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pulled by vosa/ police and an injury
eccsmk - 21/5/08 at 09:42 AM

heading back up the a1 this week i was pulled over by a police bike thinking i was speeding i was a little worried
anyway followed him up a slip road to a site with about 20 vosa vehicles
they weighed my little van
legal limit 2800kg
actual weight 2780 kg
im pleased i didnt fill up with diesel
a day later im back home because ive damaged something in my foot
what week its turned out to be lol
thanks for reading

[Edited on 21/5/08 by eccsmk]

coozer - 21/5/08 at 09:58 AM

Mobile mini SVA???

Tons of that sh€t goes on round here. They usually dip the tank looking for red diesel and the men in white coats stand around with clip boards looking under the bonnet and the such.

It's a very nerve racking occasion where your made to feel like your guilty and about to be sentenced.

Sadly another result of our nanny/police state

mistergrumpy - 21/5/08 at 10:03 AM

No one makes you feel guilty mate only yourself. If you've done nowt wrong then you've nowt to worry about. TBH as Locostbuilders I think we all have an interest in our vehicles and as such I welcome anyone to do a check up and if they find owt I'll correct it straight away. I'd rather know its right and legal.

eccsmk - 21/5/08 at 10:04 AM

i cant complain we were having a laugh and a joke and the lads were polite
i guess we have to do our jobs as we are supposed to so no complaints here

Guinness - 21/5/08 at 10:16 AM

quote:
Originally posted by coozer
Mobile mini SVA???

Tons of that sh€t goes on round here. They usually dip the tank looking for red diesel and the men in white coats stand around with clip boards looking under the bonnet and the such.

It's a very nerve racking occasion where your made to feel like your guilty and about to be sentenced.

Sadly another result of our nanny/police state


You'd only need to worry if you'd been running your car on veg and avoiding the tax!

Mike

Mr Whippy - 21/5/08 at 10:21 AM

thought folk on here had said the rules on pink diesel had been removed?

wilkingj - 21/5/08 at 10:56 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Guinness
You'd only need to worry if you'd been running your car on veg and avoiding the tax!
Mike


Not so... As long as you have registered as a fuel producer, and are running on "your mix", and have paid your tax / vat / fuel duty (whatever they take off you) you shouldnt have a problem.

Could be interesting as they might think they have you and you are doing it illegally.

I think you can make up to 2500litres of Bio diesel for personal use without too much problem. however you do have to register with Customs and Excise, and pay some tax. It still works out cheaper.

Whether its doing any harm to your engine or not is another matter.

you need those thinner fluids (diesel not mazola oil) to penetrate and lubricate the diesel pum, which has very close tolerances to enable the high pressures to be generated for the injectors.

There are plenty of wwebsites telling you how to make the stuff (Usually Methyl Esther Diesel), but not all tell you how and what to do with the C&E to stay legal.

mad4x4 - 21/5/08 at 11:10 AM

quote:


You'd only need to worry if you'd been running your car on veg and avoiding the tax!

Mike


You can legally run on veg oil. ( I think) You are allowed to use upto 3000 liters a year with out declaring it. As for road fund (tax) you still need that.

There was a law change about 6 - 8 months ago

[Edited on 21/505/08 by mad4x4]

Moorron - 21/5/08 at 11:43 AM

alltho i hate the police (due to my own experiences round here) im actually all for these types of checks.

The amount of damaged bodies we get back at i work where they have been overloaded and then complain to us saying our designs arnt up to the job makes me sick. 'IF only' they got pulled and weighed it would have saved us some money (the md just hands stuff out on a plate even when we prove its not our fault). Luckily the laws are changing to target the smaller LCV's like they do now with the big boys, meaning as we are the only company actually designing with the law in mind we will capture the whole market over night. £££

Can you claim for the 'down time' when they do these checks? How long were you there for?

Good to know they were chatty tho.

David Jenkins - 21/5/08 at 11:49 AM

When I had my SVA in Chelmsford the police had pulled a white van into the yard for the VOSA blokes to check over. It was so overloaded that the tyres were almost squashed flat and the wheels had disappeared up into the arches!

The van had 2 or 3 police officers around it, and 4 or 5 VOSA blokes - owner of the van looking very sorry for himself in the middle of the crowd...

This sort of result makes these on-the-road inspections worthwhile - just imagine that van trying to do an emergency stop!

Mr Whippy - 21/5/08 at 12:15 PM

quote]Originally posted by David Jenkins
When I had my SVA in Chelmsford the police had pulled a white van into the yard for the VOSA blokes to check over. It was so overloaded that the tyres were almost squashed flat and the wheels had disappeared up into the arches!

The van had 2 or 3 police officers around it, and 4 or 5 VOSA blokes - owner of the van looking very sorry for himself in the middle of the crowd...

This sort of result makes these on-the-road inspections worthwhile - just imagine that van trying to do an emergency stop!



I have seen a few bangers stopped by the police clearly because of their condition and quite rightly.

I just laugh now as the 'Rat' look is getting quite popular in the VW seine (was even considering it for my bug) where the cars have rust painted on them to make them look clapped out, aircooled vw owners are a mad bunch

phelpsa - 21/5/08 at 12:37 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy

I have seen a few bangers stopped by the police clearly because of their condition and quite rightly.

I just laugh now as the 'Rat' look is getting quite popular in the VW seine (was even considering it for my bug) where the cars have rust painted on them to make them look clapped out, aircooled vw owners are a mad bunch


Rat look is moving from the air cooled scene to the watercooled scene.

Whereas bugs can run with rusty looking bodyword etc with mint floorpans without being dangerous at all, people seem to think it's cool to run battered old golfs and Polos with rotten sills and arches, bald tyres, chopped springs and some lude stickers because it makes them look 'scene'.

Its bringing down the watercooled scene

Mr Whippy - 21/5/08 at 12:55 PM

Hmm well there are to schools to this -

One where solid cars are left dented and fake rust is painted on to new panels (what I was going to do)

The other is just rotten shells are left as they are, usually in an unroadworthy condition and folk just claim 'oh but is the rat look'

Bugs are very dangerous with even mild corrosion of the shell, the floor is not strong (it flexes when you stand on it)

BenB - 21/5/08 at 05:08 PM

I've got a rat look '96 Nissan Micra.
It's got shed loads of patch panels and half the hub caps are missing.

The Veedub crew would love it

daviep - 21/5/08 at 06:59 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy

Bugs are very dangerous with even mild corrosion of the shell, the floor is not strong (it flexes when you stand on it)


I thought beetles had a rigid floorpan and hence the easy conversion to beach buggys?

iank - 21/5/08 at 07:19 PM

quote:
Originally posted by daviep
quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy

Bugs are very dangerous with even mild corrosion of the shell, the floor is not strong (it flexes when you stand on it)


I thought beetles had a rigid floorpan and hence the easy conversion to beach buggys?


It's pretty rigid for a flat sheet with a few pressings and a small tunnel, but not up to monocoque or spaceframe standards.
Most of the beach buggies I've seen have cronic scuttle shake due to the flexing, but it does make them SVA exempt (if left full length) as it counts as the chassis of the beetle.

Simon - 21/5/08 at 07:44 PM

Having lifted the body on my old beetle to sell the chassis, I'd say the chassis was incredibly strong.

If took loads of discs to cut it up

ATB

Simon