On Saturday I had to travel eastbound on the section of the the M42 which allows use of the hard shoulder as a 'proper' carriageway lane. A first time for me.

Traffic was very slow on the 'main' carriageway, so I stayed on the HS and drifted past it all at a little under the 40mph limit. On the approach to a junction I noticed overhead signs saying, "use hard shoulder for junction only" - or words to that effect. Realising that I would have to barge my way into almost stationary traffic to my right I decided to exit the M42 at the junction and rely on my borrowed SatNav to make up another (non-motorway) route home.

So up the slip road to the junction roundabout, then noticed that it was possible to re-join the M42...... 'Go on', I thought - and tootled down the slip road to join the hard shoulder again. Continue to bypass stationary traffic and repeat procedure at the next junction. Traffic thinned out after this junction, so normal service was resumed.

This left me feeling morally guilty of a driving offence - but what is the legal position on doing this? I've seen drivers using a right hand lane to bypass queueing traffic at a roundabout by doing a '360' on the roundabout. Is this a similar sort of thing? If it's strictly an offence, then what is it - careless? inconsiderate? dangerous? un-British?

In my defence, the decision to exit the first time was to get off the motorway and find another route - what followed was a bit less laudable, I guess..... Read more

Which antifreeze should I use in my 2litre petrol Zetec 1996 Mondy please?

I know it should be a 50/50 mix in these

Thanks

Stuart Read more

I heard today of an instance where someone saw police with a hand-held flag down a speeding motorist, and instead of booking him he was presented to a group of primary school children who were standing on the pavement all wearing hi-vis vests. He was then asked to explain to the kids why he had been breaking the speed limit in a built up area.

Good or bad way of dealing with it?
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My W107 1989 MB ( last year of that shape ) 3 litre straight - six , owned and garaged by me for the last 7 years , has developed a strange ' knocking ' noise emanating from the back axle . This car is a weekender - have just returned from a 500 mile round trip . I think the noise comes from the off side ( it is RHD ) , but then again it could be because that's the side I am sat on .

There is a knocking sound coming from the back - axle area when driving . Initially, when cold there is no noise which has made it difficult to let mechanics listen / diagnose , as they get into the car when parked and report nothing. The noise has become louder , although I Ist began to hear it about 2 years ago ( 6000 miles travelled in that time ). It does increase with speed travelled , but when I press the brakes , it disappears , for as long as the brakes are applied . It either disappears over 55 mph , or the increased noise drowns it out .

I had new tyres put on about a year ago and at the time examined the rear brakes and all looked fine , no bits hanging off etc ..


This car is an auto and has covered 100 k miles from new .

Anyone got ideas ? somebody mentioned the drive shafts but it wasn't based on listening to the noise , just to my description of it ...

slt Read more

There seems to be many people on this site with a lot of car knowledge so thought I'd ask for some advice.
I have a Jasper blue C180 classic SE, May 2004,taxed & mot May 2008, 24k miles and am looking for a quick sale. It has a scuff on the rear bumper, how much should I pitch it at to sell within 7 days?
All comments welcomed.


Moved from Classifieds into Discussion initially - re-post it back into Classifieds once you know how much you're going to ask along with contact details and where you are in the UK Read more