Category Archives: Legal and Regulations

Supreme Court Decision on Car Finance Welcomed

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The Supreme Court (the Highest UK Court) has issued a decision on some of the claims where it is alleged that car finance was mis-sold. The claims were mainly based on the fact that those who purchased cars from dealers were not advised of the amount of commission they were paying to arrange it. The car dealers were simply taking the opportunity to sell an additional service to the car purchaser (the buyer did not have to take it as they could have arranged finance and insurance elsewhere).

The claims were potentially going to amount to billions of pounds and would have been very damaging to major insurance companies. I welcome the Supreme Court decision and I actually said this in a previous blog post: “It is surely daft that customers who bought insurance with their eyes wide open should be able to claim anything. They presumably were happy with the costs and level of cover, so the fact there were undisclosed commissions is irrelevant”.

One commentator on that blog post suggested that the car dealer was acting as an agent for the car owner so had a fiduciary duty to advise the owner of the terms of the deal and the commission being paid. But the Supreme Court said no fiduciary duty was owed which hopefully kills off most of the dubious legal claims.

Unfortunately the Court decision is not quite as clear cut as it might appear and there might still be room for some claimants to pursue their cases. Claims management companies were actively pursuing the recruitment of millions of claimants and some appear to be still doing so.

It is surely time for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to kill off any suggestions of a “redress scheme” in this case and to clarify the legal position going forward – by new legislation if necessary.

In general the Courts should not be inventing new legal principles or protecting the ignorant against their own mistakes retrospectively.

Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://x.com/Drivers_London )

You can obtain notifications of new posts in future by following me on Twitter (now “X”) – see https://x.com/Drivers_London where new posts are usually mentioned.

Lambeth Shows What’s Wrong with Local Democracy

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A petition on Change.org spells out how London Boroughs such as Lambeth can undermine local democracy by becoming an increasingly authoritarian regime – see https://chng.it/6TQgf76kW5 . It spells out how some Labour dominated councils can destroy democracy. It’s definitely worth signing the petition.

Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://x.com/Drivers_London )

You can obtain notifications of new posts in future by following me on Twitter (now “X”) – see https://x.com/Drivers_London where new posts are usually mentioned.

Motability Scheme Being Abused

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The Government is keen to save £5 billion per year on disability benefits. Will they achieve it? No chance in my opinion when they ignore such abuses as have crept into the Motability scheme which provides vehicles for disabled people – including tax and insurance.  

There are now over 850,000 cars on British roads under the Motability scheme, a number that is growing by around 15% per year. But the biggest concern? Many of these cars are not being driven by the people they were intended for.

It is claimed that in many cases, the disabled person never even drives the car – it’s a convenient loophole for others to exploit. With three named drivers allowed on each Motability car, it’s all too easy for families to use the vehicle while the original claimant rarely, if ever, gets behind the wheel. The qualifications for a Motability vehicle are similar to those for PIP – including ADHD, anxiety, and agoraphobia.

See https://spearhead.news/2025/03/17/exposed-the-motability-car-scheme-scandal-costing-british-taxpayers-billions/ for more information.

Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://x.com/Drivers_London )

You can obtain notifications of new posts in future by following me on Twitter (now “X”) – see https://x.com/Drivers_London where new posts are usually mentioned.

Fuelmii, Shell Legal Win, Freedom of Speech and Jaguar Ceasing Car Production

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A new service that was recently promoted to me, as a disabled driver but anyone can use it, is Fuelmii. This company will refuel your vehicle at home so there is no need to take it to a petrol station. This can help people like me with limited mobility and who might soon have difficulty filling my own vehicle.

They appear to have been providing the service to commercial vehicle users for some time but have now extended it to private car users in London. I have not yet tried the service but I may soon do so. See https://up.fuelmii.com/

The good news for Shell shareholders is that the company has won an appeal in the Hague against an order to slash its greenhouse gas emissions. This was a case brought by Friends of the Earth and others which may have severely damaged Shell and set a very bad precedent for other oil companies. Trying to stop the use of oil and gas is simply irrational. We will need those products for many years into the future as there is no viable alternative for some applications.

The world is becoming less and less rational. Recent legal cases in the UK where people are being accused of “Non Crime Hate Incidents” and hence get a criminal record – see the Alison Pearson case for example – are truly irrational. Free speech is being lost to a world where the prejudice of the thought police is becoming paramount. I agree with Elon Musk. The UK is losing free speech and you could end up with legal prejudice because you dare to express an opinion on Twitter (“X”) or Facebook on any matter under the sun. We need a new “Bill of Rights” to stop all of this nonsense.

I recently purchased a second-hand Jaguar XE (petrol fueled) which I plan to keep for many years. I normally keep vehicles for 8 to 10 years as that is the most economical way of owning and running cars. I don’t want the production of oil and gasoline to cease. Electric vehicles can be more expensive to buy, insure and run so I am not yet convinced it is time to change to an electric vehicle.

Unfortunately Jaguar have recently made their new product line all electric with large and expensive SUVs. These are not the kinds of vehicles I like to buy. Indeed they seem to have suspended production of all cars for the present.

I feel sad about the way Jaguar has declined of late. I have owned several Jaguars since 1964 when I was a university student and owned a Mk.9 – an enormous luxury saloon – see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaguar_Mark_IX. I would not want you to get the impression I was a wealthy student – It was very cheap to buy but too expensive to run so I sold it quickly.  I also later owned several XJ saloon models and the last version of the XJS and XF. The XF in diesel form was a reliable and comfortable saloon but needed updating of late with a hybrid model. The XE model is economical and fast enough (a 2 litre petrol engine) but has a smallish boot. It was also not promoted much so hence the small sales no doubt.

The current Jaguar line-up is not attractive to my mind. Jaguars need to be high-performance, good all-rounders, very comfortable but low cost in comparison with other luxury cars.

Roger Lawson

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Drivers_London

C4 Programme, Automated Vehicles, Seat Belt Use, Classic Cars and Congestion Charge Taxes

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There is a TV programme on Channel 4 at 8.00 pm tonight (23/5/2024) entitled “The War on Britain’s Motorists” that should be worth watching. It may cover the poor quality of Britain’s roads and no doubt fixing the potholes will be in every party’s general election manifesto. But will a few more millions of pounds to patch the odd hole really solve the problem? I think not.

Parliament has passed the Automated Vehicles Act which means vehicles with no human driver in charge could be legal by 2026. I am sceptical that this will prove of benefit other than to taxi and minicab services. In London I am not convinced that SatNav systems are good enough to know all the roads well enough to avoid mistakes. We will have to see how this works out.

Shahzad Sheikh has reported that one in four road deaths are caused by drivers or their passengers not wearing seat belts. See  https://browncarguy.com/2024/05/21/1-in-4-road-deaths-due-to-no-seatbelt/ . This is not new news to me as it was reported many years ago in my local borough of Bromley. The message is clear. However good a driver you think you are buckling up can help protect you against other idiots on the roads, or out of control driverless vehicles.

The Government has launched a Public Consultation on the registration of classic or modified vehicles. See https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/registering-historic-classic-rebuilt-vehicles-and-vehicles-converted-to-electric-call-for-evidence . This will be of interest to anyone who runs classic cars or modifies them.

The US Embassy is refusing to pay a claim of £14.6 million in Congestion Charge Fees, and some other embassies are also objecting. They claim it is a tax and hence are exempt. Comment: They are right. “Charges” invented by TfL are indeed taxes and they should not pay as foreign embassies are exempt from state taxes.

Roger Lawson

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Drivers_London

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Calls to Scrap Single Justice Procedure

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Up to 60% of criminal cases are now handled by courts using the Single Justice Procedure (SJP). These are mainly cases where no plea has been entered for unknown reasons and the case is dealt with by magistrates (typically only one) in secret. The defendant is not present and there is no public access to a hearing which can last as little as one minute.

Such cases are for those of speeding offences and other motoring offences, non-payment of television licence fees and truancy. The Magistrates’ Association – representing Justices of the Peace – has called for an overhaul of the system which has resulted in vulnerable people being prosecuted without being present or having any legal representation. Letters of mitigation are often ignored.

The Ministry of Justice is apparently considering some changes.

Comment: this is an example where justice has been undermined by the desire to save money. If you get prosecuted for a motoring offence make sure you enter a plea and go to court to explain any mitigating circumstances if you are pleading guilty. Plead not guilty if you think the prosecution is unreasonable. You do not need legal representation to do this.

See these Telegraph articles for more information:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/25/magistrates-secret-court-for-speeding-and-licence-fees

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/27/single-justice-procedure-magistrates-courts-secret-chalk

Roger Lawson

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Drivers_London

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Year End Review and Xmas Greetings

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red volkswagen beetle scale model
Photo by Kristina Paukshtite on Pexels.com

It’s time to wrap up the year with some comments on the state of driving and transport in the UK. It’s been another year where the Government has been throwing billions of pounds at building railways despite the fact that they are old, inflexible and inefficient technology. But at least some of HS2 has been cancelled.

A singular example of how inflexible the rail network is was the closure of King’s Cross and Paddington stations this week due to engineering works. The closure of London Paddington meant no mainline trains serving Heathrow Airport. There has also been disruption of rail services due to overhead power cables being damaged by storms and of course by strikes of rail workers.

Just one example of why roads are better is that I have been spending a lot of time on trips to central London hospitals in the past year. But as the local station has no step-free access and I need to use a wheel-chair, rail travel is totally impractical. So I have been using Uber at lot. Generally it’s a very efficient service although one driver failed to pick up after an hour and another gave me a bad cold.

One problem is that they tend to drive electric cars now and to ensure a long range they turn the heating off. Not at all comfortable! I am still driving myself for most journeys though and have a wheel-chair that folds up and stores in the car boot.

Sadiq Khan has continued his attack on motorists but has seemingly relented over his decision to block non-compliant Chelsea tractors being sent to Ukraine. But it will require a change to the scrappage scheme regulations to permit this.

Local councils are some of the worst culprits for undermining the use of private cars with such measures as LTNs and impractical and unnecessary 20 mph speed limits. Central Government has indicated they will try to put a halt to this stupidity but it needs vigorous representation at the local level to make some councils see sense. You can all contribute to that!

Personally I am all in favour of discouraging larger/heavier vehicles on our roads. They are damaging the roads and hence the increase in potholes. They are simply unnecessary for most people, particularly in central London. I have owned some large cars in my lifetime (the biggest was an enormous Mark 9 Jaguar) but a mid-size or smaller vehicle is now adequate for most purposes. I have therefore downsized to a Jaguar XE in the last year – with a 2.0 litre petrol engine which gives adequate performance and is efficient.

I judged it was not yet time to switch to an electric vehicle due to excessive capital cost, high insurance cost and poor charging infrastructure. That seems to be the judgement many people are making.  In November 2023, only 15.6% of all new car registrations were electric vehicles but the numbers are rising.

IC vehicles with small efficient petrol engines emit very low levels of air pollution and make economic sense so the Government should backtrack on the banning of their sales. If not there will be a big demand for second-hand IC vehicles.

It just remains to wish my readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Just remember to drive safely at this dangerous time of the year with snow being forecast at the time of writing.  

Roger Lawson

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Drivers_London

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The War on the Car Explained

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Well known author on motoring subjects James Ruppert has published a very good paper on the subject of The War on the Car. It explains how the irrational attacks on private cars have developed over the years with the latest Net Zero policies exacerbating the trend. Net Zero means absolute zero access to personal transportation. That’s indeed the point: keeping the plebs in their rightful place, namely the bus stop, the author says.

It’s all so unnecessary and is driven by financial motives primarily rather than safety or environmental issues. Indeed Government policies have generally led to unintended negative consequences (such as the promotion of diesel vehicles to reduce CO2 emissions which has had to be reversed).

This paper is certainly worth reading if you want to learn how we got into the current mess. Click here to download: https://www.netzerowatch.com/content/uploads/2023/11/Ruppert-War-on-the-Car.pdf

Roger Lawson

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Drivers_London

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The Plan for Drivers

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Last week the Government published “The Plan for Drivers”. It starts with the statement: “There’s nothing wrong with driving. Most of us use a car and, for many, life would not be liveable without their car. For those in rural areas, it is a lifeline. A car can hugely expand the independence of a younger person, as well as keep older people connected to key services and their families”. That’s very much the view of this writer. Apart from a few ghettos in central London, where massive expenditure on public transport subsidised by taxpayers, has made it practical to live without a car, most of the country need to use cars.

This new document is clearly a tilt to electoral popularity in the party conference season. In it Mark Harper, Transport Minister, says “Used appropriately and considerately, the car was, is, and will remain a force for good. It is not right that some drivers feel under attack. This long-term plan will address key elements of those concerns. We will explore options to stop local councils using so-called ‘15-minute cities’, such as in Oxford, to police people’s lives; we will restrain the most aggressively anti-driver traffic management measures. We will make it clear that 20mph speed limits in England must be used appropriately where people want them – not as unwarranted blanket measures. We will take steps to stop councils profiting from moving traffic enforcement”.

Is this the end of the “war on the driver” as some people call recent anti-car policies? The answer is possibly. But it needs more than just fine words to halt the war. Many of the negative policies have been supported by local councillors and elected mayors such as Sadiq Khan in London using legislation enacted by central Government that gives them the powers to do so. Those powers need removing and as their motives are often financial so those incentives must be removed.

There are many legal changes required to stop a small minority of local politicians imposing their irrational views on the rest of us. There need to be referendums on any proposed new regulations on vehicles and driving. And petitions to invoke referendums on existing ones.

The Plan for Drivers: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/plan-for-drivers/the-plan-for-drivers

Roger Lawson

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Drivers_London

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Legal Action Against Shell Directors for Dragging Feet over Climate Change

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The FT and other newspapers have reported the threat of a legal action against big oil company Shell (SHEL) and specifically against its directors individually for failing to prepare for the risk of climate change. The threat is based on a possible breach of company law by not acting in the best interests of the company and not taking into account the foreseeable risks from climate change. Wikipedia reports that this is a “derivative” action where shareholders are invoking the company to pursue actions against the directors.

The legal action is being promoted by ClientEarth, an environmental campaign organisation and is allegedly supported by a few institutions. Shell lost a similar case in the Netherlands but it is appealing that decision.

Comment: We suggest this is an unwise attempt to get the courts involved in overruling the decisions of the directors. The directors are appointed to manage the affairs of the company in the interest of all stakeholders and they will be put in an impossible position if all their decisions might come under scrutiny in the courts. Judges are not qualified to decide on the merits of the business decisions of company directors.

In summary, this is a misconceived legal action and we hope the application for a hearing is rejected. Companies such as Shell and BP have already taken major steps to reduce their carbon emissions and to stay within the law of the land.

They not only provide oil and petrol which are essential for the next few years, but also provide a range of essential chemicals, plastics and fertilizers which cannot be otherwise created.

The Government is aiming for “NetZero” carbon emissions when they have not calculated the full cost or practicality of achieving it. It’s driven by sentiment not economics and belief in a false reality. The ClientEarth organisation is clearly being run and funded by extremists who have no understanding of the underlying issues.

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