Legislation - Page 16

An online trial has been launched by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), allowing company car drivers to make changes to car and fuel benefits that will affect their tax codes.

The use of ‘stealth’ speed cameras risks them being seen as a revenue raising tool rather than a deterrent, according to the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM).

The Government says celebrating national identity is behind its plan to display the Union Jack, alongside the European Union flag, on British driving licences.

Against a backdrop of falling pump prices, the chancellor has said that fuel duty will continue to be frozen.

Rules governing HGVs will be modernised across England and Wales, transport minister Claire Perry has announced.

Average UK petrol prices have fallen by the equivalent of £2.37 a tank in the past month, but forecourts have been the sole targets of criticism for not reflecting the recent oil price slump. This month’s AA Fuel Price Report shows that they share only part of the blame.

One in 10 drivers would not go into a bus lane to let a fire engine, ambulance or police car through – even if the sirens were wailing and the lights flashing.

Company cars and diesel should be taxed more heavily to cut CO2 emissions and traffic congestion, and improve air pollution.

Only half of company car drivers know that CO2 emissions are involved in the calculation of their benefit-in-kind tax bill, new research suggests.

MHA MacIntyre Hudson has said that employers need to ensure they have adequate procedures and controls in place for their mileage reporting.

The Government should amend vehicle taxation – including company car benefit-in-kind tax, capital allowances and vehicle excise duty – to hasten improvements in air quality, says London Mayor Boris Johnson and Transport for London (TfL).

After 93 years, motorists won’t have to display a paper tax disc from today and as a result the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) is reminding fleets on what the changes means for them.

A company that employed a driver who fell asleep at the wheel and killed two charity cyclists could face criminal charges.

A major construction company has been fined for safety failings after a worker was critically injured when he was run over by a nine-tonne dumper truck.

Mercedes-Benz Vans is urging all van drivers in the UK to check out the facts around Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) requirements, before venturing out on the roads.

Just when it looked like there was clarity over how lease costs should be dealt with under proposed international accounting standards, further revisions have been announced.

Drivers will have to cut out their own vehicle tax discs after the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) run out of perforated paper.

Westminster City Council will be replacing its Civil Enforcement Officers (CEOs) with Traffic Marshals, which could prove good news for fleets.

Patrick McGillycuddy, head of fleet at Škoda UK, explains why he won't miss the tax disc.

Energy used by company cars and vans, including the grey fleet, must be included in a new audit to meet European Union regulations.

Fleet decision-makers face an uphill battle to lawfully manage data generated by connected vehicles for legitimate business use as well as winning the confidence of drivers, according to a legal expert.

A pharmaceutical company has pled guilty at Edinburgh Sheriff Court for failing to ensure the health and safety of an employee when a reversing lorry crushed an employee's head and chest resulting in severe injury.

More than 618,000 levies have been collected from more than 112,000 lorries from 76 countries since the HGV road user levy was introduced in April 2014.

Drivers are reporting that the fines brought in one year ago to tackle careless driving are starting to have an effect, says the AA. But the motoring organisation warns that these positive signs could be stifled if the police do not enforce the measures.

Any political party aspiring to form the next Government needs to address the ‘big four’ motoring concerns that negatively impact individual drivers, businesses and the economy as a whole, says the RAC.

A transport manager’s near total failure to carry out her duties led to road safety being put at risk for more than two years – even though she knew about previous compliance issues.

Businesses are paying fines and penalties totalling hundreds of thousands of pounds to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) after investigations revealed inadequate business and private mileage record-keeping.

Driving licence fees are set to fall by up to 32% under plans announced today (July 28, 2014) by Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander and Roads Minister Claire Perry.

A wine company has been fined after an overloaded vehicle was stopped carrying an extra 1,000kg more of goods than it should have been.

After a brief rise, average UK petrol and diesel prices have started to fall again as oil supply concerns in Libya and the Middle East diminish, according to the latest AA Fuel Price Report.

Road safety campaigners and European traffic police are urging the EU to fast-track the adoption of a modified law on cross-border enforcement of traffic offences such as speeding.

Alan Scott-Davies, senior legal claims advisor, Harris Fowler Solicitors, and Legal Lifeboat Services, looks at the little details...

The contract hire industry is broadly united in its view that new consumer rights legislation will not have an impact on salary sacrifice car and employee car ownership (ECO) schemes, although dissenting voices have emerged suggesting that certain types of scheme will need to be reappraised.

HM Revenue and Customs has opened a consultation on employee benefits in kind.

Four out of five British motorists admit to having broken the law while driving in the past year, a survey suggests.

Tens of thousands of tax workers will hold rolling strikes across the UK in a dispute over job cuts, which could have an impact on queries with HMRC.

Fraudulent ‘slam-ons’ – road traffic accidents deliberately caused in order to claim for whiplash compensation – increased by 51% in 2013, according to claims fraud data from Aviva.

An academic is arguing that higher prison sentences could fail to act as a deterrent against ‘death-by-driving’ offences, and that it is the punishment for underlying offences that should instead be revised.

Anti-fraud firm, APU, has welcomed the Government’s announcement of new measures to tackle the increasing number of dishonest motor insurance claims, but says it could have gone further.

The Government will need to significantly increase investment in the road network if traffic forecasts prove to be correct, MPs have warned.