News round-up: September 3
Written By Alison Bell Published On: Sep 03 2010 After we reported that US road painters in North Carolina misspelt ‘school’ a couple of weeks ago, UK sign painters have followed suit making a spelling mistake on an official road sign for an airport in Gloucestershire.The sign for Cotswold Airport on the A429 near Cirencester gets the "s" and the "w" the wrong way round making it Cotwsold.Nick Howard, manager at the airport, told the BBC: "The sign had been up for a couple of weeks before we received an e-mail saying it was wrong and I thought, my goodness I drive past it every day."I had even looked at it and thought 'good the sign is up' so it just shows you that the right letters were there and I just fed them into my brain as I drove past."We are grateful for the signs but we're hoping this one will be put right as soon as possible.
Cheshire road left with no speed limit
One road that could have done with a sign, misspelt or not, is the A555 link road in Cheshire which was left without a speed limit for up to 15 years.
The Manchester Evening News reported that the former Cheshire county council either lost or never filled in the crucial paperwork needed to enforce a 70mph limit on the road from Woodford to Handforth.The road was built in 1996 and it is not clear whether it has ever had a legally-enforceable speed limit or if the necessary papers were simply lost at some time since it opened.Staff at Stockport and Cheshire East councils – which are jointly responsible for the road – have not given up hope that legal orders did once exist, but have not been able to lay their hands on them yet.
M6 Toll Road branded a failure
Another road failure is the M6 Toll Road in the West Midlands according to a new report.The Campaign for Better Transport says rising prices and negligible time savings are keeping motorists away and therefore failed to reduce congestion.
The Coventry Telegraph said the toll road – which runs from north Warwickshire to Cannock – now charges £5 for cars and £10 for lorries, but shaves just 10 minutes off journey times during off-peak hours.The campaign group’s spokesperson told the paper: “The toll has failed to provide any significant congestion relief for the original M6 and the price, which has been increased significantly year on year, is bad value for drivers who use the toll.“Congestion is now so bad on the M6 that the government is considering spending another £500 million on it to deal with the problems the toll road was supposed to solve.
James Bond’s Aston Martin expected to sell for £5m
If you’re an indignant road user refusing to pay the M6 Toll Road £5 charge, then £5m for a former James Bond car may also be a bit steep.James Bond's
Aston Martin DB5, driven by Sean Connery in Goldfinger and Thunderball is due to go under the hammer in October and is expected to fetch 30 times more than a standard DB5.
The Daily Mail reported that it, now one of the world’s most famous cars, was bought in 1969 for a bargain $12,000. Knowing its next owner will want to drive it, the mechanics and the gadgets have been given a makeover.For the film two regular Astons were fitted with 'all the usual refinements', as Q described them: pop-out machine guns, tyre shredders, bullet-proof screen, revolving number plates and ejector seat. But only this one - FMP 7B - survives.The 282hp, four-litre straight-six engine is said to start instantly, making a hard, loud howl when worked, and provides acceleration that still feels fairly urgent by modern standards. The ejector seat may not work but there is a secret panel in the armrest with switches marked ‘oil’, ‘nails’ and ‘smoke’, again not actually doing what they’re meant to. However 'm-gun' really does make the front machine guns motor out, 'bullet-screen' erects the rear shield, and the rotary switch marked S, B and F rotates the Swiss, British and French plates.
Stig revealed after Stig revealed
Top Gear fans, or anyone for that matter, can’t have failed to hear all the Stig furore this week. The BBC lost a High Court case to try and prevent his autobiography being published and therefore protect his identity.However, by then, we all knew who he was anyway as the former SAS driving instructor Ben Collins had already been promoting his book. On BBC Breakfast News no less.The High Court case has also cast doubt on whether the character will reappear at all in the next series of the programme, played by a different driver, with
The Sun reporting that the Stig will be killed off and replaced.
Speculation also surrounds the future of Ben Collins, who may be launching his own motoring TV show to rival his colleagues’.
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