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Stena Line to end popular France-Ireland ferry crossing
Rival operators will continue to serve Cherbourg port as passenger numbers on route increase
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Red heatwave alerts continue as storms sweep across France
South-west and Brittany are the only areas likely to avoid storms this evening after several temperature records were broken in the south yesterday
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Air traffic controllers’ strike: Paris and south of France airports to face major disruption
Half of flights in Nice and Corsica, and a quarter in Paris are cancelled on July 3. Disruption is also expected on July 4 just before the French school holidays begin
‘Giraffe car’ set to hit the streets
French Robocop police car can extend its cab 3.5m up in the air to give literal Big Brother viewpoint
LOOKING like a Dalek with an inferiority complex, this ‘giraffe car’ has been tested out by police in a Paris suburb – and could soon be used across the country for crowd control, car park surveillance, security control and even street marketing.
The Robocop Viséo has a hydraulic single-seat driver's cab which can be elevated (even while moving at 15 km per hour) to a height of 3.5 metres, giving the driver and passenger a clear view – from 10ft up and 210 degrees around the U-shaped windscreen.
Made by independent company Iris in Ligny-en-Cambrésis (Nord - 59) the electric car has been tested by the police municipal in Evry (Essonne) since March to see how effective the Robocop was as a literal version of Big Brother.
Each car does 127hp and has a range of 80km at 25kph. Results were convincing enough for Iris to start production of the car and it will go on sale this autumn, priced at €45,000.
Please send us a photo at news[at]connexionfrance.com if you see it in use.
The company says that it has sold several Viséos already after winning the Prix de l'Industrie Automobile in April and hopes to sell 1,000 a year.
Hi-tech Viséo police or security car will go on sale later this year pic.twitter.com/KKk3UVZ6Ba— Ken Seaton (@apriliaken) June 12, 2015