The government is to increase penalties to a maximum of £10,000 per day for utility companies that overrun on road works.

The move was announced by Transport Minister Norman Baker and is, naturally, aimed at cutting the amount of road works that go on and on, and the traffic chaos they cause.

At the moment, the maximum amount a council can fine a company for late road work completion is £2,500 per day. However, from October councils will be able to fine £5,000 per day for the first three days, then £10,000 for every day thereafter.

Announcing the plan, Mr Baker said that “these changes are in line with…our desire to see congestion caused by road works reduce, and for utilities and others who work in our streets to be held accountable for that congestion.”

As part of the deal, fines collected by councils will have to be ring fenced for “implementing transport policies,” although quite what that covers is not clear.

The kids have a couple of special acronyms for the natural reaction to a car like the Nissan DeltaWing, above. One of them is the name of this band. What’s even more amazing about the DeltaWing is that it’s not a motor show flight of folly, or another superfluous one-off Nissan PR exercise. Nope, the DeltaWing will race in the Le Mans 24-hour race this year. Touche, Nissan. Touche.

Audi is unlikely to build RS versions of its Q models because it believes that would be at odds with what the performance brand stands for. Well, at least that’s the opinion of recently-appointed UK director Martin Sander.Sander explained that RS versions of its SUV models would certainly sell and could become potent rivals to BMW’s X6M and X5M, but he said he didn’t believe the two brands sat together comfortably.