In London, as well as other cities, right turns are prohibited at many cross roads controlled by traffic lights. To overcome this many vehicles turn left and immediately U turn and try to force their way into the queue of traffic going straight on. This inevitable blocks the road and gridlock occurs until someone gives way.

I once tackled some police(who were standing watching) about this event. An Inspector(no less) said they had prosecuted a van driver for ?Driving without Due Care and Attention? at this junction.(Albert Bridge on the Embankment if anyone knows it) He was a regular offender who had been previously warned. The case was dismissed because his solicitor argued successfully that he wasn?t ?Driving without Due Care and Attention? but was deliberate in his actions and, whilst unsocial, it was not dangerous.

On another thread Dwight Van Driver said that there was an offence of ?driving a vehicle without reasonable consideration for other people using the road.? I don?t know what penalty this offence carries but surely this could be used in those cases where the ?offence?, although minor, causes huge disruption.

For instance on my route to work a particular delivery van parks outside a hotel every morning on double yellow lines. Without going into the detail the delay this causes hundreds of cars is out of all proportion to the trivial offence of stopping on a double yellow. Read more

1. Porsche Club in USA is trying to get the factory to change the name of the 911 because the events of Sept 11 are known as 9-11.

2. Have you seen the job advert in Teeside council?

We've got a bit of spare cash in our budget, what shall we spend it on?

Another teacher?
Another nurse?
More home helps?

No a spin doctor to convince the public that Gatso's really are good for them.


Why do we bother ? Read more

1999 Peugot 306 estate belonging to our neighbour.

6 year old son was sent to collect sweets from the glovebox of the unlocked car, next thing that happens is a big bang as the Passenger side Airbag explodes. Result 2 broken bones in left wrist as he is apparently pushed upwards into windscreen. As a result of his young age, his version of events must be treated with caution, but there is no reason to believe that his version is not correct. ?All I did was to open the glovebox normally? This version has been repeated consistently to different adults. We can only be grateful that consequences were not more severe.

This will undoubtably result in litigation, has any one else suffered a similar event? The car had been parked overnight, but was not locked and the alarm was not set.

This obviously raises a host of interesting questions, but lets start with whether the trigger is enabled when ignition is off? Read more

Can anyone tell me why the needles on the dials of my wife's 99 reg Focus TDi sometimes, when starting from cold, rotate to the maximum eg the temp needle sweeps instantly to hot on the temp gauge and then after a few seconds resettle at the normal starting position.When it happens, all the dials do it in unison.
It has done this from new and the agent claims they have no cure.
Any ideas (and more importantly) is it damaging ! Read more

What I think of the Xantia?.

I was given a Xantia Estate as a replacement car (my Audi broke itself). The first one had leather seats, the second does not. Other than that they are identical.

As its not a car I would normally drive, I thought I?d write down what I think. Subjective, of course. At least it will give David loads of things to argue with me about !! ;-)

Firstly, I think it?s a good looking car, much better looking than the Xantia saloon. I have a deep, dark, green colour, and the interior is black, so it really looks pretty good.

The lights are pretty bad. Even when I have been on a dark, unlit road, alone with no other lights to detract from the impact, the Xantia?s lights are bad. I know David has commented on the dip, but I think the main beam is pretty awful as well.

On the subjects of lights, then the interior lights are pretty feeble also. There?s quite a delay in them coming on (why do they have to fade up & down ?), and they really are not good enough to read something in the car. Neither are the side ones very easy to reach.

I found the engine ? 16v petrol 2.0 thingy - pretty uninspiring. I am not a particularly fast driver, but I found that this engine was pretty bland unless it was revved hard, and not great even then.

On the other hand, it seems to do quite a lot to the gallon, not that I actually measured it or anything, it just seemed frugal.

The seats are comfortable enough of themselves, but I found them low. Even with my seat on its highest setting, and I?m 6ft, I still felt like I was sitting quite low within the vehicle. I think if you were a short person, then you would probably feel like the seating position was too low compared to the window, dash and windscreen height.

I wouldn?t mind if the seats were a bit more ?grabby? to avoid falling sideways, but since its not a car to throw around, its not really a major issue..

What are those silly door pockets about ? The inside door handle hinges back to reveal a thin, narrowing pocket, just about big enough for a packet of cigarettes, but sadly not big enough to get the cigarettes back out again without getting out of the car and lowering your hand parallel to the door.

The air conditioning isn?t very good. And I did have it serviced, or whatever they do. The ?auto? setting takes a weak approach to cooling the car, on full blower it is very noisy, and the AirCon cops out completely when the external temperature reached 47° C, although I guess that isn?t likely to be an issue in the UK. I have no idea how the heating is, I?ve never used it. Strangely it seems to get the back of the car much colder than it does the front.

I loved the automatic windscreen wipers. Changing speed, interval and even on and off, depending on the wetness of the windscreen ? how does it do that ? I found it slightly irritating that even if one has left it on automatic, if you switch off and on the engine, you have to take them off automatic and put them back on for it to work. However, I loved them.

Liked the dashboard. Well set out, easy to read, all the information, but without the christmas lights effect. All of the controls are very easy to reach, and quite logical. I didn?t particularly like the placing of the side mirror adjuster, vertical on the door, but how often do you use them anyway,

The temperature thing is wildly inaccurate, but I guess that could be a one off. I also find the fact that you can switch the display to show the date a little sad.

The handbrake and the armrest are incompatible. The handbrake is underneath the armrest, and can only be operated if you lift the armest out of the way first. Not a big thing, but irritating.

Despite the fact that the engine is uninspiring, it is smooth and competent. It certainly is fine in traffic, or cruising. But it clearly isn?t a ?boy racer?s? engine, nor is it supposed to be. However, it does the job.

Actual cabin space is good. I?m quite large, my father is larger. With me, my wife, my father & mother, two dogs and Camilla in the car, it was still perfectly comfortable. My Father is 6?2¨and even with the seat on its highest setting had no headroom issue at all, although the car does not have a sunroof. The space behind the seats (the ?estate? bit) is large, with a nice flat floor, low loading, and no silly lip at the back. Also, a nice shelf and extendable cover for the whole thing ? which is especially useful in high-risk parking areas.

The suspension was difficult to assess ? at least by me. I do accept someone else?s point that given the type of cars I normally drive, it isn?t a fair comparison. However, when fully loaded the car still behaved ? a good thing, since that load even affects the Audi. When on my own, it was good, but wasn?t the ?startlingly good? that I remember from driving older Citroens years ago. Maybe that simply means other cars are catching up.

Slightly disconcerting sometimes in traffic, when the car seems to take the idea into its head to briefly raise or lower by an inch or so. ? it seems to be connected with how much braking I?m doing, and whether or not I sit there with my foot on the brake. ? def. Weird though.

Also, the setting for ?bumpy? roads, damn near shook all my teeth out, even when the car was loaded with people. On my own, I thought my eyeballs would fall out. And no, I didn?t make a mistake and put it on the really high setting in error.

I have driven it mostly around ?town?, but I did do one long journey over normal (i.e. pretty bad) Brazilian roads, and after 4 hours in the car, I got out feeling pretty good. No more tired than I would have felt in the Audi.

It handles pretty well, still not sports car level, of course, but pretty good for an estate car. It certainly feels sure footed, even in the rain. Sorry, I don?t know what tyres its wearing, but they?re not noisy either.

All in all, I?d buy one. Its pretty, its competent, it seems very reliable, and its surprisingly large. Adriana likes it, and repeatedly borrows it, which is no mean endorsement in itself. Its very comfortable at high-speed, uneventful cruising, and very maneuverable around town.

Build quality seems very good ? nothing is broken or not working. Nothing has fallen off. Everything seems pretty solid, except those bloody stupid door pockets.

Load space is excellent, rear passenger comfort seems very good, including leg and head room, everything is easy to use ? if only they?d do something about those lights.

Mark. Read more