Customers are being given the chance to pay for their spaces using conkers by a group of car parks in Leeds and Manchester in a bid to help the environment and bring back childhood memories. The conkers are equivalent to 20 pence each, requiring customers to use as many as 20 conkers at a time.

Each collected conker will then be used to sponsor a forest in the UK to help offset rising levels of omission from vehicles.

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A significant flaw in tech giant Apples Map app has caused controversy by leading drivers to enter an Alaskan airport runway – when it was supposed to direct them to the car park.

Fairbanks International Airport has experienced two separate incidents of motorists entering the restricted runway, leading to obvious potential danger for both the car passengers and airport staff and aeroplane passengers.

The motoring mishap was caused by the map directing its users along the airport taxiway, leading to drivers mounting the runway and causing panic to onlookers.

Apple has issued an apology for the error, and replaced the faulty map with an error message until the issue is resolved.

Have you ever had a driving disaster due to dud directions? Let us know in the comments section below!

Safe driving from Britannia!

Figures published today for road casualties in 2012 show a 25 per cent increase in deaths involving drink driving since 2011. This has prompted calls for the introduction of random breath tests and a lower drink-drive limit by road safety groups.

Under the current system, the police can stop any driver for any reason, but they cannot require a breath test without a suspicion that the driver has consumed alcohol, or has committed a traffic offence or been involved in an accident.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents have called on the Government to lower the legal limit from 80mg of alcohol per 100ml to 50mg per 100ml blood with the head of road safety Kevin Clinton highlighting the this lower limit will save many lives each year and that effective enforcement of the law is essential.

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Such thefts have started occurring in the Midlands and east London. Thieves took advantage of a combination of vulnerabilities in factory-fitted alarm systems and a diagnostic port used to read fault codes during servicing. They gained access to the port without triggering the alarm and used it to reprogramme blank keys. The whole process only took a few minutes allowing the thieves to make off with expensive BMWs.

In addition, cyber-security researchers based in the US have shown how the latest safety and self-driving car technology could be used to allow hackers to accelerate, brake and steer as though they were playing a video game.

The concern here is that with widespread availability of wireless technologies as well as automation in new cars, wireless attacks are possible. However, as cars are not highly integrated like laptops and phones, manufacturers do have a decent shot at restricting the potential for hacking.

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Although we all hate to admit it, it seems that summer has finally gone, and we are left with the lukewarm embrace of autumn around us. While this may offer a welcome break from the blazing sunshine and soaring temperatures, it can provide us with hazardous driving conditions. Here are Britannia’s top tips for autumnal driving:

– Remove condensation. This can obscure your view and make driving much more dangerous. Clear your windscreen before any journey.

– Watch out for leaves. Leaves falling provide a huge hazard for motorists, as not only can they block up your windscreen and impair your vision while on the road, combine them with the all-too familiar autumn rain and suddenly wet leaves become as dangerous a slipping hazard as icy roads.

– Keep headlights on.  As the days get shorter and the evenings get darker, keeping headlights on becomes more of a necessity. Illuminate the road as much as you can to maximise your field of view and to make yourself as visible as possible to other drivers.

Safe driving this autumn from Britannia!

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