The grumpy thread

[maxxo]

34 minutes ago, primeradoner said:

Unfortunately he is 100% correct regarding the flue position. The fact that its the same company is irrelevant. The  gas certificate will be issued in the individual  fitters name and if it goes tits up he personally will be in court facing manslaughter charges.  Dont expect a different result with a different company, It will be up to the operative who attends on the day.

Yes in hindsight I can completely see that, it was more his attitude really, very snotty which was my reason for telling him to piss off, was just rude really

[Westbay]

39 minutes ago, maxxo said:

Yes in hindsight I can completely see that, it was more his attitude really, very snotty which was my reason for telling him to piss off, was just rude really

It's the 'way of the world' nowadays, unfortunately. They should make the half hour 'customer service' module of the course/ training scheme attended mandatory instead of optional ...

[quicksilver]

16 hours ago, beko1987 said:

No, your in the wrong for trying to fix it. They won't give the codes as they don't want you to repair it... 

Tried searching the error code on youtube? If it's. A known issue someone will have found it and maybe even have a fix 🤞🤞

Otherwise throw it away as Sony would like

Update on this - he took it to a specialist who diagnosed a faulty blu ray drive. The stupid thing is a working blu ray drive is not required to install updates via USB or internet so that error condition is totally unnecessary.

[comfortablynumb]

52 minutes ago, quicksilver said:

Update on this - he took it to a specialist who diagnosed a faulty blu ray drive. The stupid thing is a working blu ray drive is not required to install updates via USB or internet so that error condition is totally unnecessary.

Built in obsolescence?

How many people would chase it as far as you have? Most would just buy another 

[IronStar]

54 minutes ago, quicksilver said:

Update on this - he took it to a specialist who diagnosed a faulty blu ray drive. The stupid thing is a working blu ray drive is not required to install updates via USB or internet so that error condition is totally unnecessary.

This is a long-standing Sony thing, dating back to PS3. Is the optical drive dead or not connected? Nothing starts and nothing updates. Same with any other hardware module that's not really necessary. 

[Asimo]

11 hours ago, maxxo said:

New boiler man came to grandparents today for a service

same company that’s been doing it for the past 20+ years

anyway, refused to do the service citing the immediately dangerous flue and kitchen extractor position

Good to see Crittal windows still fitted!

**I can understand that a flue near to an opening window might be an issue but I can’t see the extractor fan as a problem.

[IronStar]

Car grumpiness today 

Mini is on few more days of work left since end of June. I started pushing for it to be finished a month or so ago as we’re in the final stretch of nice weather, and once it goes to shit it’s only going to sit in a garage. There’s a cars and coffee meet 6th of October I was really hoping to make. Today I get a call the specialist is going on a holiday, and he’s coming back 30th of September, making chances of getting to that meet 0% and driving it in any leftover nice weather minimal. I understand his personal life has been all over the place lately, but at this point I’m not even mad. I’m just...disappointed.  

I’m getting a bit* fed up of cars and all this lately. Yugo Cabrio was also supposed to be done ages ago and I was looking forward to that as well, but nope. I skipped proper holiday this year because I was fucking about with these. I spent an entire year waiting for “just a few more days/weeks” before I get to enjoy any of the cars I spent over 10 grand in parts and labor. I dread calculating the actual cost as it’s probably closer to 15. Alas, it’s end of the nice weather season, both are still in pieces and not done yet. Is it too much to ask for a drive in something you spent so much time, money and energy on?

In other car related grumpiness - Tax authorities of Serbia have determined that Yugo I paid 300€ the other day for is worth 1850€, according to the tax I’ve just paid. I’d be really interested in selling it to them for that money.  🙄

[Datsuncog]

Fuxsake.

This is how a 'quick' lunchtime job of dropping off some broken laminate flooring at the dump and grabbing a few things from Tesco turns into an all-day saga.

Bet you there's a screw lodged in it; bloody staff at the dump can never be bothered sweeping up.

Turns out my breaker bar has a 17mm and 19mm reversible socket on the end, but the Corolla has 21mm wheelnuts.

Well well well. Who knew? Not me.

And there's no-one down the town who can sell me a 1/2" drive 21mm socket. The tool shop seems to have closed permanently. The motor factor doesn't have any 21mm sockets in stock (but did want to sell me another 17mm/19mm extending breaker bar, identical to the one I already have). Getting desperate now, neither Tesco or Argos had any 21mm sockets included in their cheapo tool sets.

So I'd the pleasure of a long walk home, uphill, on a rather warm day, to fetch my 1/2" sockets...

Can I get back down there again and swap the wheel over before Parking Eye reams my bank account for the crime of overstaying?

Place your bets now...

[Datsuncog]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

Can I get back down there again and swap the wheel over before Parking Eye reams my bank account for the crime of overstaying?

Place your bets now...

Think I managed to get the wheel swapped and make my departure before the posted three-hour limit in the carpark. 

I'm sure the parking fine bods will be only too pleased to let me know, if otherwise...

2 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Bet you there's a screw lodged in it; bloody staff at the dump can never be bothered sweeping up.

Bingo.

[myglaren]

At least you have a legitimate reason for not leaving in the allotted time.

[beko1987]

11 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Think I managed to get the wheel swapped and make my departure before the posted three-hour limit in the carpark. 

I'm sure the parking fine bods will be only too pleased to let me know, if otherwise...

Bingo.

😢 I have this coming one day as I know I've got a screw in my rear tyre... I also know I've got the correct size socket on my breaker bar that rolls around in the boot at all times 👌 Until then I'll continue to get some use* from the tread (it's on the rear, it doesn't wear 🤣) 

[beko1987]

9 hours ago, quicksilver said:

Update on this - he took it to a specialist who diagnosed a faulty blu ray drive. The stupid thing is a working blu ray drive is not required to install updates via USB or internet so that error condition is totally unnecessary.

This isn't going to lead to 'the blu ray drive is coded to the machine' is it? 🤞😢

[comfortablynumb]

Moving a minivan to MK2 sons house on a trailer earlier, I started to get the clicking noise you have when there's a stone stuck in your tread. Only thing was, touch the brakes, clicking stops.

Ok, drag the lot home having got said min safely in the garage, and pull the front wheel off.

Nothing.

Pull the centre wheel off

Nothing

I replaced the rearmost tyre offside the other day, there was nothing wrong with the brake, so I'm not doing that again.

Crawl about underneath it for a bit, and realise there's a bit of play on the rear prop shaft rearmost uj.

So now I've ordered a recon prop, and I still don't know if the click is fixed, uj wear wasn't bad enough to cause it.

Bloody cars 

[quicksilver]

2 hours ago, beko1987 said:

This isn't going to lead to 'the blu ray drive is coded to the machine' is it? 🤞😢

How did you guess? Of course it is, so you can't just replace the drive and have to scrap the machine and buy a new one.

[Datsuncog]

On 19/09/2024 at 18:00, myglaren said:

At least you have a legitimate reason for not leaving in the allotted time.

Hopefully it won't come to that - there's been some fairly lively correspondence on NextDoor about people parking up at local supermarkets and being fined for somewhat opaque reasons (Sainsbury's was the first to deploy Parking Eye, Tesco has just started) then not being able to get in touch with anyone to dispute it - but I think I managed to make my escape in good time.

DVA must have been cruising the Tesco carpark too - as I was on my way back, I saw a few vehicles wearing a shiny new yellow boot, and DO NOT MOVE - UNTAXED CAR stickers on the driver's window. So probably a few other folks were having a worse day than me.

In fairness, I've now time to get myself another 21mm socket to keep on the extendable wrench - better finding out about it on a sunny Thursday afternoon in a large local car park, than at 2am on a lonely rural road in the depths of winter... 

And it turns out I did know about the 21mm issue, since the Yaris wears the same wheel nuts and I've a Draper socket of the correct size and fitment already on the extender bar in the back of MrsDC's car.

Daaah. I am a silly sausage.

[Bren]

I have the mother of all toothache - nothing - ibuprofen, paracetemol will touch it. Even my face and forehead are painful. Tried to get an emergency appointment- have to ring back in the morning.

[sheffcortinacentre]

3 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Hopefully it won't come to that - there's been some fairly lively correspondence on NextDoor about people parking up at the supermarket and being fined for somewhat opaque reasons, then not being able to get in touch with anyone to dispute it - but I think I managed to make my escape in good time.

DVA must have been cruising the Tesco carpark too - as I was on my way back, I saw a few vehicles wearing a shiny new yellow boot, and DO NOT MOVE - UNTAXED CAR stickers on the driver's window. So probably a few other folks were having a worse day than me.

In fairness, I've now time to get myself another 21mm socket to keep on the extendable wrench - better finding out about it on a sunny Thursday afternoon in a large local car park, than at 2am on a lonely rural road in the depths of winter... 

And it turns out I did know about the 21mm issue, since the Yaris wears the same wheel nuts and I've a Draper socket of the correct size and fitment already on the extender bar in the back of MrsDC's car.

Daaah. I am a silly sausage.

Shirley being in Tesco car park & is private land & so nothing to do with them until driven out at worst not declared SORN.

I go down with a beaver tail or trailer  & photo it & go to court.

[Datsuncog]

34 minutes ago, sheffcortinacentre said:

Shirley being in Tesco car park & is private land & so nothing to do with them until driven out at worst not declared SORN.

Yeah, I wondered about that too... seemed a bit rum, but there they were. 

[captain_70s]

57 minutes ago, sheffcortinacentre said:

Shirley being in Tesco car park & is private land & so nothing to do with them until driven out at worst not declared SORN.

I go down with a beaver tail or trailer  & photo it & go to court.

I think they class publicly accessible private land as fair game. So car parks and the like.

[wuvvum]

DVLA have always taken a rather broad view of what constitutes public land for VED purposes, and I have won several court cases in the past when they have tried to prosecute me for keeping SORN'd cars on what they claimed was public highway.  Although that was a long time ago and I think the rules have changed a bit since then.

That said, you'd almost certainly be on a hiding to nothing contesting a fine imposed in a Tesco car park, because obviously you will have to have driven on the public road to get there.  (Unless you'd been parked there for weeks, but then the reaming you'd get from Parking Eye would make any DVLA fine seem like a drop in the ocean.)

[gm]

serves them right - i pay the best part of a grand a year in car tax, why should they get away with not paying ? 

back to the point, it might be worth a quick word at the customer service desk to let them know you think you overstayed due to the puncture, they can easily (if you ask them nicely) over rule a parking penalty. my mother has managed this in tescos, morrisons and aldis, not due to a puncture, just being hopeless at keeping an eye on the time  

[AnthonyG]

Do you live in Tesco? Is it your residential address and where you keep your vehicle at times? 

No? well pay some fucking road tax then. 

No sympathy at all, it’s not like it’s some hidden away bit of residential parking for flats or something. 

[Metal Guru]

1 hour ago, captain_70s said:

I think they class publicly accessible private land as fair game. So car parks and the like.

When my son was coming up to 17, I got him a car a few months before his birthday. I thought we could use car parks for lessons before he was 17 and got a provisional , but found out for insurance and  licensing purposes, private ground with public access was the same as on road.

[Datsuncog]

On 19/09/2024 at 22:40, AnthonyG said:

Do you live in Tesco? Is it your residential address and where you keep your vehicle at times? 

No? well pay some fucking road tax then. 

No sympathy at all, it’s not like it’s some hidden away bit of residential parking for flats or something. 

Funny, now you mention it, one of the reasons Tesco have started bringing in Parking Eye could well be because local residents have been using it as a bit of a storage yard for their old rammel.

There was (quite a clean) BMW E32 parked down at one end for ages...

...but my favourite was this mega shonky Subaru Impreza in snoozeworthy 1.6 LX spec, which remained taxed and MOT'd but never seemed to move from year to year:

Quite agree, no-one should be dodging road tax!

On 19/09/2024 at 22:31, gm said:

back to the point, it might be worth a quick word at the customer service desk to let them know you think you overstayed due to the puncture, they can easily (if you ask them nicely) over rule a parking penalty. my mother has managed this in tescos, morrisons and aldis, not due to a puncture, just being hopeless at keeping an eye on the time  

I turned into the car park just after 2pm (store receipt shows I was going through the checkout with two items at 2.14) and I had the wheel finally swapped and away by 4.50 - so fairly sure I didn't exceed the allotted three hours.

There's signs up stating that parking disputes can't be dealt with onsite, you need to phone a call centre!

[320touring]

E34

[Split_Pin]

6 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

you need to phone a call centre!

I was confident up to that point but I'd just sit tight and wait and see if anything comes up.

Our local Tenpin Bowling centre is right next to a station car park which is far too small so they have a pretty strict parking camera system. My wife and I parked our 2 cars there when taking our son and his 5 or 6 friends bowling for his birthday party but I failed to notice the tiny sign which instructed all patrons to declare their cars parked in the car park when arriving at the reception desk. About 2 weeks later I got 2 letters saying I got a fine, £60 each or something. But I just went down to the bowling alley and was super-nice to the guy on duty there and it was all sorted out.

So it might still be worth a trip down to Tesco even if its just for a friendly chat to say you just want to understand how the system works and what you need to do next. They might help you with stuff like how you prove you had a flat tyre and such like. Tesco staff are usually very helpful.

Good luck!

[horriblemercedes]

11 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

When my son was coming up to 17, I got him a car a few months before his birthday. I thought we could use car parks for lessons before he was 17 and got a provisional , but found out for insurance and  licensing purposes, private ground with public access was the same as on road.

Yep, this is almost completely the case as defined in the Road Traffic Act (1988).

 

It has occasionally been challenged, but it's best to assume it's a public place. Here are some examples of it going either way:

Quote:

This is a matter of fact to be determined by the court. The following have been held to be "public places":

• The car park of a pub; Vannet v Burns (1988)
• A hotel driveway; Dunn v Keane (1976)
• A multi-storey NCP car park; Bowman v DPP (1991)
• A hospital car park; DPP v Greenwood (1997)
• The car park of a car dealership; May v DPP (2005)
• A field used for point-to-point racing; Collinson (1931)
• A field used for parking at an agricultural show; Paterson v Ogilvey (1957)
• A privately owned caravan site; DPP v Vivier (1991)
• Freight immigration lanes at a dockyard; DPP v Coulman (1993)
• A school playground; Rodger v Normand (1994)

The following have been held not to be "public places":

• Privately owned land next to a private club; Pugh v Knipe (1972)
• A community centre car park; Havell v DPP (1993)
• A company car park used by staff and customers; Spence (1999)
• An internal roadway at a University campus; Cowan v DPP (2013)

 

 

Source:

https://www.counsel.direct/news/2015/11/18/what-is-a-public-place-in-the-context-of-the-road-traffic-act

[Datsuncog]

10 hours ago, 320touring said:

E34

Oops!

😳

[jakebullet]

Dashcam's gone and croaked  

Noticed it wasn't booting, just LED on. Reformatted the SD card and it worked... for a day. Now doing good brick that get's a bit warm impression.

Extra annoying 'cos I've got it hardwired for parking mode, and rear camera. So an afternoons pissing about to rip out and put a new one in unless I can just get a replacement front unit. (unlikely)

[Datsuncog]

On 19/09/2024 at 15:51, Datsuncog said:

Fuxsake.

This is how a 'quick' lunchtime job of dropping off some broken laminate flooring at the dump and grabbing a few things from Tesco turns into an all-day saga.

Bet you there's a screw lodged in it; bloody staff at the dump can never be bothered sweeping up.

Turns out my breaker bar has a 17mm and 19mm reversible socket on the end, but the Corolla has 21mm wheelnuts.

Well well well. Who knew? Not me.

And there's no-one down the town who can sell me a 1/2" drive 21mm socket. The tool shop seems to have closed permanently. The motor factor doesn't have any 21mm sockets in stock (but did want to sell me another 17mm/19mm extending breaker bar, identical to the one I already have). Getting desperate now, neither Tesco or Argos had any 21mm sockets included in their cheapo tool sets.

So I'd the pleasure of a long walk home, uphill, on a rather warm day, to fetch my 1/2" sockets...

Can I get back down there again and swap the wheel over before Parking Eye reams my bank account for the crime of overstaying?

Place your bets now...

Just to tie this all off, the local tyre place managed to repair the punctured one with a plug for £15, and it seems to be holding air ok.

I also found out that the Parking Eye contract isn't up and running yet - this Tesco store is currently having a big refit that's to last another three months, and apparently the signage is the only thing that's been put up yet in the car park!