At about 3:30am today, about one street away from the A&E we were rushing to, we had a flash behind us and realised we were doing about 48 in a 40 zone - we were distracted and didn't notice. The visit did not turn out to be life-threatening.
What are the chances of getting out of the inevitable ticket, and will it require an appearance in court if we try to?
Thanks.
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Before reading this post, please note this was my own fault and I take full responsibility...

However, if you have an S-max despite what Ford UK and Ford ETIS says the S-Max does not have a 'usaeble' 70 litre fuel tank.

From my last two tanks I have got 62.28 litres and 63.54 litres in the tank. On both occoasions, the fuel computer claimed I had about 10 miles left in the tank. Therefore from these tanks, I worked out that if I have a 70 litre tank as Ford state, when the fuel computer says I have zero miles left, I should actually have about 1 gallon left in the tank.

So yesterday evening, I needed to fill up and I know this cheap station that was about 7 miles further than my tank claimed I actually had. When I left work, fuel in tank remaining was 62 miles and where I actually wanted to go was 69 miles according to Tomtom. All through my journey, this difference of 7 miles remained fairly constant (apart from when going up hills and down hill when it did change), so I thought I'd get there no problem.

I missed the garage by about 500 yards!!!!

AA came out and just towed me to the garage, I filled up with diesel and primed the engine while I was still filling up to ensure that all the filters and pipes were filled with diesel. Total fuel put into tank - 65.86 litres, approx 1 gallon under the 70 litre claim.

My fault, I know but if they claim a 70 litre tank, I expect to put 70 litres in when its dry.

On a lighter note, it did deliver 45.07 average MPG on that tank, not bad for a big car that still has a tight engine.

It did claim it was actually 52.1 MPG according to the fuel computer though

Make a big note, when the tank says zero, it means it.



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I had a crash a couple of weeks ago, and both my car and (I suspect) the 3rd party's was written off.

Here is a link to the junction:

tinyurl.com/2xkupv {Shortened link to maps.google.com/maps - DD}

I was trying to turn right out of the side road (to the right on the image). It is a busy road at rush hour and it is sometimes necessary, when the opportunity arises, to come out across the first lane, stop, and then wait before being able to turn right. There is also a filter lane for traffic wanting to turn right into the road I was trying to turn out of. They obviously have the right of way, but there are a lot of considerate drivers who will wave you through once you're halfway out.

So, the accident. After arriving at the junction, I looked to the right to see a car about 90 metres up the road, by the traffic lights. I pulled out into the lane of the oncoming car, stopped for about 4-6 seconds, looked left, and a car wanting to turn right waved me past him. Just as I went to turn right, I was hit by the car whose lane I was stationary in.

The young girl who hit me was quite hysterical and didn't say anything once I'd made sure she was okay.

The police turned up about 5 mins later. They said they could see what had happened but they would have to put down in their report that I was at fault because I was blocking the oncoming vehicle's lane. I questioned them as to how far a car had to be up the road before it was reasonable to expect them to both see me and act accordingly, given the fact that I may still be there by the time it the reached me. She said it was a grey area in the law.

Their is absolutely no evidence of the girl reacting to my presence until the very last fraction of a second, when she appeared to try to avoid me by swerving to the right. She appeared not to slow down at all during the preceding 4-6 seconds (whilst I was across her lane), and she certainly didn't leave any skid marks in the road.
I believe it was reasonable for me to assume that in that time she would be able to either slow down or stop if she had to, given that there was a stationary vehicle in front of her (if I'd been stationary but facing the same way as her, it would most definitely have been her fault). I'm fairly sure the girl was not paying attention to the road, and hit me as a result.

The question is: have a got a chance of convincing the insurance company that I should not take 100% of the blame? Read more

Hi there,

When I bought my VW Bora last week, I agreed with the salesman that he should get the 'ticking' sound that the engine was making fixed before I pick it up tomorrow. Spoke to him today, and he's assured me that the ticking noise is down to the charcoal filter, and they all do it! Its perfectly normal apparently.

I managed to find another link on the interweb regarding this, but it sounds a bit odd to me.

Its probably mega-common and I'm sounding a bit mental, but I am curious what its all about.

Cheers Read more