I parked my car with my father's blue disabled badge on a residents' parking bay, but when I returned to the car with my father 30 minutes later I found that I had been given a parking ticket for being parked in a suspended bay. I read the bright yellow notice that was put up to give info on the bay being suspended, but it was attached to the "disabled badge holders" sign, which is the sign for the disabled space behind the resident's space I parked in. There was no yellow notice attached to the Resident's parking only sign, which was the sign relevant to the bay I was in.

Also, when I looked at the sign it contained writing saying that 4 bays were suspended, and gave the codes for those bays, but there are no corresponding codes on the road, so I could not have looked at the spaces and seen which ones they were referring to. In any case I assumed the parking restriction was for disabled spaces on that road.

I am trying to figure out if I am expected to know the parking codes for each individual space on this residential street as it would make no sense if I am. Also, I can't seem to find a copy of the full road traffic act relating to parking. When I found a copy of the 1991 act online it contains many amendments, but not the original acts that are being ammended. Does anyone know the original act I should be looking for that would give information on the type of notice local councils should give of parking suspensions? The parking appeals site has some great info, but is not that detailed. Read more

Considering a new car and exploring the possibility of not purchasing outright. Lexus IS for £279.99 pcm looks OK (= about £3,400 per year). Presume at that price you get nothing in the way of insurance, servicing or anything other than depreciation and financing avoidance.

Is there any circumstance in which any of these schemes are actually better than buying? Since the companies offering the schemes are commercial enterprises and need to make a profit by hiring to you, surely not?
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Mattster
Boycott shoddy build and reliability. Read more

I have heard many a person say they would never put their loved ones in an estate car third row of seats for fear of putting them in the crumple zone. Thinking rationally about this, I thought there is probably design legislation to prevent placing occupants in a crumple zone, and in any case, even putting morals aside, the likes of Volvo, who offer such seats as an option on the V70, have too much of a safety driven reputation at stake to do it.

Sure enough, recently speaking to a dealer I learned that this is so; In the same way that in many car designs front impact forces are passed to the rear of the car to avoid crumpling the passenger cell (look at crash test photos and you often see deformed rear panels from a frontal impact) so the same is true of the rear of a V70; instead of crumpling, rear impact forces will dissipate forwards, in the process deforming the outer body shell along the flanks of the car, whilst bending the rear floorpan as a unit.

A friend here in Sweden was unlucky to be rear ended big time on the E4 motorway in his V70 and bears the dealer's belief out; although the insurer scrapped the car after assessing the damage, he had been able to drive the car home afterwards - a 150 mile drive - because the rear wheels were unfouled.

He didn't take any photos, but by chance I just found a photo that shows what happens; tinyurl.com/y7ylas

No doubt other "third row seats possible" cars have similar approaches to safety. Read more

Hello all.

Come the new year i hope to sell my guzzler and buy an economical VW POLO that will do more than 300 miles to a tank of fuel. Which is the best performing/most reliable model to buy? It has to be petrol, manual, 3 or 5 doors, and no more than 3 yrs old.

Thanks, Mark. Read more

I've read on another forum of a biker caught doing 142 mph who got six points and £1,000 fine, awarded today. Magistrates are in Surrey, in case you are wondering.

I was stunned, to say the least, as was the offender it seems, who was expecting a ban. He pleaded guilty, and conducted his own defence. He works as a mechanic, and offered his potential loss of job as a factor in his sentencing, it seems. Read more