I don't often have to do battle with the M25, I can't remember the last time. I have to get from home (Warwick, Warwickshire)to Dover. I need to be in Dover for 10am on a Monday morning.

Which way should I go? Also how long should I allow? Read more

while cleaning the inside of my rear windscreen, I accidentally knocked off one of the electrical connections to the element. I had thought that I could solder this back on, but on closer examination the connector appears to have been glued on. The "glue" is white in appearance. Never seen anything like this before. I would like to fix this myself if I can, can anyone suggest what has been used to "glue" the connector to the element and what I should do to fix it?


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Anyone know what causes front discs to rust?

Just had to change my Peugeot 205 XLD front discs after an MOT failure due to rust.
They were only two years old and I have done 15,000 miles on them.

Perhaps I don't use the car enough or brake hard enough?

Thanks. Read more

The Growler mentioned in an earlier thread that he was off on a motorbike Toy Run, to help underpriveleged kiddies.
Well, they did that here....
Cape Town's traffic department has admitted that it treated the premier motorcycle charity event of the year as a cash cow. Officers of its technical section set up a speed trap on the morning of December 1 specifically to target riders heading for the annual Charity Toy Run, which begins at Ottery Hypermarket.

Riders quickly reported spotting the camera trap on their way in to the Toy Run but it took until the following Thursday for IOL to get confirmation of its existence from a traffic cop who asked ? for obvious reasons ? not to be named.

Late that day City Police chief Mark Sangster officially confirmed the presence of the trap to IOL Motoring and agreed it was of a type known as a "back to back" and used specifically to trap motorcyclists: it photographs the allegedly speeding vehicle from behind (motorcycles have no front number plates).

The Scrooges of the Freeway set up the trap before 9am on the morning of the Toy Run on the southbound lane of the Black River Parkway, roughly opposite the old Kodak building, and it remained in use for most of the morning ? at least until after the start of the parade at 11am.

The parkway is the main route to Ottery for any road user coming from the northern or West Coast suburbs and the vast majority of the more than 6 000 bikers who rode in the Toy Run would have used this route.

Despite being ordered by Sangster to answer IOL's questions, acting Chief Inspector Kevin Heckrath of the traffic department's technical section, which operates all speed traps, has repeatedly evaded IOL's phone calls and has failed to divulge how many riders were caught in the Toy Run Blitz - or at what speeds they were trapped.

Yesterday ? more than a week after the Scrooges of the Freeway spread their version of Christmas cheer - Heckrath instructed a Sergeant Castle of the City Police to say that he still had to work through all the rolls of film and that IOL should call again "in the next week".

The mind boggles at such inefficiency! If the task is going to take that long, just how many motorcyclists, having spent their hard-earned cash on toys to be donated to underprivileged children at the Toy Run, will have to dig deep into their pockets once more for the privilege ? we're talking anything up to an estimated R200 000 in total.

The fact that some members of the traffic department were cynical enough to use the one day of the year when motorcyclists feel that the authorities are on their side to target them so specifically leaves a sour taste in the mouth ? not least among those hard-working traffic cops who give up their free time every year to make sure that Cape Town's biggest parade goes off safely and pleasantly.

What a monumental public relations blunder!

This blatant exploitation of a "soft target" just to line the city's coffers only serves to reinforce the perception that traffic cops are only in it for the money ? the easier the better, with no thought of policing the thousands of dangerous drivers and unroadworthy vehicles that make our road so hazardous.

This is what this miserable bunch of misers should do:

Admit that they blundered ? then allow riders who were trapped the option of paying the same amount as their fine to the city's cash-strapped Red Cross Children's Hospital ? the receipt to be proof of payment of the fine.
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