Hi there, its Peter here with your Letter today. Tonight on the programme, well have a special report on the Simon Murden inquest verdict after a jury said the police were justified in shooting him dead on the A63 back in March 2005. Well bring you the latest on this, including showing dramatic footage from the crash involving the van Simon Murden was driving. Well have more on this looking back at this tragic story.
Also on Look North, we'll reveal why motorists and councillors in the region are up in arms over the rising price of petrol. Id like to hear your response to this of course. Im sure the price of fuel is affecting many people, especially businesses too. So get in touch on this one. Its the usual address of [EMAIL PROTECTED] We'll be at the world famous Bonhams auction house in London as Beverley's old bank notes go under the hammer. We'll get the latest as a high ranking delegation come to Hull to see if the city is fit enough to host the multi million pound round the world yacht race next year. Plus find out how our local swimmers got on at the British Swimming Championships in Sheffield and if theyve done enough to qualify to compete in the Beijing Olympics. And tune in tonight if you fancy a job as the new window cleaner for the alligator enclosure at Cleethorpes zoo! Thats all on BBC One at half past six. Mortgages Have you tried to get a mortgage recently? Im sure if you have youve noticed that mortgage lenders are getting more and more concerned about the so-called credit crunch at the moment. The continuing decline in activity in the UK property market has been highlighted by the latest Bank of England figures on mortgage lending. The number of new mortgages approved for house purchases fell slightly in February to just 73,000. That was a 39% drop on the same month a year ago, and leaves prospective mortgage lending still at its lowest level for thirteen years. People taking out equity from their own homes also slumped in the last quarter of 2007 to £7.3bn, thats a fall by 33% compared to the previous three months, and was down by nearly half on the same period twelve months before. The figures illustrate the rapid reduction of mortgage lending due to high prices driving away first-time buyers, and the credit crunch which has made it more difficult for banks and building societ! ies to raise the money needed to lend to customers. That same month the number of new loans approved for people who are staying put, but moving their mortgage deals to new lenders, fell to 111,000 from 118,00 in January. However, are we becoming more prudent with our money? These latest figures show that the banks gained an extra £1.35bn in savings during February, which was the largest inflow for any month since February 1997 according to the Building Societies Association. So some good news there I suppose. Energy And as I say were looking at the rising cost of petrol today and how thats affecting motorists in our region. But I read something interesting about energy suppliers in the papers. Apparently, more than five million domestic energy customers have been looking for cheaper deals and have switched suppliers in 2007, according to regulator Ofgem. It seems that we may be worried about our household costs and are doing everything we can to get a cheaper deal. The figure for switching suppliers was the highest for five years and came ahead of the latest rise in gas and electricity prices. So are we becoming more canny in looking for bargains to help reduce our costs? Perhaps so! Well thats all from me for now. Join me tonight if you can. Take care, Peter And for the latest news and more where you live, go to: http://bbc.co.uk/humber and http://bbc.co.uk/lincolnshire ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the BBC Look North newsletter, go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/looknorthhull/newsletter/newsletter_index.shtml, enter your email address in the unsubscribe box. 1.94.4
