Travel
Brits abroad breaking driving laws
Filed under: Travel, Insurance
Millions of Brits heading abroad in their car are set to break the law, often unwittingly, by doing things that are illegal in some foreign countries and risk hefty fines or worse.It's not just driving on the other side of the road that's different. For example, in Spain, you must carry a spare wheel, a full set of spare bulbs plus the tools to change them, and if you use any radar detecting device in France, your car and device could be seized and you could be fined - even if the device is switched off.
Will your holiday operator collapse?
Filed under: Travel, Insurance
You could be left stranded on holiday this year because another 20 tour operators could collapse. Recently, Goldtrail, Kiss Flights/Flight Options and Sun4U have on gone bust, and more will follow, say experts.Nick Hood from business rescue specialist Begbies Traynor, said: "We will see a significant number of additions to the list as we progress into the autumn.
Disappointing A levels? A gap year?
Filed under: Travel, Work & Careers
It can feel like the end of the world if your A level results fail to live up to expectations – especially if your university place was riding on certain grades.
Disappointing A level results don't have to mean the end of your university dreams, though. You may well find another place through the Clearing system, or if not, why not profit from some time to reassess your options by taking a gap year and reapplying in 2011
Holiday firm goes under - is it safe to travel?
Filed under: Travel
Just days before the Bank Holiday, with the school holidays in full swing and hundreds of thousands of people planning a break, another travel firm has gone bust. Flight Options, which ran a number of concerns including Kiss Flights, collapsed last night, leaving tens of thousands of travellers stranded, mostly in Greece, Egypt, Turkey and the Canary Islands.So what will happen to customers, and what about the rest of us? Is it safe to travel?
Healthy lifestyle gets more expensive
Filed under: Saving, Travel, Food and Drink, Families, Budgeting & Planning
Air fares. Mineral water. Vegetables. All of them are getting more expensive, according to latest figures. Bad news if you're a travel-loving teetotaller. And even worse if you're fond of broccoli. Who else will have felt the pinch in their wallet?
Beware the airport 'tax free' discount trap
Filed under: Travel, Savvy Shopper
There's something incredibly tempting about 'duty free' shops. You're here to catch a plane, not to buy a new digital camera and four bottles of perfume, but it's such a bargain, how could you resist?Well clearly it's not a bargain, it's a way to get a captive audience to buy things they don't really need, using the power of boredom. And to add insult to injury new figures reveal that if you're doing your shopping at Heathrow, you're not saving much money either.
Clampers finally to be banned
Filed under: Travel
The cowboy clampers are finally to be outlawed, after the government ditched plans to regulate the industry in favour of banning the practice. It's about time. Everyone has a clamping story. My favourite was when a friend pulled off the road with a flat tyre a few years back, walked to a phone box to get help and came back to find two men trying to clamp a wheel with an entirely flat tyre. So what is the government doing, and will it really make any difference?
Police hand out free bikes to prolific criminals
Filed under: Travel, Weird and Wonderful
Fancy a free bike? Then all you have to do is mug your neighbour. No, not so you can nick his bike, but because Suffolk Police have a new policy of giving out free bikes to repeat criminals. The scheme could soon go national.The idea is that the thieves and robbers can use the vehicles to find a job. Dealing drugs is a job, and I would be prepared to put money on it that some of the bikes are used for precisely this career.
Speed cameras could be run by private firms
Private companies may soon issue speeding fines. Speed cameras have been disappearing in the last few months since central government stopped funding them. Safety groups say this has led to a huge increase in speeding, with many people injured or killed by speeding drivers as a result. So a radical new approach has been suggested.
One in three go for budget holiday this year
Filed under: Travel, Budgeting & Planning
Times are still tough: more than a third of Brits (38%) are spending less on their holidays this year and a quarter aren't having a holiday at all.The good news is that some real late-minute bargains are to be had.
