Three stories this week about things you would not necessarily associate with the automotive industry, a BBC reporter, a Dyson and a bottle of shampoo. First the BBC reporter - an important case was decided this week regarding the tax affairs of Christa Ackroyd. Not exactly high-profile, except in the North East where she the regional news programme Look North for 12 years. The headline, which has already put the BBC into quite a panic it is said, centres around a £400,000 tax bill she is said to owe. Why, because she has been employed through a personal services company as an independent contractor for those 12 years. HMRC has argued successfully that in fact she was an employee in disguise and this setup deprived them of that amount of tax.
Why is this relevant to automotive? Because I know for a fact that there are a number of companies who operate similar schemes. They have consultants who to the outside world look like regular employees. I am sure people will tell me that they differ in the fine print but, as I have reported here before, such schemes at best lay you open to scrutiny by the tax authorities, at worse land you with a big bill. And £400,000 is a big bill.
Dyson is a manufacturing phenomenon in the UK, producing high-end, highly popular and, let's face it, highly effective electronic gadgets. They have reinvented technology, whether it was the vacuum cleaner, the hand dryer or the fan, somehow they have found a better way of producing it. So their announcement recently that they will be producing an electric car has awakened interest, and the story has further developed this week as they are clearly getting closer, and are being held back by battery technology. Much like all of their competitors it would seem. According to a report in the FT they are planning initially three vehicles and investing £2 billion in the project. Not an insignificant investment, though compared to the largest car manufacturers probably quite a low budget. But they have surprised us before, and whatever they produce it will be certainly innovative and different and will challenge what has gone before. Exciting times.
Finally, an industry that is been riven by emission scandals for the past three years or so can finally take a breather. Or at least it can shift some of the blame onto another sector. And who would have thought it? Because perhaps a whole range of household products produce air pollution at least as damaging as that produced by cars. Shampoos, oven cleaners, soaps and a whole variety of other household products apparently are guilty of creating particulates in the air that according to the Times, are responsible for 29,000 deaths a year.
I always worry about stories that link such things with such a precise figure, but it is clear that they cause a fair amount of pollution. So the next time somebody criticises you for climbing in your five-year-old diesel, pouring out clouds of black smoke, you can ask them how long is it since they cleaned their oven and how often do they wash their hair. Because they might be doing just as much damage.
Have a great weekend, enjoy the Olympics now that GB has got itself on the medals table.