VOSA shreds limo - illegal limousines get crushed

In what is being considered the biggest show of force to date from VOSA – two stretch limousines have been crushed and shredded.

The Ford Excursions were seized from a South Wales company because they were being operated illegally and did not meet safety regulations which VOSA enforce.

Thechauffeur.com was there to see the limousines being put through the world’s biggest metal shredder in Newport operated by Sims Management. The owner of the limousine was not present at the event and you can see why, as massive cranes tossed the limousines around like toy cars, and are now heading for China to be recycled.



Companies running passenger service vehicles (PSV’s) with eight seats or more must have an Operator’s Licence to show that they meet strict rules on safety procedures and financial standing. In 2009 VOSA was given new powers to impound and, in some cases, destroy vehicles which were being used without a licence.

This was the first time a limousine has been destroyed in this manner by VOSA, and now it is hoping the shocking images and video will send a strong message to those who continue to flout the laws.

Source:
http://www.thechauffeur.com/2011/03/limo-crushed-by-vosa-illegal-limousines-get-shredded/

Rolls-Royce to unveil luxury electric limousine that can run on 2p per mile (but could cost up to £1m to buy!)

An electric powered Rolls-Royce limousine is set to hit the road within days, the luxury British car maker has confirmed.

Based around the existing £300,000 Rolls-Royce Phantom, the electric -powered version will be re-chargeable from the domestic mains and with zero emissions.

The news confirms what the Daily Mail reported in January.

The standard petrol powered Phantom achieves only around 15 miles to the gallon while the electric Rolls-Royce will cost around 2p a mile to run - providing you can afford the price tag which is likely to be not far short of £1million.

The new car is to be unveiled to the world at the Geneva Motor Show on March 1. It has the codename EXP 102 - the EXP standing for 'experimental.

Traditionally, the firm produces a fully running 'experimental' car to take around the world to show super rich clients, before taking orders and putting the starting the production version.

There has been speculation for two years that Rolls-Royce was planning a top-secret electric model. This intensified in January when Rolls-Royce's boss, under intense questioning from the Daily Mail, admitted it would be 'a good idea.'

Mr Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes confirmed at the time that ‘all options’ for alternatively-fuelled vehicles were being considered.

In a statement the company based at Goodwood in Sussex said: 'Rolls-Royce Motor Cars today confirmed the development of 102EX, a one-off, fully electric powered Phantom, to debut at the Geneva Motor Show on 1 March 2011.

The car will tour during 2011, serving as a test bed to gather a bank of research data which will be crucial in informing future decisions on alternative drive-trains for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.'

Chief executive officer Torsten Müller-Ötvös, speaking from the company’s headquarters in Goodwood said: 'We have engineered the world’s first battery electric vehicle for the ultra-luxury segment.

'With this vehicle, we begin an exploration into alternative drive-trains, seeking clarity on which alternative technologies may be suitable to drive Rolls-Royce motor cars of the future.'

A Rolls-Royce spokesman added: 'Rolls-Royce produces cars that represent the pinnacle in luxurious motoring for the world’s most discerning customers.

With 102EX, also known as the Phantom Experimental Electric (EE), it is the company’s intention to carefully test the opinions and reactions to alternative drive-train options of a range of stakeholders including owners, enthusiasts, members of the public and the media.'

He added: '102EX will serve as a working test bed for a global tour that takes in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and North America. Through test drives, owners will be given the opportunity to experience an alternative drive-train technology and to feedback their experiences, thoughts and concerns directly to Rolls-Royce.'

'As one of the company’s EX models it will serve to begin a dialogue with existing owners and stakeholders, posing as well as answering questions of its audience.

These include the car’s ability to deliver an acceptable range between re-charges and to operate in extreme weather conditions. But also to benchmark reliability and quality against customer expectations of the world’s pinnacle automotive brand.'

Mr Müller-Ötvös. 'I must be convinced that any alternative drive-train we choose for the future delivers an authentic Rolls-Royce experience“It must be a technology that is right for our customers, our brand and which sets us on a sound footing for a sustainable future.'

The super-green car for the wealthy will be on the road in time for the 2012 Olympics where parent company BMW will be showcasing its ground-breaking electric and environmentally-friendly technology to the world.

The company's flagship £300,000 Phantoms currently manage just 15 miles to the gallon.

There has been intense speculation over the last two years that Rolls-Royce was planning a top secret electric car.

Mr Mueller-Oetvoes increased that speculation when he told the Daily Mail before Christmas that an electric or alternatively-fuelled ‘experimental’ Rolls-Royce model would be a ‘good idea.’

BMW, which also owns British-based MINI, has already launched an electric powered MINI-E which can be re-charged from the mains.

With the world’s eyes watching the 2012 Olympics - where parent company BMW will be showing off their low-emissions cars to ferry 80,000 VIPs to and from venues - it could be the perfect opportunity to showcase just such a vehicle running on electric power, or even a fuel-cell.

British gangster movie director Guy Ritchie, former husband of Madonna, took delivery of one before Christmas. Traditionally, Rolls-Royce has produced one-off ‘experimental’ models to showcase to potential the luxury car company’s latest technological advances.

When the Daily Mail pressed Mr Mueller-Oetvoes before Christmas that a super-green electric Rolls-Royce using the latest in environmentally-friendly technology for the super-rich with a conscience would make an ideal new ‘experimental’ model, he acknowledged it would be a ‘good idea’.

Rolls-Royce announced record annual car sales in 2010 - up 171per cent on 2009 and more than double the previous record of 1,212 cars set in 2008. In 2009 the company sold 1,002 cars.

The USA remained the biggest single market for Rolls-Royce in 2010, followed by China and the UK with all areas showing ‘significant growth’, particularly in Asia Pacific, the USA and the Middle East.

Wealthy women, like Paris Hilton buying the smaller ‘baby’ Rolls-Royce Ghost models are fuelling the boom in sales from the company’s hi-tech factory.

Wealthy women buying the smaller ‘baby’ Rolls-Royce Ghost models are fuelling the boom in sales from the company’s hi-tech factory is in the grounds of the Earl of March’s Goodwood estate.

Pop star and Geordie X Factor judge Cheryl Cole has one of the £196,000 cars, and British gangster movie director Guy Ritchie, former husband of Madonna, took delivery of one before Christmas.

The company sells about three Ghosts to every one Phantom. Mr Mueller-Oetvoes told the Daily Mail that women are attracted to the car’s ‘masculinity’ and now account for up to 10 per cent of sales of the Ghost, a more compact and ‘less formal’ Royce saloon than the massive £300,000 Phantom.

'Women love their Ghosts. But they are not buying a car for women. Rolls-Royce is a male brand. And women like that. It’s a nice masculine car.'

But female customers do like to customise their interiors with a more feminine choice of colours and detailing, leathers and stitching, he said.

Although sales are bucking the economic gloom, the Rolls-Royce boss did admit that colour schemes are more in tune with the downbeat mood, with a shift from ‘bling’ to more subtle interior shades: There’s a degree of sobriety.'

In preparation for the Geneva debut of its electric car , Rolls-Royce will launch the website www.electricluxury.com this week, a portal to fuel a wider global debate seeking views on the question of electric luxury from media, VIPs and stakeholders.

The site will also deliver regular updates of the car’s progress while on tour.

Full technical specifications for 102EX will be announced at the Geneva Motor Show on March 1.

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Boy, 14, injured after Katie Price's West End car crash

A boy was rushed to hospital after Katie Price's car hit a bollard outside a West End theatre.

The 14-year-old was injured when the model's silver BMW lurched forward as it pulled away from the Phoenix Theatre in Charing Cross Road.

Witnesses said a schoolgirl also fainted as the chauffeur-driven car carrying the model nearly hit a group of 15 people standing behind a three-foot bollard.

The accident happened last night after Price had watched her friend Natasha Hamilton perform at a press screening of Blood Brothers. Scores of paparazzi and fans crowded around the 32-year-old before the car unexpectedly jumped forward about two metres, smashing its left side and shredding a tyre.

The model, who retreated into the theatre before being taken away in a second car, is understood to have made a complaint to police after allegedly being pushed in the face by a photographer shortly before the crash.

A spokesman for the Met said: "There was an allegation of assault in relation to an incident outside the theatre."

Audience member Dan Roberts, who was inches away from being hit by the vehicle, said: "It could have been fatal. If it had not been for this bollard myself and my friends would have been run over along with maybe five to 10 people who were behind us. It would have ploughed into so many people.

"The car just decided to lurch towards us from being stationary."

London Ambulance Service said the teenager suffered minor injuries.

Transport Broker recruiting limousine companies throughout the UK

Are you one of the very best limousine hire companies in your region?

The leading provider of luxurious chauffeur driven transport, Transport Broker is looking for limousine hire and chauffeur driven luxury car hire providers to join its national network of limousine and luxury car hire Agents in all regions of the UK.

Whether you are new to the business with just a single limo, or a company with a large fleet and 20 years experience in the industry, Transport Broker wants to hear from you.

In becoming a Transport Broker approved agent, you will be part of one of the largest and fastest growing transport organisations in the UK. Transport Broker has an excellent web presence which is expanding every day with a number of main sites, blogs, and a large number of smaller sites dedicated to individual regions.

Transport Broker is always on the look out for ways to enhance its profile and attract new customers, and to this end, investment in marketing is heavy and aggressive, and all in a bid to showcase the services, luxury cars and experience of their first-class agents.

Location is not an issue in becoming a Transport Broker agent as the company is national, operating throughout the UK and Northern Ireland so whether you are a limousine chauffeur in London or Liverpool, Brighton or Birmingham, Essex or Edinburgh, Cardiff or Croydon, there is an opening at Transport Broker for you.

Limousine hire is a challenging market especially with the changes in the law that have taken place during the last few years. Transport Broker has observed a surge in the number of enquiries for legal limousines and novelty vehicles ahead of the prom and wedding seasons. Many agents are already fully booked throughout the summer and Transport Broker are keen to recruit new agents as soon as possible to cope with the demand.

For more information about working with Transport Broker as a limousine hire agent, send us some basic details using the form on this page.

Audit chief took chauffeur driven car to meeting to save money

A FORMER top official at the Wales Audit Office got the body to pay £464 for a chauffeur- driven Mercedes – to take him to a conference on how to save public money.

Last night Plaid Cymru AM Leanne Wood said she was staggered that the body’s former chief operating officer, Anthony Snow, had been able to self- authorise such an expense for the 290-mile trip from St Asaph to Poole in Dorset.

The WAO is responsible for ensuring that public bodies with budgets totalling more than £20bn a year spend money wisely.

Details of the chauffeur-driven trip appear in a schedule of Mr Snow’s travel expenses disclosed to Ms Wood following her latest request to the WAO under the Freedom of Information Act.

Ms Wood previously unearthed the information that Mr Snow had received a severance package totalling £750,000 when he left the body in 2009.
The package was authorised by former Auditor General Jeremy Colman, who is currently serving a prison sentence for possessing indecent images of children that were found on his office computer.

Under the terms of the severance package, which was signed off on the first available day after Mr Snow’s 50th birthday, he will receive pension contributions from the WAO until he is 60 in 2019. Over a 10-year period, the pension contributions will amount to £618,614.

Months after leaving the WAO, Mr Snow landed another highly-paid job as chief operating officer for the Financial Reporting Council in London.
Ms Wood said: “It is staggering that Wales’ public spending watchdog authorised £464 for a chauffeur-driven Mercedes to take Anthony Snow from North Wales to Sandbanks in Poole.

“I’ve been told that this trip was arranged at short notice to attend the National Audit Office’s senior management conference More for Less – Meeting the Challenges of a Changed Environment, which is ironic.

“I find it difficult to understand why his appearance at the conference should need to have been at short notice, and even if it was, he could have got there for a lot less.

“Another £170 was spent a few months earlier on the same chauffeur service. Hiring a car, if a car had to be used, would have been a far better use of public money. The people at the very top of Wales’ public spending scrutiny body were having a laugh at the expense of the public purse.

“I sincerely hope these further revelations of excess will make sure that future spending rules are firmly tightened up – most people would agree that public servants hiring a chauffeur service is excessive, especially if public bodies are to meet the ‘challenges of a changed financial environment’.”

Conservative AM Darren Millar, who chairs the Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee, said: “Members of the committee have already expressed concerns over the costs of training paid for Mr Snow during his employment by the WAO and we asked the Auditor General to provide information regarding travel and subsistence costs some weeks ago.

“Costs of this nature do seem pretty extraordinary and the committee will be keen to secure an explanation as to why taxpayers picked up the tab for such luxury travel arrangements,” he added. “Mr Snow has agreed to provide evidence to the committee on March 23. I’m sure that we will have questions to ask him about this and other matters on that date.”

A spokeswoman for the WAO said: “Former WAO employee Anthony Snow self-authorised this item of expenditure in 2007 and, as our chief operating officer, it was within his authority to do so.

“We do not hold a written business case for this expenditure, but on the information available to us, the value for money of this decision is unclear and appears highly questionable.

“Owing to the time elapsed since the expenditure was approved and since Mr Snow’s departure from the WAO in 2009, it would be neither practical nor a prudent use of public funds to try to recoup the expenditure or modify the terms of his severance package.”

Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/02/12/audit-chief-took-chauffeur-driven-car-to-meeting-on-saving-money-91466-28159015/#ixzz1EHQYPMhG

Agron Thrilled with Grammy Awards Limo Driver

GLEE star DIANNA AGRON wants the same limousine driver to take her to all events after encountering a helpful fashion-conscious godfather on her way to the Grammy Awards on Sunday (13Feb11).

The actress' chauffeur was full of red carpet tips after Agron revealed she had never been to the Grammys before - and now she wants her handlers to book him for every big event.

She says, "The limo driver was fantastic... He said, 'Are you gonna be OK?' and then said, 'You get in there and they're taking photos of you, so you might wanna find somebody to navigate you around those things, or if you do get a photo taken... put your hand on your hip; my wife said that that's a very flattering thing to do.'

"He was so great, he was fun."

JLS Star A Fool For Love

JLS star Oritse Williams once spent all his money on a limousine ride to impress a girl.

The boy band heartthrob was determined to organise a special treat for a special lady, but had to convince the driver of the luxury car to give him a discount as he didn’t have enough money to pay the full charge for the vehicle.

He explained to UK radio station KISS: “I had no money at the time but still wanted to do something very special for this girl who I thought I was in love with at the time - it was puppy love.

“So I went to this limousine place and told the guy I only had £200, which I had been saving for months.

“He just looked at me and said I was crazy, but I eventually convinced him and managed to take my girl for a limo tour of London for the night.”

Oritse isn’t the only member of JLS who has some impressive romantic moves.

His bandmate Jonathan 'JB' Gill once organised a secret break for an ex-girlfriend.

Jonathan said: “I surprised my girlfriend at the time completely. She was so organised and on the ball it was such a task and a half getting everything sorted, like getting her passport and bag packed without her knowing. I remember picking her up at university and then heading straight for the Eurostar. She was so surprised!” - Bang Showbiz

East Yorkshire School Prom Limousine Warning Issued - BBC News

Stretched limousine operators should be checked, the council has advised

Stretched limousine operators should be checked, the council has advised

Head teachers and parents in East Yorkshire have been warned to check stretched limousine cars booked for school proms are fully licensed.

The warning about potentially unlicensed and uninsured vehicles comes from East Riding of Yorkshire Council officials.

A spot check in 2010 found two vehicles were unlicensed and had been serving alcohol to under-18s.

Drivers of licensed limousine cars were also checked for previous convictions.

Paul Bellotti, head of housing and public protection at the council, said the law was changed in 2006 so that all stretched limousines had to be licensed.

He said: "Licensing of these vehicles and the use of vetting procedures provides safeguards and protection for the passengers using them."

Enhanced checks

To get a licence with the council the drivers are assessed for competence, having the correct licence and being medically fit.

The drivers are also screened by the Criminal Records Bureau to an enhanced level for any previous convictions to ensure they are fit to drive the public.

Councillor Jane Evison, whose responsibilities include cultural services and public protection, said: 'If you hire an unlicensed vehicle such as a stretched limousine or novelty vehicle there may be serious consequences for you and your children.

"Just because an advertisement may look professional and authentic does not mean that everything is safe or legal.

"It is important to check the vehicle is licensed and that the driver has been suitably vetted before booking."

Lincoln Debuts MKT Town Car Livery & Limousine Models

Lincoln Automobiles revealed its chauffeur-dedicated MKT Town Car models at the 2011 International LCT show. The company noted that the vehicle is designed specifically for fleet customers.

The company will introduce two different MKT Town Car body styles – Livery and Limousine. The two models will debut in near-production form, maintaining Lincoln’s position in the livery industry and building on the success of the well-established Lincoln Town Car sedan, the company noted.

The new vehicles from the luxury brand of Ford Motor, Lincoln Automobiles, deliver a luxurious ride quality, consistent with Lincoln’s brand characteristics. The new Lincoln MKT Town Car Livery version uses a standard MKT chassis and is available in both front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive configurations.

The Michigan based automaker’s MKT Town Car Livery model will put its passengers quickly at ease. The company has repositioned the seat rearward by 1.5 inches for additional legroom which will provide additional comfort and functionality. There is also a switch on the rear passenger side door that allows a rear seat passenger to control the front passenger seat ahead, providing even more legroom if necessary.

The new MKT Town Car Livery model provides operators with a cargo capacity of 39.6 cubic feet, more than the outgoing Town Car sedan. The new vehicle models deliver a wide range of latest technologies aimed at making life easier for the driver and passengers.

Lincoln Automobile noted that the new Lincoln MKT Town Car models will be manufactured at Oakville Assembly Complex, starting next spring. The production of Current Lincoln Town Car will end this fall, the company added.