Pete Ashby

Highway Code Rule 169: "Do not hold up a long queue of traffic, especially if you are driving a large or slow-moving vehicle. Check your mirrors frequently, and if necessary, pull in where it is safe and let traffic pass." This was drummed into me as part of the H test and I'm bemused that it surprises anyone, especially a so-called "professional" driver!

 

Andy

Hmmm, just re-read the article and I can see no suggestion that he was classed as a 'professional driver' there is however an interesting comment used in the defense that there was deemed nowhere safe to pull over.

Perhaps there is little merit in discussing the actual case only in so much as it relates to our activities and relative speeds on the highway, rather it acts as a reminder for all of us that Rule 169 is on the statue and is applied in a subjective manner by the courts using fines and points as defined by CD30.

Pete

No I'm not worried Sean it doesn't really impact on me.

For many years (40 years this year) I have driven many thousands of miles here in the UK and on the continent in a range of preserved vehicles getting by using common sense and common road courtesy and on the rare occasion these days I move my stuff around I either trailer it or take small relatively fast vehicles.

My reason for flagging this up was for the good of us all here on HMVF who own large slow vehicles so that we all sing from the same song sheet and are aware of the requirement under CD30.

I'm not fully clear about the range and scope of the Magistrates court however I wonder if Persuasive Precedent may not play a part if the plaintive offered the charge which was then rejected by the counsel acting for the accused and the case was taken to a higher court.

Either way it's not the intention of this thread to argue the finer points of case law, it's purely to bring the issue to the attention of members on the basis that ignorance of the law is no defense.

Pete

You don't need to, Pete - that's what your barrister with questionable ethics is paid to do :cool2: It's amazing how they can run rings around anything to do with 'subjective application of law'.

 

I agree with you it is subjective, and there are no black and white answers - I guess all you can do is drive with care and consideration for other road users. If you believe the examples above are doing just that, then what more can you do?

Agreed NoS and this is what we should all be doing and keeping a wary eye out for the plod.

for reference purposes and with no further comment I have included a link here that gives the three main legal definitions of precedent http://www.inbrief.co.uk/legal-system/precedents/

Pete (busy fitting a supercharger to my Retriever)

Not so sure Pete - although speed was obviously a contributing factor, it was not mentioned in the specific charge, which is more about ignoring a line of vehicles behind (the only defence against which would be to demonstrate that you pulled over at every opportunity I guess?):

 

Traffic police charged the tractor driver with driving without reasonable consideration for other road users after the early morning tailback on the A39 in November last year.

 

 

Under fine code CD30 which appears to me to be totally subjective.

Lets bring the discussion a little nearer home..... you are driving your Diamond T or Scammell Pioneer on the flat highway and you haven't passed a lay bay or safe pull in for 2 miles and you have let's say an arbitrary 6 cars behind you....... can you be accused of not being judicious.

Here's another example... you are in a convoy of 4 or 5 mixed trucks going to a show you are keeping a sensible gap between vehicles to let the cars drivers pass and pull in between your vehicles your speed on the flat is 35 mph you come to an incline and your speed drops to 20 mph or perhaps 15 mph for a couple of miles and the ques behind gets longer ( you have no way of knowing how many are there other that perhaps the first half dozen, there are no passing places............ now how can you demonstrate judicious behavior?.

Pete

I've just had a wander around the Gov.UK site and I haven't been able to find any definitive statement about minimum speed limits here in the UK can anyone point them to me please?, however what I have found on a site that gives hints and tips to learner drivers is the following I have copied verbatim :

CAN YOU BE FINED FOR DRIVING TOO SLOW

Although there is no minimum speed limit on the majority of UK roads, you can still be fined for driving too slow if it is seen that you are a hazard to other road users. There is no specific penalty for driving too slowly and as such, penalties may be as little as a verbal warning by a police officer along with a lecture of the dangers of driving too slow and in more serious cases, a motorist may find themselves in court charged with driving without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration for other road users (penalty code CD30). The more serious penalty CD30 comes with penalty points on a motorists licence, anywhere from 3 to 9 along with a fine. Penalty points stay on a motorists licence for four years from the date of the offence and are likely to seriously impact the cost of car insurance.

The amount of penalty points set between 3 and 9 and a fine of anything up to a maximum of £5,000 are determined by the seriousness of the incident and the decision of the court.

So it would appear that the young lad in question was done under CD30 the particular rights and wrongs of this case are not I would suggest of of interest to us as a body, the speed at which the offence was deemed to have been committed is however.

As I said at the start of this thread there is now a clear legal precedent set on what would appear to be the subjective evidence of the enforcing officer at any one time with regard to what is or is not a safe and reasonable minimum speed to maintain.

Pete

Given the speed of some of our older vehicles it may be worth reading this link below.

Iv'e never come across this before on an A road unfortunatly this case will have set the legal precident I'm afraid.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3674032/The-conviction-motorist-cheer-Tractor-driver-fined-190-trundling-slowly-queue-FIFTY-cars-trapped-him.html

Pete

Odds on are it's still ignition related have you checked security of LT wires on ammeter, ignition switch and the condition of the switch itself.

I had ignition switch on a Dodge that worked fine until the truck jarred on a bump and the engine would stutter and then pick up, turned out the internal contacts were burned and arching. That problem took a long time to find and only by accident when I knocked the switch getting in with the engine idling and got the same result.

Have you run a vacuum gauge test yet ? it may help to eliminate valve, seat, and valve train issues although given that it has run fine under load for 5 miles I would be surprised if this is where your problem is.

Failing that something floating about in the fuel tank causing a temporary partial blockage or an accelerator pump piston that sticks again not very likely I'm afraid.

When does it happen.... under load?....on over run?...,at idle?.....when cold? when hot? .....

all of the above ?

Pete

Nice work :thumbsup:, keep the pictures coming

Pete

Thank you Andy for taking the time to come back with answers, your Father certainly saw a lot of action.

Has the information you supplied come from his pay book entries or his service record ? if you don't have his service record I would urge you to apply for it, that in conjunction with his pay book entries will give a full picture of his service. With the information you already have you could look for his unit's war diaries again very well worth doing

The relevant point in relation to your request for information regarding the post war burying of tanks and your Father's involvement is the last note from your Father's service history namely that he moved to class Z reserve (as indeed all service men did on demob).

One of the requirements especially for men with trade or specialist skills was periodic recall of 15 day duration 'training and refresher' exercises. Ex service men were eligible for this up to the age I believe of 45 although there seems some confusion as to the exact age; as an aside I can remember my Father getting his notification of release from class Z and him saying he was going to frame it.

I am wondering if your Father was possibly recalled under the class Z scheme and as part of 'refresher' training given his service rank he oversaw and or took part in some form of camp clearance activity that involved burying scrap of some kind ?

If you would like links for sources of unit diaries let me know

Pete

Complete NoS boxed 1 1/4" Front wheel cylinders for C8 4x2 and C15 4x2 part number 5300869.

I have opened one of the boxes for the photo, I'm selling as a complete front axle set ie what you see in the photo is what you get.

The usual cautionary note applies with regard to using old rubber seals on brake line.

Total price for the axle set (ie 2x cylinders) £70.00 plus p&p at cost

Pete

Wheel cylinder repair kits NoS for front axle on 8cwt C8 4x2 & 15cwt C15 4x2 set includes:

Pistons, spring, end caps and 1 1/4" cups although the cups look to be in perfect condition they come with the usual cautionary note about using old stock rubber seals on brake lines.

total price for full axle set (ie 2 sets) £28.00 plus p&p at cost

Pete

One last thing make sure you have not got NGK plugs in the engine they can cause all kinds of problems, as I know.......

Interesting comment what was the problem with the NGK plugs ?

I've got a bit of a mission at the moment about some manufactures plugs and their unsuitability for older engines so I'd be keen to know your findings.

Pete

Hi Mike. Since you have changed pretty well everything I'd say could be plug leads or possibly plugs. Check the distributor shaft for wear, I had one that was giving all sorts of odd symptoms eventually traced to play in the shaft.

Hope this might give you a clue.

I had similar problems with spitting back through the carb and backfiring from the exhaust when warm and under load with a GMC.

Like you I went round and round :nut: until I finally pulled the distributor and found it was a French replacement unit and the base plate had become loose on the shaft. It was held on by a peened down flange that had worn allowing the base plate to move about and therefore the points gap to wander all over the shop, also when the shaft warmed up the base plate would stick in the advanced position. A quick squirt with the Mig on low power solved all the issues in this particular case.

I'm not suggesting this is your answer Mike but it might be worth checking

Pete

That is an excellent piece of kit Colin welcome to HMVF

Pete

You know, daft though it may seem, I'd think the canvas would spoil it. She's looking like she is there ready to work.

I know exactly what you mean Tony, we took the canvas off my sons C30 11 cab at the weekend ready for a bit of an overhaul and we thought exactly the same thing.

Pete

Good job Howard looks the part nice to see another early CMP saved :yay:

Pete

Nice clean copy all pages intact £10.00 pluss p&p at cost

Pete

The Y listing in service records was used to denote a stay in hospital of greater than 21 days, the man would then on discharge from the medical facility be posted to a holding unit.

In other words a pool depot with no guarantee of return to original unit.

Pete

Try asking the guys here http://ww2talk.com/forums/at WW2 , some one there will almost certainly know

Pete

It really depends on the degree of distortion and the physical condition of the rim.

A large capacity hydraulic press and some heavy forming bars will do the job if the distortion is not excessive. It's worth however bearing in mind that the combat rim is a relatively heavy piece of kit when mounted with a tire and the whole assembly revolves at fairly high RMP on the road even a small distortion can lead to tire wear, wheel tramping and at worst the death wobble not something you want to experience more then once (unless you posses an unlimited supply of clean underwear :wow:).

Reproduction combat rims are not that expensive and easily obtainable I've used several and they fit together well and mount with no balancing being required.

Pete

Now transmitted across the Internet on 100% recycled electrons.

Pete

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Head and sidelights fitted along with spaghetti

I note the essential aid to any wiring job (Flask on the floor by the front wheel) I'd have thought you'd have a kettle rigged up by now though Jeremy .

Seriously though, very nice work, I learnt a long time ago that money and time spent on correct wiring saves a huge amount of heart ache and frustration later on.

keep the pictures coming

regards

Pete

When Champs were being sold off a dealer imported some to the USA

Thanks Nick I wonder just how popular they were with our US cousins

Pete

Speaking to Amanda, she told me that as the Dodges have step cylinders and in consultation with Girling ONLY Dot 4 fluid recommended.

Interesting Tony, I wonder what the reasoning was ? I'm not clear what the difference the stepped cylinder makes.

My understanding of the difference between DoT 3 and 4 is the wet and dry boiling points 4 being higher than 3 you would have to have the hammer down pretty hard to boil DoT 3 even at the worst end of the wet point curve with a Dodge, unless you rode the brakes down hill for 3 miles.

Still better safe than sorry I suppose, but it does beg the question about what fluid to use in trucks larger than a Dodge which is comparatively not as large as some of the kit guys own on this forum.

Pete

One looks to be in fair condition almost worth it for the pair even with shipping. So what are Champs doing in the US ??