News

UK motorists who cause serious injury as a result of dangerous driving risk being jailed for five years under new heightened penalties unveiled by the government.

Under the changes, an offence of “causing serious injury by dangerous driving” is to be introduced that will help address a gap that exists in the current legislation between the offence of dangerous driving, punishable with up to two years in prison, and causing death by dangerous driving, maximum 14-year sentence.

Almost 2,000 people are killed every year on the roads, and according to Justice Secretary, Kenneth Clarke, the government has “listened to the victims of dangerous drivers, their families, MPs, judges and road safety groups and their experiences have directly informed these changes”.

“Making our roads safer is a priority — five people died on our roads each day last year, so we need to do everything we can to further improve safety,” he added.

Mr Clarke and the rest of Whitehall have moved the increase penalties after an intense campaign from the parents of Cerys Edwards, a one year-old who suffered catastrophic injuries when her family’s car was hit by a vehicle travelling at more than 70mph in a 30mph zone. Motorist Antonio Singh Boparan was jailed for 21 months following the offence but then released after serving just six.

And the move has garnered universal praise, with Ellen Booth, the Senior Campaigns Officer at charity Brake, claiming the changes finally mean that “serious injury is recognised within the title of the offence, and this recognition is vitally important to victims and their families”.

The changes form part of a wider update in UK motoring offences and road regulations. Last week, Philip Hammond, the Transport Secretary, announced proposals to increase the speed limit on motorways to 80mph while introducing more 20mph zones in towns and cities.

Those who drive under the influence of drugs will also be targeted thanks to new “drugalysers”, introduced in police stations, which measure the levels of banned substances in the blood much like current breathalysers.

Oct 2011

Despite the uncharacteristic October sun earlier this month, winter is sadly approaching and with it comes the inevitable illnesses among UK workers. But medical experts are advising employers to make sure staff desks are clean this winter to combat absenteeism.

Experts working on behalf of office supplies firm Viking UK found that germs harboured in messy and dirty workplace desks could contribute to winter illness.

Of the employees surveyed, 56% said they had a colleague with a “really messy” desk, with accountants (64%) identified as being the worst culprits, followed by lawyers (61%). Bankers (33%) and estate agents (35%) were rated the tidiest.

Researchers then took swabs from 300 messy desks and found that many of them were hiding swarms of common bacteria, all of which can cause sickness. And among the worst examples, some desks even harboured mould under the keyboard.

With the majority of UK workers eating lunch at their desks daily, researchers warned that leaving traces of food was one of the key causes of the high bacterial content of desks. According to Viking, it’s ''staggering'' that two-thirds of office workers who eat lunch at their desks do not clean afterwards.

“This research has shown that there are some very unhygienic desks right now in the UK, which is very worrying those who work in open plan offices tend to starting coming down with illnesses this time of year,” said Dr Lisa Ackerley, Hygiene Expert at Viking and a chartered environmental health practitioner.

“Keeping equipment such as keyboards, phones and desks as germ free as possible is even more important during the cold and flu season.”

Oct 2011

Sky TV’s monopoly on the UK’s biggest sporting events was put to the test this week when a pub landlady successfully challenged the provider’s “hiked prices” and was allowed to keep her foreign decoder.

Karen Murphy paid £800 a year for the Greek decoder, which allowed her to broadcast live football matches for her customers, saying she "couldn't afford" Sky's charge of £700 a month.

However, Sky ordered her to stop using the decoder and told her to pay almost £8,000 in fines and costs, forcing Mrs Murphy to challenge the household broadcaster over her right to use the cheaper provider through the European Court of Justice (ECJ). This week the ECJ ruled that having an exclusive system, such as that proposed by Sky, is "contrary to EU law".

While Sky has lost its battle with Mrs Murphy, the Premier League has claimed a partial victory, as the ECJ stated that it maintained the copyright for some sections of the broadcast, such as theme tunes and logos.  But that didn’t stop the landlady from believing she had won "90%" of the battle.

"It's been the battle of the little guy - these corporate people feel they can throw money at things and just win. It's taken quite a chunk of my life but I'm glad I took it on. It's been like Karen versus Goliath," she said.

"I am sure the likes of the FA and Sky will do anything to protect their interests. I don't know how it will pan out, I hope it doesn't go back to the way it was as it's not fair for the customer, it's not a free market. They shouldn't have been as greedy in the first place."

The High Court, which originally referred the case to the EU, will now look at it again to clarify the law.

Millions of over-50s struggling financially in the current economic climate claim their home will act as their pension, despite the recent squeeze on property prices.

The new generation of homeowners, affectionately labelled ‘Hippies’ (Home is Pension), is two million strong, according to retirement group LV, and they plan to use equity in their property to boost their retirement funds.

Out of 1,051 UK adults aged over 50 and in employment, only a fifth believed they were financially on track to retire as planned.

As a result, the number of Hippies has risen from 1.5 million in 2010. When asked how they plan to get hold of their ‘pension’ cash, over half intend to downsize, while a fifth would move to a less expensive area or use an equity release scheme.

Nearly half (45%) of those approaching retirement are considering alternative sources of income after they finish working in light of stock market falls, giving way to Hippies all over the UK.

Oct 2011