next to the red carpet soon became more and more available for chauffeur driven executive cars but not a single Audi, BMW or Mercedes Benz chauffeur was allowed to park in there. This area was reserved for the chauffeur driven Rolls Royce Phantom motor cars bringing in the elite of the London society. The chauffeurs started squeezing one Rolls Royce Phantom next to the other until there was no more space left or so you would think. A Rolls Royce Phantom convertible turned up last and the security officers managed to squeeze so close to the entrance that he was almost standing on the red carpet. The owner was a London property developer and not an A list celebrity or movie star which goes to show that arriving in a Rolls Royce Phantom with a chauffeur in London opens all doors and possibilities. Visit Chauffeur Service

The much talked about bus lane on the busiest motorway in England is due to be scrapped. The bus lane that stretches on the M4 between Heathrow airport and Chiswick/Hammersmith used by motorists coming into London from London’s busiest airport Heathrow, cities like Oxford, Reading and Swindon and as far as Swansea South Wales  is to be taken off due to a landmark court hearing involving hundreds of penalty charges issued to drivers of a London minicab company. The CPS has informed the chairman of this London based car service company that it will no longer proceed with the 216 penalty charges and stated that “it is no longer in the public interest to proceed”.

Mr Steve McNamara of The London Licensed Taxi Drivers association called it a farce and that this is unbelievable that the bus lane which runs for 3.5 miles from London Heathrow airport to central London has been without any monitoring or cameras for so long. Many London Taxi drivers have been voicing their opinions on this issue in online blogs and chat rooms and some have been trying to take the law into their own hands by harassing drivers of London minicabs and chauffeur driven cars whilst using the much argued about bus lane.

The bus lane was introduced in 1999 by the then Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott against the will of many motorists and has been named as his private bus lane by some due to that famous incident where Mr Prescott’s driver used it.

It was intended to be used by the licensed London taxis (black cabs), motorbike riders, coaches and buses and emergency vehicles when it was first introduced. The boss of the London minicab and car service company took legal advice on this issue and instructed all his drivers to use the bus lane to initiate and prompt the reaction which resulted into the scrapping plan of the bus lane.

This is another blow to the members of the London Taxi trade dealt to them by the other half of the ground transportation industry in London which includes more than 50000 drivers licensed as chauffeurs, minicab drivers and car service drivers. Visit Chauffeur Services London

Enforcement officers of some of London’s Councils such as Westminster have been running joint operations with the London Metropolitan police force to stop motorists suspected of having unpaid parking fines. The operations have been relying on ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) technology to stop vehicles detected by CCTV cameras in the borough.

One recent operation has helped a London borough to catch approximately 250 drivers / cars with unpaid fines. The CCTV cameras information is relayed to Westminster council officers standing a few hundred yards away who are supported by officers from the London Metropolitan police force and bailiffs to cross reference the information about unpaid parking fines. The motorists found guilty will then be asked for a credit card payment and if unable to pay the fine then their car will be impounded.

About £41000 has been collected from 237 such fines in the borough of Westminster city alone so much so that the Met has run similar operations in other London boroughs such as Camden and Hackney. Other success stories also include the Greater Manchester police force having run similar operations with local bailiffs and enforcement officers. A Member of Parliament for Westminster defended the use of the technology stating that it is also used to track down illegal use of disabled badges and taxi and minicab driving in London and also to catch some more serious criminals such as rapists.

The operation is also about gathering more information about foreign cars entering London and not paying the congestion charge set by the Mayor of London’s TFL (Transport For London). The highest number of these foreign cars are of German registrations believed to be used for illegal chauffeur and car service missions followed by French number plates ending with the number relating to the city of Paris.

The technology was first used over 20 years ago for catching terrorists and it is absolutely legal and justified. Visit Chauffeur Service

History was in the making last week when the British Prime Minister David Cameron and the French President Nicolas Sarkozy signed a defence pact on Tuesday in London bringing the United Kingdom and France that little bit closer yet again. The agreements signed included nuclear research and the share of aircraft carriers was hailed by the Paris and London residing governments as an unprecedented move towards closer relationships between two of Europe’s military powers

Mr Sarkozy stated that the share of the research facilities in Paris France is a sign of a new era of trust between London and Paris. These laboratories and the information gained in them have been so far kept as secrets which were the foundations of the independence of both Britain and France.

Mr Cameron added that this will lead to the British and French armed forces to be working much closer with each other than ever before in the modern history of Europe.

London and Paris also agreed on a “joint carrier strike group” which allows both Britain and France to fly aircraft from the other’s carriers once Britain has its operational ship equipped with fighter jets by the beginning of 2020. Mr Sarkozy was asked about how London and Paris would agree on deployment of this project to which he answered that France would not sit there cross armed if Britain had trouble, he added that although the English channel separates the two countries but the values of both London and Paris are the same.

Mr Cameron added that Britain and France will be jointly committing to any military taskforce if they both agree to the mission.

The agreement has been part driven by the high cost of such an operation and will also include other European projects such as a shared maintenance contract with Airbus Military division to save costs on the new military transport aircraft devised by Airbus called A400M. Visit Chauffeur London Services.

The flight that left London Heathrow airport destined for Sydney with a stop at Singapore Airport had to make an emergency landing only a few minutes after takeoff from Singapore airport. This is the third time one of the superjumbo Airbus A380 powered by the Rolls Royce engines has got into trouble in mid air causing many airlines such as Lufthansa to run safety checks between flights at their main Frankfurt Am Main International Airport.
In August a Lufthansa Airbus A380 flying into Frankfurt Am Main International Airport had to shut down one of the Trent 900 engines made by Rolls Royce due to a change in oil pressure. The first incident in September 2009 was after two hours and 45 minutes into the flight from Paris Charles De Gaulle International airport when the superjumbo belonging to Singapore airlines had to turn back due to engine malfunction. The European Aviation Safety Agency has issued severe safety warnings prior to this latest incident involving the Airbus A380 stating that the Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines have been showing unusual wear signs beyond manufacturer  guidelines.

The Airbus A380 Superjumbo bought by Emirates Airlines and Air France which also fly to and from London’s Heathrow airport and Paris Charles De Gaulle airport uses different engines made by either GE or the American manufacturer Pratt And Whitney. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic who also use London’s main International airports such as Luton, Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted will not be changing their choice of engines used in their ordered Airbus A380 Super jets due for delivery in 2013 and 2015 respectively.
It is reported that share in Rolls Royce have fallen by about one billion sterling pounds due to these incidents. Visit London Chauffeur Services