August 2009
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6004402/Tory-polit...l
Whilst I do not condone driving whilst drunk, nor driving on the wrong side of the road, nor the injuries caused to the other party, I am not sure that the world is improved by sending her - expensively - to gaol.
A good dose of community service and some counselling I think.
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I got an e-mail from a friend in Humpenden, Herts this morning. He said they were researching producing electricity from hi-tech speed humps. I e-mailed him back to say that the town could be self sufficient for its power as there are so many speed humps in the area!
I checked my calander to ensure, it is not April 1st. It is not. Has anyone else heard about this or is it an August silly season news item? Read more
Pah ....Belching cows - Rubbish.... Everyone knows that cows produce methane from the end that doesn't munch the turnips.-- what does it matter what end it comes from anyway.
The One Show is cited as the authority That Adrian Chiles - what does he know anyway...mind you I'd believe it if the lovely Christine smiled that smile at me and said it was true.....
Bit why pour cold water on a brilliant idea.. you just stick a tube in the cows mouth as well , double the methane - ..... I tell you its a winner
I don't want to rant or to start a rant but if you read this story
tinyurl.com/l7cro2
and note some particular features: twice the 30 speed limit when the accident occured, total familiarity with the road so aware that there would be pedestrians etc, making off and concealing afterwards (or why would the passenger be done for perverting the course of justice?), racing with the other car maybe, you can't help think three years is a bit light.
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...is a bit light...
Certainly sounds like it.
One of the factors which may reduce the sentence is the degree of culpability of the victim.
Crossing the road at a point where pedestrians rarely do so, for example.
Even if something like that applied here, it still sounds a bit light.
Were I the victim's mother, I would be putting pressure on the CPS to appeal the sentence as overly lenient.
A driver changed lane and drove in to the side of my December 2006 Avensis 2.0D4D Estate 37500 miles, yesterday, accepting full responsibility. All the offside panels will need replacing. Insurers have been advised.
Although my insurer has arranged an assessment of repairs, I wonder whether I would be better off asking my insurer to reimburse me for my loss (if I am entitled to do so) and trading the car in against an identical Avensis. My reason for thinking this is I assume the claim will be flagged on the HPI system so, in the event I want to trade the car in after repair, I may then receive less for it than if there had been no damage even though it would have been professionally repaired.
If a dealer were interested in my car however, as it is this morning, then I would be able to establish my loss, by comparison with other similar cars for sale.
I had not intended to replace the car, and appreciate if I keep it another 10 years say, the difference in value due to the accident will become negligible. You never know what might happen in your life however, and I would not like to end up losing money due to this accident if I decided to let it be repaired and then wanted to change it soon after.
Any advice anyone can give me on this would be greatly appreciated. Read more
I did exactly this with an accident damaged Clio a few years ago. I'd got quotes from a couple of body shops and the damage would have cost about £600 to repair. I had been planningon selling the car as a trade-in before the accident, and didn't want to delay.
The whole thing was a bit complicated as the driver that had hit me when parked had driven off without leaving details, and I'd only got his as a witness left his details. I'd found him the next day, and he'd admitted to police that it must have been him.
Anyway, turns out that there was a problem with his insurance (I never really found out what), and my insurance wouldn't play ball if I was selling the car as then there was no dmage to repair as far as they were concerned. I ended up trading the car with the £600 taken off it's value, and then engaging a legal service to recoup my loss.
I didn't have this on my insurance, so I paid £30 up front to them to go after the guy. It took about 6 months, and I had to send all sorts of information plus stump up another £40 fee for the police to release details to my lawyers, but I got my £600, plus all the fees, plus another £100 for my time from the guy. I have no idea what happened to him, but I hope he got well and truly stiffed by his insurers after he tried to wriggle at every opportunity.
tinyurl.com/kn9fec
This shows that for HGV's at least, they do work.
Often in the backroom you find the lorry drivers among us defending ourselves by saying that foreign lorries have no respect for the law over here.
62 lorries were found to be illegal in some way and 48 of those were foreign.
Pat
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Graduated Fixed Penalty scheme.
Can be applied to anyone without a valid UK address. It's amazing how suddenly the means to pay can appear when the driver is told the vehicle is being impounded.
Having never owned a car with rear discs before I'm wondering how exactly my handbrake works as it's performance is a tad lacklustre.
I can see the usual cable pulls a short lever in an arc. Does this then operate a cam onto a reversed hydraulic piston which pushes the brake fluid trapped by a valve and forces the slave piston out? Or is there a physical metal link between the two? It has the wind-in piston return if that is relevant. Read more
What's the going rate for a replacement car key including the key, a transponder chip, cutting and programming? Read more
i have noticed a lot of motorway roadworks now have the temporary speed limits. i prefer these to the single fixed point camera as they seem to slow down the traffic for a greater distance and you don't get the person stamping on their brakes because they have seen a 'gatso'.
what i want to ask is are they a legal limit? i'm repeatedly overtaken by people doing atleast 10 mph more than my callibrated spedo shows.
do you know anyone who has got a ticket from an average speed camera?
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......so I find it hard work to keep at the very low limits some of these average cameras are set to on the motorway.......
Its quite simple really......
Lift the right foot off the go faster pedal and press the brake until you reach the required speed...... :0)
Well blow me - but he indicated left to exit and then carried on around the roundabout, all the while straddling the nearside and middle lanes. Then wondered why I started to pull out and got very cross indeed. I do despair sometimes. Read more
The only time I don't indicate on a roundabout is when there is no-one to observe it/ I use my mirrors y'see and am aware of who is around me. oh or if the car in front is a minicab. (i hate minicabs).
Hi there.
I've done some searching for answers to these questions but the answers found were conflicting.
Here's the background: a Range Rover was crashed at some speed into my parents' parked Ford Focus 2008 diesel and extensive damaged was caused. Although the inspecting technician recommended a write-off, the insurers have decided to repair the damage for £5500.
My parents obviously don't want to drive around in a car which was heavily damaged and then repaired, so they will have to sell it as soon as it is repaired.
Here are the questions:
1. Can my parents, as the victims (it was 100% the fault of the other driver) expect to be able to buy another Ford Focus diesel of similar mileage and age and condition and be reimbursed for the cost, rather than have to take delivery of their damaged and repaired car?
2. When selling a damaged and repaired car, is there a good chance it won't fetch what it would have if it had not been damaged?
3. If so, can my parents reclaim this discrepancy from the other driver's insurer?
Are there any experts or others who have been in this situation before, who can help?
Many thanks.
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Here are the questions: >>
fluffyfluffkins:
See if the answers here are of any use:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=e&t=77...8


It's interesting that some posters mention that she didn't intend to hurt anyone else. This reminds me a bit of those cases where someone hits someone very hard, they fall to the pavement and are killed. It wasn't their intention to kill the person but they didn't take any steps not to kill or seriously hurt them, either. When you do something that serious - a heavy blow to the head, or drive at speed the wrong way down a road, then you have made a choice to do something that has the possiblity of having a very unfortunate outcome. Lots of people get depressed/suicidal, but it was her choice to act in this particular way. A fair sentence in my view.