Last updated 18:15 BST.
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in brief:
Channel delays: none reported currently.
Weather: rain north, fine central, hot south.
Traffic: n/a.
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News: Weekend carnage Turkey – Norway tunnel row – Model S Euro road trip – Bavaria vignette.
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Random shot via @AstonMartin of a Vanquish in action. Styled the ‘ultimate grand tourer’ and packing a six litre V12 inside a carbon fibre body. Prices start at £189,995.
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WEATHER.
Meteoalarm weather risk alerts – Amber alerts: storms, high temps and heavy rain central east Spain; for forest fire westernmost Slovenia, high temperatures southernmost Montenegro and thunderstorms Latvia.
Weather – thunder later Spain and central France, otherwise hot and sunny across the south. Switzerland/Austria/Hungary dry and sunny. Heavy rain northern Germany and Scandinavia.
TRAVEL.
No operators currently reporting any delays.
TRAFFIC.
See @DE_Traffic from 09:00BST tomorrow, or Traffic/Travel/Weather.
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NEWS/PHOTOS:
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Strangest stretch of the week, from Moscow, photo via @paulgypteau.
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Road safety – understandable headlines in France this morning after ten people died in road accidents over the weekend. Two of the dead were involved in a bus crash allegedly caused by a passenger grabbing the steering wheel off the driver, and another five people died in a single car crash near Carcassone. Even this death toll pales however next to the 73 killed and 431 injured over the short end-of-Ramadan Eid al-Fitr holiday in Turkey.
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Norway – last week’s fire in the Gudvanga Tunnel has sent tunnel safety to the top of the agenda, especially after the Byfjord Tunnel near Stavanger was evacuated this morning after smoke was seen billowing out of a truck. PM Jens Stoltenberg tried to reassure worried citizens on Thursday quoting stats that say driving in tunnels is safer than driving on Norway’s roads. Two survivors of the Gudvanga incident took high profile issue with that however in an open letter published Sunday. It is generally accepted however that safety improvements do need to be made in many Norwegian tunnels. Gudvanga remains closed today with no estimated opening date.
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The first European Tesla Model S has been on its first road trip. The new owner drove his car almost immediately from Oslo to Nordkapp, Norway’s most northerly point, 2009km away. According to http://www.openchargemap.org there are 959 EV charge points in Norway, the vast majority in the south, but there are 71 in the north west, and three in the very north. Tesla says it will open its first European ‘supercharger’ in Oslo imminently, giving a 50% charge in 20 minutes, for free. UK cars are due next spring, prices still to be announced.
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Germany – Minister-President of Bavaria Hans Seehofer has long form in calling for foreign drivers to pay for using German roads. Most recently in May, in an interview with Die Welt, he said it should be a vital constituent of any collation agreement he might sign following upcoming elections (which he’s expected to win). An annual cost of €80 has been suggested. Now however the pledge has picked up pace because in a public meeting last week the idea met with ‘huge applause’ and was repeated in an interview with Bild am Sontag yesterday. Seehofer’s toll has now run into ‘fierce headwinds’ with other political parties in Bavaria, and even he has doubts as to its legality under EU law but let’s not forget the £10 per day fee the UK levies on foreign truck drivers. We will be watching the Bavarian election, and its aftermath, with interest.
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DriveEuropeNews 