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East European gangs target rental firms

Organised crime groups with Lithuanian and other eastern European connections are targeting UK rental companies. Up to 30 vehicles belonging to BVRLA members have been stolen by criminals using false or stolen IDs in recent weeks.

The gangs appear to be made up of smartly dressed men in their late 30s with Lithuanian, Czech, Hungarian, Slovak and Romanian passports and driving licences. They usually provide UK addresses. They initially tended to rent as walk-ups from airports, especially Stansted and Gatwick, then targeted the cities of London and Birmingham, but now appear to be operating much farther afield, as far north as Leeds. They give contact telephone numbers for mobile phones, but these cease to be answered after initial assurances to the rental company that the rental vehicles will be returned. Most of the names and addresses used by these individuals have been added to the BVRLA's RISC Online database.

For more information on how to protect your business through the RISC Online database, contact BVRLA head of member services Nora Leggett.

To join the BVRLA click here...

source: BVRLA

Chinese Grand Prix 2010

Jenson Button stormed to his second win of the season as he headed team-mate Lewis Hamilton to a McLaren one-two at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Rain played havoc in China as Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg held off Ferrari's Fernando Alonso to finish third with Renault's Robert Kubica in fifth. Button's win means he leads the drivers' championship by 10 points.

Despite starting at the front of the grid, Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber finished sixth and eighth. Kubica's team-mate Vitaly Petrov completed an impressive day for Renault when he overtook Webber late on to take seventh position and earn his first points in Formula 1.

For the full story from the BBC click here...

source: BBC

Learner driver flips car on roof in Oxford

A learner driver taking her second lesson managed to flip her instructor's car on to its roof in Oxford.

The woman, in her mid-20s, hit a gatepost on Old Road in Headington, causing the Fiat 500 car owned by driving instruction firm BSM to flip. Paramedics treated the woman and the instructor for cuts to their hands and elbows at the scene of Sunday's crash. BSM described the crash as a "freak incident" and said it took health and safety very seriously.

Communications manager Paul Shepherd said: "We have spoken to the learner driver who is fine and is already hoping to book her next lesson with us soon.

For the full story from the BBC clik here...