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purplebargeken

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23 minutes ago, marm said:

mini

Depends where you are going in London - hustling the North Circular East of the Finchley Road on a Friday night in a sea of traffic running fast you need a lot of metal around you believe me - particularly the switchback elevated section South of Enfield.  Anyway an old Mercedes of any vintage is de-rigeur in some parts of N. London...it does not necessarily say old car even  - it can say blue-rinsed old money living on Bishop's Avenue with an in-out drive and a Swiss bank account. 

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14 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

Depends where you are going in London - hustling the North Circular East of the Finchley Road on a Friday night in a sea of traffic running fast you need a lot of metal around you believe me.

I've done my time on that bit of road. In spite of the obvious aggression I never felt vulnerable in anything I've owned. I'd rather have a small car for use within the city.

Admittedly a mini wouldn't be my first choice for blasting round the north circ., but for general nipping about it's hard to beat one.

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24 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

Depends where you are going in London - hustling the North Circular East of the Finchley Road on a Friday night in a sea of traffic running fast you need a lot of metal around you believe me.

Thanks for the clarification...in other words it has to be 40 full years old + 1 day to qualify.

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How strong’s the roof on them there little Vauxhall’s?  Can I put it on air bags and load a fucktonne of ply/plasterboard/bricks on it whilst carrying all the tools I need in the back with white washed windows. Roof load fully tarped to look legit of course. 
Had to bin off my smiley and now have a mk7 derv that may me dinosaured if I turn left at the bottom of the road next year. Been eyeing up Pez series landies in desperation ffs. All for cleaning up our shitty mess and will hug or smoke a tree with the hippies for fun though can’t see a way other than flip up plates or classic/fairground status as yet for the regular two bob tradesman. 

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9 hours ago, Rustybullethole said:

How strong’s the roof on them there little Vauxhall’s?  Can I put it on air bags and load a fucktonne of ply/plasterboard/bricks on it whilst carrying all the tools I need in the back with white washed windows. Roof load fully tarped to look legit of course. 
Had to bin off my smiley and now have a mk7 derv that may me dinosaured if I turn left at the bottom of the road next year. Been eyeing up Pez series landies in desperation ffs. All for cleaning up our shitty mess and will hug or smoke a tree with the hippies for fun though can’t see a way other than flip up plates or classic/fairground status as yet for the regular two bob tradesman. 

Most of the builders and trades that i could afford to use in London used estate cars or SUVs anyway. Big Volvos, Galaxys, Passats...I know one guy using a Porsche Cayenne - probably cheaper than a decent van. My plasterer turned up on a CB250RS with a bucket bungeed to the pillion, and the painters that helped me out when I was trying to get my house sold both got around by bike or bus. There are loads of cheap ulez compatible people carriers out there, and your mk7 is still going to fetch decent money outside of the smoke.

These are often seen full of bags of sand, cement, tools, ladders on the roof. Or at the tip full of rubble, plasterboard etc... There are probably better options but finding this took me all of about 5 seconds.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/333725622361

If you want to use a van, you have options. Leave London? It's a nightmare finding anyone decent and cheap down here... Put your prices up and rent/lease?

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10 hours ago, Rustybullethole said:

How strong’s the roof on them there little Vauxhall’s?  Can I put it on air bags and load a fucktonne of ply/plasterboard/bricks on it whilst carrying all the tools I need in the back with white washed windows. Roof load fully tarped to look legit of course. 
Had to bin off my smiley and now have a mk7 derv that may me dinosaured if I turn left at the bottom of the road next year. Been eyeing up Pez series landies in desperation ffs. All for cleaning up our shitty mess and will hug or smoke a tree with the hippies for fun though can’t see a way other than flip up plates or classic/fairground status as yet for the regular two bob tradesman. 

At the last funding round there was £9000 grants for new vans for people in your position, so maybe wait and see. You'll be alright. 

 

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/scrappage-schemes?cid=scrappage-scheme

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17 hours ago, marm said:

also, at risk sending this thread round in circles again, if something as cheap as this is ulez exempt it's pretty hard to justify a historic car as a way to save money... as appealing as an austin maxi, old merc, or a proper mini might be...

Yes, I bought a ULEZ compliant Rover 25 for £200 

 

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  • 2 years later...
On 5/4/2019 at 4:17 PM, purplebargeken said:

I plan to go 100% classic very shortly. 

As Central London is becoming! We were in Shaftsbury Avenue on Wednesday, to see "To Kill A Mockingbird" (bloody good show, by the way!) and saw quite a few "more mature" vehicles running about. We're in again tomorrow to see Henning Wehn's latest one-man show "It'll All Come Out In The Wash", so I'll remember to take some pictures! 

.....Of the cars, that is! 

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Presumably towing a trailer for bulky stuff is still allowed although I can see parking it in London being a nuisance.

I use cars for my handyman job most of the time but I'm down to the bike this week.  Fortunately I can borrow vans from my other job (although it seems to add hours to things so I try and avoid it).

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1 hour ago, catsinthewelder said:

Presumably towing a trailer for bulky stuff is still allowed although I can see parking it in London being a nuisance.

I use cars for my handyman job most of the time but I'm down to the bike this week.  Fortunately I can borrow vans from my other job (although it seems to add hours to things so I try and avoid it).

How does it work if you’re towing a trailer carrying a car that isn’t ULEZ exempt? Does the camera pick it up and send you a bill?  

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London parking can be challenging for anything.

Trailers are fine most people tape the plate if towing a car to avoid getting anpr flack.

We use a big one Ifor tipper trailer for our building waste. Cheaper than skips, doesn’t need a permit and altogether more useful. With the plates removed it sits outside jobs all over town with some decent security on it. Haven’t had an issue yet.

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On 10/5/2020 at 8:50 AM, Marm Toastsmith said:

Most of the builders and trades that i could afford to use in London used estate cars or SUVs anyway. Big Volvos, Galaxys, Passats...I know one guy using a Porsche Cayenne - probably cheaper than a decent van. My plasterer turned up on a CB250RS with a bucket bungeed to the pillion, and the painters that helped me out when I was trying to get my house sold both got around by bike or bus. There are loads of cheap ulez compatible people carriers out there, and your mk7 is still going to fetch decent money outside of the smoke.

These are often seen full of bags of sand, cement, tools, ladders on the roof. Or at the tip full of rubble, plasterboard etc... There are probably better options but finding this took me all of about 5 seconds.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/333725622361

If you want to use a van, you have options. Leave London? It's a nightmare finding anyone decent and cheap down here... Put your prices up and rent/lease?

Didn’t reply when this was posted unsure why now though hey what’s done is done.

My personal issues are thus. (Well regarding vans anyway)

I’ve always had big vans. Have used them for work since in the building trade though also since before I officially should have been for carting about motorcycles. Yes you can use a trailer for that though even a box one is an easy target for theft plus a pain to store and is in the way when not in use. I also use the van lots for camping and have lived in them too for periods of time. For these reasons I wish to have a big van.

There are options. I can apply to get up to 5k for scrapping my transit. It’s unclear what the up to will be and there’s lots of clauses which as things stand I fall foul of. 
I have misgivings with it anyway for two reasons. I like to live without handouts. It’s not free money as many take it to be. We will all pay for it in the end.

Secondly I don’t wish to scrap a perfectly good vehicle with many years of service left in it. This doesn’t make ecological sense and generally sits uneasy with me. Transit will be sold on.

To replace with new needs about 40k. I don’t have that and none of the handouts if one wished to take them come anywhere close.

 I don’t do finance. I may have to at some point though my rule has been if I can’t afford it I don’t have it.

Second hand I’d still need best part of 10k for a compliant big van. 
Unfortunately it seems that all vans are just a bit shit these days. I don’t wish to spend big money on something that has inbuilt shit technology which tends to fail in an expensive way.

This thought process has led me currently to here.

40C31C81-6092-45E9-A682-8430176A0AD9.thumb.jpeg.0c8cfffa2e350a7dc58bd538308f5a70.jpeg

It’s not big it’s not really even a van though for now it’s doing the job. Living in it would be a challenge though haha.

Its perfectly fine cooking lunch in tough.

3F69548E-62BB-4345-9EF0-0C9BD29FB260.thumb.jpeg.f96fe7a4b5d2570fc51de6a774cf15cb.jpeg

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