October 2008
So yeah the other night I used the M25 for only the second time and??roadworks.
I didn?t get flashed, im assuming I?d have seen it as im told its very bright right?
Camera wise all that?s bothering me is those average speed ones.
A couple of times I had issues with speed limits. I try not to go over any speed limit at all. I like REALLY try. But its unhelpful when you just aren?t sure whats right. I went through areas flashing 40mph, 50mph, and 60mph. any time I go those speeds people get very annoyed.
At one point im sat there and my sat nav is telling me 70mph, as well as flashing to alert for speed cameras wanting me to do 50mph, with road signs telling me 60mph. Not really a great help. I cant remember what speed I went through places at ? but never above 70, and other people were passing me all the time (unless it was single land traffic in which case tough ? they had to wait). So im figuring, why am I worried when people were passing me?
The cameras I mean are in Kent, I travelled from Dartford to Woking, so that stretch of road was the issue for me.
I didn?t blast my way through roadwork areas, there were scores of cars going faster than me, I didn?t see any flashes, do you think I should be concerned, in particular about the bit where I wasn?t sure of the speed limit which was going on? Are they the Gatso flashing ones there or another kind?
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Apologies ? a long one?.I have just renewed the insurance on one of my cars, the one where our au pair is the main driver but I am the owner and policy holder.
We had a claim earlier this year - a burst tyre which resulted in £1200 of bodywork damage. The au pair was driving at the time.
I also picked up 3 points last November for parking opp a solid white line (TS20 DVLA code)
Now, ploughing through three or four comparison sites to get quotes I have mistakenly indicated a different DVLA offence code (MS10, parking in a dangerous position) because I was doing it without my licence to hand to check the code and I genuinely didn't spot the TS20 in the drop- down list so made a guess that MS10 must have been the right one.
Also although I told the insurer that our au pair was driving when the claim occurred, when I got the policy doc through yesterday it showed two claims in March this year, one with the au pair driving and one with a slightly different date with me driving.
I called the insurer as soon as they opened yesterday to clear up these errors. This is the result of me calling the insurer to check a quote over the phone and according to their records i told them during that call that I had made the claim (probably because I didn't understand at that point that is it is the driver rather than the owner and policyhold who makes the claim, which seems quite a logical thing to assume but obviously not...)
After several long calls they came back and said that the renewal would actually be £1800 not £800, principally because they believe that an au pair driving is business use as they consider him to be an employee of ours. I explained that they had been insuring us for the last year on social domestic and commuting (as I have done for the two years previous with other insurers whilst we have had an au pair) even though the policy docs clearly states the main driver is an au pair with no access to other cars and they said that this was a mistake and the policy would have been void in a claim.
During the course of the call I said that other insurers accept au pairs as if they are members of the family and that I felt their view of au pairs as employees was wrong and therefore the price was incorrect and that I would seek alternative prices. The insurer said I had two weeks period of grace during which the policy can be cancelled.
Feeling that I was getting the ?talk to the hand? treatment and having had my confidence in them knocked by the confusion that I had actually had invalid insurance I took out a policy via major high st broker for £1300 effective from 00.01 this morning.
I called the first insurer back yesterday to tell them to cancel but the department had closed at 5pm and the call centre could only pass on a message.
They called me this morning and said I can either accept their £1800 premium or void the insurance but this would mean that on renewal I would have to state that I had had insurance declined.
I think that this is an outrageous way to deal with a policy which had genuine errors from both sides which I sought to correct at the earliest possible opportunity when they became clear. I ended up speaking to someone in underwriting who simply repeated ?you have a choice between taking the policy and voiding it? and would not listen to my argument that this was not actually choice since the first was based on an erroneous belief that au pairs are employees which drove the premium to an unrealistic rate or the second where I get the money back but will face hideous problems on renewal of trying to insure a young driver with a record of insurance refused.
I have spoken to the insurer?s customer complaints department who tell me that they have voided the original policy and they are investigating. I have asked them to make it clear to me that they have taken this decision of their own volition.
I need some advice please on how to argue with a ?computer says no? insurer that is behaving in a more than inflexible way.
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I think you're right, but you'd think there would be a definitive answer.
The big problem I had with this insurer was that they insured our au pair (who is staying with us for another year) as main driver last year and had him listed as an au pair on the policy on social domestic and commuting use and even paid a claim where he was the driver but then on renewal turned round and said that he was an employee and must have business use. This added £1000 to their quote!
This is the fifth year that we have insured this car for an au pair as main driver and have had not had these problems before although once I did have to have a conversation with the insurer at the time who agreed that an au pair isn't an employee.
The policy we now have is with Zurich who are perfectly happy to have the au pair as main driver (verified by the broker before the policy began) on social and domestic use.
Buying a Mitsubishi Colt 1.1 cz1 5 door 07 reg. Trading in Ford Fiesta 1.4lx 5 door 02 reg.
Dealer's offer: £2,500 for my car and £3k on top for the Colt.
The Colt has parking sensors (which I don't particularly want!) and air con (which I do want). The Colt was on for £6495, deal effectively makes the Colt worth £5495.
Good deal or not a good deal? Comments please.
I'm thinking of haggling for the £185 service package to be thrown in for free also. Read more
Thnaks for "closing the loop". As the comments are positive, which dealer was it?
Hi...Am writing in desperation. My local garage has replaced my 2001 (51) A4 AWX 1.9 diesel engine as the cam belt broke. They put back the original turbo that was working. But they admit they lost the plot on where all the sensing pipes go and how they connect. Now when I drive it it goes to over-boost over 50mph ish and then limps home in safe mode. Restarts again after a restart. I am desperate to get a picture showing how all these pipes connect properly. Tried Haynes but they only show petrol variants pictures/diagrams. Really really grateful if anyone can help in any way.
Thanks
MGA Read more
Good advice above, but just one thing. Why is this your problem to resolve? You could have fitted the engine yourself and had this kind of grief. If you've paid for an engine replacement it should work.
I use cruise control whenever possible, what do you use (other than self control)? Read more
I'm the same stick to speed limits. If for some reason I've been an idiot
and made a mistake then my TomTom informs me with a nice beep.
The speed info in the Tom Tom maps isn't completely accurate so you can't rely on it.
I stick to limits, but it's possible to get caught out with the multitude of roadside signs and other clutter concealing the odd speed limit sign, so I use the pocket GPS world speed camera data on my Tom Tom, separated into speed-zoned warnings, using voice alerts which tell me the type of camera and speed limit.
I don't use it for driving around my local area, but it's invaluable when driving in unfamiliar places, especially cities.
However the cameras are so prolific now that on a recent trip to central London the device was going bonkers, warning me every few seconds of another red light or speed camera, which wasn't exactly good for my nerves.
Just a reminder FWIW that today is the last day of the consultation process(*) on the above
www.gmfuturetransport.co.uk/consultation/response/
n.b. should you visit the site, the first box is the only one in which you can express any opinion on the matter, subsequent questions are about your travel habits/ethnic background/inside leg measurement
(*) I refer you to the 'Does Public Consultation Work' advert in last weeks 'Private Eye' ;-) Read more
The blurb says £5 a day "at 2007" prices to cross the two charging rings during peak hours.
The charge would be introduced in 2013 so given that transport inflation always runs higher than price inflation you're probably looking at £6.50. I think it will be higher still but the economic assumptions have been witheld - so you can draw your own conclusions about from that kind of secrecy.
There are no guarantees of course that the costs or the charging periods won't change when they realise that they've got their numbers wrong or that (miracles of miracles) the costs of building the promised the transport improvements goes over budget.
Manchester hasn't lost in Iceland but another of the councils involved Bolton is in for a big hit.
Small article on the right hand side of P13 of today's DT:
"Speed cameras which can track drivers for up to 30 miles are to be deployed on roads next year. The devices, which stop motorists dodging tickets by braking suddenly before a camera and then speeding up have been tested in London and Northern Ireland. Ministers are expected to approve their use by the end of January." Read more
Traffic wardens face disciplinary action if they don't hand enough tickets in an hour
tinyurl.com/3g2p5z
I know BRs don't appreciate news from Daily Mail - but this really made me speechless.
I often heard earlier that wardens had target to meet but never thought that they are under this much pressure!! Read more
I take your point Westpig, and I'm sure the residents' annoyance has been increased by some stupid parking as well as plain territorial instinct.
I've taken my son's word on this one - he's very level headed and responsible in motoring matters. I think his point was that you could have parked likewise in a thousand other locations and not got a ticket.
The ticket itself is also designed to extort. It explains that you can go to court if you wish, but if you lose the result will be that the records will show a fine for a criminal conviction. That is enough to scare anyone looking for employment in nursing - so much for having one's day in court. Of course the 'fine' also increases if not paid within 28 days and there's no indication that this timetable is suspended if you choose to appeal. It's just bullying, extortion and box ticking as far as I can tell.
A magistrate friend feels this is very unfair and would have liked my son to contest it - however we felt that he has enough on his plate without adding further stress so we will pay (which the process relies on).
Of course, if we weren't basically law abiding people we wouldn't have to worry about these things.
I think there are good attempts to use artificial intelligence, but there is still much room for improvement when we speak about it. I was talking with people from this machine learning development company the other day about my logistics business, and their potential is massive! So I hope we will use it for traffic safety too. Read more
Haven't seen it, but trailer made it look interesting (ok that doesn't mean a great deal).
"Documentary series profiling the work of a high-speed police interception unit in Essex. A drug dealer's car flashes up on the police radar, leading to a risky interception. And officers pursue a pair of knife-waving criminals in a stolen vehicle." Read more
Also (a repeat? probably)
Police Interceptors: Special Edition
Friday 10 October
9:00pm - 9:30pm
Fiver
Special edition of the documentary series profiling the work of a high-speed police interception unit in Essex. Natalie Pinkham joins the Elite Essex Interceptor Unit as they hunt for criminals, including a burglar who had ransacked a house and stolen a van just three hours earlier.
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Here is a link to a picture of a SPECS camera gantry.
tinyurl.com/3jybbo
Note the large 'L' shaped gantry and the strange logo in the right angle between the vertical pole and horizontal beam - it looks a bit like a Motorola logo. The cameras are also distictinctive. Just search Google images for "Specs Cameras and you will get loads of piccys, They aren't easy to see at night and they work 24/7 without flashing - infra red is used.