The new news 24 thread

[Pete-M]

12 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

I'm no economist (I did do it at A level but that was a long time ago) but I've always struggled with the justification for charging VAT on duty.  Maybe someone with more knowledge of these things can enlighten me.

If they can, they will. 

[Tayne]

15 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

I'm no economist (I did do it at A level but that was a long time ago) but I've always struggled with the justification for charging VAT on duty.  Maybe someone with more knowledge of these things can enlighten me.

There’s vat on top of road fuel duty as well.

[dome]

1 hour ago, Pete-M said:

Unfortunately, I have no idea how much it would cost to import in the new year.

I imagine it would be similar import taxes to bringing something in from the USA. Something like 10% of "market value" + VAT. 

When I brought the Escort in back in 2014 the tax due was Zero, but that was in the good old days before the Brexiters took over. 

As for lockdown rules, currently visitors from the UK to Germany are subject to a 10 day isolation period (which can be shortened to 5 days after a negative Covid-19 test). Germany has just today gone into lockdown until 10th January.

When I know more I'll try and do an explanation post. 

Thanks. I initially had the thought of trying to sneak over to the continent and bring something back before the end of the year, however common sense* took over. There's no rush, I'll hold off til things settle down. 

*That's the same common sense that's had me look at 2 L322s in the last 2 days. 🙈

[mitsisigma01]

18 hours ago, Yoss said:

How is that possibly usable? 

I could lend you a friend that only has his left leg, perfect fit!!! 😁

[louiepj]

My 17 year old son just passed his test!!!!!! Been a long year for him trying to get his lessons done and then rearranged between lockdowns and we even payed £145 for his test from a fast pass company to get a priority/cancellation. We think it cost about £1200 in lessons and fees in total but he did pass first time and spends a lot of time on the road as he rides a moped.

[sierraman]

On 12/14/2020 at 8:58 PM, Bren said:

We got the vectra back from the garage. They admitted being too busy to do the job. I suppose it's easier than saying we would rather do MOT repairs.

I had it recovered to the local VX specialist. He said it might be after christmas before he starts however he messaged me to say one injector was a PITA so he has started it.

Up to now I am £120 in - £70 for recovery and £50 (!) for a timing belt.

What’s the bill looking like to fix it?

[tooSavvy]

2 hours ago, mitsisigma01 said:

I could lend you a friend that only has his left leg, perfect fit!!! 😁

Or that 'Brexiteering chant' >>>

One armed Romanian roofer, over in UK 'free labour movement' asked if he was very busy.... 😕

[Popsicle]

5 hours ago, clayts450 said:

Deep joy, yet another Central London run today....

Last Monday : Mansfield to Central London

Last Tuesday : Mansfield to Central London

Last Wednesday : Mansfield to Central London

Last Thursday : Mansfield to Central London

Last Friday : Nottingham to Holmfirth (nice scenery)

Saturday : Shirebrook to Central London

Sunday : Nottingham to Burntwood, then Derby to Bradford

Monday : Mansfield to Central London

Tuesday : Nottingham to Wimbledon (to the traincare depot for the spotters amongst you, I was delivering some horns, missus)

Today : Mansfield to Central London

TBF,  the Mansfield to Central London one is a regular run and pays well (and the shipper usually pays same or next day, good for the cash flow), and I can pretty much drive it blindfold. Only sticking point is the M1 Northbound in rush hour. If I can get past J12 by 5pm it's usually all right ish...failing that it turns into a fuckfest pretty darn quick. Today will be a fuckfest. Be interesting to see the impact Tier 3 is having in that London. I suspect not a jot of difference

You'll be on Sadiq's Christmas card list adding all that money to TFL's coffers.

[clayts450]

3 hours ago, Popsicle said:

You'll be on Sadiq's Christmas card list adding all that money to TFL's coffers.

true. Just a shame the autopay deduction doesn't work at the moment, and the van is EU5. £27.50 a time.....

[Bren]

6 hours ago, sierraman said:

What’s the bill looking like to fix it?

The damage? Eight broken rockers. Up to now £490 - the car is now running. However it also needs a water pump kit so put that on top.

[stuboy]

11 hours ago, Bren said:

The damage? Eight broken rockers. Up to now £490 - the car is now running. However it also needs a water pump kit so put that on top.

whats the value on the mota?

[Yoss]

Hire van of the day today. 

Looks OK doesn't it? Well first of all I got a call on the tannoy to go and move it as it was blocking another van in. So I go out and even before I've started it I'm greeted with this message. 

Which is a bit odd as it hasn't moved all night. As you can see the actual temperature gauge is stone cold but there is a red thermometer light on the speedo.

So I moved it out of the way and thought I'd check the water. The header tank is bone dry so I wander in to the bosses office and ask if they have anything I can top it up with. They find a tiny bottle. That's no good I reply, can I take the kettle? Worried look from boss, 'don't get oil all over it' is the reply. It's the bosses kettle not for the use of us mere workers but there's nothing else around. We're really not set up for people actually doing van checks. So I filled the header tank with two whole kettle fulls to get it half way between min and max. I could put a bit more in but I'm filling it up from the gents loo which is the wrong way and I'm getting later and later so that will do. I start it up but the sign is still there. So I take the key and log book back to office we get them from which is even further away (it's a big delivery office, covers half of Southampton). I get told it might clear with a bit of use and anyway there aren't any spares so you'll have to take it. Hmmph. 

It gets better (or worse depending on your point of view). So I wheel some of my stuff out to start loading, open the back doors to be confronted with this. 

What the actual fuck am I supposed to do with this!!! I showed it to a few other posties in the yard who all had the same response as me, though maybe a little less sweary. 

View in the side door. 

I mean they've done a good job, it looks lovely (and has three fire extinguisher holders). If you're a plumber or electrician. It's fuck all use to me. OK, so at least it's bigger than my Partner which helps a bit. I end up with this. 

But the front passenger seat is full of packets too. 

Thought I'd check the header tank again before I left. Nearly empty! I guess running it has got it round the system a bit. So back to the bosses office. As I walk in one of our line managers is coming out with kettle in hand. 'I need that!' proclaims me. He seems a bit surprised and just hands it over. It's occurred to me that there is a tap in the yard, as the gents loo really is too far away so I go and use that. The water comes out green with bits in! I don't think anyone has used it in months. So one more kettle full gets it up to max with the engine running. Back to the bosses office with their kettle, I say 'you might want to rinse that out, it's had green water in it'. I get a blank look, no words. Well they're going to boil it anyway. If all the bosses go sick tomorrow I'll know why. 

So off I set and as soon as I get out on the road it's obvious all is not well. It's in limp mode. It didn't notice in the yard but as soon as I put my foot down nothing really happened. I thought about turning round but I'd already been told there was nothing else available and as I only cover seven miles in six hours (it should be four hours but Christmas Lockdown), and never leave a 30 zone I decided to carry on. It did about 20mph in second and 28mph in third. Didn't like fourth at all but 28 is OK. Even if it was getting hot, which I don't think it was, I do about a mile to the start of my delivery then no more than a couple of hundred yards at a time. 

By the time I got back all the bosses had gone home but I left notes in the log book, in the office and stuck to the steering wheel saying 'VAN BROKEN - DO NOT USE'.

[richardmorris]

If yours is a typical tale then it does explain the intermittent post round here.

[Popsicle]

1 hour ago, clayts450 said:

true. Just a shame the autopay deduction doesn't work at the moment, and the van is EU5. £27.50 a time.....

Ouch that soon adds up over a month with that amount of runs into London, thank fuck I don't go into the centre to often.

[stuboy]

miss stuboy-to-be asked me when can she go get her car, i said anytime you like, blimey i was getting her to use the galaxy as she didn't have enough money after bills and xmas presents ( and not working as daughter isolating) to pay for fuel, so i said use my galaxy, and when it needed more diesel i put 20 quid in it, woman.....arrrggghhh

[beko1987]

59 minutes ago, Yoss said:

Hire van of the day today. 

Looks OK doesn't it? Well first of all I got a call on the tannoy to go and move it as it was blocking another van in. So I go out and even before I've started it I'm greeted with this message. 

Which is a bit odd as it hasn't moved all night. As you can see the actual temperature gauge is stone cold but there is a red thermometer light on the speedo.

So I moved it out of the way and thought I'd check the water. The header tank is bone dry so I wander in to the bosses office and ask if they have anything I can top it up with. They find a tiny bottle. That's no good I reply, can I take the kettle? Worried look from boss, 'don't get oil all over it' is the reply. It's the bosses kettle not for the use of us mere workers but there's nothing else around. We're really not set up for people actually doing van checks. So I filled the header tank with two whole kettle fulls to get it half way between min and max. I could put a bit more in but I'm filling it up from the gents loo which is the wrong way and I'm getting later and later so that will do. I start it up but the sign is still there. So I take the key and log book back to office we get them from which is even further away (it's a big delivery office, covers half of Southampton). I get told it might clear with a bit of use and anyway there aren't any spares so you'll have to take it. Hmmph. 

It gets better (or worse depending on your point of view). So I wheel some of my stuff out to start loading, open the back doors to be confronted with this. 

What the actual fuck am I supposed to do with this!!! I showed it to a few other posties in the yard who all had the same response as me, though maybe a little less sweary. 

View in the side door. 

I mean they've done a good job, it looks lovely (and has three fire extinguisher holders). If you're a plumber or electrician. It's fuck all use to me. OK, so at least it's bigger than my Partner which helps a bit. I end up with this. 

But the front passenger seat is full of packets too. 

Thought I'd check the header tank again before I left. Nearly empty! I guess running it has got it round the system a bit. So back to the bosses office. As I walk in one of our line managers is coming out with kettle in hand. 'I need that!' proclaims me. He seems a bit surprised and just hands it over. It's occurred to me that there is a tap in the yard, as the gents loo really is too far away so I go and use that. The water comes out green with bits in! I don't think anyone has used it in months. So one more kettle full gets it up to max with the engine running. Back to the bosses office with their kettle, I say 'you might want to rinse that out, it's had green water in it'. I get a blank look, no words. Well they're going to boil it anyway. If all the bosses go sick tomorrow I'll know why. 

So off I set and as soon as I get out on the road it's obvious all is not well. It's in limp mode. It didn't notice in the yard but as soon as I put my foot down nothing really happened. I thought about turning round but I'd already been told there was nothing else available and as I only cover seven miles in six hours (it should be four hours but Christmas Lockdown), and never leave a 30 zone I decided to carry on. It did about 20mph in second and 28mph in third. Didn't like fourth at all but 28 is OK. Even if it was getting hot, which I don't think it was, I do about a mile to the start of my delivery then no more than a couple of hundred yards at a time. 

By the time I got back all the bosses had gone home but I left notes in the log book, in the office and stuck to the steering wheel saying 'VAN BROKEN - DO NOT USE'.

It'll be out in the morning then! 

[Yoss]

Not with me it won't. If they try I will reject it. I do wonder if it just needs resetting. If it got hot and went into limp mode (and the idiot who had it yesterday wrote 'high engine temp' in the log book but didn't actually tell anybody) it might need plugging in to get it out out of limp mode. Or it could be something more serious, I really don't know how these modern things work. 

The annoying thing is my delivery has a regular van allocated to it. A Pug Partner. But because it has two keys they keep giving it to someone else. All our own vans are supposed to have two keys but half of them don't anymore. The hire vans only have one key (I assume the hire companies keep one) and as I'm working on my own I keep getting them. 

[320touring]

The sole concession to Christmas decoration outwith the front room.

As @Skizzer put it:

 

"God rest ye Cowley gentlemen, let nothing you dismay."

[Angrydicky]

11 hours ago, Yoss said:

Hire van of the day today. 

Looks OK doesn't it? Well first of all I got a call on the tannoy to go and move it as it was blocking another van in. So I go out and even before I've started it I'm greeted with this message. 

Which is a bit odd as it hasn't moved all night. As you can see the actual temperature gauge is stone cold but there is a red thermometer light on the speedo.

So I moved it out of the way and thought I'd check the water. The header tank is bone dry so I wander in to the bosses office and ask if they have anything I can top it up with. They find a tiny bottle. That's no good I reply, can I take the kettle? Worried look from boss, 'don't get oil all over it' is the reply. It's the bosses kettle not for the use of us mere workers but there's nothing else around. We're really not set up for people actually doing van checks. So I filled the header tank with two whole kettle fulls to get it half way between min and max. I could put a bit more in but I'm filling it up from the gents loo which is the wrong way and I'm getting later and later so that will do. I start it up but the sign is still there. So I take the key and log book back to office we get them from which is even further away (it's a big delivery office, covers half of Southampton). I get told it might clear with a bit of use and anyway there aren't any spares so you'll have to take it. Hmmph. 

It gets better (or worse depending on your point of view). So I wheel some of my stuff out to start loading, open the back doors to be confronted with this. 

What the actual fuck am I supposed to do with this!!! I showed it to a few other posties in the yard who all had the same response as me, though maybe a little less sweary. 

View in the side door. 

I mean they've done a good job, it looks lovely (and has three fire extinguisher holders). If you're a plumber or electrician. It's fuck all use to me. OK, so at least it's bigger than my Partner which helps a bit. I end up with this. 

But the front passenger seat is full of packets too. 

Thought I'd check the header tank again before I left. Nearly empty! I guess running it has got it round the system a bit. So back to the bosses office. As I walk in one of our line managers is coming out with kettle in hand. 'I need that!' proclaims me. He seems a bit surprised and just hands it over. It's occurred to me that there is a tap in the yard, as the gents loo really is too far away so I go and use that. The water comes out green with bits in! I don't think anyone has used it in months. So one more kettle full gets it up to max with the engine running. Back to the bosses office with their kettle, I say 'you might want to rinse that out, it's had green water in it'. I get a blank look, no words. Well they're going to boil it anyway. If all the bosses go sick tomorrow I'll know why. 

So off I set and as soon as I get out on the road it's obvious all is not well. It's in limp mode. It didn't notice in the yard but as soon as I put my foot down nothing really happened. I thought about turning round but I'd already been told there was nothing else available and as I only cover seven miles in six hours (it should be four hours but Christmas Lockdown), and never leave a 30 zone I decided to carry on. It did about 20mph in second and 28mph in third. Didn't like fourth at all but 28 is OK. Even if it was getting hot, which I don't think it was, I do about a mile to the start of my delivery then no more than a couple of hundred yards at a time. 

By the time I got back all the bosses had gone home but I left notes in the log book, in the office and stuck to the steering wheel saying 'VAN BROKEN - DO NOT USE'.

Sounds like a typical van at ASDA with their clapped out, neglected fleet (and no roadworthy spare vans)

[Zelandeth]

Nearly fini...

Oh for &#@+3-¥ sake!

[uk_senator]

Yesterday, after giving the battery a long, deep conditioning charge, I discovered my XJR is still dead.. It spun over beautifully, several times, but didn't even attempt to start. I swapped fuel pump relays over, even took the intake duct off to check the operation of the TB, & even sprayed a bit of WD in to help it along, but no, still no go.. I`m assuming its fuel pump related, as its done less than 30 miles in the last 18 months, & old Jag fuel pumps don't like that sort of behaviour. It did misbehave last time I used it (drove it to the local petrol station to jetwash it back in October 2019 & it didn't want to restart after I`d gone in to get a token, but did, after a heart-stopping 20 seconds of churning... I should have checked what it was then, in retrospect). 

I`m debating whether to sell it, as, if I`ve done less than 100 miles in the last 2 years in it, do I really need it? Probably not.. Thing is, as a non runner with various issues + an expired MOT, its worth the square root of eff-all... I may end up breaking it.

Also had a phone call from the mate who`s been using my 500 this afternoon, informing me that his colleague has snapped the passenger door handle off the door completely. Deep joy.

Oh, & I was also greeted to a Royal Mail card on the mat when I got home, the pack of 10 Panasonic Bluray 50gb BD-RE`s I`ve been desperately waiting for for the last 6 weeks have arrived (from Japan), and have incurred £17.02 import duty... Wonderful.

FFS   😑

[yes oui si]

Daytime shot of the Anteras:

And trial fitment of the Capri pepperpots on the 205:

Also popped the 17" Artecs on, and I want to make it work... 

They'll need 10mm spacers though.

[cobblers]

Holy fuck those Anteras are amazing! 

[yes oui si]

Just now, cobblers said:

Holy fuck those Anteras are amazing! 

Yup! Wanted a set since I was a teenager 😍

I don't even own anything they'd fit 😂

[stuboy]

15 hours ago, yes oui si said:

easy clean

[PhilA]

On 12/16/2020 at 2:55 PM, richardmorris said:

If yours is a typical tale then it does explain the intermittent post round here.

Round this way it's all gone arse over tit.

FedEx arrives today, leaves a small padded bag smaller than an A4 sheet of paper, liberated from a half-full LWB Sprinter.

Then our local postie turns up in Jeep Wrangler, with a big-ish box and two bags of clothes.

 

Apparently FedEx and UPS wanted to dump their trucks at the sorting office and have USPS deliver; postmaster general sees dollar signs and accepts. 

So now they sneakily dump the big bulky stuff on the rural carriers who have, at best, vans the size of Vivaros but more often are just in a car, to deliver small lightweight things with two people to a van, one to pick and deliver and the other to drive.

 

Way to go, corporate greed!

[MrDuke]

View on my way to work this morning:

Good job I was only doing 50.

[bunglebus]

On 11/25/2020 at 7:42 PM, brownnova said:

Ive already been bought two of these 😂😂

Got a spare? Can't find any now 😐

[Supernaut]

1 hour ago, MrDuke said:

View on my way to work this morning:

Good job I was only doing 50.

[yes oui si]

My commute is pretty, just long.