Ford Ranger vs Toyota Hilux vs Volkswagen Amarok: what's the best truck?
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20 minutes 44 seconds
Double-cab pick-up trucks are under fire in the UK, now being classified as cars for tax purposes. So, with prices up, how do the most powerful versions of the nation's favourite trucks compare, and do they offer any benefits versus a normal car?
Time for some Very Important Consumer Advice consisting mostly of pulling, comparing, loading and off-roading.
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BBC News
8 minutes ago
- BBC News
Drivers deterred from using country lanes during A41 work
Measures have been put in place to deter drivers from using country lanes north of Newport to get around the latest closures on the A41 in told a recent meeting that traffic clogged the single-track lanes around Caynton during previous roadworks on the major Shropshire vehicles following sat-nav systems had been directed through the area to bypass the advertised diversion routes, councillor Stephen Burrell said on his Facebook page.A soft closure has now been implemented by Telford and Wrekin Council which means "to all sat-nav systems, the route will appear as being closed", he said. There will also be more signs at the B5062 and Ercall Heath junctions "to discourage traffic from using this single-track road to bypass the official diversion routes".Burrell, who represents Edgmond on the council, also said he has "successfully campaigned for more signage along Marsh Road" and encouraged residents to contact him directly with any concerns during the council is currently carrying out the fourth and final phase of a major upgrade to the A41 which will take two weeks, excluding weekends, and be during the daytime from 07:00 to 16:00 is an official diversion using the A53, the A442 and the first week will be for the removal and replacement of 8,500 square metres of road surface."This closure will without doubt cause inconvenience for many but is necessary in order to finalise surface drainage works on the A41 through Chetwynd Firs," Burrell added."It is also the last planned major works on this stretch for a good 20 years."Councillor Richard Overton, deputy council leader and cabinet member for highways, housing and enforcement, said the work was the "final stretch of a major investment into one of our borough's busiest routes"."By scheduling the work during school holidays and limiting closures to weekdays, we're doing everything we can to keep disruption to a minimum," he added. Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram. This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.
Daily Mail
8 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
The 10 most shocking dash cam crashes and dangerous driving incidents caught on camera in the past year
From dozy drivers ploughing into the back of stationary vehicles to motorists on the wrong side of the road causing head-on collisions, these dash cam clips showcase some of the most dangerous motorists in Britain. A montage of 10 videos showing incredibly careless and reckless driving - all captured in the last 12 months - have been exclusively shared with the Daily Mail. They've also been sent directly to the police in the hope of securing prosecutions. The footage displays thoughtless overtaking on country roads, hasty antics on motorways, and terrible judgement at busy junctions. It shows how some individuals are risking the lives of others to save seconds on their journey, by driving well beyond their vehicle's limits, or simply switching off behind the wheel. All but one result in crashes, with the exception being a near miss that leaves one driver screaming in fear. The videos have been released by dash cam brand Nextbase to mark the seventh anniversary of its National Dash Cam Safety Portal (NSCSP), which allows road users to upload incriminating footage caught on recording devices directly to police forces to be used as evidence. The ten videos show some of the 'most shocking crashes and scary near misses' recorded on dash cams over the last year. The first - which took place in April this year - shows a preoccupied young driver in a bright yellow Fiat 500 who fails to stop when approaching a stopped car in front, with the rear-facing camera capturing the sickening point of collision. Despite being at relatively low speed, the impact thrusts the female driver forwards into her deployed airbag, while the windscreen on the passenger side of the car smashes on the force of the airbag going off. The second clip plays out a head on collision involving a foreign registered supercar captured in Peth in Scotland. It shows the driver of a £260,000 Aston Martin DBS - either from Netherlands of Luxembourg, given the yellow front number plate) - on the wrong side of the road crashing head-on into an unsuspecting driver entering a blind bend in the wet. Video three involves a Highway Maintenance tipper truck pulling out of what looks to be a dual carriageway slip road or emergency refuge area, with the luckless driver unable to take evasive action and flipping their vehicle into its side after striking the side of the lorry. Another clip from March this year shows a queue of traffic formed behind a slow-moving tanker. When a fast-approaching driver is unable is unable to slow down in time, the footage shows them running into the back of another motorist, their car flipping onto its side and deflecting into the path of the dash cam user, who is unable to take evasive action. The next video shows the moment an unsuspecting driver in Wales turns a corner on a country road to find an out-of-control Mercedes-Benz swerving towards them. Clearly travelling too fast for the wet conditions, the luxury German motor skids off the road into a grass verge before shooting back onto the road into the path of the shocked motorist. The dash cam user manages to steer out of the way of disaster, though only just. Other clips show a transporter carrying a car ploughs into the back of a van entering a roundabout on a dual carriageway triggering a domino effect of crashes, an Audi driver reversing into another road user at a set of traffic lights, and an HGV changing lanes on a motorway and side-swiping an unfortunate motorist. The last of the videos, recorded just last month, is arguably the scariest of all. It shows a motorist attempting to undertake slow-moving traffic on a stretch of smart motorway with no hard shoulder. However, when they move into lane one, they are quickly faced with a van and car already involved in a collision and the drivers out of the vehicle. Unable to avoid the crashed vehicles, the reckless motorist smashes into the back of the van at the moment a women can be seen trying to open the rear doors of the stricken car in front. The clips represent the kind of videos used in many cases that have helped Britons to report dangerous driving as well as prove who is fault for an accident when making an insurance claim. Videos captured on dash cams and recording devices of other road users - like cyclists' helmet cameras - can also be uploaded to the National Dash Cam Safety Portal to help the Police catch dangerous drivers. The portal - which launched in July 2018 - has received nearly 30,000 submissions already in 2025, a 25 per cent increase on the same period last year, indicating that drivers are increasingly capturing and reporting instances of reckless driving. Some 35 UK police forces are using the portal, and other are currently in discussion to utilise it soon. In the year to date, the top five regions processing the most uploads include: West Midlands, West Murcia, Northumberland, Surrey and South Yorkshire. These five regions have already received over 22,000 submissions in 2025, more than the total number submitted across the UK in the whole of 2021. In the last seven years, a whopping 185,000 dangerous driving clips have been uploaded. And 70 per cent of submissions have resulted in further action, whether than be warning letters or the issuing of penalty points and prosecution. By streamlining the process of submitting evidence, the portal is estimated to have saved over 169 years of police time. Bryn Brooker, Head of Road Safety at Nextbase, commented: 'These videos highlight the serious incidents that Britons see on a daily basis on our roads, many of which would be difficult to explain or prove fault in. 'People submit these types of clips to us on a daily basis and even more are using video evidence to help take dangerous drivers off the road through the portal. 'Dash Cams are increasingly seen as an essential bit of kit for a motorist looking to protect themselves and their no-claims bonuses.' The report comes after official DfT stats published in May showed a 1 per cent increase in people killed on Britain roads - 1,633 last year, up from 1,624 in 2023. With 2020 and 2021 statistics considered outliers due to pandemic-related lockdowns dramatically reducing traffic levels, this is the first increase in annual road deaths recorded since 2017. Motorcyclist deaths increased most dramatically by 9 per cent last year with some 343 motorbike riders losing their lives in crashes in 2024, up from 315 during the previous 12 months. As such, motorcyclists made up a fifth (21 per cent) of road fatalities last year. There was also an increase in pedestrian deaths, up 2 per cent from 405 in 2023 to 413 in 2024. Bryn said the increase in road users uploading incriminating evidence of dangerous driving highlights the demand for 'technological solutions to improve road safety'. He added: 'We are pleased that almost all forces across England and Wales now accept video evidence in this way, making it easier to take dangerous drivers off the road, something that has undoubtedly saved lives.'
Times
8 minutes ago
- Times
Can I still get car finance compensation?
Drivers who bought their car on finance could still claim back up to £950 as part of a long-running investigating into hidden commission, despite a landmark court win for lenders last week. On Friday the Supreme Court spared the car finance industry from a worst-case scenario, which could have resulted in paying out a total of £44 billion to 15 million drivers. But the ruling was swiftly followed by intervention by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the City watchdog, which yesterday announced it would consult on a redress scheme that could see lenders on the hook for a total compensation bill of between £9 billion and £18 billion. The FCA is expected to confirm the details of its consultation in October and the first compensation payouts could start next year — so what does it mean for drivers, and will you be eligible for a payout? The FCA began an investigation into historic car finance lending in January 2024, prompted by a rising number of complaints to the courts and to the Financial Ombudsman Service, a free dispute service, about hidden commissions in car finance deals. In particular the FCA was looking at discretionary commission arrangements, where the fee paid to dealers was linked to the interest rate borrowers paid, which in some cases incentivised dealers to give customers a higher rate. This model was used in about 35 per cent of car finance deals, according to the FCA, before it banned the practice in January 2021. The FCA said borrowers could have paid about £1,100 more in interest over a four-year £10,000 car finance deal under the commission model. The regulator was looking at whether consumers were fully told about how to commission worked and the impact it could have on their repayments. Nikhil Rathi, the chief executive of the FCA, warned yesterday that it was 'clear that some firms have broken the law and our rules'. The Court of Appeal had ruled in October that car dealers had a duty to make clear the nature and value of any commission paid to them to ensure that borrowers could give 'informed consent' before agreeing to a deal. The judgment involved three cases brought by drivers who argued that they had been treated unfairly because they had not been told about commission involved in their deals. The ruling triggered a backlash from lenders and from the Treasury, which tried to intervene, arguing that a massive bill for the industry would damage the economy. On Friday the decision was largely overturned by the Supreme Court, although it did uphold one of the three cases — in favour of Marcus Johnson, a factory worker from south Wales, because in his case the £1,651 commission he paid was 55 per cent of the cost of finance on his five-year loan. The court said: 'The fact that the undisclosed commission was so high is a powerful indication that the relationship between Mr Johnson and the lender was unfair.' • Common sense has triumphed over compensation culture Most of the money paid out under a redress scheme will compensate those who were charged discretionary commission — but claims that do not involve discretionary commission could also be successful. The Supreme Court ruling has given hope to drivers with deals that contained a high level of commission, such as in the Johnson case, or where the commission model caused them to pay more. Philip Salter, a former FCA regulator now at the consultancy Sicsic Advisory, said: 'The key development is not just the confirmation of a scheme for discretionary commission arrangements, but the explicit inclusion of non-discretionary models as well. This is a direct consequence of the Supreme Court's ruling and widens the net of lenders that will be impacted.' The FCA suggested it would look at the size of commission in absolute terms, and also relative to the overall cost of the interest, in deciding whether an agreement was unfair. The size of the payout would likely be a refund of the commission, plus compensatory interest. The FCA suggested that the majority of successful claimants would get less than £950 per finance deal. The FCA said it would decide whether any scheme would be opt-in (where drivers would have to complain to their lender) or opt-out, which would require lenders to contact customers directly if they thought they were due compensation for loans taken out since 2007. These details are expected to be confirmed towards the end of this year. Adrian Dally from the Finance & Leasing Association trade body said: 'We have concerns about whether it is possible to have a fair redress scheme that goes back to 2007 when firms have not been required to hold such historic information, and the evidence will be patchy at best.' Since the FCA began its investigation last year it has been clear that any redress scheme would be free to use, like the financial services ombudsman, where customers can take a complaint if the company rejects it. But consumers have been bombarded with adverts from claims management companies and no-win no-fee law firms offering to take on their cases, in return for up to 30 per cent of any payout. If you have already signed a contract with a claims management company to represent your claim, it is worth checking it for any details of an exit fee. Under FCA rules you have the right to exit an agreement with a claims company, subject to a fee. But some consumer law firms have exit fees of £150 or more. If you feel a claims firm is charging an unfair exit fee — these charges must reflect the work the firm has done — you can complain about them either to the FCA (which regulates claims management companies) or, if it is a law firm, the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
