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Martin Rowlands, chairman...

Martin Rowlands, chairman of the National Tyre Distributors" Association (NTDA), said: "I am absolutely astonished. People aren"t having their wheels fitted properly, and that"s appalling." He is calling for improvements after we revealed that 85 per cent of technicians we visited didn"t tighten wheel nuts correctly. Rowlands warned the results could have frightening consequences. "People shouldn"t be in our profession if they can"t understand that this is a safety issue," he added.



Millions of Britain"s...

Millions of Britain"s motorists are wasting a massive 157 every year on car insurance by not looking around for the best deal. An amazing five million drivers in the UK do not bother to get a second quote when their policy comes up for renewal, according to research conducted by Sainsbury"s Car Insurance. Apathy was the most common reason cited by survey respondents for not shopping around for a better deal.


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A spokesman for TVR...

A spokesman for TVR told Auto Express: "Our owner Nikolai Smolensky has put in a bid to the administrator. It"s not from TVR; it"s a personal one. He"s a sports car fan and likes British machines. If there"s an opportunity to be explored, he"ll take it."

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A brilliant new device...

A brilliant new device which fires a microchip tracker into car tyres is set to spike fuel thieves.

Run-flat rubber is normally immune to punctures caused by forecourt stingers as its stiffened sidewalls allow crooks to get away. But the latest technology will put a stop to that, by injecting tiny tracking devices into the tyres.

Drivestop, the Birmingham firm developing the system, already sells stingers which insert traceable data pods into the rubber. These contain details of the forecourt where the drive-off took place.

Around 18 filling stations across the UK have invested in the ң10,000 technology, according to the kits designer, Jaginder Singh Mudhar, with more set to follow. He said: Garages which spot the chips when repairing or replacing a punctured tyre can pass the information to the police.

If necessary, officers can then use CCTV footage from the relevant filling station to catch the vehicle driving off.

But according to Singh Mudhar, the new system goes one step further. He explained: It would allow police to trace, track and arrest thieves before they can leave the area. The authorities have even asked whether the stingers could be activated remotely, triggered by ANPR or CCTV cameras.

Theyre interested in using this latest technology to boost security at the London Olympics in 2012, added Singh Mudhar. It would be employed at car parks or at sites across the capital to stop criminals or terrorists in their tracks.




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