AA warns of automated penalties

DRIVERS are still suffering a year on from the time most wheelclampers were banned from operating in private car parks, according to the AA. Twelve months on, parking enforcement firms are reaping large sums from issuing automated "penalty" tickets. The AA said that while Communities Minister Eric Pickles is reining in local authorities who over-zealously use CCTV, private parking operators now rely heavily on this technology and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) to watch drivers and issue tickets through the post when they put a foot wrong in parking areas.

Maserati sales up 4-fold in UK & Europe this year

The Maserati Ghibli (pictured) helped Maserati to strong sales in UK & Europe Maserati are on a mission to revive sales for the marque after years of being just an afterthought for car buyers fancying something interesting and Italian. And it seems to be working. The new Maserati Ghibli (and the Quattroporte) are starting to appeal to car buyers in the UK and Europe so much that sales so far in 2014 are up by 420 per cent on 2013, and although the actual numbers aren’t massive, the progress certainly is.

Audi A7 Sportback Competition is a 322 bhp diesel special edition

Audi A7 Sportback Competition gets 322 bhp Audi has decided that a fitting way to celebrate 25 years of turbodiesel Audis is to create a special edition A7 Sportback with added power. Seems reasonable. So we get the Audi A7 Sportback Competition which comes with the regular 3.0 litre BiTurbo diesel but with just a little bit more oomph with 322bhp and 479lb/ft of torque – just 6bhp up on the normal lump.