July 2021
Ooh the delights of this process.
We had our street done yesterday. Spray tar, lay chippings, repeat, leave site.... Read more
Here around sunny Basingstoke the County council has marked off lots of road space for cyclists who are hardly ever seen in it. Lots of dual carriageway has been hatched out for whatever reason and ridiculous road furniture has sprung up all over, things like give way to oncoming vehicles in the middle of nowhere.Try to complain, Basingstoke council says roads belong to the County Council, they are very very difficult to contact with their redoubts of automated answering etc. Basically Hampshire is anti car and has no intention of listening to the public. Recent 'improvements' to some roundabouts are downright dangerous with drivers having little certainty as to which lane to take. Black Dam RA has seen numerous accidents including me getting bumped by a lane switcher and recently a serious one. Now they are going to 'improve' yet another, let's hope they get this right. Read more
I don’t buy it either, there is a demonisation of cars in this country. Cyclists around here are pretty rare users of the cycle lanes preferring to use pavements while the motor vehicles have less and less space. As said the people with money go where it suits them. I avoid London as much as possible now and go to provincial theatres, hotels and concerts etc.
Helping get more people cycling and finding ways for all road users to use the roads does not mean there is demonisation of cars...we just need to find better ways to share the space we have.
This has only just become a 'thing' for me. For the last couple of weeks, I was aware that the O/S rear tyre on my van was losing pressure, not a huge amount, but enough that I topped it up every morning I was working. Got fed up of this and decided to put the spare on with the intention of either fixing the leaky tyre or replacing it when convenient. Not sure why exactly, but the notion of directional tyres popped into my head, so I checked the spare which, inevitably is pointing the wrong way!.
Just to clarify, I have actually ordered a set of four new tyres, but was hoping to wait till I have some time off (in 7-10 days time depending on weather) before getting them fitted.... Read more
I was worried they (Michelin Primacy 3) were directional too, so it couldn't just be turned around. Seems not, so I will ask them to spin and balance it.aà
Is it possible that u/s parking sensors on your car can be triggered by the sensors operating on another car close behind that is also reversing?
Do all car u/s sensors operate on the same frequency?... Read more
My Mondeo, parking sensors have a low tone, emitted out of the rear speakers for the rear sensors, and higher tone for the front sensors, coming out of the front speakers for the front sensors.
Works really well, and I've never had a issue with interference.
So in august last year I had a seizure whilst asleep. My specialist said that dvla should not ban me. I had had a pr3bious one back in 2016. It was put down to stress and not epilepsy. I had all the tests. Sadly my specialist died of cancer before dvla wrote to him. However they Still banned me even though my gp advised they were sleep seizures.
I wrote to relicense st the beginning of June as they advised,
Of course now it appears there is no chance I’ll get my license back at the beginning of august.
I do note that if you have surrendered your license then you can drive during this period but not if it’s revoked.
Even though my doctor is happy for me to drive as I’ve never had a seizure while awake I find the whole situation very very unfair and deeply frustrating.
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DVLA have ~6000 staff in Swansea, unchanged since 2014. They are a major local employer.
It seems odd to me that with advances in IT etc they have not reduced staff further. Perhaps the apparent poor customer service and delays is more about justifying and protecting jobs, rather than overwork and under-staffing as such....
Hello,
The time has come to look at buying a second car. I've had my eye on an Octavia vRS however the one I liked has sold and I'm struggling to find one to the same spec and colour that I like.... Read more
Thank you for your response, I'll keep these on the shortlist and have a look around my local area for these cars.
Has anyone owned or tried this rare Yaris which did not sell in great numbers like the Mk 1? Read more
Well made and mechanically robust. Wasn’t really marketed by Toyota GB because it cost a lot more to bring into the country from Japan compared to the standard French built Yaris. Awkward styling didn’t help either. Nothing wrong with them though.
The latest Green NCAP awards the latest Skoda Superb as cleaner than the Jazz hybrid and Prius.
And the PHEU Outlander Mitsubishi gains a two star award.... Read more
Worth noting that it may be possible for a hybrid to be programmed or configured to revert to electriic in built up areas - diesel cannot.
Total emissions may be better, worse or similar, but where they emit could be very different....
My wife’s Mazda 3 has started intermittently vibrating through the steering wheel. Never when I am driving. Until today.
It was quite marked and when I checked the road wheels the front near side wheel was very hot with a slight smell of burning.
I am guessing a brake pad issue? What does the panel think?
Anyway I am booking it into the garage and we won’t use it meantime. I will report back in due course. Read more
The problem has been investigated and repaired. It was a binding brake and seized calliper. The pads were ruined. The bill parts and labour was £220 which I thought was very good. They replaced the brake fluid, fitted a new caliper, did front pads on both sides and did a wheels off brake “service”. Labour was only £60. All VAT inclusive.
...
Has anyone any experience of the NOCO Genius5UK smart battery charger?
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Construction
Pretty good, though waterproofing not up to spec....
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