The grumpy thread

[SiC]

Corsa D, funnily enough a driving school favourite

A quick Google suggests Vectra C too.

 

http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/apps/recalls/searches/expand.asp?uniqueID=7882F85DE9C1F79D802573DB002C44EE

[wuvvum]

Has anyone ever had to replace a handbrake ratchet?

Only in an Austin A35, which after 50-odd years of use was allowed to be a bit worn I reckon.

[taxi paul]

I will do thanks . I tried footman James and Lancaster and both said they are not looking to insure that vehicle. It must be the curse of the mini cab.

[The Moog]

FFS. Tom Petty ISN'T dead, so I've had to suffer woeful status updates all over Facebook and Twitter for no bloody reason at all. FAKE NEWS!

I think he might be now  

[Exiled_Tat_Gatherer]

I was told to shut it on my test after mentioning momentum being a virtual constant with two objects travelling at the 'almost' same speed in the same direction - meaning I wouldn't have to leave 215ft in between the vehicle in front and myself, not unless he hit some invisible force field to come to a dead instant stop.

 

"Shut it smart arse or it's a fail........." IIRC.   - bless you RAF driving instructor!

[twosmoke300]

Has anyone ever had to replace a handbrake ratchet?

 

 

I reckon ive done 30-40 . 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All on 06 civics which were recalled for them coming off when parked 

[twosmoke300]

I think he might be now

I like to think the BBC would have it right

[chaseracer]

Its been said that some vauxhalls with rear discs can release the handbrake if the brakes are hot when applied so leave in gear.

 

My neighbour's then-new Polo parked itself gently in the back of my XM, for this very reason.

[sierraman]

I've had to swap a ratchet before, it was self adjusting, when it was back to its lowest setting the teeth had stripped, so it wouldn't adjust back down after a set of new shoes were fitted. Right cunt of a job as well, had to have all the centre console out.

[gordonbennet]

They teach BTSGTG on lorry driving courses now, i had words with the trainer (he was also a lorry driving instructor) on me first drivers CPC course, he kept ranting on about how good lorry brakes are now so no need to use the gearbox and auxilliary engine(exhaust/jake/retarder) to slow down.

 

After about the tenth time of him trotting this bollocks i lost it and asked him what was the likely outcome when the young lad he taught to drive got a job on artic tippers and was going down hills several miles long in the Dales on just the brakes, and something goes wrong when those brakes were already nearly alight??   no he hadn't got an answer other than some bollocks about eddie stobart teaching their drivers their way, whatever the fuck that meant, twat.

Bearing in mind there were young and new drivers on this course as well as old bastards like me.

 

That young 19 year old lad who lost control of the tipper at Bath recently, ending in bloody tragedy and 4 IIRC dead, might have stood a better chance had he been taught to control a lorry as a lorry should be, Jimmy Morrison who taught me to drive lorries by being in control of them would be turning in his grave.

 

 

By the way, did you know for the last 2 years you can be trained and take a test in an automatic gearboxed lorry and (provided you have a manual car licence) they issue you a manual lorry ticket...what twat dreamed that one up, and you wonder why the roads are bloody mayhem.

[DSdriver]

Only in an Austin A35, which after 50-odd years of use was allowed to be a bit worn I reckon.

The only one I have ever done was on my first car, an Austin A30 back in 1969. Which made me appreciate the information about keeping the button pressed given by my instructor.

The advice on using brakes to slow, gears to go has come into being because that is what Police drivers who do high mileages are taught... because as previously mentioned gearboxes are more expensive... not because it is good driving practice. For the average bod doing 10k miles per year its bollocks.

[DSdriver]

If you park a DS on a steep hill just using the handbrake after using the brakes a lot the car is likely to roll away when the discs cool and contract. One chap in the CCC had his parked on his drive and it rolled down into his garage door. Not only was the DS and the garage door damaged but also the car in the garage.

[Des]

He won't be coming round here no more.

[CreepingJesus]

I've heard similar bollocks about BTSGTG in CPC courses, but then it was easily argued out. The guy was a dickend and we've never used him since. Our regular trainer won't hear of it. In fact, our old SAFED training video from way back when, made exactly that point: slow down using the brakes and gears, and 9 times out of ten you'll be in the right gear to proceed in an orderly fashion.

My 'we share the road with these arseholes' is very much reserved for people who assume they've got the right to a space in the inside lane right off the slip road. Not so, friend, and I've seen a few tangles caused by just that confusion.

[gordonbennet]

Yep, my lot only used that DCPC training outfit for the one and only session too, the people we have used since are pretty switched on.

 

One lad they have is an ex senior VOSA traffic examiner, his sessions are bloody interesting cos he concentrates on keeping us and the company (who run very straight) on the right side of his former colleagues, we all learn a lot when he's on.

[bub2006]

Cars on sliproad just pulling in front causing me to slam on rather than using slip road to gain speed or pull in behind (when next lane is in use and i have nowhere to go) is as much of a pain as coming diwn5 the sliproad onto a bypass,3 or 4 wagons in inside lane and not one will pull out to next lane to allow cars onto carriageway when its perfectly safe to do so. Also cars on sliproads crawling down to carriage way,i pull into outside lane keeping a steady pace they then decide to speedmatch me and keep me pinned out before flying off.

[sierraman]

People driving too close to the back of me fucks me off.

[mercrocker]

Had one of those yesterday.   Blonde sort in a (well I won't mention the make because it will upset somebody but it had drive at both ends) with sunglasses the size of side plates.   Right up my arse all the way through a 50, then 40, then 30 limit.   I lost her momentarily on each roundabout because she couldn't watch oncoming and go at the same time...... 

 

As we got into the 30 I knew damn well there was a camera van in one of the bus stops and I did think about dropping to 20 to goad her into screaming past but I cannot bring myself to drive like a c&nt and anyway she felt the urgent need to book a hair appointment and swerved off into the shopping parade (without indicating, natch....).     

 

Used to wind me up but thankfully it doesn't any more.

[M'coli]

^^^What pisses me off most about this type of driver is that you can slow down to 10mph on an empty road, with nothing coming the other way, and they just get closer, and closer, and even more irate. Just overtake me!

[rantingYoof]

On my third driving lesson ever the instructor pointed out to me that the handbrake light was on, so in a fluster I pulled the handbrake up. At 35mph.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hang on a second...I don't think I've quite got the point of this thread.

[Lacquer Peel]

^^^What pisses me off most about this type of driver is that you can slow down to 10mph on an empty road, with nothing coming the other way, and they just get closer, and closer, and even more irate. Just overtake me!

 

Most bad drivers are terrified of overtaking.

[gordonbennet]

I try me damndest to help tailgaters when in my car, even driving into and out of a convenient layby if the twerps as rightly said can't manage an overtake, you want idiots in front where you can keep an eye on them, but lorryists are getting bad for this habit too, hence AEBS now a requirement on new lorries, should be a criminal jailable offence to tailgate in a lorry, terrifying for whoever is in front in a small vehicle.

 

I had a twerp in a MK1 Avensis demonstrate a suicidal overtake, i was doing about 50 in the lorry, just past that BP garage half way between Oxford and Faringdon on the A420 on one of me regular trips down to Bristol, i had to harsh brake as well the artic appearing round the corner coming the other way or avensis pillock would have been at least one of, and probably several of us, dead, you'd need a serious car and nothing oncoming to even think of doing it there.

 

What i did notice was that as avensis man started to overtake the golf behind him dropped quickly back so he'd probably already seen a display of attempted suicide before this gem.

[Lacquer Peel]

I had a twerp in a lorry aggressively tailgate me in a line of traffic behind a slow car, I spotted him do some other dodgy things and emailed the company with the reg number last week. No reply yet.

[5speedracer]

Bad drivers and overtaking, hell yeah!

A roads with plenty of corners and the odd straight bit for progressing. Why wait until you're 2/3 of the way down the straight before overtaking so you can cut back in just before the next corner. Brain dead.

[Stebob]

I agree with what people are saying here, just find it a little weird that this thread is going despite it turning in to another grumpy old man thread, especially after my thread was locked and banished on the basis of it being simililar?

 

Steve

[alcyonecorporation]

It started out as one thing and then veered into GOM territory. 

Pay it no mind Steve-o; I reckon it'll be shitcanned by the end of the day. 

[Ghosty]

I will do thanks . I tried footman James and Lancaster and both said they are not looking to insure that vehicle. It must be the curse of the mini cab.

They don't do just anything, they're quite picky if it's under 30 years old. I enquired with a few places about a 405 GTX and was turned down. More like a 205 GTi they said(!).

I also got refused by Peter James for my Volvo based solely on cubic capacity and my age.

As an aside Flux are reportedly a terrible insurer. Their quotes for me were always suspiciously cheap.

[CreepingJesus]

Cars on sliproad just pulling in front causing me to slam on rather than using slip road to gain speed or pull in behind (when next lane is in use and i have nowhere to go) is as much of a pain as coming diwn5 the sliproad onto a bypass,3 or 4 wagons in inside lane and not one will pull out to next lane to allow cars onto carriageway when its perfectly safe to do so. Also cars on sliproads crawling down to carriage way,i pull into outside lane keeping a steady pace they then decide to speedmatch me and keep me pinned out before flying off.

One of the issues with this, from a truck driver's perspective, is moving out to help someone onto the left lane, only for them to sit there, too close to the stern for a safe pulling back in. They won't flash to say it's safe, they won't pull out to the second lane to demonstrate safety, and so the truck's stuck. And so's everybody else. All getting pissed off doing 56mph until the situation's resolved.

As a consequence, I know plenty of drivers who just won't pull across: the consequences are too big a pain in the arse.

If I'd a quid for every time that's happened on the A92 through Fife (a road I use a hell of a lot), I'd be minted.

[DodgeRover]

^^^ this exactly, plus the number of people attempting a new record for the standing quarter down the slip road only to stand on the brakes near the end rather than carry on with foot hard down and merge in front....

[flat4alfa]

Don't shitcan this thread,

 

I'm just a car driver so hearing the L/HGV side of things is interesting.