MarkyMarkD

Oh, E-E. What are you doing skipping through a red light? I only ever do that when I know that there's not a camera ;)

I really don't know why any dealer fits anything but EU standard plates nowadays - it is only a pain for anyone who ever intends to drive overseas. Daft!I didn't ask for mine specially, but would have been upset not to have had them. My wife's car has ONE EU standard plate because it had to be replaced after a small accident ... eventually we might replace the other one, I suppose.

Obviously the twonk in a Citroen Xsara who sped up from 50 mph (which he'd been doing for 4 miles) to 70 mph whilst I was overtaking him on a single carriageway near here (in Leicestershire) hadn't read about the black Fabia vRS police cars rather similar to mine.

Yes, it was a bit of a strange comparison, but it's interesting that someone would prefer to drive the "half the price" Octy rather than the S6.

Surely less?

[strikeout]Yes, we did it once in a supermarket car park[/strikeout]. Ahem!** We attended a "car clinic" research session once, in a supermarket car park. Was quite enjoyable way to spend a few hours if you like cars anyway. ** Best re-word that given the way things are mis-interpreted on here. I wasn't talking about dogging!

Neil Lyndon in today's Sunday Telegraph magazine seems to think so. Well done, Octy!

Getting (sort of) back to E-E's original point, I find the range of sites which are restricted at work to be very irritating too. What makes it worse is that I work very hard and often extra hours. Particularly if I've gone in at the weekend to do some EXTRA work, it's damned unfair that I can't look at briskoda, or ebay, or whatever whilst waiting for some calculations to complete. Having said that, though, like most of these things the controls come into place because of the minority - those who would spend all day faffing on the internet and do no work. Apparently ebay was banned at my work because it was the most visited single site. Almost all forums are banned (but a few mysteriously leak through, despite using the same forum software :S) so there's not much opportunity to make a timely contribution to a thread when you're at work. :(

Yes. I went to Bristol University and did a degree in Economics & Accounting, and now I'm a Chartered Accountant. So the degree was definitely relevant. That said, loads of accountants don't do relevant degrees and still do fine at the job.

Lovely pics, Alex.

Yes, I knew that generalising would get me into trouble. Sorry!

Hmm, I suppose so. But I think it's spelling too.

Like I said, yashicamat, they are Trafficmaster sensors which, as you say, are to monitor traffic flow.You are incorrect that they point straight down - they DO read numberplates and use them to calculate speed between cameras (like SPECS) but they are not for police purposes. You can't measure vehicle speed with a camera which points straight downwards; if they just judged speed at the point of the camera they would be less useful as they are trying to report traffic problems.

I had years of orthodontic treatment at Manchester University Dental Hospital when I was a kid - free because it was good for the students to learn! Never did me any harm - but those brace things DO hurt when they tighten them up - ouch!

I don't see you as a lawyer either, E-E. It seems a bit dry and technical for you, IMHO. I think Mo's suggestion is a great one, though - it involves things that you understand, could involve driving around which you clearly like, and would probably earn you a lot more than milking cows.

E-E correcting someone else's spelling? Shurely shome mishtake. :confused:

There's always a market for boggy standard models with no toys, especially among the older generation (or so I understand it). It's also great for any brand to be able to say "from £9,990" or whatever amount, even if the model which costs that price is bought by hardly anyone.

I expect that in fact all courtesy cars are insured by their owners for any driver, but probably with a high excess to minimise the cost of the dealer policy. So, the dealers often require you to insure it yourself so that they don't have to argue with you about their excess etc. and so that it's a claim on your policy, not theirs. I recently had the wife's car serviced and the dealer required us to insure the courtesy car, but didn't check the documentation. Therefore I would have thought that they'd be guilty of aiding and abetting a "driving without insurance" offence if you were fibbing about having insured the car. As they only tell you the registration details for the courtesy car at the last minute, there is little way you could get a cover note in time unless your insurer is super-efficient, so I can see why they don't check that you really aren't insured.

I think that's what is happening with me too, Loz - but it comes and goes with huge gaps in time between painful bouts.

My wisdom teeth (or at least, some of them) still seem to be faffing about in the gums, and I'm 37. When the heck are they meant to come through properly or does it vary from 0-100? (not mph but years). :S

My Fabia has a rattle/creak from the piece of trim immediately behind the steering wheel (and immediately below the instrument panel). I can remove this piece of trim and replace it (and the clips aren't broken or anything like that) but it still rattles/creaks intermittently. I mentioned it to the dealer at its 1 year service (last week) but they couldn't find the fault/didn't do anything to fix it. Any expert ideas about how to resolve this? There isn't anything very clear to pack with anything. It's most likely rattling/creaking where the back of the piece of trim meets the underneath of the instrument panel; it has some felt-type stuff on the piece of trim at this point which doesn't seem to be stopping the problem (but isn't damaged or worn in any way). :(

And the M42.

They definitely incorporate some sort of delay between going red and flashing. Otherwise it would be daft.

I'm feeling old compared to most of these posts. Our first was born on my 37th birthday, when the Mrs was 36 (she's 5 weeks younger than me). Rather later for first baby than we intended - we were married when we were 22 and intended to have children in early 30s but couldn't then due to my wife's health. Our lovely baby girl is a bit of a wedding anniversary special.

The "lane cameras" are NOT speed cameras - they are Trafficmaster sensors. The VAN contains the speed camera and that's why you (variously) got it wrong. The rules about speed cameras being visible (as the site mentions) do NOT apply nationwide - they only apply in revenue sharing areas (although that is much of the country). So I expect that is where the horrible tripod ones are being used.