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Manning crisis | Having a laugh | Kemi’s conundrum | Vertical drinking | Ann Droid and self-driving taxis As someone working in human resources who has spent years encouraging colleagues to use the word “staffing” rather than “manning”, I find it ironic that in reviewing the TV series Furious, which is “powered [by] female rage” ( 27 July ), Lucy Mangan wrote that its lead character Alice Black “is manning the FBI tip line”. Kathy Ashton York • Mark Lawson states that Jimmy Cricket’s “retained native accent allowed him to rhyme ‘faffing’ with ‘laughing’” ( No smut, no swearing, wrong-feet wellies and a silly hat: the gentle comedy world of Jimmy Cricket, 4 August ). As most of the UK’s English speakers would say, these words do rhyme. It is only some from southern England and a few other areas who pronounce laughing incorrectly. Gordon Glassford Corby, Northamptonshire Continue reading...

Wayve Uber wins first minicab licence for autonomous cabs from TfL but vehicles will have a safety driver (at first) The taxi app company Uber and the autonomous technology developer Wayve have been granted the first minicab licences in London allowing them to offer self-driving taxi rides to paying customers – but with a human safety driver in place, for now. The companies said they would start trips in the UK “later this summer” before the full public launch. Continue reading...

Numbers using finance rises 170% in a year as leasing firms boom alongside leapin secondhand vehicle supply and surging fuel prices The number of people leasing used electric cars in the UK has more than doubled in the last year as drivers look for cheaper ways to avoid soaring petrol prices during Donald Trump’s war on Iran. Used electric car leasing has risen by 170% in the last year across members of the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA), a lobby group whose members buy about half the UK’s new vehicles to lease them out to businesses and consumers every year. Continue reading...

Australians bought EVs and hybrids at nearly same rate as petrol cars between April and June, Australian Automobile Association data shows Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Australians are now buying electric and hybrid vehicles at the same rate as traditional petrol-powered cars, according to new data that shows EV sales doubled in the months after the peak of the fuel price spike. Fuel prices are again on track to top $2 a litre , after the federal government’s fuel excise reductions – introduced to offset the impact of the ongoing crisis in the Middle East – come to an end on Sunday. Continue reading...

Industry wants mandate forcing manufacturers to sell increasing share of electric cars each year to be eased Carmakers are delaying final decisions to invest in UK factories until electric car sales rules are relaxed, according to the head of the British car industry’s lobby group. The chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), Mike Hawes, said those with existing UK operations were considering building new models, but had held back so far. Continue reading...

I’m a self-employed driving instructor and I’m running out of cash to hire a replacement dual-control vehicle My livelihood as a self-employed driving instructor is under threat owing to Nissan’s failure to repair my leased dual-control car. It has been off the road awaiting a spare part for three months, and I’ve now been told it will take at least a further month to arrive. Continue reading...