Focus on Tesco

Tesco is to sell contact lenses at its in-store pharmacies, the supermarket said today.

It claims top brands will be up to 150 per cent cheaper than those sold by other retailers.

The lenses will go on sale from the end of next week after changes to the law come into force.

Tesco underlined its dominance of the supermarket sector today after it announced sales were running 14.6 per cent higher than a year earlier.

Car prices fall

New car prices have fallen by an average of 10 per cent over the last seven years.

Some city cars such as the Ford Ka and the Kia Picanto have dipped 19 per cent in price, according to What Car? magazine.

But luxury motors such as the BMW 7-Series and the Lexus LS430 are now 3 per cent dearer than they were seven years ago.

The index showed that the price of one-year-old cars has fallen by an average of 29 per cent, with city car prices plunging 39 per cent.

Fire spending

The Government has spent more than £31m on consultants' fees for a controversial plan to close emergency fire control rooms and open new sites.

General secretary of the Fire Brigades Union Matt Wrack said £31m would pay for 1,000 extra firefighters, a huge increase in community fire safety schemes or initiatives to reduce arson.