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The most congested roads in the UK

Sarah Coles — 2012-05-16T13:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Motoring

AKIRA SUEMORI/AP/Press Association Images

Figures from the Department for Transport have revealed that in the morning rush hour, the average speed on all the UK's A-roads is 24.9 miles an hour. This, on the face of it, isn't too terrible. Given that these roads carry about half of all morning rush hour traffic, it would seem to reveal a picture of relative calm across the country on the trip to work.

However, the average figure obscures some truly terrible speeds. So where are the most congested roads, and where are the least congested ones?

London commuter hell

Perhaps unsurprisingly inner London emerged as the most congested, and was the only area at the beginning of the year where traffic was getting slower. Impressively the fast-moving City of London has an average speed of just 9.2 miles an hour - marginally slower than cycling.

However, it was far from alone. Among the worst areas were Reading, Slough, Bristol and Kingston upon Hull, where average speeds were still well below 20 miles an hour.

Clearly the main reason for this is that these areas weren't built for the weight of traffic they face. Some, such as London, are dealing with a deluge of vehicles from around the country all trying to squeeze into a few square miles. Meanwhile somewhere like Bristol is dealing with geographical boundaries which means the only solution to a mounting traffic problem has been a tortuous one-way system and a park and ride scheme.

Others, meanwhile, offer few alternatives to the car. Slough, for example, is surrounded by areas where commuters have no other option than to drive into town - and queue all the way.

By contrast Rutland in the East Midlands is home to plenty of countryside, with many smaller towns and rural areas where it is customary to walk to work or live on the premises. There just aren't the same sorts of numbers of commuters to worry about - even in the middle of the morning rush hour.

The costs

And while sitting in your car is both desperately irritating and pointlessly time-consuming, it can be horribly expensive too. First, there is the waste of time. A survey by Continental Tyres found that the average driver will spend 12 minutes of the average 41 minutes round trip to work in traffic. Separate statistics show that traffic jams cost the economy £5 billion every year in lost productivity.

Then there is the wasted fuel. One Canadian study found that for the average vehicle with a 3-litre engine, every 10 minutes of idling costs one half of a litre of wasted fuel. Meanwhile a study from the Texas Transport Institute found that the average American was wasting $713 a year because of traffic. As the price of fuel at the pumps sticks stubbornly close to record levels, the cost is going to be increasingly painful.

Developments like stop-start technology will help bring down the waste, and if you can arrange a car share, or to cycle every other day, you can cut your own bill in half. But by far the most effective way to cut the cost is to stay at home instead - and work from the kitchen table. The only question is whether your boss will let you.

Fastest average speeds

1. Rutland, East Midlands - 41.4mph
2. Telford and Wrekin, West Midlands - 39.3mph
3. Thurrock, East - 37.6mph
4. Peterborough, East - 37.3mph
5. North Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and the Humber - 36.2mph

Slowest average speeds

1. Inner London, London - 12.8mph
2. Reading, South East - 14.2mph
3. Slough, South East - 15.0mph
4. Bristol, South West - 15.3mph
5. Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire and the Humber - 16.5mph

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Samsung takes Nokia mobile crown

Press Association — 2012-05-16T12:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Mobile

Nokia has been bumped off the top spot as the world's largest mobile phone company after 14 years at the peak, according to research.

Samsung sold 86.6 million mobile phones in the first quarter, inching past Nokia's sales of more than 83 million units, technology research firm Gartner said.

Apple sold 33 million iPhones, with a global market share of 8%.

Gartner and another research firm, Strategy Analytics, also rated Nokia in third place in terms of smartphone sales, behind Samsung and the iPhone.

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'Question marks' over green deal

Press Association — 2012-05-16T12:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Utilities

Government reforms to make homes more energy efficient are in chaos because consumers could end up paying thousands of pounds for improvements through higher energy bills, Labour has claimed.

Under news laws, consumers will be able to pay for environmentally-friendly home improvements such as double-glazing or loft insulation, which will then be paid back through add-ons to electricity or gas bills.

To ensure millions of householders are not put off by the high cost, ministers promised a "golden rule" - the cost of repayments for the works would never be more than the money they would have otherwise spent on higher energy bills had they not made the changes.

Shadow energy and climate change minister Caroline Flint said the coalition was reneging on the promise after energy minister Greg Barker said in an answer to a written question that it was "not possible for Government to guarantee people will save money".

Ms Flint said the apparent U-turn could lead to a mis-selling scandal, with thousands of householders paying higher bills than they would have ever anticipated. She also criticised ministers for failing to stipulate interest rates on repayments for those signing up to the scheme, known as the green deal.

Speaking in the Commons, she said: "If ministers are not careful they will have a mis-selling scandal on their hands and it is one entirely of their own making. There are question marks over whether energy companies even have the technology in place to bill people correctly.

"Most importantly of all, the public, the people who are meant to be taking up the green deal, have absolutely no idea what the interest rate will be or how much it will cost them. Ministers are so desperate to prop up this policy, they are now considering whether to force it on people who find their boiler breaks down."

Ms Flint, who was speaking during a debate on the recent Queen's Speech in the Commons, also claimed the Government needed to reform its energy policy to force companies always to place pensioners on the lowest tariffs. Such a move could save four million pensioners £200 a year, she said.

Energy Secretary Ed Davey said the green deal would mean savings for low income households and pledged to release more details about how it would operate before the summer.

He said: "Later this year we will introduce the green deal bringing energy saving within reach of millions of homes across the country. A new Government-backed scheme will allow householders to get real energy efficiency improvements at no up front cost."

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Diamond Jubilee 'could hit economy'

Press Association — 2012-05-16T11:30:00+00:00

Filed under: News

The UK's battle to escape recession will be hampered by the loss of output due to the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations, the Bank of England has said.

The four-day holiday weekend may encourage some people to take longer breaks or encourage businesses to arrange extended closures.

The Bank has warned of an expected reduction of 0.5% in GDP, making it harder for the UK economy to pull out of recession in the second quarter of the year.

However, the third quarter of 2012 is set to be boosted by a little more than 0.5% as it benefits from increased spending around the Olympics and as the economy catches up with the fall in output from the Jubilee.

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The Bank's chief economist Spencer Dale said there was similar impact with last year's Royal Wedding, when growth was reduced by around 0.4%. He added: "The Jubilee will have a slightly bigger effect in part because it's happening in June rather than April, so the ability for companies to make up that output within the quarter will be that much less."

The Bank currently believes the Olympics will have a "slightly" positive impact on the economy in the third quarter but warned its effects are difficult to predict. It said the Sydney Olympics in 2000 boosted the Australian economy by around three-quarters of one per cent and it has estimated that similar spending would lead to a 0.2% rise in the UK.

Although most of the spending for the Games has already happened, there is likely to be "considerable expenditure" in the immediate run-up to the Olympics and during them. It said the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games had only spent a quarter of its £2 billion budget by the end of March.

But it added that it is not clear to what extent tourism associated with the Games will be at the expense of other leisure activities. Some firms have already warned that tours to London are being cancelled around the Olympics.

The Bank also warned that transport disruption and more people taking time off work could hit production levels at businesses, particularly in London.

Mr Dale added: "Trying to work out how (the Olympics) will affect it is very difficult, but our best guess is that it's likely to boost growth in the third quarter. The combination of the bounce back (from the Jubilee) and the Olympics we could see growth being exaggerated by more than 0.5 percentage points."

Facebook expands IPO by 25%

Adrian Holliday — 2012-05-16T11:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Investing

It looks increasingly likely Facebook will hike the size of its IPO by 25%, raising up to $15bn in the process. We'll know more by Friday when Facebook commence trading.

If so, that would make Facebook's IPO the third biggest ever - despite well-aired revenue concerns. The float price has also been raised.

Epic interest

Overwhelmed by investors, Facebook (FB) has raised its IPO price to between $34 and $38. That's a substantial climb - compared to its original $28 to $35 range. But FB, bear in mind, has already raised well over $2bn from private investors inflating fears about, well, inflated valuations.

The difficulty with FB and other social media sites is that its business model is still evolving. Look at other recent tech offerings like Groupon, currently down more than -30% since its autumn listing. To add to the first day trading nerves, General Motors has confirmed it's pulling its advertising.

Last year saw FB increase revenue growth by almost 90%. But first quarter ad revenue for the last three months has suffered. And though the total add spend by GM is small, the pull-out remains significant, some think.

Hot for Facebook?

Or not. Frankly, it's difficult to read. Facebook has around 900m users. You can't ignore a consumer cluster - many are young, affluent and connected - of that size. But while some advertisers continue to spend money, future revenue generation remains hugely difficult to judge.

One advertiser who is positive on FB is car maker Subaru. Dean Evans, chief marketing officer for Subaru US, told the FT he's spending $5m a year on Facebook advertising and intended to hike it in the next 12 months. "We like what we're seeing," he said.

But Evans also admitted that "exact dollar spent matched to a sale...we haven't mapped that fully yet."

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Civil servants avoid onerous freelance tax rules

Michelle McGagh — 2012-05-16T10:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Tax

For anyone who has ever worked as a freelance or a contractor will know, the tax rules can be mind-numbing and complex.

One rule that is particularly onerous is IR35, which is in place to prevent freelancers from working for just one company. The taxman calls it 'disguised employment' and doesn't like it because the freelancer or contractor can benefit from tax advantages they wouldn't receive if they were in full-time employment.

The company employing them also enjoys tax benefits, so it's no wonder that the government likes to enforce this rule stringently.

However, it doesn't look like the government has been keeping its own house in order when enforcing the rule. A review, by the government, has found 2,000 civil servants get paid through their own companies, which allows them to sidestep tax.

Two executives at the public-funded BBC who are earning over £100,000 a year each have also been using private companies to avoid tax.

Although most of the 600,000 contractors out there have set up private companies legitimately and work for more than one business, since the 50% tax rate was introduced more wealthy people have been using this option.

The main benefit is company revenues are taxed at 20% (the rate of corporation tax) and the company can pay up to £31,000 a year to an employee. Companies also avoid paying national insurance.

Paying a 20% rate of tax on what you earn is far more appealing that the 32% tax rate a basic rate taxpayer pays (20% income tax plus 12% national insurance).

And it seems it was too appealing for some of the government's own employees, including the head of IT at HM Revenue & Customs, who was paid as a contractor through their own company.

The news about civil servants is a second blow to the IR35 rules. The government has recently made changes to the rules but groups representing small businesses and contractors have criticised HMRC for failing to listen to their advice and making the rules more complex. It also said a new business test to determine whether a person is employed or not is 'counter-productive' and would stop high-risk cases being identified.

As usual the government has failed to spot what's under its nose and complicated the rules to benefit those who are wealthy.

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Apple's voice-activated assistant, Siri, in Nokia row

Sarah Coles — 2012-05-16T09:53:00+00:00

Filed under: Mobile

aul Sakuma/AP/Press Association Images

Apple's voice-activated assistant Siri has faced its share of controversy, and this week is no exception. This time, users were asking "what is the best smartphone ever?" and over the weekend, the iPhone appeared to recommend the rival Nokia Lumia 900.

Since then, the answer has changed. So what's going on, and why has Siri been so controversial?
Siri took centre stage with the launch of the iPhone 4s, where engineers demonstrated how questions could be asked in a normal speaking voice, using whatever choice of words users preferred. It then showed how Siri would locate the answers. Since then it has been at the centre of a high-profile advertising campaign.

The row

When asked a consumer question like 'what is the best smartphone of all time?", The iPhone uses search engine Wolfram Alpha to look up reviews and comments and come to a definitive conclusion. In this case it used the reviews on the website of Best Buy to identify the Nokia phone, released in the UK this month.

According to a report on the BBC, by Wednesday, Siri had stopped using its search engine when asked this question, and instead replied with: "Wait... there are other phones?" or something equally neutral.

The report said that Apple would not confirm a change had been made.

Controversy

This isn't the first row to break out over the software. In the US there is an ongoing class action lawsuit accusing the software of over-promising functionality. Apple is currently moving to get the suit dismissed.

Closer to home, there was outcry in Scotland after the software struggled with the local accent. Apple has repeatedly reminded complainants that the software is still in beta stage, so will undergo more refinements to iron out these issues as time goes on.

Odd answers

However, it retains its fans. Among the more unusual answers reported by the international media are:

"I love you" to which it answers "oh stop"
"What are you wearing?" elicits the answer "aluminium body with a glass front and back."
"Testing 123" results in "You're coming through loud and clear."
"Who shot the sheriff?" gets the answer "I shot the sheriff but I didn't shoot the deputy".
It has a number of possible answers to the question "What is the meaning of life?" including "42" as outlined by Douglas Adams

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Elderly and disabled charged more for home care

Press Association — 2012-05-16T09:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Retirement

Frail elderly and disabled people are being charged more for council help to get washed, dressed and fed at home, according to a survey.

The number of elderly people having their home care services fully paid for by their local authority has fallen by 11% over the past two years in spite of an ageing population, statistics obtained by the Labour Party have shown.

The figures showed the average charge for an hour of home care increased by 10% between 2009/10 and 2012/13 from £12.29 to £13.61. There were also wide variations in the cost of care, ranging from free home care in the east London borough of Tower Hamlets to £21.50 an hour in Brighton and Hove.

The Labour Party said 121 out of 153 councils in England - 79% - responded to a freedom of information request on home care charges.
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The increase in home care charges means the average annual cost for an older or disabled person who pays for 10 hours of home care a week has increased to £7,077 a year in 2012/13 - up more than £680 since 2009/10, according to the Labour Party.

Shadow care minister Liz Kendall said: "These increases in home care charges are a stealth tax on the most vulnerable people in society. Fewer older people are getting their care for free, and more older and disabled people are being forced to pay more for vital services that help them get up, washed, dressed and fed. These services are a lifeline for older and disabled people and crucial to help them stay living independently in their own homes."

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, she called on the Government to take "urgent action".

"Older people are struggling to get the care they need now, they are being charged more now, they should be taking action now," she said. She added that Labour was "absolutely committed" to finding a cross-party agreement on the issue.

A spokeswoman for the Alzheimer's Society said many people with dementia and their carers were already struggling to pay for home care and some might not be able to afford the increased prices.

She said: "The extortionate costs in some parts of the country don't even guarantee good quality care. This is disgraceful. Home care services are vital in helping to maintain quality of life for people living with dementia."

First-time buyer lending up 74%

Press Association — 2012-05-16T09:00:00+00:00

Filed under: House Prices

Lending to first-time buyers surged 74% during March in a rush to beat a deadline for the end of a stamp duty concession, figures have shown.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said 24,000 loans worth a combined £3 billion were taken out by borrowers new to the market.

In volume terms, this was 57% higher than a year earlier and up 74% on the previous month as the concession, which meant first-time buyers were free from the 1% stamp duty on homes costing under £250,000, ended on March 24.

First-time buyers accounted for 42% of total house purchase loans in the month, the highest proportion since 2001, the CML added.
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While the duty holiday only related to first-time buyers, the impact on other transactions in property chains meant 27,200 loans worth £4.3 billion were also taken out by home movers in March, an increase of 25% on February.

CML director general Paul Smee said it remained to be seen whether other Government initiatives such as the NewBuy scheme will compensate for the end of the stamp duty concession.

He added: "We expected this significant increase in borrowing for March because of the stamp duty holiday. However, if lending follows the same pattern as after previous stamp duty concessions, we will likely see a drop in activity in the next few months."

CML members are banks, building societies and other lenders who together undertake around 95% of residential mortgage lending in the UK. There are 11.3 million mortgages in the UK, with loans worth more than £1.2 trillion.

Jobless figure falls by 45,000

Press Association — 2012-05-16T08:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Career

The Government has been given some welcome good news on the jobs front when unemployment fell by 45,000 and the number of dole claimants dipped for the second month in a row.

The jobless total was 2.6 million in the quarter to March, the lowest since last summer, while the number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance last month was down by 13,700 to 1.59 million.

The number of people in work increased by 105,000 to almost 30 million, but this was entirely due to a rise in part-time workers.

Almost eight million people are now in a part-time job, the highest since records began in 1992, while those working part-time because they cannot find full-time work increased by 73,000 to a record high of 1.4 million. Self-employment has also reached a record figure of 4.1 million, up by 89,000 since the previous quarter.

Employment Minister Chris Grayling said: "These figures are a welcome step in the right direction. For a number of months now, employment has been growing and this is starting to feed through into improving unemployment figures. However, we still face significant international uncertainty so we need to hold firm on our current economic strategy and continue to do everything we can to ensure unemployment continues to fall."

Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB union, said: "That there are 2.63 million people without jobs shows the extent to which the Government's gamble with the economy has failed. So instead of borrowing to support the economy and to continue the recovery the Government has had to borrow to fund the recession. We have spent the last two years going backwards and this is why the electorate have voted down this failed policy."

Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Liam Byrne, said: "Any increase in employment is welcome, but today's figures show that hard working Britain is doing anything and everything to battle through this double-dip recession made in Downing Street by David Cameron and George Osborne's failed economic policies."

David Kern, chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: "We should be encouraged by these figures as they show the private sector is able to drive recovery while the public sector continues to shrink. But future challenges cannot be overlooked. Businesses are working hard to expand and grow, but the Government needs to do more to help them create jobs."

Graeme Leach, chief economist at the Institute of Directors, said: "These figures raise half a cheer for the economy. Both headline unemployment measures are down, which is obviously good news, but there's bad news in the average earnings figures. The real squeeze in household incomes continues to act as a dragging anchor on consumption and high street spending."

Prime Minister David Cameron's official spokesman said: "It is still a very challenging economic situation. Clearly a fall in unemployment is something that we should welcome. We are putting in place a number of measures to support people who find themselves unemployed and doing everything we can to ensure unemployment continues to fall, but it is still a tough economic situation."

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Money

The most congested roads in the UK

London commuter hell

The costs

Fastest average speeds

Slowest average speeds

Samsung takes Nokia mobile crown

'Question marks' over green deal

Diamond Jubilee 'could hit economy'

More stories

Facebook expands IPO by 25%

Epic interest

Hot for Facebook?

Civil servants avoid onerous freelance tax rules

Apple's voice-activated assistant, Siri, in Nokia row

The row

Controversy

Odd answers

Elderly and disabled charged more for home care

More stories

First-time buyer lending up 74%

More stories

Jobless figure falls by 45,000