Wake Up to Money - 18/06/2010

News and views from the business world with Jeremy Naylor and Mickey Clark. According to the right of centre think tank The Policy Exchange, public sector workers enjoy better pay than their private sector counterparts and have bigger pensions, work shorter hours and enjoy more generous redundancy payments. We ask Natalie Evans, Deputy Director of Policy Exchange, to talk us through the report. According to the AA's fuel price report, there is a distinct north-south divide when it comes to petrol prices. For example, it costs just under 120p to fill up a tank of petrol in south east England, whilst further north it can be as low as 114p. Brian Madderson, chairman of the petrol retailers trade body RMI Petrol, tells us why. The Communucation Workers Union is balloting BT staff over a 5 per cent pay rise. Alan Stevens, an independent telecoms consultant, explains what will happen in practical terms if BT strike for the first time in 20 years. Pensioners are being charged significantly higher premiums on their car and travel insurance as they get older. Research carried out by Which? consumer magazine says people over a certain age are often refused any cover at all. We ask Dan Moore, an insurance expert from Which? Money, why this is the case.