Yella

Evening all, I have been a member for absolutely years after buying my 2001 Octavia 1.8T (pictured) back in around 2007. That one was kicking out around 210bhp by the time I was done with it. I then had a 52 plate Fabia 1.9TDi (non-VRS) which was a brilliant family work horse for about 6/7 years, stage 1 mapped to 150bhp. Pictured also attached for what it’s worth 😂 After 8 years of being Skodaless we have just bought a Kamiq 1.0 SE 110bhp (also pictured). We pick it up Wednesday. Highly unlikely to be any modifying or shenanigans going on with this one but good to be back!

Thanks for that Babs. That's very interesting and it all sounds very good. Dubmeister seem very confident that they will pass all of the tests it's just still a bit of a worry that they admit that they've never actually been tested by the British Standards Institute. The main point however is that if it does actually cost £6-10k to have them tested then the CPS will never authorise a prosecution as it will not be in the public interest to pay £6000 to have them tested for the sake of a £60 fixed penalty notice. Unless they authorise a test case to establish a legal precedent but the chances of you being the unlucky one they test it on are very very low. But for anyone buying them my original message stands. Be prepared to be stopped for displaying them. And it might be an idea to print out that link from Babs and leave it in the glove box. Don't be cocky with the cops as they'll find something to ticket you for and let them read the printout. That should hopefully be enough for them to let you on your way. If not then you have good grounds to challenge the ticket. The only problem is that if you do challenge it and something goes wrong then the bill will be significantly more than £60. Now the angry among us can rest.

The fact that dubmeister are a registered number plate supplier doesn't mean that everything they do is legal. You say check it out on the necessary websites but no-one has been able to provide an address for one of these websites. I will repeat what I said, I like the look of the pressed plates but I won't risk it until someone can prove they're legal. If others are happy to take the risk then that's fine with me but i'd rather people know in advance that there is a potential dispute. I can only reiterate the fact that dubmeister have a link on their page to a site where you can buy show plates which are illegal. That at least shows a leaning towards naughtiness. Now when a big national company such as halfords start selling them i'll be happier but while it's a web only place i'll pass thanks. Oh and there's no reason to get "****ed off". I'm putting across a different point of view and a valid point. I'm more than happy for you to prove me wrong. But before you get "****ed off" at least prove that I am just that.

Well unfortunately that is the view held by some police officers. If someone could point to the website that confirms the legality of the plates then that would be a bigger help than people simply telling everyone that I am wrong and quoting their own experiments. Are the plates kite marked anywhere? At the end of the day the overall message in my post is correct. There are Police Officers who are willing to give tickets out to people with pressed plates. I was simply letting people know that it is a possibility. I like the look of the pressed plates but I'm not willing to take the risk. Just because you don't like something doesn't mean it's wrong.

If Dubmeister aren't a UK company that would explain a lot. I've been looking into the legality of these plates and asked one of the guys at work known as 'the oracle' due to his vast knowledge and experience of all things traffic related and it would appear that they are not legal. I mentioned the BS marking and as he rightly stated anyone can mark anything with a number but it doesn't mean it actually complies. The Dubmeister website states that the plates have the relevant etchings to comply with BSAU145d but the etchings make up a very small part of the requirements. The main problem would appear to lie in the reflectivity and the retroreflectivity standards. The perspex ones meet these perfectly but I'd be interested to see how the pressed plates do in testing. The other thing to consider is that Dubmeister are saying they are legal but they are also 'providers' of show plates. It has been illegal to sell show plates in the UK for nearly two years now. They used to be able to get away with providing advice at point of sale that they were not to be used on the road and were only for show. That's gone now and you simply cannot sell them. Trading standards can hammer people with £2500 a sale if they do. In short the Police are happy to issue tickets for non-conforming number plates. You may be able to blag some cops but not all. They are £60 tickets now as well. Or you could risk fighting the ticket through the courts but I wouldn't want to risk my time and money doing so. Don't mean to be a party pooper but I thought you'd all appreciate the heads up. They do look good though!!!

The most annoying thing is abuse of parent and child spaces. It's a simple concept. - You must have a child with you. - You must be getting the child out of the car! - That child must be of such an age that you require extra room to get him/her into and out of the car. Not a 10 year old who can quite happily get in and out like an adult!! The amount of people who park up and leave their wife and kids in the car is amazing!! And it isn't a disabled overflow car park either!!! Rant over. On a lighter note there is a guy who parks his Aston Martin at least 6 spaces away from any other car in the local Somerfield. I always chuckle to myself as I park my Fabia next to him! Childish? Yes. Amusing? Definitely. And the dirtier the Fabia is the more I smile ! And others obviously do the same as I'm not the only one by the time I get back.

Only if you don't know how to add up.

Sorry mate I'm not sure I understood your grammar there. Are you calling me an idiot or those who go over 40? Non-sensible reductions are a pet hate of mine. The worst offenders are the 40 limits they have started to place in the run up to 30 limits in an attempt to lower peoples speeds when they hit the 30. If the 30 is signed properly then there should be no need for these 40 limits. Unfortunately this is due to people inability to reduce their speed quickly and safely enough.

Good little debate people. The reason I ask is that I tend to do people going 45+ in a 30 and only one has felt hard done by and he was doing 58! (For future reference the excuse of testing your car's performance doesn't usually wash). I hasten to add that this is not because I feel that 44 is acceptable but I am usually able to find a 45+ within 15 minutes of waiting. If I did someone at 37 I'm bound to be passed by someone going faster. And I have a friend who was done by Humberside Police doing 31 in a 30. Luckily for him he lives in the Czech Republic where you must have your licence on you when you drive so he couldn't send it across to the UK. The ticket was then written off!

The scenario is this: You're pulled for speeding in a 30 limit and the officer tells you you're getting a ticket. Presuming the speed reading equipment is accurate how fast a speed would it have to show before you took the ticket on the chin and didn't complain to the officer about it being unfair or unjust? For this imaginary scenario we'll say that 30 is a fair limit for the area but there are no other factors (never is the case I know but let's pretend) such as passing a school or adverse weather conditions. I'm just interested to see what opinions are as I'm sure everyone would complain if they were done at 31mph. Would an extra 2mph make that much difference? 33mph could be down to a dodgy speedo! So where's your limit?

So she repeatedly replied rather than just accepting it as a wrong number. THEN she also accidentally rang me 5 times and managed to accidentally dial 141 before doing so in order to withold her number. I seriously hope you're never on a jury. Perhaps Harold Shipman genuinely was just a tad mixed up when it came to administering medication and Peter Sutcliffe was framed!!

Maybe it's just me but I had a very weird experience today!! It's a bit long winded so I apologise. The Health Visitor was due to come out to see my wife and 4 month old son on a routine check but the Octy was in getting new tyres and sod's law said it would be ready at the same time as the appointment. As a result I rang her mobile number (which the wife had written down) from my mobile. This went to answerphone and sad the old "this is the voicemail of 077...." at which point I realised that the number I had dialled was wrong as it had 12 numbers in it. Obviously I didn't leave a message and hung up. I then got a text from the number I rang and the conversation went like this: WHO IS THIS? SORRY I THINK I HAVE THE WRONG NUMBER. I'M LOOKING FOR ANITA? BUT WHO R U? DAVE, JAMES' DAD OK I THINK YOU HAVE THE WRONG NUMBER NO PROBLEM SORRY ABOUT THAT THIS IS VICKY SO I GUESS U HAVE THE WRONG NUMBER X OK CHEERS WHERE DID U GET MY NUMBER FROM? IT'S JUST ONE DIGIT DIFFERENT TO THE ONE I WAS TRYING TO RING. NO-ONES GIVEN ME YOUR NUMBER. I thought that was strange for just a sodding wrong number but then I got a silent call from a withheld number. People were talking in the background and I thought perhaps it was the garage as there were doors opening and shutting in the background. 5 minutes after this the garage actually rang without withholding their number and said the car was ready. I then received another 3 missed calls from withheld numbers all just silent!! I let these go but then got another withheld silent call from someone who was clearly walking along a street with cars going past so I rang the number I had accidentally dialled earlier and Vicky answered. She denied it was her ringing me even when I told her I could still hear cars going past!! Some sharp words were passed and now 6 hours later I've not had another call! How sad are some people's lives? Or am I missing something?

Have you informed your insurance company? Just give them the details of the other car and they'll sort out the claim. The police only really deal with injury accidents however the fail to stop aspect is a police matter which they are hopefully investigating. At the end of the day the fail to stop aspect is of very little consequence to yourself so if the other car is insured you'll get paid out. Look after yourself first. Worry about his reasons for disappearing once your cheque is in the bank if you still feel aggrieved.

Ex-Police cars are a complete lottery I'm afraid. BAD POINTS: You can pretty much guarantee it's been in some sort of crash at some point in it's life. There are very few police cars that are un-bumped. If it's a formerly marked 140bhp then it's highly unlikely it has been used by traffic as it's simply not fast enough. It'll have been used by the response bobbies who have far less respect for the vehicles than the traffic lads. This means it'll probably have been thrashed to within an inch of it's life. The other problem is the system drive used by police. This teaches that you should always be in the most flexible gear. What this means is that if you take your foot off the accelerator the car should slow down and if you boot it it should accelerate quickly. This is obviously achieved by driving constantly high up in the rev range. GOOD POINTS: It will have been regularly serviced although there are tales usually from larger forces about services being missed by tens of thousands of miles. And it will always have been repaired with little or no expense spared using genuine parts wherever possible. There really is no way of knowing whether you have a bargain or not until you've got your moneys worth. If you're back on in 2 months saying it's died then you've lost out. If you're still going strong in 2 years then your quids in. Just enjoy it. These engines are strong and can handle most of what the police can throw at them anyway. PS It's not routine in all forces to remap cars (especially if they're being used by regular plods rather than traffic) and if it's the 140bhp then a remap would probably take it into a higher category meaning response won't be allowed to respond in it. I'm 99% certain it won't have been mapped. Rolling road is the only way to know for sure i'm afraid. Best of luck and enjoy!

Just looking at replacing my tyres and have a top budget of around £120 a corner. Kwik Fit currently have a deal on Pirelli P Zero Rossos and Neros. Both are £117 fully fitted for 225/40 Y 18s. My question is what is the difference? The Neros and Rossos appear to be similarly priced all over the net but I'm guessing there must be some difference? Cheers. PS Any advice from someone who's been running Avon's for a while could be good as these could be a budget alternative. And I have tried searching honestly!! Unfortunatley there's that many tyre threads that it's impossible to find one that is comparing the two I've been looking at.