Make Sure You *TRACK* This Winner ;-'

Mike this may help you out mate-Nilip Bollocks to you.

For those who are interested, here is the Sunday Telegraph article of 6th November 2005 in full:-

'Black box' motor insurance trial takes a wrong turn. By Teresa Hunter.

The GOVERNMENT could be heading for a major jam over its plans to introduce motorway charges using satellite technology after it emerged that the system is not as reliable as first hoped.

Norwich Union is currently piloting a pay-as-you-drive scheme where a driver's insurance premium is linked to road usage. But it admitted to the Sunday Telegraph on Friday that a "significant number" of the 5000 black boxes that have been fitted into policyholders' cars have had to be replaced after technical problems.

The trial uses Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites to monitor a motorist's mileage and driving habits. For example, certain types of road and times of day are higher risk than others. The Government hopes to use the same technology to record how often drivers use motorways and at what time of day.

Martin Otter of Norwich Union said the problem had arisen because chips in the black boxes had failed. For very heavy road users, this had typically happened after six months. He said: "This is all part of the learning process. The technology is developing all the time. Obviously we are disappointed with this setback. It is an expensive business sending out engineers and inconveniencing our customers. We pick up the problem as soon as the signal fails, but the driver has no idea anything is wrong".

ENDS