In the province of Girona, a speed camera has been responsible for issuing 133 fines per day, and has caused anger amongst motorists.

The speed camera, which is situated in Costa Brava seaside town of Platja d’Aro, ¡earns’ 6,650 euros daily on average.

Many of those fined, are people driving just five or seven kilometres per hour over the limit. The camera has been installed just five months ago, and has been responsible for over 21,000 fines, at an average of 100 euros each!  Very soon it will have amassed a quarter of a million euros for the regional government.

Catalunya has its own ministry of traffic, therefore the money netted from fines goes straight into the pockets of the Generalitat.  Normally, as in the case of the rest of Spain, the fines go to Central Government.

Local drivers are not happy and they say the camera is simply there to earn more money for politicians.

Michael O´Leary, Chief Exexcutive, Ryanair, has announced that from this Friday, Ryanair are cancelling 31 routes and 11 planes that are based at Alicante airport.  EFE also reports that another 27 frequent routes will be cut back.

AENA, the  Spanish Airport Authority which operates at El Altet Airport, Alicante, is insisting that passengers embark via the safer ‘aircraft to airport’ airbridges which are now in use since the new terminal was inaugurated. But Ryanair is insisting that their passengers should be allowed to embark and disembark on foot.  It is believed the airbridges would cost Ryanair 2 million € a year.

Speaking in Alicante on Tuesday, O’Leary is believed to have said, that if it had not been for the conflict, Ryanair would have reduced just ten of its routes to El Altet, as is normal during the winter season.

O’Leary also added that his company’s decision to reduce its Alicante operations will mean the loss of 2,000 jobs and a reduction in passenger volume from 4 million a year to 1.5 million. He said this would mean 30 million € of losses for AENA at Alicante every year.

Apparently Ryanair conducted a poll of 22,000 passengers which showed that 90% of those asked, would prefer to embark on foot rather than pay a higher price for their ticket.

There are no contracts for flights – but that doesn’t stop the Castellón airport from recruiting!

The public company Aerocas has tendered the contract to control fauna and birdlife at the airport.

A squadron of eight falcons (the feathered kind) for air patrols, and another team of eight, this time ferrets (the fluffy kind) for land patrols, will be recruited to keep the fauna and birdlife at bay – thus preventing any risk to planes .

The three year contract for the service has a budget of more than 450,000 €.

Below are the ‘telling’ results of a poll conducted by ‘uSwitch’.

Not surprisingly, the UK finds itself at the bottom of the list!

‘uSwitch’ is a free, impartial online and telephone comparison and switching service that helps people in the UK compare prices on a range of products and services including: gas & electricity, heating cover, home phone, communications, insurance, and personal finance products.

‘uSwitch’ states that their aim is to: “Help you take advantage of the best prices and services on offer from suppliers.”

The results of the poll are alarming, but are they what the struggling population of Britain suspected?

This is the first year that the UK has found itself at the bottom of the Index.  The Index calculates an overall ‘quality of life’ score from ten European nations, based on 16 factors including: net income, VAT and the cost of essential goods such a fuel, food and energy bills, as well as lifestyle issues like hours of sunshine, holidays, working hours, and life expectancy.

The ‘uSwitch’ poll also discovered that Brits believe that the worse thing about living in the UK at the moment is the ‘broken society’,  The second biggest concern is immigration, whilst job security came third, followed by the cost of petrol and the weather.

Ann Robinson, Director of Consumer Policy at ‘uSwitch’ commented: “Last year a least our neighbours in Ireland were worse off than us, now we can’t even console ourselves with that.  It’s not surprisiing that one in ten of us (12%) have seriously contemplated starting a new life abroad.

Is anyone surprised?

What do you think?