DVLA suffers High Court defeat for revoking elderly woman's licence based on 'age alone' - Telegraph

The Telegraph reports that the High Court has ruled that the DVLA was wrong to revoke a woman's licence based on age alone - although in fact there seems to be a bit more to it than that. Nevertheless, it does sound as if there was a presumption that age was a pretty good reason for revoking a licence. DVLA (or the magistrates to whom the driver appealed at first) also took the view that she lacked insight, believing that she was a better driver than she was 20 years ago: no doubt there is a stage in everyone's lives when they stop getting better at something, like driving, but for most people surely the more experience they have the better they will be at it. I am a much better driver now than 20 or 30 and certainly 40 years ago, although whether I will be better still in another 20 years time alone can tell. The case is  Hitchen, R (On the Application Of) v Oxford Magistrates Court [2015] EWHC 271 (Admin) (19 January 2015) 

CMA consults on draft motor insurance order

The Competition and Markets Authority has published a draft order setting out how changes resulting from its investigation into private motor insurance will be introduced.

The draft order provides detailed information on how these changes are to be introduced and monitored. The CMA is inviting comments on the draft until 6 February 2015 and will look to publish the final order in March. Later (27 February) the CMA specifically consulted on whether to extend the time for implementation of the remedy giving consumers better information on no-claims bonus protection from September 2015 to August 2016.
The draft order, explanatory note and all other information relating to the investigation can be found on the investigation’s case page.

Shanghai starts "parallel import" pilot for foreign cars

Chinadaily  reports a scheme to allow parallel imports into Shanghai's free trade zone, which is apparently designed (and how can it fail to do so?) to force down the prices charged for imported cars. There has been plenty of controversy over the prices charged particularly by European manufacturers in China, and at the same time dealers have been demanding compensation from manufacturers as the market slowed down - an idea that some European dealers will find amusing, although most will probably find it extraordinary that such a claim might ever be entertained.

Opening the market to parallel imports is obviously the best way to help the hard-pressed dealers. It will be interesting to see how this pans out. Parallel imports were hardly welcomed by dealers in the UK during the 80s and 90s when they were at their height.

Commission's statement of objections in truck cartel case

The European Commission has been investigating a cartel in the truck industry since at least 2011, when it carried out a series of dawn raids. It has indicated before that the cartel was a very old one. Now the Financial Times has come into possession of leaked documents (reported here) which tell us rather more about the investigation. Apparently the cartelists made agreements about the introduction of emissions technology, dating back to 1997. It involved DAF, Daimler, Iveco, Scania, Volvo (which also owns Renault Trucks) and MAN. It was the last-named of these which blew the whistle in the case.

No point in repeating what the FT reported, and anyway hard to do without risking an infringement of copyright. More in the next Motor Law newsletter, if I find more!

Common European Sales Law to be watered down

My old friend from long ago, Anthea McIntyre MEP, reports (on Facebook, as is the modern way) that the widely-disliked CESL, which many think rather unnecessary, is being watered down. Unsurprisingly, she attributes this to "Conservative pressure". Here's what she said (though for all I know it might just have come from a Conservative party press release):

The European Commission has agreed to scale down and refocus plans for a Common European Sales Law (CESL).

In publishing its legislative schedule for 2015 yesterday, the Commission said plans for a CESL would be replaced by a "modified proposal in order to fully unleash the potential of the digital single market."

...

Conservative MEPs gave the re-think a cautious welcome as a vindication of their determined campaign against the plans.

Ashley Fox, leader of Britain's Conservative and a consistent opponent of the proposed law, said: "This is good news and an encouraging approach from the new commission to weeding out meddlesome and unnecessary legislation so we can concentrate on what really matters.

"The CESL as originally proposed would have duplicated many existing national laws or undermined legislation which actually does a better job for both customers and vendors.

"Now we must be careful that any replacement proposal cannot simply echo what has been withdrawn. Instead we should have much deeper analysis of what actually hinders cross-border trade and online commerce.

Sajjad Karim, Conservative spokesman on legal affairs, said: "The CESL would have achieved nothing but confusion...a classic example of the EU's obsession with legislation making things worse instead of better.

"We have been warning against this for months and I am encouraged that the Commission is coming round to our way of thinking. Now it must move on from this failed project to modern and flexible proposal that will actually help businesses and consumers buy and sell across the EU."

Truck design rules: reform delayed

The Council and the European Parliament reached agreement on a proposal from the Commission for a directive amending Council Directive 96/53/EC of 25 July 1996 on vehicle weights and dimensions. Readers will recall that the Parliament approved the proposal some time ago, but now national interests have become involved and the changes will not come into force for some time – and even then they will not be mandatory.

The most significant change will be to allow vehicles to be 80 to 90 cm longer – which doesn't sound much, but which would enable manufacturers to move away from the brick-like aerodynamics that the present rules (in conjunction with the need to maximise carrying capacity) make necessary, and also to improve the driver's view of cyclists, pedestrians and everything else going on around them. Unfortunately, truck designs have a very long life cycle and a couple of major manufacturers (Volvo and Renault) are committed to new bricks, so Sweden and France have led Member States in delaying the introduction of the new dimensions and making them optional.

Weights and Dimensions page on the Commission website (the link to the proposal is broken).

Article on the Euractive website.

Independent Garage Association welcomes report on repair and maintenance information

Press releases

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