Richard Grosvenor

On a slightly similar theme has anyone else has the problem that if you search for anything on Google you just end up with pages of "companies" selling anti-virus packages ? The links all look like the genuine site I'm looking for but as soon as I click on them I get loads of messages flash up warning of a virus and then it goes to a site that can sell something to fix it. Luckily nothing bad has happened and I don't bother using Google at the minute. Richard

I use a Pro-Nav now http://www.pronav.co.uk/ It's quite good, you can put in the sizes of your vehicle and it will route accordingly and as I write this it has never sent me down a winding dead end lane with an artic....yet, it can also be used as a normal car prat-nav if you wish. Price is good too I thought, especially compared to other HGV models. Regards Richard

Looks nice ! There's a few times I wish I hadn't sold mine :-( With reference to the brakes, I had a similar problems with mine a couple of years ago after it had stood over the winter. In my case it was linkages on the service brakes that was the problem. After lots duck oil and hard work it all freed off lovely and plenty of regular greasing stopped it happening again. Would jacking it up show the problem wheel? I'm sure mine had limited slip diffs. Richard

I thought it was brilliant! I loved the way it was filmed and edited to make the Inspectors look like a load of prats. The one in his kitchen demonstrating how to dry the floor !!! :-) I liked it when the women couldn't do a damn thing about that blokes workshop because he didn't employ anybody. She doesn't like loosing does she. And could you imagine being stuck in a room with any of them. Richard

it's always nice to be right every now and then :-). Unfortunately the same can't be said for one of the batteries on our ex-MOD generator. One of them is perfect but the other is completely dead so they'll both have to be replaced :-(. Luckily it has a hydraulic starter motor so we can still start it. Why haven't more engines got these? Regards Richard

The best memory I will always have of a Blackbird was at Mildenhall Air-Fete years ago. It did a very slow fly past, and you could see how unstable she was at low speed, the pilot then did a very tight turn over the crowd which cut the fuel off to the engines and they shut down. As he fired them back up gallons of unburnt fuel ignited in a fire ball all over the plane. Luckily it didn't crash but it could have been very nasty. Someone a few feet from us was listening into the tower at the time, you really should have heard that! I've only ever seen one picture of the incident, my uncle had it all lined up and his finger was on the shutter but in the shock of what was happening he just stood there watching it. Regards Richard

I can't see it could cost that much..... can it? The trick would be to find someone to back load your stuff to shows. Mind you looking at your location this may be a bit of a problem. Richard

The Driver Certificate of Professional Competency (CPC ) the new tax on holders of vocational licences. From 2014 you have to take 35 hours of training every 5 years, this can be broken down into 5 annual sessions of 7 hours if you prefer. At the minute there isn't any exact prices for this training but it's rumoured to be around £170-£200 per 7 hours. Apparently to gain your CPC you have to find a seat on a course, pay for the seat and sit on it! There is no test, if you sit the course, you pass. So yes, it is just another TAX by another name. There is no sense to the CPC, the "teacher" doesn't need to hold a CPC, you can take a bus drivers course and drive a lorry and vice-a-versa. There will be no training on safe trailer coupling ( which an artic driver does everyday) but they might train you how to tilt a cab ! Can you imagine what some of these professional drivers of 30 years think to having to take training from some little squit who's never sat in a lorry!? Regards Richard

I would seriously look in to the cost involved before rushing out and buying a low loader. I've been there, done that and got the t-shirt. Unless you are using it every weekend it is cheaper to hire someone to move your pride and joy. I have a Renault Magnum and while it is cheap to tax as a Private HGV ( only £165 a year regardless of plated weight ) and insurance with someone like Footman James is only £122 every thing else mounts up. Plating ( MOT ) is much stricter than with a car and the VOSA man won't give a damn that you only use it every now and then, it will still have to comply to the same standards as a working truck. Tyres are expensive, you're unlikely to wear them out but they will deteriorate and VOSA don't like that. And have you seen the size of a trucks brake discs!? Then you've got the trailer. That needs to be Plated too. Most will have 12 tyres, 6 air bags and 6 brake cambers, all sitting there rotting or seizing up. I'm lucky with a trailer as a friend has 3 I can borrow if i need to. And you've got to buy them in the first place, about £3500 for a unit and possibly a bit more for a descent step frame low loader. The high price a scrap and a strong export market for basic units as put pay to finding a really cheap out fit. So realistically you're looking at 7-8 grand which would pay for a lot of haulier miles and their truck is up and down the road everyday so should be very reliable ( HGV's don't like standing about ) and if it does brake down it's not your problem. Regards Richard

I use them on most of my vehicle's, certainly over winter when they're not used much. They charge the battery, then let it go down a little, then charge it again. Basically the same as if the vehicle was in regular use. I have noticed though if a battery is weak it will either build it back up again or finish it off completely. They're easy enough to get, just have a look on Ebay, I sold quite a few there a couple of years ago Regards Richard

How long have the batteries been on charge? I remember reading somewhere that modern "Maintenance Free" batteries if flat, need to be charged at around 15vts for at least 3 days to bring them back up. Just a thought Richard

Now not wanting to go off topic anymore but why? As I understand it White diesel is for road use and red is clearly marked NOT for road use. Rivers ain't roads are they! I could go on about how it's time we got more like the French and started standing up for ourselves but I'm not going there! Richard

Why? Subject very close to his heart? I don't blame him, I used to have a boat many years ago. I'll have another one someday but as they say a gentleman should have a boat 1ft long for year old he is I'm going to have to get cracking! Regards Richard

They're banning Red Diesel for boats now!?? Why?? Oh yer, forgot, boating tends to be done by middle class people who like spending time in the country. That's why. Silly me! My old Militant had quite a bit of red diesel in it when I got, but I've always used white since. Some people have suggested that it is a Gun TRACTOR. But I think thats too much of a technicality to stand up in court. Regards Richard

I certainly believe that engines smoke more when on Red Diesel, but I think this is just another way "they" can spot you using it. If you rev an engine running on white diesel hard you get black smoke from the stack but do the same running on red it's more of a white smoke. I'm geussing that it is something to do with the dye's used burning off. Red diesel also has more of a smell I think. As for red diesel being harmfull to engines....tractors run on it all the time even modern tractors costing 100's of thousands of pounds,they seem OK. The high water content is more likely to come from how it is stored "at home" I would have thought, condensation forming in the tanks which aren't topped up very often. I don't know about the other stuff. Anyfirm that does heating fuels should do Red Diesel, they'll do White too but unless you are buying it in Eddie Stobart quanities it's not going to be any cheaper than pump prices Regards Richard

I can't see any reason why they wouldn't pump it straight into the OT90's fuel tank, it's no different to pumping it into a storage tank is it. And if you don't order more than 500 ltr at a time they only charge 5% VAT on red rather than the normal 17.5%, very useful if you're not a business user. Regards Richard

Hi Neil, I was having a little thought earlier, as you do. As the old girl isn't registered at the minute why don't you run it on Red Diesel? It's less than half the price of white and if you order 500 litres ( I should think the fuel tank is big enough ) the fuel company will deliver it. Saves all the hassle of Jerry cans and no doubt a week of thundering around the War & Peace arena will soon use a few 100 litres so there won't be much red left in it when you do get her registered. Regards Richard

It's not too bad a film really. True it's a bit weak at the beginning and the ends a bit lame, but in the middle there's a lovely scene of that big Kraz thundering down the road. It's the same Kraz thats often seen in MV magazines and at shows by the way. It used to belong to Hughes Film Hire, it's also been in a few James Bond films. Richard

Ah! My sister and her partner got stuck in an horrendous traffic jam on the M11 early this morning due to an "incident". That'll be it then! :-) Richard

Not wanting to go off topic anymore but..... when I took my ZIL for a road worthiness test I was very disappointed. Not with the ZIL, that was fine, but with the testers. Most of them didn't want to do it and kept letting modern HGV's go ahead of me and one little Hitler was more intent in proving that it wasn't exempt and it should also have to have all the modern safety standards of a modern working truck than testing the vehicle. What I also didn't like was that a road worthiness test costs more than an annual test would have and you don't get anything to say if the vehicle is road worthy or not. And knowing how VOSA is it's no good relying on a verbal statment from one of their testers! It was nice proving to the chap who did test the ZIL that the brakes were very good though. I did tell him to brace himself but did he listen.......well he did after he hit the windscreen! Regards Richard

Ooooooo....I like the guide price on the FH70's. Mines for sale at £4500 ( no VAT ) if anyones interested. I was at Withams yesterday delivering a couple of rather nice Bedford MJ's and an Arrows trailer. I didn't have a lot of time to look round but I noticed that the Green Goddess's are really getting rough now. Richard

I think if you have a look at this clip it might give a clue as to how it was done http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=95tFGzDpDJs&feature=related Note how the water and the some look just the same as in the F15 ( MiG ) video :-) Richard

Number 30 is the category I'd tick. I don't think a Pig could really be classed as an Ambulance. When you get your V11 form for re-taxing does it say you need a HGV Test Certificate? If it does use the V112G form, if not don't bother. This would all be much easier if VOSA / DVLA introduced a new testing category for privately owned commercials and military vehicles where they are still tested but don't have to be to the same standards as modern trucks covering 1000kms a week. Regards Richard

Well as I understand it, a commercial vehicle over 3500kg, manufactured before 1960 and used unladen is exempt from yearly testing. I'm guessing that a Pig ,owning to it's light truck underpinnings would be exempt . Maybe. Regards Richard