Even if you have no keys with a working beeper bit you can still have a transponder key programed by a good auto locksmith. A focus like my aunts w reg has exactly the same key locking system as a s plate mondeo i had. I know a locksmith in dartford that can supply a new key, beeper bit, and program it to the car for about £80 all in.

A black bin-liner on the windscreen works for me on the rare occasions when the car is not put in the garage.
It is re-usable and eco-friendly, and can even be used for storage!

My daughter had a 306TD and her clutch got stiffer and stiffer till the cable was replaced because it dried out being next to the exhaust. This was at approx. 40k miles.

Autumnboy

Further info. re the 405 diesel radiator with bayonet hose clips. Hint for easier job. Tie back top retaining spring levers as already listed previously by drilling two small holes in the plastic cross member above the grille and using tie wraps to pull back and secure the spring clips as far back as possible. Jack up and remove front off side wheel. Remove the tie wraps and screws holding the off side lower inner wing valance which covers the timing belts and lower rad. hose. The hose from rad to block now hangs clear and is very accessible. Cut through hose at center and rad can be removed. Fit to new rad off car and feed back through steel loop adjacent to lower timing pulleys on return as you lower the radiator. Join the cut ends with 30mm tubing ( about 75mm length is ample and fasten with 30-40mm jubilee clips. The saves the almost impossible tasks of removing and refitting the bayonet and spring clamp fittings in situ. Finally replace the lower plastic valance and replace the tie wraps to keep the hose away from the timing pulleys. This makes the job of rad replacement comparatively simple (but still very painful!). Phil Waltham.

{Please stop quoting the message you're replying to in full. Snip and summarise the text, and preferably put it before you start writing your reply}

One morning this spring I was driving up the M25 anti-clockwise to catch a flight from Luton airport. Having passed the Dartford tunnel there were suddenly a series of matrix signs saying "M25 closed at J24" (or something like that). Oh well, good I was leaving a lot of time, will just have to go the North Circular instead - so off I went down the A12, via the NCR and out the A1/M1... and needless to say it all took longer...
and longer...
and longer...

but I did catch the flight! with about 5 mins to spare. And it was only a short trip so the shortstay P fees weren't too bad.

Now the moral of the story is of course that the M25 was not closed at all, but it took until I had nearly regained the M1 (was at this point stuck in the NCR permanent jam down to Henly's corner) before the radio managed to say anything about the false message on the matrix signs.

If I had missed the flight, I could potentially have lost a major business opportunity. Although of course, nothing is guaranteed in terms of travel time (and therefore, I had left myself three hours to drive about 100 miles, almost all of it on motorway, plus the hour to check in), surely somebody must be liable for putting up completely fraudulent information on these signs?

(I'm not so worried about the frequently occurring "SLOW DOWN CONGESTION AFTER NEXT JUNCTION" signs after J8, at 5 in the morning. I have learnt to filter those out, now.)