Blog
Catch up on the latest news about on fleet management, the automotive Industry and Marshall Leasing
19 February 2019
What a difference a couple of years can make!
The challenges faced by vehicle manufacturers in meeting the environmental needs of the world are causing the likes of Honda to rethink their strategy. We have commented regularly on the direction of travel being driven through legislation and tax. The decline in export demand to China has hurt our British car industry. Now we must consider the cost of convergence to electric vehicles. This is the message that Honda have sent out.
We have previously talked about the cost of change to electric vehicles (EV) in relation to...
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11 February 2019
A recent Home Office report conducted by police across England and Wales revealed that crime has risen by 19% in the last year. With an overall total of 5,723,182 offences recorded, a shocking discovery shows that robbery figures have risen by 17% according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Further worrying statistics show that between 2013-2018, it has been reported that roughly 5,975 fewer police officers are patrolling local streets, but the problem worsens when comparing these figures to 2006, whereby 21,958 fewer officers were deployed across the UK....
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04 February 2019
Constantly driving our wonderful vehicles poses an interesting question that may bother fleet drivers on a regular basis. What came first; the wheel or the road? No doubt during the transition from horse-drawn carts to combustion engines, we had a great deal to thank the Romans for. At the end of the day, you need road infrastructure for your wheels to roll over.
Despite the Model T being available to the masses from 1908, Britain’s first motorway, the M1, didn’t start construction until much later in 1959. Sadly for us modern drivers, our pot hole-ridden...
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01 February 2019
A new range of vehicles is music to our fleet-loving ears, and some big brands have hit the ground running straight into 2019. It has been recently announced that Ford and Volkswagen will be forming an alliance to develop and build new commercial vehicles for global markets, with these exciting developments starting in 2022.
To support the array of environmentally friendly initiatives taking place to tackle the use of fossil fuels, Ford and Volkswagen have recently signed a memorandum of understanding to investigate further collaboration on mobility services and...
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21 January 2019
The recent news of a crash involving the Duke of Edinburgh on a notorious junction in Sandringham has put the spotlight on road safety for older drivers. Although Prince Phillip, aged 97 walked away unhurt after his Land Rover overturned near the royal estate in Norfolk, this has raised the issue of older drivers right to the forefront. We’ve outlined some key talking points for older fleet drivers and some important precautions and advice to stay safe on the roads.
There have been many attempts to form petitions to introduce compulsory, age-related driving tests...
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14 January 2019
If you own a heavy goods vehicle (HGV) as part of your fleet, you’ll understand the issues with refuelling this big machine, as these can be hard to come by. As technology and efficiency are always on the rise, fear not as the online supermarket brand Ocado has recently opened its first natural gas refuelling station, located at its Hatfield Customer Fulfilment Centre.
The company are the first of its kind in the UK to self-fund the purchase of an onsite grid connected station, allowing the facility to accommodate up to 80 vehicles. This site was both built and...
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10 January 2019
The London Pollution Charge goes live in April 2019, with up to 2.5 million vehicles being affected. Charging £12.50, the ultra-low emission zone net will capture 60,000 vehicles a day and this charge is in addition to the £11.50 congestion charge which will continue to stand across London’s roads. OUCH!
So, some 1.5 million diesel cars registered before 2016, 500,000 petrol cars registered before 2006, 400,000 vans, 55,000 HGVs and coaches will be targets to lower the overall pollution levels and improve the flow of traffic within Central London. The...
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07 January 2019
As we all know, London is a very congested city and the thought of regularly driving on these roads can be a headache. In recent weeks, it has been revealed that there is a new £23 million scrappage scheme being implemented by the government to help remove the most polluting vans off of central London’s roads, in preparation for the ultra-low emission zone legislative changes (ULEZ).
Announced by Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, this scheme is designed to encourage small and micro-businesses to switch to cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles such as electric...
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03 January 2019
For avid drivers, a smooth road when driving your vehicle is a perfect match made in heaven. Has your trip ever started with rolling down your windows, taking in the fresh air… then ending with you hitting a pothole and damaging your tyre? Across the country, potholes have become a bane, with a record number of these being reported by members of the public to local authorities, up by 44% year-on-year, according to the RAC. The main cause of these potholes are harsh winters and hot summers.
Authorities up and down the country, not including London, saw the...
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27 December 2018
On Friday 29 March 2019, Britain will have completed its transition to leave the European Union. While many campaigners have pre-empted the outcomes of this political decision, many are still left unsure of its impact on many industries across the UK. From the outset, there is a common expectation among fleet-lovers that there will be a very short-term decline in sales for finance brokers and dealers. However, this is expected to dissipate within a few years post-Brexit.
A recent poll conducted by Paragon quizzed individuals on how they thought Brexit would impact on...
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