The facility, located at Grenfell Allotments, had gone unused for 10 years prior to work. To deliver the work at no cost, a collaborative approach was pulled together through Walsall Council’s Corporate Social Responsibility Programme (CSR). Barhale and sister company BCS Group provided labour, tools, PPE and signage for the project. Travis Perkins provided all the materials free of charge while Flannery Plant Hire provided a heavy plant dumper and mini digger, including transport to and from site. For groundworks, Speedy Hire provided strimmers. For the work to be carried out, vegatation had to be removed, along with the dilapidated…

Young Driver®, the UK’s foremost under-17s driver-training school, has steered clear of leasing for the first time after taking delivery of its brand-new 170-strong Suzuki Swift fleet, which will provide 150,000 driving lessons for children each year. After 15 years, 1.5 million lessons, and multiple fleet changes, Young Driver has bucked the industry norm and purchased its new fleet outright, rather than leasing the cars. Due to a combination of strong residual values for the Suzukis, and the ability for Young Driver to only offset its loan interest and depreciation against profits – rather than the entire lease payment -…

The £1.5m mass spectrometer will enable the study of proteins, lipids and metabolites in cell membranes in exceptional detail The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) awarded the funds and Dr Ivana Milic leads the Aston University research team The spectrometer will be a resource for the Midlands membrane and bioscience communities. Aston Institute for Membrane Excellence (AIME) and Aston University College of Health and Life Sciences have installed a cutting-edge mass spectrometer to study biological membranes, following a grant of £1.5m from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). The research team is led by Dr Ivana…

XPENG, one of the world’s leading technology-driven automotive brands, has opened its first UK dealerships, ushering in a new era of electric mobility and marking another major milestone in its UK journey. With locations in Nottingham and Southampton now open, the first UK retail spaces arrive alongside the launch of the XPENG G6, a next-generation battery-electric premium SUV that seamlessly blends cutting-edge innovation with real-world usability. “The opening of our first UK retailers and the arrival of the XPENG G6 is a crucial moment for our business and for British car buyers,” said William Brown, Managing Director of International Motors…

Škoda is offering Elroq and Enyaq owners the opportunity to send messages to each other via an optional new feature. Designed to help busy couples and families to communicate, the new ŠkodAlert system utilises the Elroq and Enyaq’s illuminated Tech-Deck face – a fundamental design element of Škoda’s bold Modern Solid design language. The illuminated Tech-Deck face is made up of multiple rows of small LED pixels that can be programmed to spell out messages at the front of the car. The system uses the different radio frequency IDs transmitted by the vehicle’s key fobs to ensure that the correct…

Autoglym, the UK’s largest car care brand, is introducing four seductive new body-care products for those who want to look every bit as fabulous as their car. The line-up includes a Leather Care Face Balm, Cologne, Polar Wash Shower Gel, and a specially adapted formulation of Autoglym’s renowned Bodywork Shampoo and Conditioner. For tired, weather-beaten skin, the new Leather Care Face Balm nourishes and revives, no matter how deep the wrinkle. The advanced formulation leaves skin nourished, toned and – as an added benefit – more resistant to the elements. The Autoglym Cologne bottles the iconic ‘new car smell’ that…

A cutting edge new wireless vehicle recovery system has been unveiled by leading breakdown provider Start Rescue. The Special Protection Over Outer Frame (SPOOF) technology requires no physical attachment to a car to tow it on to a recovery vehicle. Using a “magic” forcefield, the car is wirelessly recovered to protect the vehicle and allow for much quicker roadside recovery. “SPOOF tech will revolutionise breakdown recovery, and that’s no joke,” says Lee Puffett, Managing Director of Start Rescue. Developed by Start Rescue and touchless recovery experts Highway Operations and Experiments, or HOAX for short, the new SPOOF system is being…

Exclusive analysis by the UK’s leading automotive servicing and repair company has revealed the cars which are most likely to wear tyres quickly and need more frequent changes. The data from Kwik Fit, which fits more tyres to the nation’s cars than any other company, reveals which car models are disproportionately likely to need new tyres in every area of Britain. The analysis shows that this varies from area to area, indicating that driving conditions in certain parts of the country seem tougher on some models than others. However, one car tops the list in significantly more locations than any…

Solera cap hpi, the global leader in vehicle lifecycle management, reveals that motorists are driving further in electric vehicles (EVs) every year than drivers of petrol cars. New findings from automotive data experts Solera cap hpi show that in January 2015, the average EV travelled 6,355 miles per year, 2,288 miles less than an average petrol car. A decade later, in January 2025, the average annual mileage of an EV has increased to 8,740 miles per year, 444 miles more than the petrol average. The data reveals that since April 2023, when the average EV annual mileage total was 7,895 miles -…

The Royal Automobile Club Motoring Book of the Year Awards are now open for entries! These prestigious awards welcome submissions of all motoring and motor racing books published between 1 July 2024 and 30 June 2025. Now in their twelfth consecutive year, the Motoring Book of the Year Awards are widely regarded as the highest honours in automotive book publishing. “Our Awards have a simple yet important goal: to champion the very best in automotive literature – honouring outstanding books, authors and publishers,” said Jeremy Vaughan, Head of Motoring at the Royal Automobile Club. “Once again, we invite authors and…