Laws banning hidden costs on air fares are likely to be in force by the end of the year. The move would mean that airlines would have to include all airport taxes, fees and charges in the basic ticket price they offer to customers. The laws would mean that all costs must be clearly set out making it very clear the final total that the customer will pay. The new laws are currently waiting the final approval from Euro MEPs.

This article suggests that supermarket price cuts have helped to stem the increase in grocery bills. Although the increase is still running at 17.8% it has fallen from 19.8% and this has been attributed to special offers and reductions on a number of products including broccoli and sausages. Supermarkets have been slashing prices on some products in an effort to become the cheapest store at a time where customers appear to be becoming more price aware.

Sainsbury's has started putting electronic tags on chickens in its Eastbourne store. They have introduced the measures after an increasing amount of people have been stealing chickens. Previously tags were only used on high value goods such as alcohol but with the increasingly high costs of meat it appears that chicken is now much sought after. Anyone who tries to steal a chicken from the Eastbourne store will now set off an alarm.

Boris Johnson has quashed the proposed rise in the London congestion charge. The former mayor Ken Livingston has planned to raise the daily charge from £8 to £25. Boris Johnson has said that the £25 charge would hit small businesses and families the hardest and this is why he is scrapping the rise. He also said that his aim is to achieve a "fairer and more effective congestion charge".

A survey by a rail watchdog has found that only four out of ten passengers feel they get value for money. Its hardly surprisingly when you pay to use a service where you rarely get a seat and in many cases can hardly find standing room on a train. The same report found that people are 5% less satisfied with the service than in 2007 with satisfaction ratings falling for 13 companies since spring 2007. One of the main things that passengers were dissatisfied with was fare increases.

If you are looking for a new pair of prescription glasses you might want to check out zennioptical.com. They have a wide range of frames includes tinted sunglasses, bifocal and progressive frames and even goggles. Personally I quite liked their range of rimless frames. Most of their frames come in a choice of colours and once you have selected one you can also select the lens size and shape, add an anti reflection coating, choose whether you want a lens tint and also add a clip on sunshade. You also need to enter your prescription. They currently ship within the US at a cost of $4.95 per order and most orders are received within two weeks of ordering. 

The AA has scored rather badly in a survey of roadside breakdown firms coming just seventh out of eleven. The poll included 32,000 drivers and rated breakdown firms on value for money, friendliness, helpfulness and overall service. GEM Motoring Assist came out top with Churchill coming bottom. In response the AA has said that 95% of people would recommend the service to family and friends. Personally when I have used the AA I have also found the service to be very good.

The full list, in order of overall rating, was:

1. GEM Motoring Assist;
2. Autonational Rescue;
3. RAC;
4. National Breakdown;
5. More Than;
6. Green Flag;
7. The AA;
8. Norwich Union;
9. Tesco;
10. Direct Line;
11. Churchill

eBay have been ordered to pay 40 million Euros in fines for selling fakes. The company will have to pay the money to LVMH, a French luxury goods group because they have allowed fake versions of their products to be sold on the eBay website. LVMH demanded 50 million Euros in damages after claiming that eBay's French business has not done enough to prevent users selling counterfeit items. LVMH also told the court that in 2006 90% of the LVMH branded goods for sale on eBay were fakes. eBay plans to appeal against the decision and says it quickly removes any goods that are found to be counterfeit.

I found this website the other day that sells a range of personalised jewellery. One thing that they have which is slightly unusual is a section devoted to medical ID jewellery. The nice thing about this site is that you can pick a medical id bracelet and then customise it. You start off by selecting the bracelet type from a traditional design or a charm bracelet. You can then select what sort of chain you would like to have on your bracelet and you can even select which clasp you would like. You can also choose the length of the bracelet and can add an alert charm. The next stage of the process allows you to choose what you want engraved onto to your bracelet. Once you have entered the text to be engraved you can run it through the spell check and preview it before checking out. Despite the fact that all the items are made to order you can still get them fairly quickly, the standard service takes approx 3 weeks or the rush service costs £5 extra and items are made with 3-5 days. Shipping to the UK costs an additional £4.00 by Royal Mail first class or just £8 on the DHL express option.

It appears that real ale is enjoying something of a revival as shoppers cut back on lager in favour of the more traditional British beer. That's according to this article which says lager sales fell by 5.7 per cent last year whereas ale sales increased by 3.3 per cent. One reason for the change could be that's supermarkets have started to stock a bigger range of premium bottled beers. Tesco for example now stock 300 bottles ales instead of only 50 two years ago. All Hail the ale.

I came across this website the other day which offers a useful service for players of online bingo. The website is called Bingo Port and it monitors and ranks all of the UK's online bingo sites. It shows information such as the ticket price, the number of players and the expected jackpot so that you can work out which game to play. The site also has various special offers and discounts, for example the current bingo site of the month which gives you £10 free at Gala Bingo. Not all of the games require you to pay you can also use the website to register for some free bingo games, such as Bingo Night live, a free weekday game that runs every day on ITV at midnight. Either way, whether you like to play the free games or the paid ones, its certainly worth checking out this website first.