Is the proposed road tax a threat to racing?

My favourite speeding story (I believe it to be true) and apologise to those familiar with it, concerns an incident which involved Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary I believe (if memory serves me right).

Anyway, the story runs that two cops were testing out some new speed gun on top of some mountain road, when the thing suddenly went berserk, and jammed at about 800mph. A few seconds later, a Harrier jump jet shot over head. With their new fangled kit jammed and broken, the police duly submitted a bill to the MoD for about £5,000.

The reply painted a lovely picture in my mind. It ran something along the lines of;

Dear Sir,

Under the circumstances you should consider yourself extremely lucky that the plane wasn't armed. On realising that it was being tracked by a radar beam the aircraft is fitted with a mechanism that automatically jams the signal, which is why your speed gun is broken. In addition to this, an onboard computer automatically locks onto the source of the track and under normal circumstances would fire an anti radar missile by way of a defensive counter measure. Had the plane been carrying live weapons this process would have happened automatically and the pilot would not have been able to prevent it.

Perhaps you will consider advising your officers in future regarding the potential hazard of testing radar beams in known low flying zones. :lol:
 
Originally posted by Ardross@Jan 4 2007, 09:12 PM
Well you learn something new everyday - evidently Dave Cameron failed to tell Kathy about his simiar environmental tax plans - what a rotter leading her on like that :D
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You can't help yourself can you. I don't know what history there is between the pair of you but it seems Kathy can't post anything without you making some comment. You come across as a bit of a tw*t.
 
You come across as someone who hasn't read the terms and conditions on personal abuse . I suggest you do so pronto .

The point made is a serious one, albeit in the context of her most spectacular ever namedrop . All the main political parties are signed up to some form of significant environmental taxation and the Conservative party in particular is peddling its green credentials . Thus Kathy's rant at the present government as if they are the only party proposing such taxes was wholly misplaced.
 
Originally posted by tetley@Jan 5 2007, 09:03 AM
No a twit, go back and read any of my posts you will not find any profanities.
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so why did you asterix a letter, implying the need to edit the word, twit would not offend anyone
 
Back to Uncle Goobers questions; no you don't have to score 100% on the theory test, and you are also allowed a number of 'minor' errors on the practical and can still pass.
I have no points at the moment but had three from September 2001 for doing 34 in a 30 area, and the camera was at the top of a brow and I had to accelerate to climb the hill. Was not particularly happy about that but accept it was wrong. I have been driving for over 25 years and have got away with things probably too.
A colleague at work recently driving back from Shropshire was involved in an accident whera young lad in a Clio came spinning on the wrong side of the road and smashed into an Audi which was in front of my colleague, who just managed to swerve and avoid the Audi. Neither my colleague or the Audi were breaking the speed limit on the road. He and his wife, who is a nurse, went to help the young lad but he was gasping for air and his pupils were dilated when they got to him . They couldn't find a pulse, but got him out out of the car to see what they could do to help and were worried as petrol was leaking from the Clio. The Clio had clipped another car as it tried to overtake at considerable speed prior to which he had tailgated said car. Several people who had had to stop gave statements to the police that the driver of the Clio had been 'driving like an idiot for some time, tailgating and speeding'. This was on Christmas Eve. Because he was acting like an idiot his family wuold hear the tragic news. The driver of the Audi was relatively unhurt, he had a nose bleed, but was extremely traumatised as was my colleague, but the accident was no one else's fault other than the driver of the Clio because he was driving irresponsibly.
 
Originally posted by Ardross+Jan 4 2007, 10:43 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Ardross @ Jan 4 2007, 10:43 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteBegin-Kathy@Jan 4 2007, 09:20 PM
I've learnt something too, Ardross.  You are always going to be so damn predictable and so desperately unfunny.  Go and find a thread you don't agree with to delete or lock as we are already 4 days into the New Year.  Try the one about foxhunting.... oh no, you've already done that one.  :blink: 

What sort of public school boy word is "rotter"? What era are you  from?

Dear, oh dear......  :confused:
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Kathy I suggest you check out some of the Conservative leader's environmental tax plans then you might be a little better informed and how about a New year's Resolution to stop namedropping .[/b][/quote]
Ardross, IF I want to namedrop, I will continue to do so especially as it clearly annoys you so much! <_<

Anyway, don't you think it's interesting that I was invited to share a glass of champagne with Theresa May, David Cameron and some other members of the Conservative Party at one of the most prestigous addresses in London? :blink: If you must know I was representing my late mother. I have a lot more names to add to my namedropping list to be dropped into conversations.

Believe me, the more you (and your "friends") make your snidey, childish comments, the more I will do it. You have been warned!

Tetley, it's nice to know that you have noticed, and it's great that you are not the only one!
 
Back to Uncle Goobers questions; no you don't have to score 100% on the theory test, and you are also allowed a number of 'minor' errors on the practical and can still pass.
I have no points at the moment but had three from September 2001 for doing 34 in a 30 area, and the camera was at the top of a brow and I had to accelerate to climb the hill. Was not particularly happy about that but accept it was wrong. I have been driving for over 25 years and have got away with things probably too.
A colleague at work recently driving back from Shropshire was involved in an accident where a young lad in a Clio came spinning on the wrong side of the road and smashed into an Audi which was in front of my colleague, who just managed to swerve and avoid the Audi. Neither my colleague or the Audi were breaking the speed limit on the road. He and his wife, who is a nurse, went to help the young lad but he was gasping for air and his pupils were dilated when they got to him . They couldn't find a pulse, but got him out out of the car to see what they could do to help and were worried as petrol was leaking from the Clio. The Clio had clipped another car as it tried to overtake at considerable speed prior to which he had tailgated said car. Several people who had had to stop gave statements to the police that the driver of the Clio had been 'driving like an idiot for some time, tailgating and speeding'. This was on Christmas Eve. Because he was acting like an idiot his family would hear the tragic news. The driver of the Audi was relatively unhurt, he had a nose bleed, but was extremely traumatised as was my colleague, but the accident was no one else's fault other than the driver of the Clio because he was driving irresponsibly.
 
Originally posted by ovverbruv+Jan 5 2007, 09:31 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (ovverbruv @ Jan 5 2007, 09:31 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-tetley@Jan 5 2007, 09:03 AM
No a twit, go back and read any of my posts you will not find any profanities.
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so why did you asterix a letter, implying the need to edit the word, twit would not offend anyone [/b][/quote]
Cos I have a sense of humour. D*ck
 
I totally agree with Euronymous about the experience of riding a motor bike.
I was a motorcyclist for about 11 years, including a few years n central London as a despatch rider, and when you have survived that, it makes you a far better car driver believe me.
 
Ted, my OH was a despatch rider in central London too. We were in London yesterday afternoon and he couldn't believe that there were hardly any bike couriers around. Obviously, the number of couriers diminished dramativally with the arrival of electronic mail, telex, faxes and obviously e-mails. He has told me some great stories of his time on the road and the types of bikes he had and how cold he got in the Winter months.

I can also reveal in his early years he was also a milkman - around Shepherds Bush! :blink: One of the benefits of being a courier, he knows all the back streets and short cuts around London and the best places to park etc. He went from being a courier to actually being the controller... what a horrendous job. As a car driver now he is very sympathetic towards "proper" motor cyclists as opposed to those that just bring their motorbikes out at the weekends or in the summer! He still hates black cab drivers though! :D
 
Uhhh... going back up a bit past the mud-wrestling section... I heard that story, too, Warbler - great, isn't it? :lol:

Thinking about pollution, I received my copy of 'The Week' today with this letter reproduced from The Times:

"We did not ask for greens from Zambia to be available 12 months a year. We did not ask for 20 opportunities to open new credit accounts to be delivered weekly, or for small high street shops to be murdered by exorbitant council rents and prohibitive parking schemes that played into the hands of out of town superstores.... governments would not dare take on the real polluters and are too late to address the political and cultural mistakes that have created the mountain of waste that is daily shovelled our way. So they come up with a catchphrase like 'polluter pays' and try to convince us that just by being on the receiving end of an overlfowing postbag that we did not request and cannot avoid that it is all in some way our fault." (Martin Samuel, The Times)

I thought that this correspondent pretty much hit on the head several issues in one go, all of them germane to today's pollution/global warming/social disarray themes. When I lived in the then market town of Newcastle under Lyme, Staffordshire, the town was eventually gutted of all of the family-owned and run shops such as wet fish, butcher, home bakeries, an amazing 'everything' shop where you could buy a single screw if that's all you needed, by the Council trebling their rents. What we got were Starbucks-type coffee houses and franchised bistros and bars, leading to late-night puking and fighting - lovely. If you wanted a single screw, tough luck - you could, though, get on a bus and take a long ride to the local superstore where you could buy a packet of six, five of which you didn't want. Previously, you could've WALKED to your stores and bought fresh food daily. Instead, Councils have changed this useful exercise and controlled buying to where you must use a vehicle of some sort and buy in bulk, requiring usually a freezer as well as a fridge to store the foodstuffs. So, lay the blame for too many damned appliances and too much travel as the spin-offs from venal Councils.
 
Originally posted by krizon@Jan 5 2007, 03:13 PM
an amazing 'everything' shop where you could buy a single screw if that's all you needed
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The place to go for a single (or multiple!!) screw is Los Lagos, so I'm reliably informed. Although there are several less salubrious establishments in La Linea which are nearly as good, as a couple of blokes at work will attest to.....
 
So my posting about Ardross deleting my postings, and some of his, so as not to incriminate himself, have now also disappeared.

Ardross, please answer my question. Why have you gone back and deleted some of yours and my postings on a previous thread? You clearly know which ones they are.
 
Your postings were deleted for personal abuse - as to your other suggestion check the Ipswich murders thread.
 
Originally posted by Kathy@Jan 4 2007, 07:35 PM
Many of you will have heard about that coach tipping over on the slip road from the M4 onto the M25 last night, killing 2 people and injuring many. The driver is possibly going to be prosecuted for dangerous driving. I am only guessing that speed could have well been a factor in this incident.

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One of the survivors of this awful accident said today that he thought that the accident was caused due to the driver driving too fast. I am sure there will be a full H&S enquiry but this is just one of the passengers personal opinions.

It sounds like there will be some people permanently disabled after this horrendous accident and a few that lost limbs when they had to be cut out of the coach.
 
One definite factor in the seriousness of the injuries sustained was that a number of passengers were not wearing their seatbelts- one poor chap reported seeing his wife fly through the air.
 
Originally posted by Warbler@Jan 4 2007, 02:33 PM
I can't help feeling that this a political point, especially as there's an invitation to sign a petition tenuously being presented as a threat to racing so as to include in the racing section?
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I seriously do think this is a BIG threat to racing, which is why I posted it there. People who join big or small clubs & syndicates to follow horses will no longer be able to follow them around the country - I certainly can't if it gets anymore expensive, I spend every penny i have on petrol as it is and I know a lot of other racing nuts in the same position.

I didn't learn to drive till I was 40 btw, and went everywhere by public transport. I now have a very bad back - riding accident - and can't really handle public transport as I can't carry anything, and certtainly can't handle the driving on buses these days. Every lurch could put me horizontal for months

This proposal is of course luncacy for anyone who lives in the country - no PO, no shop or garage for miles... It's easy for town dwellers to support this kind of proposal, but people like me who moved out of a big city - London in my case - due to living costs, are in a cleft stick here.

I do wish people int he forum would not be so quick to question the motives of others who post in good faith. I posted in particular on the General forum as I hoped for a discussion on HOW THE PORPOSAL IF ENACTED WOULD AFFECT RACING, not a general political slanging match
 
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