1 hour ago, unofix said:

The police (and possibly the council) have the legal power to seize the car and if they want crush it.

I understand the police certainly have - my local force seized over 200 in a 2 month period a while back. In this case it's a shame they don't have power to seize and crush the driver!😀

An 18 year old high mileage 318i must be worth all of about £300...  Would cost more in time & paperwork to get it crushed...and they'll just buy another anyway.  

With licences now being all online...might not be a bad idea if you had to put your licence number in to get a V5 now... 

7 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

An 18 year old high mileage 318i must be worth all of about £300...  Would cost more in time & paperwork to get it crushed...and they'll just buy another anyway.  

With licences now being all online...might not be a bad idea if you had to put your licence number in to get a V5 now... 

I think they did spend some money on it as it was running poorly a few months back if it gets seized and crushed I'd be happy

Going to open the new jar of coffee and finding out we bought decaff by mistake.

I know, first world problems 😂

So was quoted £30 for a second hand door which ain't too bad. It's the door sill and rear quarter I need to sort out mainly.

So yesterday I had an insurance smart repair job done on various areas of my car paintwork. 
The guy who came out was brilliant. He pretty much polished every panel on the car whereas I was just expecting touch ups of the scratched areas. 

Anyway, he got to my drivers door, polished it and then noticed something. It looks as though the door had already had a repair done as in the middle the paint was dull and cloudy and looked lighter. 
He couldn't say whether this had been done after the car was originally purchased or whether it had been done before being handed over to the previous owner (first owner) when brand new. 

He also found areas inside the drivers door sill that looked like they hadn't been sprayed properly as he called it transparent. 
Again, he was unable to say whether that had been done at factory, before being delivered to the first owner or if it had been done during the first 9 months with the previous owner. 

I'm not sure what I can do here as I had never noticed it before (especially the outer skin on the door) as the car had never been polished professionally or been to a detailers. 
How could I prove if it was done by Ford prior to delivery or if it was a manufacturing error (he also found specs or dirt in the paint on the passenger door sill)?

18 minutes ago, Nick Y said:

So yesterday I had an insurance smart repair job done on various areas of my car paintwork. 
The guy who came out was brilliant. He pretty much polished every panel on the car whereas I was just expecting touch ups of the scratched areas. 

Anyway, he got to my drivers door, polished it and then noticed something. It looks as though the door had already had a repair done as in the middle the paint was dull and cloudy and looked lighter. 
He couldn't say whether this had been done after the car was originally purchased or whether it had been done before being handed over to the previous owner (first owner) when brand new. 

He also found areas inside the drivers door sill that looked like they hadn't been sprayed properly as he called it transparent. 
Again, he was unable to say whether that had been done at factory, before being delivered to the first owner or if it had been done during the first 9 months with the previous owner. 

I'm not sure what I can do here as I had never noticed it before (especially the outer skin on the door) as the car had never been polished professionally or been to a detailers. 
How could I prove if it was done by Ford prior to delivery or if it was a manufacturing error (he also found specs or dirt in the paint on the passenger door sill)?

If you 'follow' any high end detailers on social media, you'll see much of their work is correcting the poor paint on brand new cars, even top end stuff like Range Rovers leave the factory in a state if you look closely enough.  Ford don't seem to like painting 'approved used' cars unless they absolutely have to so chances are it was either done before the first owner got it...or they had it touched up before returning it (assuming it was leased/financed).  I don't think you'll be able to prove it either way.  I suppose you could ask for a 'prep' report before your ownership.  But I don't know how long they'd keep something like that, or if they'd be willing to admit to it or share it with you anyway. 

14 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

If you 'follow' any high end detailers on social media, you'll see much of their work is correcting the poor paint on brand new cars, even top end stuff like Range Rovers leave the factory in a state if you look closely enough.  Ford don't seem to like painting 'approved used' cars unless they absolutely have to so chances are it was either done before the first owner got it...or they had it touched up before returning it (assuming it was leased/financed). 

Probably won't be able to prove it. The patch on the drivers door is only noticeable at certain angles and distances but it would need a full panel respray to get it to match. 
Yeah, the repair guy did say he's been to loads and done loads of almost new vehicles with dodgy paint. It's like they don't even bother checking them properly now after the robots have sprayed them. 

The previous owner purchased the car through Ford as they had the family discount but then upgraded after 10 months of ownership. 

I have two very small blemishes on the drivers door and was quoted £250 for whole door to be painted as like you say above it can't be" touched up " 

 

 

 

 

 

On 7/9/2021 at 10:49 AM, unofix said:

 

 

Just had a run in with a workman who parked his car fully blocking the pavement of a main road.

I hate this for a number of reasons, in particular because disabled people in wheelchairs can't get by, and in the case of elderly people this can cause them a great deal of panic.  This is indeed what happened today.

Took photo of car  then 5 mins later workman ran towards me as I was walking away.

Wanted to know why I photo'd is car.

Told him why, and his pathetic answer was "I need to park here because I'm working and may need to get tools etc"

My answer, Only 5 minutes ago I had to help an elderly disabled gentleman in a wheelchair who doesn't have the luxury to walk like you, because some selfish $@### was parked on the pavement

I took the photo because I'm reporting you...now DEAL WITH IT!!

When I look up his reg, I see his tax needed renewing 2 weeks ago 🙂

called 101, gave up after 45 mins of hanging on.  But temptation is running riot in my mind!!

Is it me that gets really wound up with selfish idiots?? I get worse with age 

 

33 minutes ago, Chainsawcharlie said:

Is it me that gets really wound up with selfish idiots?? I get worse with age 

Lol, no. Absolutely plagued with this round where I live, they succeed in blocking the pavement and the road (half on, half off) so inconvenience the elderly, disabled and parents with young children in buggies etc, and the local buses and emergency services.

But yeah, I'm told I'm getting worse with age too!😀

Thats a relief I'm not the only one, Eric 🙂but sad its a widespread problem.  I think we have bred a very selfish generation, and it truly depresses me at times.

This Workman was approx 35 years old

25 minutes ago, Chainsawcharlie said:

Thats a relief I'm not the only one

Tbh I blame the householders as much as the tradesmen. Clearly there are instances where tradesmen have no alternative, but in my village most houses have decent parking spaces off road. When we have work done I always arrange for tradesmen to be able to park off the road and/or pavement, by moving one of our cars elsewhere if necessary. Most people can't be ars*d!.

There's a car park I use in Lisburn where I can easily open both side doors fully without fear of mashing adjacent cars, however, there is one in Belfast (near Europa Hotel) that if 2 x SUVs are parked either side, even though I can reverse in, I can't actually open any door! Car park design has much to answer for for modern 'dings' to cars!

13 hours ago, Chainsawcharlie said:

Just had a run in with a workman who parked his car fully blocking the pavement of a main road.

I hate this for a number of reasons, in particular because disabled people in wheelchairs can't get by, and in the case of elderly people this can cause them a great deal of panic.  This is indeed what happened today.

Took photo of car  then 5 mins later workman ran towards me as I was walking away.

Wanted to know why I photo'd is car.

Told him why, and his pathetic answer was "I need to park here because I'm working and may need to get tools etc"

My answer, Only 5 minutes ago I had to help an elderly disabled gentleman in a wheelchair who doesn't have the luxury to walk like you, because some selfish $@### was parked on the pavement

I took the photo because I'm reporting you...now DEAL WITH IT!!

When I look up his reg, I see his tax needed renewing 2 weeks ago 🙂

called 101, gave up after 45 mins of hanging on.  But temptation is running riot in my mind!!

Is it me that gets really wound up with selfish idiots?? I get worse with age 

 

Sadly see it too often on the road. Already angry with the current hit and run situation I had. There needs to be better surveillance on this stuff especially people parking in stupid places

22 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

There's a car park I use in Lisburn where I can easily open both side doors fully without fear of mashing adjacent cars, however, there is one in Belfast (near Europa Hotel) that if 2 x SUVs are parked either side, even though I can reverse in, I can't actually open any door! Car park design has much to answer for for modern 'dings' to cars!

Not just the size of spaces but the visibility on corners as well...  Our local Sainsburys car park is awful, big store so loads of space, yet they painted spaces right to the end of the rows.  End spaces are generally taken up by massive SUVs (and their inconsiderate drivers) so there's absolutely no visibility to pull out of the rows onto the main thoroughfare!   

See many more 'nice' cars at the local Tesco because their spaces are much wider, and the ends of the rows are 'capped' by about a foot of pavement so visibility is much better.  Of course, that's not perfect either though, as many people don't have the spacial awareness to pull further forward before steering to avoid clouting the kerb! 

8 hours ago, StephenFord said:

 Car park design has much to answer for for modern 'dings' to cars!

Design of cars themselves certainly doesn't help either.

Reading a news item the other day based on a report by the RAC Foundation about parking issues. Main point was people having to park on the road because garages/driveways were too small for SUVs etc.

Their suggestion was make garages bigger in new houses. Smaller cars would seem more logical, particularly as the average car now spends 95% of the time parked doing nothing anyway, apparently.

I've long thought that if taxation systems had been designed to penalise excess weight/size, we might have seen a lot more innovative design (rather than just make the new model bigger than the old) and might not be in the mess we are now. 

10 hours ago, Chainsawcharlie said:

Thats a relief I'm not the only one, Eric 🙂but sad its a widespread problem.  I think we have bred a very selfish generation, and it truly depresses me at times.

This Workman was approx 35 years old

Had a similar situation myself last week...

A middle-aged dustbin-cleaner (yes, it was a posh area!  ) was parked half on the path, and half on the road, on a tight bit of road with poor visibility where you can only just fit 2 hatches normally (anything bigger and one has to stop).  He was washing the bin in the road, alongside his truck, instead of behind it...causing a massive jam both sides AND proceeded to carry on jetwashing with no consideration of spray angle as cars tried to filter past!  Hot, dry day so everyone had to close their windows and the windscreens were getting blanketted with it as they tried to squeeze through without clipping anything. 

In that instance he would have been better fully taking the pavement for a short period, washing behind the truck and either attempting to spray at a better angle, or stopping briefly as cars passed.  It really isn't rocket science... 

 

Also had an interesting one on a single track backroad a few weeks ago...  A large bush had collapsed into the road and someone had taken it upon themselves to try and remove it...with no safety warning signs or diversion signs...or indeed any PPE!   I was at the front of 3 cars so couldn't go anywhere except 'through' the bush and partially up the verge, he did make an attempt to pull it out of the way but I don't think it even added a foot of space.   Cue much scraping of paintwork, but I was more worried about getting a puncture!  However, I drive a scruffy old write off...the car behind me was a lovely newish convertible Merc with considerably more girth than the Golf...  I almost crashed on the next corner watching them try to squeeze it through in the mirror!    Took a different route home so no idea how many pieces of car or limb were left behind by the time the bush was cleared!  

Th problem with car park spaces is that new cars now have to be wider to comply with safety legislation but but car park spaces are the same as they were when cars were smaller. 

23 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Design of cars themselves certainly doesn't help either.

Reading a news item the other day based on a report by the RAC Foundation about parking issues. Main point was people having to park on the road because garages/driveways were too small for SUVs etc.

Their suggestion was make garages bigger in new houses. Smaller cars would seem more logical, particularly as the average car now spends 95% of the time parked doing nothing anyway, apparently.

I've long thought that it taxation systems had been designed to penalise excess weight/size, we might have seen a lot more innovative design (rather than just make the new model bigger than the old) and might not be in the mess we are now. 

My Focus MK1 has about 30 cm clearance travelling down my drive avoiding the drainpipe.There is no way a newer model will be able to fit comfortably, or at all.I’d probably end up  smashing the wing mirror.Even the Fiesta MK8 is questionable and I’m not parking on the road.🤔

8 minutes ago, williamweb said:

My Focus MK1 has about 30 cm clearance travelling down my drive avoiding the drainpipe.There is no way a newer model will be able to fit comfortably, or at all.I’d probably end up  smashing the wing mirror.Even the Fiesta MK8 is questionable and I’m not parking on the road.🤔

Sounds like you just need one with powerfold mirrors...  

i wonder how many drink drivers there will be tommorow morning on the roads after having a skin full tonight?? bet most wont realise as they jump in there car to go to work!!  

sounds like im going to be only sober one at work at 7am!! 

Just do what I do and park far away from e everyone. 

 

When I go hospital I park in certain area. Weirdly although I don't have a staff permit as I don't live more than 5 miles away to be eligible for one I have got a letter come to say I got a parking fine

5 minutes ago, iantt said:

i wonder how many drink drivers there will be tommorow morning on the roads after having a skin full tonight?? bet most wont realise as they jump in there car to go to work!!  

sounds like im going to be only sober one at work at 7am!! 

Not me ! Thankfully today is my last shift but the amount if people that have taken the day off is ridiculous. Car park is almost only a quarter full and as you'd expect there's now a shortage of staff in key areas already today and speaking to a few others they are leaving at 5PM.

7 minutes ago, zain611 said:

Just do what I do and park far away from e everyone. 

 

When I go hospital I park in certain area. Weirdly although I don't have a staff permit as I don't live more than 5 miles away to be eligible for one I have got a letter come to say I got a parking fine

Thats what I do too mate, wife goes mad when we park right over the other side of the carpark 🙂 and have you ever noticed, some plank will come and park right next to you when there are dozens of other spaces...and some even park too close to you