May 2007
just thought i would let you know about this one. I went away to Ireland for a few days, but gota call from one of the guys in the office. Apparently we had a visit from a police sergeant as one of our cars had been involved in a theft in surrey. The driver had an alibi (he was at a customers about 5 minutes from our office with time in and out marked on his call sheet).
Also received a nip today for the same car in bournemouth . It was speeding (presumably to get away from the crime.
So, either one of my staff has completely lost the plot and gone criminal or the car has been cloned. Funnily enough, a month or two ago one of the other engineers was sure he saw the car near him. The driver insisted that he hadnt been there, so i put it down to misreading of the number plate.
It would appear that this car has been cloned and used for naughty purposes. The rascals! I hope this isnt going to be too complicated to sort out. A letter to the dvla is in order.
Im thinking of running on sweepstake on how often the car gets pulled in the next few months.
Its a 2001 silver mondeo. Read more
Hi
My beloved MG ZR 120+ has been written off (couldn't get the parts!). I have £6,300 to spend on a new/second hand car.
I need:
1) 5 doors and room for 2 Adults and up to 2 kids
2) Could do with room for buggies, shopping etc
3) Don't really want to take out finance-but could do if push comes to shove
4) Would want and least a 1.6 or 1.8 engine
5) Finances tight so want low running costs
Have had a Ford Focus from hire company and have quite enjoyed driving this. What model/registration could I get for £6,300 and can you recommend anything else apart from a Focus?
Read more
How about a Nissan Primera 1.8. They are excellent value and my own experiences with Nissan have been extremely good.
Anyway here got much experience of the North Circular?
I've got to get from J1 of the M40 (Uxbridge) to J1 of the M11 (South Woodford) (where it meets the A406 North Circular).
I've done the M25 route several times, and barring the frequent delays due to accidents it takes about 55 minutes and is 52 miles long.
OTOH the North Circular route is 29 miles, which is a fair bit shorter. But what's the traffic like? How long would it take do the 17 miles on Sunday lunchtime? Read more
The South Circular isn't so much a road as a series of road signs that
happen to take you round the south side of London
sometimes.
Most of the time you end up lost for days. The last time I used it (pre sat nav days) I ended up on the woolwich ferry.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6637817.stm
The cynic in me says "Shut because of dangerous driving, or another version of deliberately induced driving dissuasion?" Read more
As far as I'm concerned, the more barriers there are to prevent those Sarf Landin types from reaching civilisation the better.
my mates in bits cause he " failed " his driving test because the starting motor siezed during the test, he stalled 3 times during the test , which in my book aint an issue , but on the 4th attempt it was siezed up,, poor bloke gunna have to wait 3 months for a re-test Read more
Not sure why he would have to wait three months to re-test - thought the old restriction of one month wait for re-test had been lifted? If you go on the booking site you can get a test fairly quickly if you are not fussy about odd times/days
Hi Guy's and Girls
I wonder if I could ask some advice please.
I have bought some Maxtel Driving Lights which did not come with any wiring kit which is not a problem in itself as I can do this myself.
However, the question is this: I am a little confused as there is only one wire coming form the back of the plastic lamp housing which is terminated with a small tubular crimp connector.
I sort of expected to see two, a live and a ground\earth. Am I missing something or do I just run a ground to the car frame.
Any help would be gratefully received.
Steve Read more
What bulbs are they H1? etc. If H1 the base of the bulb holder will be the return path, are the lamps metal bodied or plastic.
If metal bodied, then its likely the bolt will act as the earth, if plastic you will need to run a wire from the bulb holder base to suitable earthing point.
If H7 type then you will need to run 1 wire (power) to 1 terminal of bulb and 1 from other terminal to earth.
hth
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6636579.stm
"Supermarkets have paid out more than £9m in compensation to motorists following an incident which saw petrol contaminated with silicon.
Tesco has paid about £8m after more than 17,000 people filed claims when the fuel damaged their vehicles.
Asda is sending cheques to about 3,000 customers who collectively claimed £1.4m in compensation. " Read more
My post was not pedantic. It was a brief informative summary, highlighting a comparative cost per repair based on available information, which interestingly revealed that cost per repair for each of the fuel vendors was very similar.
your father was a hamster and your mother smelt of elderberries. now go away before I taunt you a second time
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
Is there anyone out there who could give me an update on the current situation delayswise at the roadworks at Bardills Rose Gardens island on the A52, especially when approaching from the west?
I want to get to Beeston and am wondering whether there are diversions / where they will take me / and how much extra to allow for the journey (not in rush hour).
TIA Read more
Many thanks for those suggestions.
In the event, I approached along the A52 from Derby and was able to get through that island (albeit via a very narrow single lane) without delay. Currently, there is no turning right for Toton.
This seems entirely reasonable to me. The observation would have been confirmed by several HA officers, and in any case the police presumably treat an HA officer as a more credible witness than a member of the public. Read more
No there is no law about [having a vehicle that resembles a police vehicle?"]
only imitating a Police Officer which would never stick in a million years.
Really? So I can have my car painted up to look exactly like a police car, with no fear of censure! How exciting!!
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6637433.stm
All happened in a place called Bendorf - insert your own bender/Bendorf joke here Read more
I vander vod ca he vas driving.....
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To add to this...
take pic with digital camera, include TODAY's newspaper. Send pic to relevant authorities, keep copy PLUS keep newspaper.
That way you can say "The car has looked like this since 10 May 2007".
Cloning is a problem here - and worse, many drivers return to find their numberplates nicked!
Solution there is to buy the 'other' colour plate -you can have either black on white or balck on yellow plates, and go through the rigmarole of photography, as above.