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angle

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Posts posted by angle

    ULEZ and Interesting

    in AutoShite

    Posted

    So just to be clear on the rules - most petrol stuff from 2001 onwards will be compliant, everything petrol from 2006 onwards will be. Nothing pre-2001 will be (not by default anyway, i know it's possible to make them compliant if you submit a certificate of conformity from the manufacturer to TfL but I'm guessing that's more practical for a Porsche or something rather than a 1996 Hyundai Lantra). Imports will only work if they're 2006-on. 

    I would have suggested @Stanky's Sirion but he's just taken it off sale, the selfish bastard.

    The grumpy thread

    in AutoShite

    Posted

    I moved a mile or so up the road recently, and I'm amazed at how difficult various organisations find the concept of 'I am moving house and I would like to keep paying you money'. I spent a lunchbreak a few weeks before we moved filling out all the 'I'm moving house' forms on various websites. Results as follows:

    Octopus / Bristol Water - moved me out of the house fine. The idea that I might need electricity / gas / water / sewage at the new place apparently didn't occur to them. Still, a 10 minute phone call and a new direct debit set up for each and sorted. 6/10.

    Council tax - OK, bonus points for being the only organisation to work out that I still needed to pay them after I moved, they sent me all the paperwork with a new account number for the new address, the amount I was being charged, instructions for how to set up a new direct debit etc. Unfortunately they decided the sensible thing to do would be to send that to my old address, three weeks after I moved and six weeks after I told them I was moving. 'Its the address we have on file for you' - clearly its not is it, you useless bastards. Still, I paid for a mail redirect and sorted using the council tax payment portal that's run by Capita and took me right back to 2004. 5/10.

    Virgin Media - the reason I'm posting this here but actually I'm not sure I have the ability to type it out in full without hurling my laptop across the room. No exaggeration, I must have spoken to 20 different people across phone / email / live chat, and I've spent at least a day doing it including one 4.5 hour phone call which ended with the guy going 'I'm really sorry, but I don't really know how to fix it, shall I just cancel your contract?' (I said yes, he didn't). Got to a stage six weeks after we moved where they said they could sort it but they needed to send out new equipment. Now apparently that needs to be signed for in person, they won't leave it with a neighbour or in my bin shed or whatever so I arranged to work from home today. Cue two emails within 15 minutes of each other this morning, one telling me it was being delivered by Yodel and the other by Royal Mail. Neither have a tracking number, neither have turned up. I phoned up (again), apparently the solution is to get an engineer round rather than use a competent courier service. The next available engineer appointment is next week.  FUCKYOU/10. 

    The new news 24 thread

    in AutoShite

    Posted

    This is mine for the next week:

    20240331_205506.jpg.68960ba76e6356e4f95a7f2200cc115c.jpg

    Got an 'upgrade' to a Toyota Innova, 8-seat RWD MPV on a Hilux chassis. I was holding my breath turning in and out of the ramps on the multi storey car park...

    The grumpy thread

    in AutoShite

    Posted

    On 18/03/2024 at 20:20, sheffcortinacentre said:

    So if a vehicle meets the legal  requirements to be on a public thoroughfare, on what legal grounds do the council have to steal someone's property?

    The Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978 - it doesn't just give them the power to remove abandoned vehicles, it requires them to. By that law, they don't have to give any notice if the car is on the public highway and they can sell or scrap it after seven days, so that council is doing more than they have to.

    The grumpy thread

    in AutoShite

    Posted

    On 26/09/2023 at 21:25, angle said:

    Enterprise. 

    I have a big work meeting tomorrow. Its basically the end of two years worth of work, so I'm under strict instructions to wear a suit and tie, and get to Luton for 8am. I'm also in meetings until 10pm tonight to prepare for it. 

    Now, my company has a policy where if we need to drive for work and its more than 100 miles or so, we rent a car through them. Current provider is Enterprise, and I get booked a 'Focus or similar'. In theory this is great - they're happy to drop off and pick up cars at the office or to your house at a specific time. The problem is, last time I asked for it to be dropped off at home at 6:30pm and eventually, at quarter to ten, someone dropped off a 1.0 base spec Fabia (59bhp!), with the service light on. 

    So, this time I've got a 2 hour gap in meetings so I'll go and pick it up on the way to get the kids from school. I turn up, and the car park is pretty empty. I go in, give them my name and driving licence. 

    'That's great, thanks very much. Um - would you mind waiting a second until my manager gets off the phone?'

    Oh balls. 

    Manager comes over. 'Hi angle! I was just wondering, where are you going?'

    Luton.

    'Oh, OK. Where's that?'

    North of London.

    'So...about 150 miles away?'

    Yeah, that's about right. 

    'Riiiiight. Its just that, we've only got one car left and its electric (she points to an e-Corsa outside). Its only half charged, so its only got about 70 miles of range. There's a rapid charger at the Shell on York Road (a couple of miles away), if you left it on charge for a couple of hours that should be enough to fill it up?'

    OK, but if its half full with a range of 70 miles, then a full charge still won't get me to Luton? And I don't have time to charge it tonight and I'm already leaving at half five. 

    'Yeah. Yeah, OK. Um - what about a van?' She gestures to a LWB high-top Movano outside. 

    *uncomfortable silence*

    'No, no, OK. Um, let me make some calls.'

    Which is how I found myself waiting outside a backstreet garage in Hartcliffe for a Nissan Juke to be MOTed, with the Corsa lurking around the corner with the Enterprise manager inside, like one of those Clarkson-era Top Gear episodes where they get followed round Bolivia by a Marina or an AMC Gremlin or, um, a Nissan Juke or something in case their Porsche breaks down. 

    tldr; I've got to drive to Luton in a Nissan Juke. With the service light on. Fuck my life. 

     

     

     

    I went back. 

    'Oh, hi angle! I recognise you from last time, sorry again about that. The good news is we've got two cars left this time,  if you're OK with an auto again there's a Subaru Forester or if you prefer a manual you can have a Vaux...'

    Reader, I didn't let her finish the sentence. 

    20231128_163344.thumb.jpg.1ed0cff4350902cb9a8a47b31761478a.jpg

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