Shiply’s founder, Robert Matthams, was last night named as a winner of the Ernst & young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.  The event was staged at London’s 8 Northumberland Avenue off Trafalgar Square and was hosted by BBC’s Jeremy Vine.

Judges described Robert as a young entrepreneur with a winning model that is considered the eBay of the transport sector.

The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award is widely regarded as the most prestigious business award, now covering 93% of the world’s economy and has been running for 14 years in the UK.

Upon receiving the award, Robert Matthams said: “Winning this award does mean a lot to me personally.  However, I really do share it with our network of 50,000+ transport companies and 700,000+ users moving goods who both make the marketplace work and continue to strive.  It is through their continued hard work and that of our own team here at Shiply which brings us the success we’ve seen over the years.”

Here’s some news that won’t come as a surprise commuters in some of the UK’s largest cities: London, Manchester and Liverpool have some of the busiest roads not just in the country, but in the whole of Europe.

However, you might still be shocked to hear just how much time we spend stuck in traffic jams on average. Figures from researcher Inrix show that last year, London drivers spent a staggering 66 hours in traffic, while Mancunians sat around for 45 hours, and in Liverpool the figure was barely better at 39 hours.

Drivers elsewhere in the UK don’t have too much to celebrate either, as it was revealed that only three European countries have worse overall congestion than the UK.

Perhaps unexpectedly, it is drivers in Belgium who waste the most amount of time stuck in traffic, where they while away an average of 55 hours a year. The Netherlands and Italy are next in line, with the UK not far behind in fourth place.

It’s not all bad news though, as Inrix also revealed that all 18 British cities analysed had less traffic in 2011 than in 2010, with the biggest improvement seen in Birmingham.

If you tend to come out in hives at the mere thought of sampling that particular brand of jam labelled ‘traffic’, you’d probably want to avoid being on the roads in London between 4pm and 5pm, which has shown to be the most congested, with journeys taking 33 per cent longer to complete on average.

As the senior vice president of Inrix pointed out, traffic congestion is a very good indicator of how the economy is going. While in a thriving economy you would expect roads to be busy with people going about their daily business, too much congestion can slow things down and hurt efficiency, as our transport providers well know!

It’s been a long week with blustery weather and bus strikes in the capital, so what better way to unwind for the weekend than dream of a country getaway royal style. Think expansive country estate, muddy land rover and pheasant shoots (…or is it grouse this time of year, we’re not sure). Accessorize with a waxed jacket, game keeper, and tot of gin and you’re good to go.

If you’re still unsure, get some inspiration from a pro:

Have a spiffing weekend everyone.

A series of stunning new images created for a new TV show America’s transport and communication infrastructure in breath-taking detail.

The pictures were taken for PBS show ‘America Revealed’ using satellite technology, including GPS and innovations in aerial photography.

This allowed the creators of the show to reveal the different sorts of journeys taken across the US in graphic detail, with each image showing the routes of different modes of transport or infrastructure networks.

One image, for instance, shows the remarkable distance covered by one family-run combine harvesting business, while another highlights the blue grid pattern of New York’s bus services surrounded by the further-reaching commuter rail services and combined pathways ferries.

For the more morbidly inclined, there is a map of the unpublicised transportation of dead bodies, many of which seem to be being repatriated to the states they grew up in from the retirement mecca of Florida.

There is even a GPS trail detailing routes ridden by cycling pizza delivery riders on a single Friday night in Manhattan. Judging by the distances covered, we wouldn’t be surprised if they helped themselves to one of those pizzas at the end of the night.

The same aerial photography, CGI and data visualisation techniques that were used to create the BBC’s ‘Britain from Above’ were used, except ramped up to the next level (as is usually the case when home-grown exports go stateside).

Executive producer Nick Catliff had this to say: “I think the result is a series that explores and explains the vast systems that keep America running and does so on an epic scale.”

The four-part series will also be aired in the UK for those lucky enough to have a Sky or Virgin Media subscription.

We all know that you should stay with your vehicle to await assistance in the event of a break-down, but one unlucky tourist who ignored this advice learnt his lesson the hard way this weekend.

Nima Hosseini Razi, an MBA student at the University of Wales, left his broken-down car near the Houses of Parliament to visit Buckingham Palace while he waited for the AA to arrive.

Aware that his car was parked illegally, Mr Razi left a polite note to explain the situation, which read:

“Dear Sir or Madam, this car is broken. I am just waiting for the AA to arrive. Please do not fine! Thank you, yours sincerely.”

Unfortunately for him, this wasn’t enough to reassure the police, who considered the blue Ford Mondeo a security risk and promptly blew it up.

As if that weren’t enough to ruin his day, Mr Razi was also issued with a parking ticket for the offence.

The mangled car was towed away as a rather shocked looking Mr Razi looked on. We’re not sure how he got back to Wales after his ill-fated trip, but we are pretty sure that he won’t be driving into London again in a hurry!

Wheelball! Or car football, if you prefer, except no feet really ever touch the ball. Either way, it sure looks like a lot of fun!

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

We all know the frustration of waiting for an eagerly anticipated package to come through the post, only to find a “something for you card” dropped through your letterbox while you were out.

Added to the frustration of having to then go out of your way to pick up the parcel at the local sorting office is the fact that if their opening hours clash with your working hours, you might have to wait days before you can pick it up, which rather defeats the point of paying extra for first class post.

While many delivery companies offer you the option of specifying an alternative delivery option, like leaving the package with a neighbour, Royal Mail are actually bound by law to leave those little cards that cause so much frustration.

However, that could all be changing fairly soon as Royal Mail plan to allow their posties to leave your parcel with a neighbour instead, following successful trials of the scheme.

Though this will be welcome news to most, those involved in garden fence feuds or the like will be relieved to know that nobody will be forced to accept the new arrangement, as every UK address will be sent a letter this autumn allowing them to opt out.

The final hurdle before the scheme goes live is to get the whole thing approved by the postal regulator Ofcom, who will have to carry out a lengthy consultation with the public before putting the necessary regulatory changes in place.

Somehow we doubt there will be much opposition to the proposal – it’s a no brainer! That said, our own neighbours probably wouldn’t want to leave anything too tempting with us for too long, we’re not 100% sure we could guarantee the safe return of a parcel full of cookies, for instance…

This summer, London will become the first ever city to have hosted the Olympics three times. Royal Mail have decided to celebrate this achievement with an Olympic-themed “first” of their own by releasing a series of first class stamps depicting Team GB gold medal winners which will be ready less than 24 hours after each win.

The stamps will feature the name and sport of each Team GB gold medal winner or team as well as a picture to immortalise the winning moment, and will be made available at 500 Post Offices across the country.

In order to get the stamps out on time, each athlete will be photographed during their winning moment.

A team of designers will pick one image to go on the stamps, create a template for it, and send it to six top-secret locations to be printed.

This will be the first collection to be released over night, and with each collection needing to be ready by noon the next day, no matter what time the medal is won, Royal Mail’s dedicated team will have to work very hard to keep the process running smoothly.

Of course, the more gold medals we win the harder they’ll have to work! Royal Mail are offering a subscription service for the collection, starting at £68.40 based on Team GB’s medal haul in Beijing in 2008 which included a grand total of 19 golds.

However, even in the worst case scenario of Team GB finishing the Games empty handed, philatelists won’t be left completely at a loss as Royal Mail will also be releasing the “Welcome to the Olympics” stamp as well as a selection produced for the Paralympic Games which start on August 29th.

If only this were full size!

Apparently it took the creators 2 years and 14 prototypes to make, so it’ll probably be a while before you’ll actually be able to fly to school, still, a kid can always dream!

A poet from Bude, Cornwall, who was so startled by the price rise of first class stamps that he set up his own postal service has this week been granted official status with his on personal identifying code from Ofcom.

Graham Eccles set up the Penny Farthing Postal Service on April Fools’ day, and although the idea of getting your post delivered by a poet on a Penny Farthing seems like a whimsical one, the 32 year old is now running a very practical service.

Customers can buy stamps for 25p each and post their letters in any of several mail boxes placed around Bude, with the promise of next day delivery.

Graham said he was motivated to set up his own postal service when he found out that local letters sent through Royal Mail were taken 50 miles to Exeter before being sorted and sent back to Bude.

Using his own kitchen as a sorting office and cycling the 20 mile round, Graham says he is able to provide a service that is not only cheaper for local residents, but also greener than the alternative.

The service has been very popular, with Graham delivering around 100 letters a day, six days a week. His stamps are also becoming something of a collectors’ item, with people from all over the world buying them on eBay.

It just goes to show that you don’t always have to rely on new technology to provide an innovative green service!