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AA warns of automated penalties

DRIVERS are still suffering a year on from the time most wheelclampers were banned from operating in private car parks, according to the AA. Twelve months on, parking enforcement firms are reaping large sums from issuing automated "penalty" tickets. The AA said that while Communities Minister Eric Pickles is reining in local authorities who over-zealously use CCTV, private parking operators now rely heavily on this technology and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) to watch drivers and issue tickets through the post when they put a foot wrong in parking areas.

January’s top 10 best-selling cars: in pictures

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has released the UK car sales figures for January 2014 – and they represent an excellent start to the new year. There were 154,562 new cars registered last month – a 7.6% rise over January 2013, continuing the run of buyer confidence that saw overall sales reach a six-year high last year. The top 10 best-sellers from last month are rounded up in the following gallery.

Kia GT concept (2011) at Frankfurt motor show

When CAR visited Kia’s Korean test facility in Namyang back in April 2011, there were several clues to suggest the company was looking into some kind of high-performance saloon: we saw an M3 and a Nissan GT-R in the car park, plus a senior engineer told us that he and the team often pondered what it would be like to build a – very specific this – V6 turbo, rear-wheel drive sports coupe. Board members, meanwhile, suggested we wait until the 2011 Frankfurt motor show to see what performance treats they had planned. Well, here’s the first glimpse of what all those clues could mean: the Kia GT.