December 2008
I passed a car who was stationary in the left lane waiting in a queue at a set of traffic lights. As I did, he sounded his horn and moved out of the left lane and drove right behind me and tried to overtake me. I was in the right lane so he tried to overtake in the lane of the oncoming traffic. I sped up and he wasn't able to overtake. At the next set of lights it was red. He stopped and came out of the car and up to the passenger window and hit it hard (no damage). His passenger also came out the car and was behind him. I lowered the window slightly and he said "what the pink fluffy dice are you doing " I just thought he was a maniac and didn't want confrontation so just said loudly "sorry". I had to say it about 3 times before he went back to his car. He tried to make a point by cutting me up afterwards but I was almost stationary and waiting to turn right anyway. What a loser. He was driving an old shape corsa. This was just a few hours ago in busy traffic.
I had thought of taking his number plate details and reporting it to the police. Not because of the incident but because I'd thought it was possible the car may have been stolen or uninsured/untaxed, they may have had weapons in the car. But I decided to turn right to my destination.
I would like to know other people's comments and views, whether have they been in that situation before and what did you do (or would have done)? Read more
Hi, ive just registered, so hope i have the info in all the right places, I am looking for the engine wiring loom diagram for the above car, i think i have selected the right model but in case not it has a 2.0 litre 16 valve engine (F7R), specificly the section that describes the functions and colours of all the wires running to the large white plug that connects the engine loom to the car loom. hopefully someone will be able to help me.
Harvy Read more
I have recently had a RHYY 2.0HDI 90BHP reconditioned engine fitted in in my car. This included everything bar the flywheel even had some used ANS (???) sound fuel injectors. Still having trouble with the car and it won't go above 2500 revs in idle. Checked nearly everything - can anyone suggest anything else ?
Re-written word for word from the OP's post which was in caps. Subject line re-written as well. I assume its a 2002 model and not a 1952 one as it originally stated.
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Did this recon engine come from some dodgy place in the vicinity of Heathrow?
I passed my car test shortly after the automatic allowance of licence to drive various interesting things was removed (I've had a full motorbike licence for far longer).
This means I need to take additional tests to tow heavy trailers, for instance, or drive track-laying vehicles.
What's automatically "on the licence" these days?
What's the procedure for taking tests for the various classes? Read more
I mis-read his post. Apologies.
To get the other categories you first need to apply for the provisional entitlement and then take the test.
So why do we need to fit headlamp deflectors, carry spare bulbs, fluorescent vests etc..? Or don't we?
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EU laws have prevented the British Government from compelling foreign lorries to fit mirrors which would radically cut road accidents in the UK.
By David Millward, Transport Editor www.telegraph.co.uk
Last Updated: 5:34PM GMT 17 Dec 2008
A simple device known as a Fresnel lens would eliminate blind spots experienced by foreign heavy goods vehicle drivers.
Government figures have shown that foreign hauliers are eight times more likely to be involved in a serious or fatal accident than their British counterparts on UK roads.
The potential of the lenses is recognized by the Department for Transport, which has handed out nearly 200,000 lenses to left-hand-drive lorries as they arrive at British ports.
But the Government is powerless to compel foreign drivers to use them.
Jim Fitzpatrick, a transport minister, admitted that the Government?s hands were tied in a letter to John Baron, Tory MP for Billericay.
?We are bound by international convention to accept visiting foreign vehicles on our roads, provided they comply with internationally agreed construction and safety requirements,? the minister wrote.
?Our international obligations do not allow us to require unilaterally any additional components on these visiting vehicles.?
Mr Baron believes that the mirrors should be made compulsory and said ministers had failed to take a strong enough stand.
?The Government is taking only limited steps to combat this problem. But it could solve the problem in one go by simply making Fresnel mirrors compulsory.
?By refusing to do so, the Government is putting motorist?s lives unnecessarily at risk.
?I think the Government is hiding behind EU regulations. We have a problem here and it is incumbent on ministers to do something.
?They should be pushing for an EU regulation to make Fresnel lenses compulsory on all lorries.?
There has been mounting concern among road safety groups about the dangers posed by foreign lorries which only account for one per cent of HGVs on Britain?s roads.
Not only do some drivers have problems coping with driving on the ?wrong side? of the road, but spot checks have shown that one in five foreign HGVs are not roadworthy.
?With official statistics showing that foreign lorries are involved in about 30 fatal accidents a year, there is a need to do something about this,? said Andrew Howard, the AA?s head of road safety.
?I think perhaps we should meet them half way, by providing them at the port and expecting foreigners to fit them,? said Andrew Howard, the AA?s head of road safety.
?At the same time this should also happen at continental ports when British lorries arrive.?
The position also alarmed Robert Gifford, executive director of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety.
?We know these mirrors are being given out to foreign lorry drivers at ports.
?This is to ensure that they can see when they are pulling out or to make sure they don?t hit a cyclist when turning a corner.
?I am saddened that the single market requirements are preventing us from improving safety of foreign lorries driving on British roads and vice versa.?
A spokesman for the Department for Transport defended the Government?s handling of foreign lorries arriving in Britain.
?We have distributed fresnel lenses to left-hand drive trucks entering the country.
? We are sharing the evidence of this work with European counterparts to investigate how it can be best used to direct policy on HGV design and use."
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-tran.../
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On Tuesday this week (20/1/2009) I was in lane 2 of the M6 coming home from work. I just about passed a Czech HGV when it pulled from lane one into lane 2. It clipped the back of my car, spun me at right angles to the road and carried on driving.
I was honking my horn, trying to stear out of it, but there was nothing I could do. H eventually he realised and stopped, he had to reverse off my car to let my passenger out.
Fortuantely nobody was hurt, looks like my car is a write-off , but hell, that was the scariest moment of my life. What if I had a smaller car, or the truck was older and didnt have the latest spreader bar on the front. Even wose, what if I was on a moterbike.
I had a very lucky escape, but it clearly highlights the blindspot problem. Forget the competition side of things for a moment, the point that cannot be argued is the safety aspect!
I really thought I was going to be crushed by the HGV's if it had gone on moment longer my tyres would have burst, my car likely rolled then who knows what. The same applies to UK HGV's going over to the continent. It seems such a small cost for the extra mirrors, even if some dont use them well, most would, why wouldn't they!
Hiya me again,
ABS engine. Reasonably high pitched rattle from the engine-head at idle. Regularly serviced by VW - 122k miles, cam belt done at 72k approx. Possibly toward the cylinder 3-4 end (assuming 1 is cambelt end)
Any ideas? Serious?
Cheers,
James Read more
Hiya
Thanks for that - a job for next year.
I was thinking similar - have read that low oil pressure can cause. Also was going to check & clean the oil strainer in the sump.
James
...or driving to visit someone and back home afterwards.
So what rarely undertaken journeys are forum members going on this festive season?
Is that drive half-way across the county, or country, to visit friends or relations something to look forward to or dread?
For my part, it will be down the A1(M) through County Durham to my caravan in leafy North Yorkshire on Christmas Eve.
Christmas lunch is at a restaurant in Pontefract, West Yorks - about equidistant for others who are coming from places such Oxford and Wolverhampton.
So more A1(M) action for me on Christmas morning and back up to the caravan in the afternoon.
First drink of the day - which I will need after lunch with my lot - will be a large G&T in the van at about 5pm.
That's my Christmas programme, what's yours? Read more
We were 6 miles from Castle Douglas and only went as far as Wigtown on Saturday, so this stretch is still popular for the BiB - unmarked car is now a grey Volvo!
tinyurl.com/5gvw65
"A motorist who paid an "overzealous" parking fine with a cheque written on toilet paper has claimed a victory for common sense after he escaped a further penalty. "
Well, he wrote a cheque, and Suffolk Police actually took him to court to reclaim the £15 they said it would cost to process the cheque. Richard Roper was instead ordered to sit at the back of court until the cases was complete, apparently about an hour. I wonder what this pettish action cost. Ridiculous. Read more
He used up an extra parking bay
unnecessarily depriving someone else of the chance to use it so he shouldn't be surprised
he was fined.
Yes, but the fact he was fined is not the issue...
He then caused extra processing costs through his childish game of writing
the cheque on bog paper so they were quite right to either refuse the cheque
or cash it and try to recover the costs.
Yes, but they *didn't* refuse the cheque, and then went on to waste many people's time (and your & my money) in a completely stupid court action - deserving of, IMO, a good kick up the rear end.
It's a pity they couldn't have sentenced him to a week wearing a tabard saying
"I'm a bad driver who writes cheques on toilet paper".
It's a good thing that the judge ("they") did not agree with these sentiments! Mr. Roper did not have to pay the extra £15. Thank goodness for judges like this (also another, Mr. Irwin, who's very recently been in the news).
Expats have said that much of France is like the UK used to be some 30 years or so ago.
I remember filling up with petrol close to Dover in past times (maybe even 30 years ago) because the price in France was so ferocious. It's like old times - diesel fuel is more or less the same price now after the Pound has dropped against the Euro, but petrol is going to cost you around £1.20 a litre.
I hear that some of the booze in the "cheap" shops at Calais is now more expensive than your local Sainsburys and the car parks are empty. Read more
It isn't just a matter of money. France has about the same population as the UK (c. 60m) but three times the land area. It's the lack of overcrowding that makes much of the apparent difference.
Interesting - a couple of dealers I have been keeping an eye on suddeny dropped the prices of their secondhand low mileage 2007 diesel CRVs to a fiver short of 15K sometime around October time, about the time same time that the World was in global financial meltdown. Various models, various colours.
Checking last night, they have now put these back up to around 18 or 19K.
One can only assume that they are anticipating a flood of CRV buyers come the New Year or perhaps are using the weak Pound as an excuse - hang on, is Swindon in a foreign country?
I would have thought, if anything, the price of these would have kept on dropping? Read more
Not so sure about useds prices going up, the New Jazz you can already buy pre-reg with an advertised £650 discount (if not a lot more when doing a deal)
Browse
I can empathise with TDCI and MrWednesday after an incident I was involved in about 6 months ago. A car overtook me at speed on a short stretch of dual carriageway that had recently been 'resurfaced' - you know the scenarion where the final stage is to dump a load of gravel on the tarmac and let the vehicles compact it. of course there were signs indicating the loose chippings and a speed limit of 20mph, so when this guy sped past at about 60mph showering the the front of my car with the chippings Ihad the audacity to flash him. He slowed almost to stop on the dual carriageway bringing the traffic to a stop, waving his arms around and jumping up and down in his seat. I just indicated with my hands that he should move on and he did until we reached a two-way stretch of road and were caught in a small tailback behind a bin lorry. He got out of the car and I lowered my window about 6 inches hopefully enough to show I wasn't scared of him but not sufficient to let him get at me easily. he launched into a tirade of foul language and threats about me flashing him I didn't get a chance to explain why I flashed him.
I was frankly shocked by the bloke's rage, so much so that I didn't get his reg. I regretted that afterwards because I really believe that the police need to look into this guy.
In a strange sort of way I'm proud of myself for not reacting in any way (I just looked him in the eye and listened to his opinions of me - swearing etc), but I do wonder what would have happened if he'd tried to hit me or started kicking my car. I'd probably be down the job centre.
Best to let it go and move on. Not always easy, I kow!