Passengers in cars and taxis are being exposed to air pollution up to 15 times greater than cyclists and pedestrians on busy city streets, a new study has found.

Travelling inside a vehicle could be much worse than cycling by the kerb or walking on the pavement because emissions are highest in the centre of the carriageway, where vehicles suck in dirty air from those in front, scientists say.

Their shocking findings were revealed following an experiment by a group of five MPs who sit on the Government’s cross-party Environmental Audit Committee (EAC).

Each was provided with a gadget to measure airborne pollution levels, as well as a GPS tracker device, by scientists from King’s College London, who analysed where pollution was at its highest during their travels across London and in their constituencies over a week in July.

By far the highest levels of tiny particles of ‘black carbon’ or deadly soot breathed in by the MPs was during taxi journeys in cities.

On average each inhaled around 50 million particles per breath while inside a cab in London, around seven times more than the six to seven million particles per breath inhaled while walking around Whitehall or Oxford Street, and 15 times greater than levels recorded outside their eventual destination City Hall where, on leaving the cab, levels fell to three million particles per breath.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2746925/Why-suffer-pollution-driving-car-walking-street.html

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DUMFRIES

Fake taxi driver lures woman into sex assault

A 19-year-old woman has been sexually assaulted after getting into a car she believed to be a taxi.
According to police, the 19-year-old had been on a night out in Dumfries and flagged down a silver coloured four-door saloon car. After she got into the vehicle, the driver took her to a Tesco car park in the Hardthorn area and the woman was sexually assaulted.

It's believed to have happened in the early hours of Sunday 7th September.

The subject is described as:
Asian
In his late 20s to early 30s
Of medium height and build
Wearing a dark coloured t-shirt and denim jeans
Did not have a local accent

Detectives are investigating the assault and reviewing CCTV from local areas.
Additional police patrols will be in the area to reassure the local community.
Anyone with information should contact the Dumfries Police Office.

http://www.itv.com/news/border/update/2014-09-08/fake-taxi-driver-lures-woman-into-sex-assault/?