LarryH57

DVLA website struggles with new rules on hiring a car- enough said! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32916968

The DLVA have recently abolished the Counterpart driving licences, so if you are soon to be hiring a car for a trip abroad or once you are on holiday, then in advance of the hiring, you need to access the Share Driving License website and enter your license number, the postcode to which the licence is registered and your National Insurance number. This will then produce a reference code for you to give to the Car Hire firm, so that they may check you records to see if you are acceptable to them for the vehicle you hire; such as your class of licence or that you don't have too many penalty points. However the online reference number given only lasts for 72 hours after which you need to log on again and get another reference if you have not already hired a vehicle. So if you go aboard take a note of your Drivers Licence number and National Insurance number (hopefully you remember your postcode!), so you can be prepared for that Icelandic Volcano eruption, which might permit you to hire a car in Spain and drive to Calais, to get home rather than wait for the airline to start flying again! As the new system may take a while to be implemented I suggest you still bring your drivers licence with you just to be sure. https://www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-to-share-your-driving-licence-information www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence

What a shame ex-military vehicles used not for hire and reward get classed as 'commercial based'. Time to write to your MP or better still mine; Boris Johnson!

Here is an in service photo of another example in service in Tunisia, Sicily or Italy. This photo comes from another of Bill Greggs books. It looks like the tilt hoops have been lowered to their shipping height and are used as grab rails. I can't make out the Div sign on the near side.

Snowdrop - what do you own that's affected by the LEZ; something diesel I imagine? Have you checked the LEZ web site, as I know that some members drive diesel Land Rovers but these are classed as PLG by DVLA, so are exempt.

Interesting to know who would own the CV as it might not be a war prize and more like an artefact!

Sometimes when searching for something on the web (vehicle related of course!) other photos pop up that are of interest, and in this case a photo of a WW2 Italian Carro Veloce found somewhere in the Middle East or Afghanistan- but what has happened to it? Does anyone know?

Thanks for all your posts. Fulltilt's post is correct and luckily I'm not in a conservation area. The buildings that are on the web are either too massive and too long or have doors that restrict the height or have a central pillar in the door opening. I have a space 18ft by 18ft approx. for the garage which would still leave another 12ft of garden width as a hard standing for a car or other MV!

I'm looking to build a double garage at the end of my garden as I have rear access, and according to the council I can built the garage up to a max of 4 metres high (and without planning permission) but I can't find any prefabs that fit the bill, as I want to have a high ceiling and doors on it to match so that I can cater to a range of MVs of medium size that would not fit is a standard garage. Has anyone had a garage built to their own design to cater for their MV. The problem I have with a double garage is that the opening needs a sturdy RSJ to avoid having a central and vertical support in the opening which defeats the usefulness of a double garage. Also the design of the doors needs to be easy to open but not that easy for a thief, so what have you got? I'd be interested in photos of you various designs, or details of a firm that can do the job.

I collected loads of your leaflets at the MVT AGM and handed them out at the last meeting of the Heathrow & West London Area MVT and loads of members were interested, as its not too far from our area and only up the road from Box Hill which was our Area's destination for drive it day! Regards Larry

Dear Ashcollection, Hopefully you don't keep your wonderful collection in a big field and let them rot over the coming years (like a collection being disposed of in Wilts this weekend)

It would be interesting to run another poll and ask if how the vehicles are split in to WW1 / pre-war, WW2, post-war and 'modern' / built from 2000 onwards. The reason I ask is that most members own British but those from WW2 are becoming rarer at shows, and pre-war almost hard to find.

Great looking Lwt! When you get time, change the tyres to those with MOD like tread pattern of the period

This is a short Pathe film from 1965 showing the activities of Military Engineering Establishment in Christchurch, Hampshire, since closed and now a retail park? Did the trench digger ever enter service? http://www.britishpathe.com/video/army-innovations/query/Christchurch

Cigarette smoke; (I gave up years ago) but the smell reminds me of those breaks in convoys or being beside the road in Germany, out of our vehicles waiting for someone or something to happen, so out come the fags!

Has anyone got any images of say French, Dutch or Belgian V5 equivalents, as that's where I'm most likely to source a vehicle in the UK?

Whenever I pass a local café and smell bacon and eggs I'm transported back in my mind to my time in the Army heading from my billet to the cookhouse for breakfast (usually around dawn), complete with knife, fork and spoon and mug in left hand behind my back and marching in step with one or more persons, never on my own (which may have been discouraged) and taking a route round the parade ground, as god forbid that I should crossed it and be spotted by an SSM as in his words I'd wish I'd never been born!

I be to differ about Fury. I thought with all the help on the Tank Museum Tiger and some members of the hobby that the film would be quite realistic! Sadly it wasn't! People elsewhere have commented that the age of the crew members was about double the age they would have been in WW2. As for the plot, a baby faced typist in the Army becomes a tank machine gunner might just be believable but making him shoot a German prisoner in front of so many other people is a bit far fetched. Its a bit far fetched to think that the Tiger tank missed with every shot, when experience in NW Europe and elsewhere shows these were formidable opponents. Did anyone notice how the Shermans were bunched up in convoy and also the US infantry with them ran along in bunches too. And why is it that the Germans, so expert in defence dig their trenches in front of a hedgerow in a ploughed field rather than in the bushes. As for driving off in to the distance in one Sherman with no support and defending a cross roads after the track was blown off by a mine, complete rubbish against a German Company so well equipped! It annoys me when I see German soldiers running this way and that way across the screen and then getting shot, yet none of their shots against the Sherman or the crew seems to count, when in fact a few Panzerfausts up the rear of the Sherman and in to the piles of ammo on the back would soon have it ablaze and the crew cooked. A wasted opportunity in my opinion!

If Carden Loyd type Tankettes such as the Soviet T27, Polish TKS and French UE (to name a few) were considered obsolete by 1939, how is it that the Universal Carrier was considered a success? After all the Bren Gun and Universal Carriers had similar running gear, armour thickness and armament and no over head protection so why don't historians have a negative opinion of these?

Wattie, Thanks for your reply!

I have been involved with consultation on the ULEZ , that is to be introduced in London in 2020 and run 24/7 365 days a year. I proposed that that there should be exemption to any charge for this scheme for MVs, classic cars and buses as this would prevent such vehicles being involved in parades or charity runs in London. I'm pleased to say that their response was 'For the purposes of the ULEZ standards we have aligned our definition of an historic vehicle with the Government’s so that all vehicles with a ‘historic’ vehicle tax class will be exempt. Prior to that it seems 'history stopped at 1973' but at least things are moving in the right direction. So I'm told the Government is also looking to allow a rolling exception to VED / Car Tax so that by 2020 my MV will be 40 years old and also exempt.

Well then, I suggest some of you Canadian re-enactors dress in battledress and US helmets and get told by the know alls that you are all wrong - then get out a copy of this photo!

Any more interested parties; the RAF are looking for ex-RAF MVs for their 100th Anniversary Open Day / Air Show?

Well Niels thanks for that info regarding Norway; now I need members to confirm how they trust V5 equivalents from EU Countries.

Roughly how much do you need to raise each month to run the Forum?