Yesterday while crawling along M25, I found too many broken down cars being recovered.
They were not of any particular type (e.g. RWD). None of them seemed damaged externally.
What is the reason for so many breakdowns?
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>> What is the reason for so many breakdowns?
>>
>>
Rubbish drivers abandoning their cars because they can't drive on snow.
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I thought these modern electronic everything cars never broke down, or so one is led to believe:)
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The BBC news showed an artic stuck through lack of grip, another thought they could get past, but couldn't through lack of grip. The cars behind were stuck and so the drivers abandoned them and made their way on foot.
Why the following cars didn't back up so the second artic could reverse behind the first, I don't know.
Last year the M11 was blocked because of artics losing grip and blocking the width of the carriageway.
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>>
>> Why the following cars didn't back up so the second artic could reverse behind the
>> first, I don't know.
>>
See thread elsewhere regarding reversing with mirrors. ;-)
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>>See thread elsewhere regarding reversing with mirrors. ;-)
Bur aren't you guys so much better at it than us amateurs? ;>)
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>> But aren't you guys so much better at it than us amateurs? ;>)
>>
It's like riding a bike, difficult until you get it sussed, then it is easy. :-)
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 20 Dec 10 at 00:32
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>> But aren't you guys so much better at it than us amateurs? ;>)
>>
It's only a matter of practice, and gaining the confidence which comes with it. Given that you do trialling in a Kia Pride, I'm sure you're as able as me. ;-)
I'm fortunate inasmuch as I get that practice on a daily basis, given the location of some of the farms I deliver to, some of which are precarious enough on a dry sunny day!
Zero's post does illustrate the reality of very heavy snowfall, and I agree with his comments regarding stopping.
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Yesterday, on the M25 it snowed so hard and so fast, that heavy traffic could not clear the lanes. Snow was building up on the scuttle of my car such that the wipers were not making it all the way down, and I was in danger of bending the linkage.
I knew tho that if i stopped to clear it there was no way I was going again. I suspect many never made it,
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>> that the wipers were not making it all the way down, and I was in danger of bending the linkage.
Mitsubishi right ?
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Yes? and?
It didnt of course, tho there was a good 4 inches of snow stuck in the the bottom of the blade arc.
Last edited by: Zero on Sun 19 Dec 10 at 19:55
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....joking aside, I've got to leave at half past sparrow's wind break in the morning for an 08.30 meeting in central London. Not really looking forward to the journey. Can't use the train. Too much clobber.
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Take it easy Humph. It'll be a long drive.
Remember to pack a blanket, food, phone charger and fill up regularly.
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.....yeah, no sweat. Might set off a bit early though. A lot early actually...
:-)
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Make your way back early in the afternoon, or book a hotel. We have more snow due early evening down here.
The main A roads, and the urban B roads are all now gritted and clear. The M25 is clear and gritted but some LPG tanker managed to overturn on the southern section. Being a bit of an UXB they naturally closed both lanes.
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I'll see how the day goes. I need to be in London until at least mid PM. Got to be in Somerset on Tuesday and Leicester Weds. I'll take a bag. See how it pans out.
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The snow is coming in from the south west.
Thats Somerset way. I assume you are going to "The Street"
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>> Close...Wells.
>>
Lots of snow and more forecast today, the main roads are passable though many are still compacted snow so 15 mph ish, slow progress.
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"I'll take a bag. See how it pans out."
I used to have a landlord with one of those. Didn't half stink when it needed emptying.
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>> and Leicester Weds
Nowt here at all Humph. Bloomin' chilly though.
Harleyman, what are my chances of getting to 4 drops in Birmingham and 1 collection out of Newtown, Powys, tomorrow? In a 5-year-old Sprinter with all the ESP gubbins.
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>> ....joking aside, I've got to leave at half past sparrow's wind break in the morning
>> for an 08.30 meeting in central London. Not really looking forward to the journey. Can't
>> use the train. Too much clobber.
>>
You'd be welcome to that in summer!
My work tomorrow takes me to Hirwaun, Treorchy and the South Wales valleys, ending up at Usk. Given that the mountain roads will be shut, and the rest of the area frozen solid, it promises to be interesting. More snow forecast for tomorrow.
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I've an early start too.
I've set the alarm for 04.20 to give me time to clear the car. ;>(
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>> ....joking aside, I've got to leave at half past sparrow's wind break in the morning
>> for an 08.30 meeting in central London. Not really looking forward to the journey. Can't
>> use the train. Too much clobber.
>>
Just seen on the news that the overhead power lines between Peterborough and London have been damaged, so no trains on that line anyway.
Make sure you early start people don't wake me up. :-)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sun 19 Dec 10 at 20:08
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>> Make sure you early start people don't wake me up. :-)
Ungrateful old matelot ! Going to work to earn money, to pay tax, to subsidise the likes of you ! Don't choke on your boiled egg soldiers in the morning after a full night's sleep will you ?
:-)
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>> Ungrateful old matelot ! Going to work to earn money, to pay tax, to subsidise
>> the likes of you !>>
I assure you I will spend your taxes wisely. I have our flights to Dubai, stopover, and on to Australia booked. :-)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sun 19 Dec 10 at 21:21
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Right, well, here goes nothing. Up at least an hour earlier than is probably necessary but big day ahead. Tea brewed, temperature at back door tested. Brrrr. Caught sight of dressing gowned bedraggled self in hall mirror. Comment made to self that far too old for this malarky but far too poor/married to retire yet.
Mental rendition of theme to 633 squadron playing in head as attention turns to whether there'll be enough hot water for a shower at this ungodly hour.
Toaster on while water heats up.
To be continued...
Last edited by: Humph D'Bout on Mon 20 Dec 10 at 03:00
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well when he gets to London, its -7 down here.
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Ian has just recorded -15 degrees on the top end of the M11 an hour ago.
Freezing fog here when I took him to work at 3.30am.
Pat
Last edited by: pda on Mon 20 Dec 10 at 07:56
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Hump's away, good chap this country needs the few remaining loyal subjects.
Having had those start time for sooo many years i have a certain sympathy for the old chap, but remember he is a heartless and cruel man who dumped his loyal unwanted Betsy in some strange place...and just before Christmas too, and all for some piece of curvy bare legged totty from the N East wearing a red frock and little else, as a lenient penance a further 5 years of those starts will do for now....in the wee small hours do you still hear Betsy weeping or have you no shame man.
Don't be too sympathetic of his start time, he's in his warm comfy anti social planet killing 4x4 and once he pollutes his way to the smoke will spend the day in the company of high heeled dolly birds swooning over him and catering to his every whim.
We all have our morning routines, i can't face a shower at that hour so normal sink ablutions instead, it would be a bowl of proper rolled oats porridge for me but without salt that the barbarian hordes from over the border sling in....salt is for proper food not to season cereals, but then they are a strange people from up there.
If you should log on Hump let us know how the day is progressing, we sincerely hope it's a safe and rewarding one.
i'm off today by the way:-).
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-8°C at 8am this morning. Ice on the INSIDE of the windscreen and door rubbers frozen to doors. Dread to think what it got down to in the night
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>> -8°C at 8am this morning. >>
-7.6 for us at 7am. But apparently Chesham (at the end of the Metropolitan line and so possibly a London suburb) had -19 last night. That must be a record.
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...if you should log on Hump let us know how the day is progressing...
I wonder where he's off to if he needs to start at 3am?
Unless all that posh footwear stuff is a sham, and he's really a porter at Smithfield meat market.
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>> I wonder where he's off to if he needs to start at 3am?
He wants to be at the door of the Central London head office when the dollies arrive...i can see it now, this latter day Sean Connery figure in dinner jacket, sporran and kilt holding the doors open for the fur coated seamed stockinged lovelies...'welcome my dear come with me' in that deep Scottish brogue...he might be sporting black brogues too and little else under that kilt.
:-)
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Good Morning Moneypenny...
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The locals are a bunch of wimps, I was in a big supermarket this morning, didn't see a single kilt and it was only -8 outside.
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>> and he's really a porter at Smithfield meat market.
I love the smell there, i think even the wooden doors smell like good beef! :-)
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...I love the smell there, i think even the wooden doors smell like good beef! :-)...
I did my tourist wander through a few years ago.
I'd heard the porters were known for swearing at visitors who got in their way.
It's true, I stepped into the path of a speeding barrow and got a mouthful.
Proper cockney 'e was, too.
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you need to explore *under* Smithfield. Used to be subterranean vaults with ice, even an underground railway siding.
Fabulous pubs and restaurants round the edges and side roads of the square.
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...Fabulous pubs and restaurants round the edges and side roads of the square...
And some bonny nurses from Barts to look at.
Last edited by: Iffy on Mon 20 Dec 10 at 12:39
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>> And some bonny nurses from Barts to look at.
I'm still a little bit in love with Nurse Barker from Bishops Stortford childrens ward circa 1965 when i spent 3 months there.
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I am really worried about my car not working now. I don't want to start it as that will just drain the battery out.
Going to avoid driving today just ins't worth the risk when it is not 100% essential. I just cannot afford to have an accident.
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For gods sake Rattle, what century are you living in. Of course the thing will start.
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 20 Dec 10 at 13:44
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The coldest it's been while I've been here is -32 back in 2005ish. I don't remember there being scores of broken down cars, I've seen one or two this week.
Rattle. Chillax.
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Rattle - I drove 400 miles yesterday from Paris, through the eurotunnel, and back across the south to Bristol. Not a journey I wanted to make, but conditions in Northern France are worse than here so I just wanted to get home.
Journey completed slowly, but safely in the Mrs 5 year old 70K Sharan. Moral or the story - your 6 month old Panda will be fine!
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A lot of cars aren't broken down at all, but have been abandoned by wimps and incompetents. And they aren't on the hard shoulder either - most roads don't have those after all - but quite often in, or half in, the carriageway, constituting a hazard or delay for people trying to get about.
Why can't people be prosecuted or given stiff PCNs or similar for this twerpish behaviour? They should be.
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>> A lot of cars aren't broken down at all, but have been abandoned by wimps
>> and incompetents. And they aren't on the hard shoulder either - most roads don't have
>> those after all - but quite often in, or half in, the carriageway, constituting a
>> hazard or delay for people trying to get about.
This was apparently the cause of the horrendous delays on the A34 in Oxfordshire over the weekend.
Not that it takes much to render the A34 in Oxfordshire unusable.
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05.30. Door lock frozen, go to find long gas lighter thingumeebob I use for lighting barbecue. Thaw lock, open drivers door. Try to open rear door to throw assorted gubbins I might need today - door frozen shut. Throw gubbins in passenger footwell. Start car - Its fast tickover's barely 1KRPM, must be the treacle in the sump. Scrape windows, car on full demist, HRW on. Strange, rear window not thawing.
Get in car and set off. Catch up with car that drove past when I was scraping glass. Do next mile or so at 5MPH!!!! Car in front finally turns off. After a couple of miles, interior light comes on, strange, but notice HRW is working, just damn cold. Light dawns! I probably partly opened rear door and didn't shut it properly, with the heat coming in and the bumps, it's probably opened a little - solution - turn off interior light.
Arrive just at scheduled 06.00 start time. Many drivers 'phoned in to say they'll be up to an hour late and those that got there on time will have to wait..............!
1700. Door lock frozen. Barbecue lighter at home.
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>> 1700. Door lock frozen.
Unthaw using liquid body heat - providing of course no one can see you.
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Here's where smokers come in useful.
Door lock frozen?
Heat door key with lighter and put into door lock.
No problem:)
Pat
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>> Heat door key with lighter and put into door lock.
Surely you should put the key in the lock, not the lighter ;o)
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Rear wheel drive cars get stuck easily, then other cars slow and get stuck. Without a spade you can't get going again. Our area was littered with stuck cars.
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In the old days a couple of small mats under the wheels worked ok, with them tied to the car via a length of string either to the back bumper or the door handles.
Drive off to a suitable location and pop the mats back in the boot.
Not so easy these days with front wheel drive, smooth plastic bumpers and funny door openers :-)
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I saw people using mats and they worked well. The string is a good idea.
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The mats could be tied to the door mirrors.
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'Where are your door mirrors, iffy?'
'Er... the bits of string were a bit too strong and a bit too long. Unfortunately when the rear wheels ran over the mats something rather embarrassing happened and the mirrors and mats are back down the road somewhere in the middle of a circle of jeering yokels. Ahem.'
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Have a couple of six foot lengths of carpet in the boot. Got me out of trouble last year.
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>> Have a couple of six foot lengths of carpet in the boot.
Like driving a track layer, you could patent that idea.
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>> Have a couple of six foot lengths of carpet in the boot.
But what did you do with the body that was wrapped inside them?
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>> Have a couple of six foot lengths of carpet in the boot. Got me out
>> of trouble last year.
"Wilton?"
"Well it was pretty droopy after driving over it I can tell you"
Coat! Hat! quick now!
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 21 Dec 10 at 08:08
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>> Rear wheel drive cars get stuck easily, then other cars slow and get stuck.
Interesting day yesterday; got as far as Treorchy after a stuck artic on the A465 held me up for several hours. Spent the night at the home of one of my customers who owns a pet shop there; was fussed over by a frisky blonde too, unfortunately just his Alsatian dog of that colour. :(
Only saw two cars really struggling; no surprise that they were both BMW 318 hatchbacks. If the drivers had the common sense to put a couple of bags of sand in the boot, even they wouldn't have had problems.
One other comment, and I'm afraid Pat won't like this. Virtually every car (including some 4x4's) mimsing along at 15-20 mph and causing a tailback, was driven by a woman. Roads yeaterday round south-east Wales were generally fit for about 30-35 mph; when conditions allowed the lorry was comfortable at that. I would then come across a convoy of about 10 cars headed by one of the above mimsers, where the vehicles were virtually nose to tail.
I don't expect drivers to race about like it's the RAC rally in those conditions, but some of them, honestly! .......
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I can only agree Harleyman and have often noticed the same thing.
I'm not wishing to make excuses for women at all, but I think a lot of the reason this happens is the short distances they drive.
It takes so long for the average housewife to get past the novice driver stge just doing the school run that they never get to feel confident.
Bear in mind too, that they usually have their own, and possibly someone elses children in the car too, it is possibly understandable why they go for over caution.
Hope they pay your night out money...£22 is the going rate now:)
Pat
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...Virtually every car (including some 4x4's) mimsing along at 15-20 mph and causing a tailback, was driven by a woman...
I wonder if well-meaning husbands provide a 4X4 for the family transport when the Mrs would be much happier with something smaller.
Or perhaps women's eyes are sometimes being bigger than their bellies when it comes to choosing cars.
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To be fair its not just women, last night the two mimsers were both men...
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Yeah, lots of male mimsers.
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>> Or perhaps women's eyes are sometimes being bigger than their bellies when it comes to
>> choosing cars.
>>
A Driver of a Range Rover, bumped into the side of my mates Astra denting all the rear, and causing quite a bit of damage but thankfully its repaired.
She said to my mates wife when she hit the car while mavouring it through the road.
"Im sorry, this car is to big for me to handle, and I cant manouvre it properly!"
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Going the opposite extreme, I've seen far too many over confident 4x4 drivers as well... I know you may have more grip than me (assuming you have correct tyres which is debatable), but if i do an emergency stop you are still going to hit me if you are right on my back bumper.... BACK OFF!!
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>> Going the opposite extreme, I've seen far too many over confident 4x4 drivers as well...
>>
I have seen many 4X4 drivers over the last couple of weeks that don't seem to understand that a 4X4 does not stop or go round corners any better than any other big heavy car.
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>>...or go round corners any better...
Actually ON, they can and do go round corners better. As the traction forces are shared between all 4 wheels, they are less likely to exceed the friction circle on any wheel or axle.
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I take your point, NC, but I think there are many cases of over-confidence in some of the ones I've seen... At the end of the day they are still reliant on the tyres they have on them and the drivers' abilities... just being a 4x4 does not automatically give you invincibility... Many seem to believe that doesn't apply to them...
So far I've only seen one car parked up in a hedge, though plenty of vehicles dumped on the side of the road... including many 4x4s for some reason... Ironic really!
Last edited by: hobby on Wed 22 Dec 10 at 10:38
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>>I take your point, NC
Yes, I was confining myself to the purely technical - I wasn't claiming that they were invincible, simply that other things being equal, driving all four wheels does actually give a handling advantage as well as a traction advantage.
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I was a passenger in a police car in a very slow moving queue of traffic on an A road. We could see the cause half-a-dozen cars ahead. We reached a hill, two lanes up and one down, we were going up. The 'cause' moved into the RH lane and continued slowly. The cars in between stayed left and as we caught the 'cause', the young women driving it suddenly moved into the LH lane.
What was going through her tiny little mind?
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"I was a passenger in a police car'
You were in the back with the plastic cuffs on?
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Long ago in the dim distant past when I used to ski I was chatting with an AA Patrol in a Scottish ski area. He was armed with a LWB Landrover on serious snow tyres. He told me that the most common car requiring removal from the beautiful scenery was an "out of area" 4X4.
I wonder why?
Oh, I was not broken down as such, A huge six wheel drive gritter / snowplough gritting down a big hill at about 50mph took out my windscreen even though I had stopped, and as I found out later, (coolant squirting through the grille and running down the garage door), put a pin hole in my radiator. The AA guy brought me a temporary windscreen.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Wed 22 Dec 10 at 11:22
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>> The AA guy
>> brought me a temporary windscreen.
>>
You mean to say you don't carry one?!
Blimey, some people!
Just not prepared these days, are they!! ;-) :-)
Last edited by: hobby on Wed 22 Dec 10 at 14:02
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>> Just not prepared these days, are they!! ;-) :-)
>>
Absolutely reckless, It was in the days of toughened glass that turned into tiny sugar lumps at the slightest knock. :-(
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>> toughened glass that turned into tiny sugar lumps at the slightest knock. :-(
The flat windscreen of my Dyane once suddenly fell into my lap 30 miles up the M1, pedal to metal in the outside lane of course. I didn't wear spectacles in those days so was lucky not to get some nasty tiny fragment in my eyes.
The replacement screen was very cheap and easy to find, but returning to London without one was a bit tiresome, the fabric roof of the Dyane trying to rip itself off. In the end I had to roll it back and just freeze.
Actually I seem to remember that the aerodynamic lift, the suction above the roof, would sometimes spring the press studs half way down the sides of the car on the frequent occasions that I managed to get that cheerful little jalopy to exceed its design maximum speed by 10mph or more. I liked it but it was really too slow for me.
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And you never got all the bits out of the ventilation slots
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>>You were in the back with the plastic cuffs on?
I'll admit to being in the back, but no more! ;>)
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>> Bear in mind too, that they usually have their own, and possibly someone elses children
>> in the car too, it is possibly understandable why they go for over caution.
>>
>> Hope they pay your night out money...£22 is the going rate now:)
>>
>> Pat
>>
Fair point Pat.
£25 per night out at our place..... the joys of own account haulage! ;-)
Good news today; Mrs. H passed her PSV theory first time, 97%! :-)
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Too many broken down cars on hard shoulders - Old Navy
