General Chat

My main point was not the traffic fine itself which is a piffling matter but the bumbledom that led to me having to waste time on attending a SAC.

30 years after s28 it also struck me that both Fridays were in a same sex marriage one witha baby. That this is now accepted as usual is an encouraging sign that most of the UK is far more tolerant than its rulers.

The ManFriday has apparently been deployed to the wilds of Salford where he will get to liase with Channel 4. His husband (who works for another firm) has not been posted.

Why do SAC courses exist at all ? They are supposedly only offered to those with no previous current endorsenents who have not broken the speed limit by very much. The course costs more than the fine and has a massive time penalty on top. A single speeding event makes no difference to car insurance or rental so why accept th SAC offer?.

As SAC courses raise a lot of revenue it makes one think. Surely a system that just levies the fine and points no option is fairer?

fwiw I have better things to do than a visit to the Wurzels. I am so pleased that the contract that brought me to Poole has gone to Leeds. Zippedy doo dah.

There in Oz, and in most other places, they would just mention that they had been caught speeding and not dress it in a load of piffle in the hope of impressing you with their pose.

Strange how nothing - not even actually exceeding the speed limit -(it was a Jag don'cha know - they go fast. They'd changed the speed limit. The police were idiots etc :-S) ) Even to 'Why should I read what I sign', was the fault of RTR!!

At least going to Dorset is nice at any time of the year :-D :-D

So true, Sue. I've copped a few speeding tickets in my time, usually caught by cameras. I've copped the fine and the points and merrily gone on my way.

Here in Oz you may tell one or two about your transgressions but the vast majority would be bored stiff...I'm getting the same feeling about this Thread ;-)

Oh I wouldn't do that if I were you, that's got to hurt.

All this utter balderdash for a driving transgression for which the penalty should have been accepted in good grace and lesson learned - end of.

*sticks pins in eyes to avoid reading more*

I don't know Allan, whilst she may have said something obviously she didn't check he fully understood :-D :-D

All this fuss over a few hours on a course.

He is working on it.

In all fairness to Rollo, and I never thought that I would say that, he did say that the Girl Friday had passed on Rollo's desire, in relation to the speeding issue, but that Man Friday took it upon himself to direct Rollo on what he, Man Friday, thought was the approprite action!

Which, of course, brings everything back to signing things without reading them!

I believe that there was an episode of 'Yes Minister' where certain controvesial documents for signing were placed in the middle of the Despatch Box on the basis that after reading through all the earlier boring stuff the rest would be signed without a glance.

This whole saga has taken on a life of its own, a bit like the Australian ball tampering episode which is now being debated in the Oz Parliament.

I dobt that Rollo's transgression will receive the same such attention :-D

Wow you go out for a couple of hours and look what happens....

So if Man Friday is now sacked/overwise occupied which wasn't mentioned before what about the female Man Friday...didn't she mess up by not making sure Man Friday knew exactly what your requirements were? If she'd done her job correctly then man Friday wouldn't have messed up.

You did the crime so do the time...

Don't most people just go and do the course?

Can't remember ever even thinking of mentioning doing mine on here but I was in a Focus when I was camera'd and I only had to get Fred's care organized for the day.Nothing there to impress anybody.

One of our Smarts is automatic (no choice there) and the other one is manual.

LOL Brian...I have only drive an Auto twice( that I recall)

the advice I was given then, was to put my left foot as far out of the way, as possible, to avoid the "clutch" foot hitting the brakes..


worked for me, at the time...

takes a lot of practice, Methinks...........left foot braking, when you are not used to doing it!!



reminds me of an uncle that had "Y"(?) type ford... the pedals were'nt C B A

There aren't any in Bovington.

Ah well.

"I found somebody who had been on a SAC course, He was told that he should not use 6th gear or even 5th gear but to poodle around in 4th gear which is safer and "gives better fuel economy". Yes, of course. He didn't say what the best way of driving an automatic might be."
The best way to drive an automatic is to use both feet i.e. left foot braking.
That way you avoid the classic error of pressing the accelerator instead of the brake with the right foot.
One of our lady lay readers did just that going home from church the other week, shot straight across the main road, hitting another car, and through the front garden wall of the house on the other side.
She was lucky she did it there and without injury, a significant number of people are killed each year by doing it over a cliff or quayside.

Yes, there are all sorts of Security clearance, hence my earlier question , as your post actually said HMG fluent in English :-S

My reference to 'cloak & dagger' was in reference to your attitude towards Security Clearance.
I'm well aware of what it entails, thank you, having gone through various types of security clearance, including MOD, Government, Foreign and children.

No it doesn't matter but it helps if you write in fluent English.

You summed that up very succinctly.

Security clearance is not like an exam you pass , get the cert and then stick on a wall. It is an on going thing which dies as soon as it no longer applies and you have to start all over again. The longer the gap the longer it takes to renew. Then of course there are various levels and scopes of Security Clearance it is not a one size fits all sort of thing.

Most people with Security Clearance never get involved with "cloak and dagger" at all. Any assumption that S.C. is always connected to intelligence suggests a lack of understanding of what S.C. is for.

Not that it matters.

You don't say.

Well Sharron you are wrong.

The "punishment" and inconvenience are optional. Shelling out £ 100 and no more bother beyond 3 points ( I have a clean licence ) was what I expected. Unfortunately some people cannot follow instructions so I got landed with this. No, I am not going to start reading every piece of bumph that crosses my desk for sig. I stopped doing that long ago.

Some traffic areas give the option on where to take the SAC some do not offer it at all. For Dorset , a poor county, the revenue is the big apple. It is only recently that they have stopped offering SAC to recidivist speeders abd speeds as much as twice the limit.

So who goes on the course? If you currently have a clean lilcence there is not much point. Otherwise you must be worried about hitting 12 points - but these people are not supposed to be offered SAC. Curious.

I drive all sorts of vehicles a high milage every year without a scratch so I suggest comments on my driving are very wide of the mark.

At the site where I was clocked the limit had just changed from 40mph. The car behind me had not noticed . If I had put the Jag anchors full on he would without a doubt have collided with me. Braking safely for the traffic conditions I got a ticket. Foo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVgt13aU1wg