Friday, 27 June 2014

LCH's latest technological development!

This Summer, LCH are looking to introduce a new, quicker and easier way to access your documents following the hire of one of our PCO registered vehicles.

In every vehicle you will find a ‘vehicle guide’ in the glove box. This guide is a quick go to image to help you navigate your way round the dashboard and dials of any of our vehicles. 
In addition to this, on the reverse of the guide, there will be a description of how each key feature of the vehicle works. For example, the procedure of how to connect your mobile phone to the in-car Bluetooth hands free. 

Below the descriptions of each key feature, there will also be a unique QR code for your car. On scanning the code, you will be able to access all of the relevant documents you will need for the hire.

The vehicle documents you can access will include your signed rental agreement, the V5, MOT, PCO and insurance certificate for the vehicle.

Keep an eye out on our social media sites for more information about when our new QR code system goes live! You can follow us here on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Friday, 20 June 2014

LCH Weekend Wish List: 20th June 2014

It’s nearly the weekend again and this week we’re focusing on what to do in and around Camden!

Where to go?



This weekend is the last 2 days of the highly anticipated Taste of London in Regents Park. The outdoor festival, which kicked off on Wednesday, sees 40 London eateries strut their culinary stuff for 5 days. The London restaurants exhibiting range from the tremendously Thai Mango Tree to the gorgeously greasy MEATliquor. 

As well as sampling the best of what London has to offer, you can also take part in cooking workshops with top chefs including RenĂ© Redzepi and Michel Roux Jr. This summer food fest is a must attend for all you foodies out there and with over 200 food and drinks stalls it's a great day out for all the family (and it looks like we'll certainly have the weather for it!)

Where to eat?


If sampling MEATliquor at Taste of London has given you an appetite for all things deliciously dirty then head to Camden town. Just off the high street you'll find The Diner, a chain of American (diner) themed restaurants with a menu that can only be described as the best of 'Man vs. Food'.

If you're a burger lover, pork lover, coleslaw lover, cheese lover, anything you can think of lover then the 'Juicy Lucy' should be your first choice on the menu. 

The Diner describes the Juicy Lucy as:
          'St Louis pulled pork patty filled with Diner cheese sauce, spicy coleslaw, BBQ sauce on a glazed bun' 

This description certainly does not prepare you for what you'll be served 10 minutes later! And if you're able to finish the entire burger and their mammoth side order of chips, then I feel you deserve a t-shirt to mark such an achievement.

Where to drink?



If, after what can only be described as a food marathon, you need a refreshing pick me up then pop into The Blues Kitchen on the High Street. During the day, the best of American southern food is served and in the evening, The Blues Kitchen turns into a gritty soulful bar with an extensive array of spirits and liquors to choose from.

With music from 1960's rock and roll to more current day hits, it's a bar that appeals to most including some of London's coolest celebs (Alexa Chung and Jameela Jamil to name a few). But don't worry about calling Zurich to move some money around before you buy a drink, you can get your hands on a nice bourbon from £3.50 - practically a steal by London standards!



Tuesday, 17 June 2014

LCH Review: Mercedes S-Class

‘Hell is other people’ Jean-Paul Sartre famously once wrote. Sartre clearly never tried tackling the North Circular during rush hour.

Awash with angry, short tempered commuters, it is neither the time nor the place for the faint hearted. But unfortunately, this isn’t the only problem road during these unfavourable hours. The whole city is at a standstill and for most; this hellish ordeal is a twice daily occurrence.

Luckily the powers that be at Mercedes-Benz have brought out a car that makes the tribulation of any commute as enjoyable as a night out in Las Vegas with Prince Harry, or thereabouts.



The S350, released in 1972 is now in its 6th generation and is the benchmark for any vehicle of its kind. If it's in the S-Class now, you can guarantee you'll see it in nearly every car in 10 years' time. Before 1982, no car had seatbelt pretensioners and now it is a safety standard in every vehicle.

So what are the seatbelt pretensioners of tomorrow? With a long list of new luxury and safety features it’s hard to know where to begin.




Safety


The most notable safety feature in the new S-Class is the Driver Assistance package. For an additional £2,300 (about the same price as adaptive cruise control 10 years ago) you get a multitude of sensors, radars and cameras that can avoid collisions and even drive the vehicle for you.
With adaptive cruise control being the starting point for Mercedes developing what they call ‘Intelligent Drive’, they have built on this in a way that is a few gadgets short of something from I-Robot.

Luckily we are not at the point where we have to worry about our cars turning against us; if anything it is quite the opposite. Brake Assist Plus is a feature in which the vehicle is constantly watching for crossing traffic and oncoming vehicles. The car will warn you with visual and audio signals and once you apply the brakes, it will also add braking pressure to ensure the hazard is avoided.

Pre-Safe Brake is a function that detects parked or stopped vehicles, pedestrians and if either are detected, will brake for you. Mercedes say that up to 30mph there will be no collision and up to 45mph the collision will be mitigated. 
Also, if the vehicle detects an impending rear end collision, it will tighten all seatbelts in use, lock the brakes and flash the hazard lights at a high frequency.

At night, this feature also uses Night View Assist (an infrared camera) which displays an image of the road ahead on the dashboard where the standard speedometer dial would be.

Not only does the vehicle protect you from other road users, it also protects you from yourself. When it senses you’re about to drift into another lane, much like an xbox controller, the wheel vibrates to warn you. It also senses if the adjacent lane is occupied and if so, lightly brakes the front opposite wheel to pivot the vehicle back into the lane, keeping itself centered at all times without the intervention of a driver.

When at motorway speeds, the above features are the equivalent to a self-driving vehicle. Mercedes are well aware of this and therefor limits you to around 10-15 seconds of hands off the wheel driving time, issues you a warning and then deactivates the feature all together so that you are forced to take control of the vehicle again. Though as long as you keep a light touch on the wheel, it will in theory, drive for you.



Luxury



With all these amazing features on the vehicle, it’s hard not to feel like David Hasselhoff behind the wheel of KITT. But this vehicle is also largely used in the chauffeuring industry and therefore inside, is nothing short of a fine opulent barge on wheels.

In the depth of British Winter, there is nothing worse than escaping the cold outside, to be greeted with a freezing vehicle inside. Ahead of the new C-Class launching an app in which you can pre-heat your seats even before you have stepped into the vehicle, the S-Class has a list of functions to keep you as comfortable as possible on those frosty mornings.

The ‘Warmth Comfort Package’ ensures all essential surfaces are heated up for a comfortable touch. This is in addition to the heated seats as standard which boast a wide temperature setting including cold temperatures for those illusive summer days.

As well as keeping you at a comfortable temperature, the seats provide you with 6 massage settings, reclines and supports your legs and back. In short, it is a car seat that makes you forget you are in a car.

Whilst you’re relaxing you also have a high tech multimedia system at your fingertips. This includes navigation, telephone, audio/visual and internet as standard. As an optional extra you can also have access to TV, DVD and games on a 10 inch screen with wireless headphones. If you’re sat in the front passenger seat, you still do not miss out on these features. The split screen function on the front panel allows the driver to see their dials and satnav whilst you can watch TV until your hearts content.

Mercedes are at the forefront of racing, production and design and the new S-Class is their crowning glory and iconic benchmark for every luxury saloon around. The only down side to this vehicle is that Reginald Jeeves, with his dry Gin and even drier wit, is not supplied as an optional extra to ease you through the perils of your daily commute. 

Thursday, 12 June 2014

LCH Weekend Wish List: 13th June 2014

They say New York is the city that never sleeps, I think that London may also suffer from the same indisposition. 
There are hundreds of exhibitions, pop up restaurants, markets and events going on across the city at any given time and with such variety, how do you choose? 

Each week at LCH, we'll be putting together a small roundup of the best of where to go and what to do to make that choice a little bit easier.

Where to go?


Each year, London celebrates the Queens birthday with the quintessentially British 'Trooping the Colour'. 

Trooping the Colour is a lavish military parade that takes place on Horse Guards Parade in London's St James Park to mark the Queen's official birthday. This year, it takes place this Saturday 14th June and is a day of some seriously impressive horse manoeuvres and military pageantry. 


Tickets are open to the public but must be applied for by writing in January and is then allocated by ballot. If you were not lucky enough to get tickets (or have, like most of us, forgotten what it means to write something by hand) you can watch for free along the Mall.

The event beings at 10am, but if you want a good view, be sure to get there well in advance as it is a very popular event with members of the royal family in attendance.


Where to eat?


After the event, you can take a short stroll (or a chauffeured hire) into Soho to the aptly named 'Burger & Lobster' on Dean Street.

A restaurant that does exactly what it says on the tin eliminates the inevitable debate of 'what shall I have' on your typical vast menu of culinary delights. They have chosen the food options well (because let's be honest 'Turkey Leg & Fishcake' doesn't quite have the same ring to it) and you'll find yourself spending more time mulling over what to drink rather than what to eat.




With a choice of 3 meals (burger, lobster and lobster brioche) all priced at £20 with a side of chips, salad and condiments it's a must visit restaurant. Just try and avoid the seat next to the lobster tank; no one wants a side order of guilt with their meal.



Where to drink?


Once satisfyingly full on crustaceans, head over to Barrio Central on Poland Street. 

A prominently Latino bar that  boasts a 'Spanglish' drinks list categorised by region and country, you'll may just spend the whole evening sampling their menu!


The bar itself is decorated with a Tiki theme and split over 2 levels. With ample seating upstairs, downstairs turns into a dance floor late in the evening giving you the option to drink yourself under the table or whittle the hours away dancing to the most fun and eclectic playlist of songs I've heard in quite a while.

It's a Russian Roulette as to whether your drink will have some sort of pyrotechnics involved, but it's the weekend and that's part of the fun, right?