TravelFootprint

Mixed reactions to aviation tax reform

This week's Budget revealed that the new government has plans to reform the aviation tax system, in such a way that the Treasury plans to raise £3.8 billion through industry in 2014-2015, compared to £1.9 billion last year. Essentially, this will be achieved by switching from a per-passenger to a per-plane duty, an adjustment that will encourage fuller planes.

Although any major reforms are subject to public consultation, it is likely that such an adjustment to taxation would add hundreds of pounds to the cost of flights for an average family holiday. The prospect of rises in flight costs has alarmed those who fly regularly, and the aviation industry said that families were facing a 'hidden tax bombshell'.

Simon Evans, chief executive of the Air Transport Users Council, said "We accept a polluter must pay, and the reality is in straitened times we all have ... More »

City Car Club launch new website

City Car Club, the UK's leading car club which operates a large national network of self-service pay-as-you-go cars, has launched a brand new website this week.

The site, www.citycarclub.co.uk, has been designed to offer a unique experience for anyone looking into the idea of car clubs and also for existing members of the club.

City Car Club's marketing manager, Chris Seigal explains "Thousands of people across the UK each month are now considering joining a car club as an alternative to private car ownership. As the UK's first car club, City Car Club has long received a high volume of web traffic as visitors come to our site to find out what car clubs are all about.

"Our aim is to try and explain the car club concept in a simple, informative and fun way, and to try and convince as ... More »

BBC's THINK City arrives in Oslo

Traffic on the streets around Oslo's historic national parliament echoed to the sound of silence today as a convoy of over 60 EVs paraded through the city to celebrate EV culture in Norway.

The occasion was the arrival in Oslo of the BBC documentary team behind the Electric Ride programme – now a quarter of the way through their month-long, 4,000 mile pioneering odyssey around Europe in a THINK City EV.

Norway's Conservative Party Leader, Erna Solberg, who met the convoy of assorted EVs at Stortinget (Oslo's parliament square), said: "I am a great supporter of electric vehicles. It is time for us to start building up the infrastructure in Norway to encourage an even greater take-up of EVs here. We need to keep our position as the home of EVs by growing with the industry and encouraging more procurement and support of this pioneering ... More »

BBC sets challenge for THINK City

Scandinavian electric vehicle maker, THINK, has exclusively provided the BBC with a brand new THINK City, with which they are to travel around Europe to create a pioneering documentary, entitled BBC Electric Ride.

The documentary is to be broadcasted on BBC Radio 4, BBC Online and BBC News over a period of 4 weeks from 19th June. On the morning of 7th June, the pioneering BBC Electric Drive documentary team left Broadcasting House in London on their epic drive.

The team of four, led by presenter Peter Curran, will drive straight to Harwich to catch a ferry to Denmark; before driving across the Danish islands to Norway, then onto Sweden, Austria, Germany, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and others along the way before returning to London early in July. The team are expecting to travel over 4,000 miles on the month long adventure.