The protester who dented the limo's roof, was later taken away by police

A limousine belonging to the Prime Minister of New Zealand has received thousands of dollars worth of damage after a teenage protester jumped onto the roof of the official limo.

The Prime Minister of the country, John Key, was attending a public meeting in Christchurch when the incident occurred. As the official car drew up to the building where the meeting was taking place, the Prime Minister was faced with a barrage of water protesters.

There were approximately 150 water protesters in all waiting for John Key to arrive. It has been reported that the demonstration was organised to protest against the sacking of the Environment Canterbury Regional Council.

After the PM had entered the meeting, the 17-year-old male protester seized his moment to leap on top of the parked limo causing extensive damage by seriously denting the roof.

The police were quick to act, dragging the determined protester off the limo roof. He was later seen being lead away in handcuffs after police arrested him at the scene.

The organisers of the protest said they did not condone the actions of the young man.

John Key was damning in his condemnation of the protester’s behaviour and said the man responsible would have to pay for the damage caused, otherwise the taxpayers would be forced to foot the bill.

Chauffeur driven Alfa Romeo hire available in County Durham

After being made redundant, business minded Carole Barton decided to take matters into her own hands by starting up her own company.

The mother of two felt inspired to launch her own luxury chauffeur driven car hire company in County Durham as she wanted to combine her love of driving with her social skills. The 50-year-old has wasted no time in throwing herself into the business, even enrolling on a specialised course to learn about chauffeur etiquette as she intends to offer her customers a professional and competent service.

Ms Barton has one Alfa Romeo 159 in sparkling white available at the moment. She hopes to offer something different from other luxury hire companies as although the Alfa Romeo is a top quality car, not many companies offer this vehicle for hire, so she hopes this will set her apart from her competitors.

The businesswoman has her sights set on offering a top class chauffeur service for corporate travel, as well as transport for special occasions such as weddings and birthdays, school proms, or even airport transfers.

The company is also offering an incentive to try and encourage repeat business by offering a 10% discount to any future bookings a customer may make.

The chauffeur driven luxury car hire company thinks it has something new to offer the people of County Durham and ambitious Ms Barton hopes to have another three vehicles and chauffeurs working for her within the next three years.

The limousine thief crashed the vehicle three times before being finally stopped by the police

A chauffeur in New Jersey, US, hailed a taxi to pursue his own limo after the vehicle was stolen from outside a hotel.

However the police caught up with the runaway limousine and its driver before the chauffeur did after the robber smashed the luxury car into a police vehicle. The driver of the stolen limo was arrested at the scene and has since been charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, eluding the police and theft of a limo.

The limo chauffeur, who works for a hire company, helped the police in their quest to stop the stolen vehicle by keeping the authorities up to date on the location of the vehicle as the chauffeur made chase in a taxi. With the chauffeur’s directions, the police managed to intercept the thief’s getaway.

The limousine robber crashed the vehicle three times before finally being apprehended. First of all he collided with a lamppost, however he recovered from that before hitting the side of a building, and eventually smashing into a police vehicle as he attempted to make his getaway.

The man driving the stolen limo was taken to hospital after receiving a number of minor injuries. He told police he had been drinking and submitted to a blood test to confirm this. If he is found guilty of being under the influence of alcohol while behind the wheel he will face another charge of driving while intoxicated.

Production of the Mulsanne will commence at Bentley’s Crewe (England) headquarters in the second quarter of 2010. A newly constructed body production facility, dedicated to Mulsanne, is being completed where leading-edge body assembly technology, such as superforming of the aluminium front wings for superb surface definition, will complement traditional, highly skilled metalworking including hand-brazing of steel joints for a ‘hewn from solid’ appearance.

Full details at thechauffeur.com

Mayor of Dudley's chauffeur will be "driving" a sledge pulled by huskies as part of his latest fundraising trip

Mayor’s chauffeur, Mike Crannage, will be getting to grips with a very different vehicle when he undertakes his latest fundraising expedition.

The 51-year-old chauffeur usually spends his days driving the mayor of Dudley to his formal engagements. However the Jag will now be swapped for a pack of huskies and a sleigh when the energetic chauffeur embarks on his gruelling arctic challenge in Northern Norway this March.

Mr Crannage will put his chauffeur duties on hold for seven days as he tackles his new challenge. The course will see the 51-year-old travel across a 250 kilometre course through freezing conditions where temperatures often plummet to -30c. The chauffeur from Dudley will be expected to put in 8-10 hour days mostly running alongside the huskies, and steering the sleigh through the rough terrain.

The gruelling trip requires plenty of physical stamina and fitness, something Mr Crannage has in bucket loads. Coming from an army background, the mayor’s attendant is accustomed to hard work, and enjoys keeping fit by running marathons regularly.

All of the money raised from the expedition will be donated to the Mayor of Dudley’s favoured causes. Mr Crannage has previously raised money for the Mayor’s charities, namely Dudley Stroke Association, and Dudley Mind and The Open Stage Learning Group.

Hummer Limos

We discover a cheap, effective way of making re-inventing your vehicles to keep up with growing trends.

Trends are funny things – they come, and then they have gone before we know it. When it comes to buying vehicles for your fleet, you simply cannot keep up with trends, as this would see you replacing cars on a constant basis.

Vinyl wrapping is growing in popularity, and allows you to breathe new life into your vehicles without long-term effects – only to your pocket!

The full story can be seen at thechauffeur.com

Hyundai Equus

Hyundai has began receiving orders for the long wheelbase edition of its most luxurious car, the EQUUS.

The stretch edition offers several upgraded features from the normal sedan version, including differentiated exterior designs and longer overall length. The engine and other functions have been reinforced to attain first-class performance, safety, comfort and convenience.

With the comfort of passengers at the forefront of its design principle, the EQUUS Limousine, as it is named in Korea, offers passengers unparalleled levels of interior volume. The vehicle’s length is longer than major competitors by as much as 310 mm, with backseat legroom as much as 376 mm longer, as well.

See the full review at thechauffeur.com

The brand new Audi centre in London

The brand new Audi Centre opened in West London earlier this month with a dazzling star-studded event to mark the occasion. Costing £45 million to create, the exclusive Audi store is now the biggest in the world. The car manufacturer recently suggested that Audi plans to extend its chauffeur programme to create more vehicles aimed specifically at the chauffeur market.

Hoards of celebrities turned out for the prestigious opening of West London Audi including Gordon Ramsey, Davina McCall, Beverley Knight, Bryan Ferry and Jamie and Louise Rednapp.

The magnificent 190,000 sq foot building took 6 years to design and build. The new centre also enjoys very convenient road links as it is perched just next to the M4 motorway. With 7 storeys and 3 extensive showrooms, the new Audi Centre can display up to 116 cars at any one time. So if there are any chauffeurs looking to add to their fleet out there, head down to West London Audi to view the huge range of exclusive vehicles on offer.

With 100 employees and 30,000 customers expected to walk through the doors within the next year, the new store is braced for big things. The director of Audi UK explained how the new centre will benefit the manufacturer: “By creating retail premises of this magnitude with this level of sophistication, we are ensuring that our extensive and contemporary line-up of cars gets the showcase it deserves.”

Carol Jones launches new chauffer service

An ambitious former saleswoman from Lincolnshire has taken the plunge and launched her own chauffeur hire business. After years of aspiring to become her own boss, Carol Jones’s love of driving spurred her on to set up her own chauffeur hire company. Although the business is still in its infancy, Carol has big plans for Jones Private Hire.

Initially 45-year-old Carol will run the company on her own. Once she’s established the company her husband Iddy will join her next year. The entrepreneur offers a high quality service and has invested in a Chrysler 300C, nicknamed the Baby Bentley, in order to offer clients an extremely comfortable and luxurious ride.

Jones Private Hire plans to target customers looking for chauffeur driven transport to special events including weddings, birthday and anniversary parties, and school proms. Another market Carol is hoping to break into is corporate travel and business clients. Carol has every faith in her fledgling company explaining “We are a luxury and very affordable in terms of the service we provide. The car is extremely high class and it’s a lovely vehicle.”

In order to further her expertise, Mrs Jones is about to undertake a driving instructor course. As the business expands and develops this extra skill will be very useful in training new drivers and ensuring a high level of safety is maintained.

With almost 20 years experience in the travel and hospitality industry Mrs Jones is extremely adept at providing a superior standard of customer care which will stand her in good stead for this new venture. Early signs for the up and coming company are encouraging with many bookings already being taken for 2010.

VOSA

More than forty stretched limousines have travelled to Parliament Square, London today in protest of new powers which many say will kill the limousine industry.

From yesterday, (1st October 2009) the Vehicle Operators and Services Agency (VOSA) has the power to impound vehicles which are designed to carry more than eight passengers if they do not comply with strict legislation.

A letter was also sent to thousands of UK operators three weeks ago demanding that their vehicles must hold a Certificate Of Initial Fitness (COIF) and the owner must have an operators licence to be legal.

Following this, hundreds of limousine operators from throughout the UK attended Drive ’09, the trade show for the chauffeur and limousine trades last weekend, to find out from VOSA officials what will happen to them if legislation is enforced from today.

See full story at thechauffeur.com