Safety Engineer

I shall still be here and about, have at least one Citroen in the family, convinced father to buy a Xsara 2.0HDi estate in jan, he was looking for a cheap estate and that's what he got Y reg, 25K on the clock and the full Citroen used warranty, he's a happy bunny with it. I pick up my new car (I say new is the dealers demo car with only a few thousand on the clock) (had a choice of a brand new Ambiente spec or this as an Elegance) on Monday, had a test drive and very nice quiet and smooth - not as revvy as the C4 2.0 diesel, 1.9 105hp diesel but can be adjusted by Skoda to 130hp so nearly there. But the boot is bloody huge compared to the C4, plenty of space for the gear. :P :D :D

As of next friday, I finish with my current employer and go onto greener pastures, so the C4 goes back, after 21,000 miles have been very impressed with it, given that it's a new car platform It hasn't had as many problems as some well established cars I've had the misfortune to own. My new employer runs Skoda Octavias. Cue Skoda jokes....

Those three magic letters - PFI, bloody good earner if you are a PFI stakeholder raking in the cost over-runs but not so hot for the taxpayer, have yet to hear of a PFI project coming in on budget.

Golden Goose or as New Labour puts it Goldon Motorist...

As someone who does at 20-60k a year driving a year, I honestly believe that we need to do something about congestion. But at present the bulk of road tax goes into general gvt funds to be spent balancing the books, NHS, schools, war in Iraq etc. If it were spent on providing a good public transport system then great. Here is an example of the idiocy and lack of thought on alternatives: I live in Chelsmford Essex, it has a station that goes into Liverpool Street station so the obvious thing to do would be to hop on the train for a meeting at spitalfields. It's actually quicker and cheaper (using cost of fuel, parking and train fare) to drive down the A12 to J28 of the M25 round to J27 come off, go down the A127, park at Upminster catch train to Fenchurch Street, then catch the tube round to Liverpool Street. if we are going to get people out of cars, we need to provide cheap, reliable and practical alternatives, road pricing, limiting new build houses to only one car parking space will not do it. What it does provide is an oppurtunity for vehicle tracking (thin end of the wedge for ID systems, and helps maximise the potential revenue form the motorist). As for the Kamikaze politcs comment, don't believe it for a moment, Paul Eddington the author of the report is now saying that he only advocated road pricing in certain 'congestion hotspots' another Labour idea, get the public wound up about a big tax hike, then they won't scream (some will actually be relieved) when a small tax hike comes in, but at the end of the day it's still a tax hike. Me cynical?? I was involved in a contract that actually would have compromised safety to cause congestion in our capital, exactly the congestion being used to justify the congestion charge and road pricing...

Which is probably why he is going to get Gordon Brown to implement it... His e-mail response says something very different, and given the huge amounts of revenue that HMG make from the motorist, they cannot afford to let road pricing slip, it is too good a scheme to fleece the motorist with. HMG doesn't want people to stop driving or give up cars, it wants to maximise sustainable revenue from the current (and future) levels of traffic. This weeks Private Eye has a very good breakdown of road pricing in it's article 'Road Rage' and having worke for TfL I would be very surprised if this is going to just quietly die.

Well Tony Blair has tried to ignore the first No to Road Pricing petition despite the nearly 2 million signatures. Under the rules of the petition website the creator of the petition is allowed two 300 word response e-mails to the the signatories, in another display of contempt for the public the originator of this petition has not been allowed his two responses, yet Tony Blair has sent all signatories the HMG response at 1200 words. In answer to this there is a new petition: Road Pricing Petition Mark 2

The moral of your story Welshguy is that no good deed goes unpunished...

Got some strange looks of the neighbours when I came out with a broom and swept the snow of my car this morning. :D Just got back from the local car park, no snow but plenty of ice so have had an entertaining hour throwing the car around with the ESP on and off to feel the difference. Quite impressed.

Throwing my Two penneth in, now I've done a few hundred miles with the new Premacys I would say they are not as good as the Exaltos, I've let a few psi out so am now on 33psi on the front and will see if that improves them.

Got it back this afternoon, all ok, no vibration. Lease company wasn't happy at forking out for it. Had a bit of a moan at them and told them next time get it done properly, not by cowboys...

Thanks for the heads up, have been convinced they are a bunch of cowboys, this latest encounter has done little to change that opinion.

Had a new set of tyres from Quick Fit, I wanted to wait until my service this thursday and get my Citroen dealer to do it, but the lease company don't want to pay Citroen prices. Get to QF last friday, didn't have any tyres my size in stock, monday am told that they have Michelins in the C4's size, find out after they have replaced them that they didn't have the Exalto's so have fitted Premacys, told that they are not as good as the Exalto but the lease company have approved them. To add insult to injury, there is now a very definate vibration in the steering. I noticed some posts that talked about wheel balance problems, as I'm putting the car into Citroens thursday anything I need to point out to them (in addition to getting them to check the wheel balance)?? This reminds me of why I never used S!*t Fit when I had my own car. :blink:

Mine goes in on Thursday for it's 20K service - 2.0HDi.

132mph on an airfield near me. Quite impressed.

Rich, I have to wear hi-viz on site. Can't get much more hi-viz than a gold suit. I thank you !!

Did a little bit of digging and had a chat with one of our contractors who do high pressure cleaning, water jetting and water cutting. He is aware of some stuff that says 150psi is ott on rubber components. especially with a 'cutting' head, other attachments or a non directional spray head will alter things. My criticism is that the AE article doesn't quantify, and doesn't give practical advice. What precautions/pressures can be used any particular technique etc, what pressure do garage car washes put out. The sort of info that allows me to make an informed choice and take the appropriate precautions. In the safety industry the AE article is a 'bonkers conkers' story - long on emotive and scare but short on fact. But then it sells papers. As for the right air for tyres, OFN (Oxygen Free Nitrogen) is the best as it has good pressure retention properties and has no moisture content, also has a low level of expantion with heat. Unlike refridgerent gases (anyone remember R12) that expands quite a lot with heat. I investigated an accident where an aircon engineer used R12 to 'top up' a leaky tyre - it blew out at 70mph!! <_< Does the above post qualify me for a golden anorak award????

OK, so what pressure are they using, what nozzle, how far away from the tyre are they being used? Without this it's somewhat academic. Having used 'pressure washers' that are also used with a boost switch to scour rust of metalwork, I'm not sure I'd want to use that on my tyres <_< Rich, as for the screwdriver research - that's in next week's copy !! :P

33 yrs but no idea on insurance as is a company car, my quotes were always high for my private cars as I had high mileage and was visiting construction sites so had a double whammy... :) Did my advanced driving 4 years ago and got a small reduction, if I had passed my Police Class 1 I've been told it could go up, not that I would drive at those sort of speeds as a 'civvie' driver. Rich, abbatoir worker shouldn't affect car insurance but will take a real knock for life, medical and critical illness insurance.

Another reason why reversing works is the car balance, acceleration throws the weight backwards, lightening the pressure exerted by the front wheels. In reverse, this rearwards force, combined with the engine weight pushes the drive wheels downwards giving more 'bite' and grip.

Tesco floor wipes, just squeeze the excess water? out so they are damp rather than wet, seems to work. And leaves the car smelling fresh when I've finished. :angry:

Rich, sorry if it seemed I was having a pop. As you've guessed a sore subject with me :angry: Have found that wearing a white shirt and hi-viz also helps :lol: Not listed in the link, but two or three flashes of the hazards isn't seen as being as 'agressive' as covering brake lights or fogs - police teach it to drivers of unmarked police vehicles.

I know tailgaters are a pain in the arse but is it really a good idea to 'teach them a lesson' by slowing down to a crawl?? Likewise have investigated 3 accidents, 1 a fatality where the above 'trick' has been used, the overtaking car has braked and dived left, however, the overtaker has moved left too quickly and clipped the rear of the car indicating right, spinning it. in 2 cases, into a field. In the fatality into a concrete pillar. It's little consolation being right if you're dead or seriously injured... Tailgating Advice Is worth a read.

I believe that it because a normal bulb arrangment uses the lens to focus the beam, a HID lamp doesn't (is pre-focused) and as such dirt on the lens affects the focus.

The recent Vauxhall's I've had the misfortune to drive whilst waiting for my C4 and the electrical faults have put me of them for life !! As for the remap, if it wasn't a company car I'd have already done it. 'Big Grin'... Am changing job soon so am on the lookout for a Xsara estate, love the C4 but do need an estate for my work gear.