Parents 'risking kids' lives' on defective tyres

MORE THAN 30% of parents are ferrying their most precious cargo around on illegal tyres, a new study has found. Road safety charity TyreSafe has reported that one of its members carried out a study at a Shropshire primary school, where almost a third of the cars dropping children off at school were wearing tyres that were either past their wear markers, were incorrectly inflated, had bulges or cuts, or had foreign objects sticking out of them. “The start of the new academic year means that we will be experiencing many more cars on the roads, particularly at peak times of the day,” comments Stuart Jackson, chairman, TyreSafe.

Driven: Range Rover Evoque

As Sam Livingstone opines in his review of the latest Porsche 911, we are in a period of car design consolidation, with the new 911 the ultimate expression of a slightly suffocating trend. Yet every so often, a vehicle appears that breaks these rules and – through a combination of factors that can be difficult to quantify – captures the imagination, becoming a symbol of the times and an overnight market success. Such vehicles tend to emerge once a decade or so, yet the late 90s and early noughties were extraordinary for giving birth to three – the Ford Ka of '96, Audi TT of '98 and Mini of '01.

Aston Martin make Nissan’s Andy Palmer their new CEO

Andy Palmer (pictured) is taking the reins at Aston Martin Lagonda Aston Martin has effectively been without a boss since Ulrich Bez stepped down from the role last year, but that changes with the announcement that Andrew Palmer – until now, Chief Planning Officer of Nissan – is to step in to the role. There’s no specific start date for Andy Palmer at Aston, but Nissan has announced that Philippe Klein will take up Palmer’s role at Nissan on 15 September, so it shouldn’t be long before Palmer holds the reins at Aston Martin. But what exactly has persuaded Andy Palmer to jump from a big corporate behemoth like Nissan to a struggling luxury car maker with owners who either want to tug the operating strings (the Kuwaitis) or are looking for a quick return (Investindustrial)?