Health expert calls for political debate on car smoking

Just days after the British Medical Association recommended that smoking in cars should be made illegal, a leading Lancashire health expert has called for a political debate over the issue.

Officially, the professional medical association and trade union for doctors and medical students is calling for an outright ban on all smoking in vehicles across the UK, highlighting research which claims that the levels of toxins in a car can be up to 23 times higher than in a smoky bar.

However, Blackburn’s director of public health, Dominic Harrison, said a partial ban would be more appropriate.

He said: “The evidence around smoking with children in the car, even with the window open, is absolutely overwhelming as that is far too close to be smoking to a child.

“With children or passengers I think the issue is the same as smoking in an enclosed public space.

“I think we should test this with political debate and I would be quite interested to see what the public mood would be.

“I would suggest immediately no smoking in cars with a passenger and certainly not with children and I would make it a civil offence, similar to parking on a double yellow line, not a criminal one initially.”

A regular smoker  looking to sell a car can find the car valuation is often lower.

Former dealer jailed for "car clocking" scam

A one-time motor dealer - along with his three brothers - has been jailed for 18 months for "clocking" the mileage of cars and selling them on to car buyers.

The court was told that ringleader of the scam, Paul Price of Dewsbury, had traded honestly for many years but health problems and ensuing financial difficulties had led him up a path of "serious and deliberate fraud", alongside his three brothers Ian, Gary and Melvyn who were each given suspended 12 month jail sentences. A family friend, Gareth Hunt, was also handed a suspended sentence.

The four brothers were caught selling over 40 cars across West and North Yorkshire which had had the mileage readings in the vehicles reduced, in one case by more than 200,000 miles. The lower mileage readings helped artificially inflate the car valuation.

The sales took place online between January 2008 and August 2009 and in some instances bogus services documents were provided.

The activities of  the group originally came to light after concerns were reported to North Yorkshire Trading trading standards officers.

Sentencing them Judge Kerry Macgill said people who had saved up their “hard earned cash” to buy cars were entitled to believe the readings were honest.

Tesco cars launched - but no trade-ins!

Once upon a time Tesco used to just sell groceries. Not content with moving into clothing, petrol, banking and insurance, the supermarket giants have even branched out into buying up old gold.

But, now it has embarked on arguably its most ambitious project yet - selling second hand cars!

Tesco say they are offering RAC-inspected cars for sale at prices cheaper than many existing forecourt prices, due to their lower overheads.
The plan is that the cars will be delivered directly from seller to buyer, with no showrooms, and no sales commissions, etc.
The new site will offer up to 3,000 cars a week, mostly sourced from hire fleets and the leasing business. If you like what you see and buy one, you can pick it up at a handover centre at Longbridge, or for a fee it can be delivered to your door.
But, here is the catch!
There won't be any trade-ins, private sales or free car valuations available through Tesco Cars, and that, added to the inability to inspect the cars personally, will restrict the segment of the market that can be covered.
The launch of Tesco's site on Sunday follows the acquisition of a minority stake in online dealership Carsite. The supermarket group has an option to take full control of the venture over time.