TC1474

I am no economist so I have no idea. The point I was making was that it is not an amount that has to be stumped up in a lump sum as the work will be done over a number of years.

Totally agree with your comment, and I seem to recall that the money is not being coughed up in one lump sum but spread over a 10 or 15 year period as the work is undertaken, so I guess on annual basis that percentage drops further?

I bet if you asked her, she would suggest that the place is sold and pulled down. She doesn't like the place, it is not hers to do wth as she pleases it is owned by the country, you and me. So why should she have to pay for something that does not belong to her? She does not even get to keep the revenue that is brought in by the thousands of people trekking through her lounge and bedroom every day. Apart from which, I would rather have the "Doddery old Parasite" as you put is as our head of state than some communist twat like Corbyn! That thought, or the thought of any politician for that matter being our head of state makes me want to

I haven't but head office has or will have them. They were going to send them over and I asked then not to for the same reason I have not watched myself on the BBC Fake Britain programme I did 2 years ago. I must have done OK though as a few of the stations have asked if I would be available to do further road safety related interviews in the future. I have agreed

It is not new, the act has simply been expanded RIPA 2000 (Regulation of Investiagatory Powers Act 2000) has been around since, well 2000 and covers most aspects of compliance regarding investigations. If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear, so the comment "Watch your back" is a bit late and somewaht unfounded, As if anything it just ensures that privacy is maintained and that electronic gadgets cannot be hacked willy nilly. They can have access to mine. May correct my at times poor spelling and grammar

Did interviews with 14 radio stations across the country this morning all one after the other with 15 minutes allowed for each one. I was bloody knackered by the time we finished, but hey ho all in a good cause.

Tomorrow I have to be up at 5am, in London for 7.45 and geared up for multiple radio interviews around the country during the day as a road safety expert and regarding our safety campaign relating to the turning off of mobile phones whilst driving. I have been doing my homework in preparation for any questions that might be thown in my direction and it surprised me that in a recent survey, the number of drivers who thought it was not acceptable to use a hand held mobile had dropped from 84% in 2014 to 78% in 2016. In other words 22% of drivers think it is OK to use a hand held mobile whilst driving to make or receive calls, send texts or check social media. That is worrying. Anyway, if any of you listen to local radio in your area, you may well hear my dulcet tones. At the last count, there were apparently about 18 radio stations who had booked an interview so it will be a long day, the last being at 5.20pm tomorrow night.

This should fix it https://www.hudgellsolicitors.co.uk/news-media/hudgell-solicitors-launches-hard-hitting-campaign-for-drivers-to-switch-off-mobiles-when-behind-the-wheel/

The campaign launches today and we are still looking for someone who has an interesting story to tell https://www.hudgellsolicitors.co.uk/...ind-the-wheel/

I think accomodation costs would include dinner and breakfast

This is a bit of a long shot, but if you don't ask you don't get. I am looking for someone who has been involved in a crash either on the bike or in the car where the cause of the crash was as a result of someone being distracted because they were using their mobile phone or texting. On top of that, I am hoping that someone would be prepared to come to London for 8.15 in the morning on the 22nd of November to tell their story to an interviewer. We would be happy to pay for accomodation the night before and cover travel costs. If you can or know someone who can or would be prepared to help, then I will be happy to discuss in further detail in person.

Having been instructing since the days of the old RAC/ACU courses right through to about 6 years ago as a CBT and DAS instructor so about 30 years experince and having run my own training busness and employed instructors in the past, I do have a little experience of the subject (although I would also add that the goal posts keep moving, so things might be a little different now) Firstly you have to have held a full bike licence for (I believe now) 3 years. I think you are also allowed a maximum of 6 points on your licence but the DSA were talking about reducing this to 3. To qualifiy, you can either go directly to Cardington, or you can become a down trained instructor with a local school. From what I hve been told, 99% of those that go to Cardington directly tend to fail because the DSA want you to instruct in a certain way. It is not the right way but their way and so you have to bite your lip a lot which is why going to a local school and becoming downtrained in the first instnce allows you to gain the experience of what is required before going to Cardington if that is what you want to do later on. As a down trained instructor, once your principal is happy with you, you can conduct CBT courses on your own. You will be subject (or at least should be subject) to spot checks from the DSA, but you are unable to run DAS courses without having qualified at Cardington which to be fair is a real joke (or at least it was when I did mine. If you are looking to become an instructor because it is your calling, then great and good for you. If you want to make a good living, much more difficult but not impossible, if you want to get rich, then forget it. When I conducted my last CBT and DAS course, it was the happiest days of my riding life. Instructing learners can become very frustrating and repetitive, in fact you could put all the answers to the same questions onto a dictaphone because the same questions keep getting ask and the youngsters don't listen anyway, and CBT and DAS can kill your enjoyment of riding. As a Police rider I would look for any excuse to get out on the bike either work wise or personal, as a CBT/DAS instructor after a while I would put te bike away at the end of the day and have no more interest. (just something to bear in mind) Find a local school, and see if 1, are they looking to recruit and 2, if they are ask if you can shadow someone for a few days and get a feel for it. You may change your mind once you see a course being run. Also bear in mind that there are far more very poor schools than there are good ones. So, speak to different people who have maybe passed theor test recently and get some ideas of who may be worth approaching and who to avoid.. Once I reverted back to just doing advanced work my enjoyment of riding went back through the roof and that is all I have done since I gave up teaching learners on top of which also had some very good overseas contracts which got me out of the UK during the winter months for a few weeks at a time at someone elses expense and I got aid very well for it and on top of which being an examiner as well really allows me to enjoy myself. But teaching learners? Not for me anymore and I speak to a lot of long serving instructors who like me cannot wait to give up, but if it is your vocation, then I wish you well. Hope that has been of some help to you.

I haven't forgotten the conversation we have had Stu. Once I get my feet under the table I will see what can be done

Some of you know that until the end of June, I was working for a law firm based in Warrington. Due to the fact that they were in severe financial difficulty (or that is what they told me) I was let go. Anyway, I am delighted that as of Monday the 7th, I will be working for Hudgell Solicitors. https://www.hudgellsolicitors.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; They have offices in Hull, London, Leeds and Bristol and I will be doing the same job as before but with a firm who has a great deal of professionalism and a good reputation. So I will still be able to do presentations, offer advice, arrange proper legal representation, just the name and details on my busness cards have changed. Now I just have a long trip up to Hull on Monday

Shame I am teetotal then

Apologies for not responding sooner, only just come online. If your daughter was a passenger in another vehicle, that does not count as a claim against her. The claim will be recorded against the driver of the vehicle in which she was travelling, but even then, if she was rear ended, it is called strict liability and therefore deemed non fault. Either way, even if she was the insured, the claim is made against the third party and is deemed a non fault claim. Your daughter has not made a previous claim on any of her policies, and the fact that she made a personal injury claim has no bearing on anything the new insurers might suggest. They are just being too lazy or too thick to look into it properly. In any case, a certificate of no claims can be provided by previous insurers which should be sufficient, and if they continue thos line, then refer the new insurers to the FSA at http://financial-ombudsman.org.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I am 6 feet 5 as well (both height and girth ) and I have long arms. Wulf and Scott leathers always fit me well off the peg. Anything European such as Furygan are also usually pretty good as they (especially the Germans) do long versions of their standard sizes, So for example, I am normally a size 58 European (which is a 48 UK) but a size 110 will give you the standard size with an additional 3 inches on the sleeve length (hope that makes sense). Weisse which is the brand name for Fowlers of Bristol have also usually been pretty good at fitting the taller/longer individual. Just don't think of Weisse being German as many do though.

I clicked on the link and it is no longer accepting responses. Strange to remove a survey in less than a day.......

Whats Viagra?

Last night I felt the first pangs of a headache developing, so I thought I would pop a couple of paracetomol and nip it in the bud before it really developed. So, went into the first aid/medication pot pulled out a packet and as I popped a tablet out I pricked the end of my thumb with the foil wrapper that they come in. Now normally apart from the odd swear word, I would not have given it a second thought, but then it started to bleed, and bleed, and bleed, and bleed, in fact it continued to bleed for the next couple of hours to the point that by the time I was ready to go to bed, I had to put a plaster over the area of my thumb that was bleeding. I am on Warfarin so my INR level is 2.5 which means I do bleed longer and more than those who are not on blood thinners, but FFS, I only pricked my thumb on some foil. Anyway, this morning, thumb is still a bit sore, and I could see where the blood was starting or trying to creep through the plaster, but at least it stopped bleeding. Who would have thought that paracetomol packaging could be so dangerous? Oh and the headache was nipped in the bud.......

One of the benefits I had of coming out on a medical, I got full pension index linked. That maybe worth you pursuing..... Federation always made it clear that if you left the job with any injury, dissability or illness as a result of the job, you are entitles to the injury portion of the pension. My father tried it 8 or 9 years after he retired for a knackered collar bone he sustained in a crash on a job bike and got his injury portion back dates which amounted to a lump sum of about £20K plus another £7 or £8K a year on top of his retirement pension. The stress that you have had to go through in respect of incident on a personal level may well qualifiy. In respect of keeping in touch, I guess I am fortunate that I retired before the ar*eholes started running things and the guys I served with on Traffic who themselves were top guys and professional are themselves retired now, but when we meet up at funerals, it s like a family reunion and we spend a lot of time wondering if we would survive in this day and age as the way we did things was very different but the job got done. These days, the current mob ( Mr Brightside excepted) don't seem to have a clue.

Really pleased that the matter is now over for you. Unfortunately it seems to be the way the job is going these days. My best mate 6 months before he retired went to help a young WPC who had been in the job 12 months and was having with a mouthy yob. As he arrived, said yob kicked off so my mate restrained him until further help arrived. WPC was bricking it and refused to help even though she wanted assistance Yob was not hurt, but he made a complaint of assault against my mate. Said WPC said that my mate was a bit rough with the prisoner and went over the top so both the yob and my mate were arrested. Anyway, long story short, my mate was charged with assault and suspended from duty. He was told not to worry because he only used reasonable force to restrain but in any case it would never get to court. Guess what? It went to court, my mate was convicted and was given a 12 month prison sentence suspended for 2 years He was told that if he appealed his penalty would be increased. Anyway, he was dismissed from the service and he could not collect his pension until he got to age 55 (he was 48 at the time) so he left a very bitter goy and I don't blame him as he was always the one person I would want backing me up in a scrap. Apparently some months later, the WPC who started all the issues put out a call for ugent assistance, Nobody turned up The story is more involved, but it gives an indication of what the job s coming to and so I can appreciate the situation that Throttled has been through. Makes me glad that I am out of the job though. Said mate is still my best mate who I have known for 40 plus years and was my best man and is godfather to my daughter, but I have never seen anyone become so anti Police as quickly as he has, and I am not particularly pro Police myself these days.

Wearing cheap gear is better than no gear or the wrong gear, but even the most expensive kit will not prevent some injuries There is one particular type of helmet for example which costs a lot of money, but the chances of suffering a diffuse injury to the base of the skull (broken neck) increases by 75%. But because it costs a lot of money, many people believe it has to be good. That is why it is all subjective

There is. And there is also a UK version, but it is not provide an accurate reflection of how kit behaves in different types of crashes over an extended period of time. It is easier to answer specific question then be generic.

You are right, but this is where part of the problem lies. A manufacturer will submit an item for testing. The manufactuere determines and decides what is going to be tested for CE approval, so it may be armour, it may be abrasion resistance, it may be stitching, it may be thickness of leather, either singularly or collectively. If it passes then it can carry the CE mark. Bu what some do is (lets use a textile jacket as an example) is that the manufacturers will submit their garment to be tested for waterproofing, it passes and then carries the CE mark. It will carry the CE mark because it passed the specific test and so can be sold as such even though its protective qualities have not been tested. To the lay person it appears that the garment has been tested and is approved across the board and will/can assume that armour is included but is often not the case. So a person buys the garment think it has universal CE approval and it is not until they fall off and hurt themselves that the truth is found out. So the point I am making, s that whilst I agree with your comment, CE accreditaion is no guarantee. However, I am aware that there is a proposal from the French (and it is a very good and sound proposal) to change the accrediation process and the cheats will have great difficulty in sneaking in some of these cut corner garments or be able to fool the lay person/end consumer. It will howver take a couple of years as the working party to move the new ideas forward has only just been set up, and the UK representative is someone who I know and will make sure that the system is viable and to the benefit of all riders.