About 13 months ago now I pulled in to a taxi rank to let someone out of the car (a bit naughty I know). I stopped about 8 feet behind a taxi that was parked there. The taxi driver then got out of his minibus and started accusing me of hitting his car, despite the fact that there was no damage. The driver was a very large and intimidating man who was getting very angry, so I decided for the safety of me and my passenger, we would leave and report him to the police. I some later got an letter of intention to procecute on charges of leaving the scene of an accident and careless driving, once I had spoken to the police and linked the incident to the call I had made, all charges were dropped on the basis of there being no evidence of anything happening. He also tried to claim on my insurance, but after eight months with him presenting no wittness or evidence of damage my insurance company informed me the claim had been closed. However about a month after this, nine months after the incident, the taxi driver suddenly found a witness and the case was reopened. My insurance are now saying that they don't believe that there is much prospect of my sucess in court and they intend to settle against me out of court (my insurance company still can't tell me what damage he is claiming for). It seems that there is nothing I can do to defend myself despite there is what I would call a reasonable doubt that an incident ever occured. Is there anything I can do, or is it possible for people to claim that anyone they see driving past has crashed into them, providing they throw someone a few quid to be a witness for them? I probably should mention that I did have an actual accident, were a learner driver pulled out at a junction, then stopped in the middle of the road with me running in to the back of them - a claim that I admitted liability for and was settled by my insurance company. This meant that when the incident with the taxi driver occured, I had damage to the front of my car - some thing I suspect he saw as an opportunity.

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We have a 2nd hand Ford Focus Xetex LX X Reg 2000 and just recently we have been experiencing the problem as set out below:

Driving along, suddenly the speedguage drops to zero and sometimes even cuts out, the lights all come on like a christmas tree, sometimes a loss of power can be felt.... Read more

Recently I posted about cars getting bigger because drivers are getting bigger. Obviously safety features and items like electric windows and door mirrors are the main reason. What puzzles me it that people who lay out car parks still seem to think we drive the same cars as fifty years ago. In the last two years two car parks I use regularly have been resurfaced and yet despite having to re-paint the lines the layout of both has remained the same. The only change was that in one there are some additional disabled bays. Obviously by making the spaces wider you would lose a number of spaces. Is it greed overcoming common sense? I suspect so. Has anybody seen a car park that has had the spaces actually widened? Read more

This is without trawling round main dealers or even having to talk to anyone.

http://www.autocar.co.uk/forums/t/20677.aspx Read more

Hi a friend of mine tried to use his remote fob but it won't open the car (nb he's over 200 miles away so the info I'm getting is via txt's). Sounds like the battery for the fob needs replacing.

Surely he should be able to open the car with the ignition or door lock key? Is this likely to set the alarm off or if he has one fitted, trip the immobiliser?... Read more