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Keeping Cool in Your Van

August 30th, 2019 by Rebecca Webb

The sun has finally got his hat on and come out to play, and motorists across the country are being once again forced to sit sweating in baking-hot traffic jams for several hours a week. In some circumstances, you might find yourself forced to sit in the back of the van for even longer. In the case of camper vans, this is even more gruelling, as you’re going to be sleeping in there, too! But take a few sensible steps, and it’s easy to keep a van cool – or, at the very least, tolerable. Let’s run through a few of our favourites. Hydrate You need water to live, and when you’re sweating buckets, you’ll need more of it. Keep a backup water-bottle in the van so that you’re never short. If you lose too much water, then you’ll suffer headaches, dizziness and nausea. And you’ll probably be tough to work with. Alcohol, we’re sorry to say, does not count. Don’t charge stuff Leaving things to charge in the van will produce heat. Just think of the power supply on your laptop – it’s like a warming brick. This is even more true of things like fridges, as these are…

Local Councils to be Given Power to Fine Moving Traffic

August 30th, 2019 by Rebecca Webb

If you’ve ever driven through London (or Cardiff), then you’ll have run the risk of being hit with a £130 fine for stopping in a box junction. This sort of fine can be issued by the local council without the involvement of the police. Now, a group of MPs have called for these powers to be rolled out to councils across the country. If they get their way, then we’ll all have to be more wary about the way we drive. At present, part 6 of the Traffic Management Act 2004 allows Local Authorities to hand out punishments if you park in the wrong place, or drive in a bus lane. The suggestion is that this list be extended to cover moving traffic offences, like stopping in a box junction. Why the change? So what’s motivating this change of thinking? The Transport Committee justify it on the grounds that it’ll take the strain off the country’s overstretched police services. Of course, the committee doesn’t have the power to simply hand the police more money – and so this is their way of getting around it. According to the TC, local authorities have superior knowledge of local junctions. They’re therefore well…

Hogging the Middle Lane: The Facts

August 30th, 2019 by Rebecca Webb

Given that most drivers in the UK don’t take to the motorway until after they’ve passed their practical exam, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that so many don’t know how to properly use the motorway. Perhaps the most glaring example of this is when drivers stay on the middle lane for protracted periods of time. It’s easy to fume when you’re stuck behind someone hogging the middle. But it’s probably not productive – after all, when someone knows the rules, there’s no reason not to stick with them. So, we’re not going to do that here. What we will do is explain where so many of you are going wrong, why it matters, and what to do about it. When we’re done, you really will have no excuses! What’s wrong with hogging the middle lane? If you’re trundling along in the middle lane, then all of the traffic that’s looking to pass you will need to shift over into the fast lane. This might mean three lanes of traffic squeezing down into one. The result is invariably more braking, more lane changes, more congestion, and, statistically, more accidents (accidents on motorways are heavily correlated with lane-changing manoeuvers)….

Part Worn Tyres: What to Look For

August 30th, 2019 by Rebecca Webb

The Local Government Association has recently put out a stern warning about the dangers of buying used tyres. They cite figures by the Department of Transport which suggest that 17 people were killed in tyre-related accidents in 2017 – and a further 147 seriously injured. They recommend that, if you decide to buy second-hand tyres as a cost-cutting measure, you look for the ‘part worn’ stamp. But what is the ‘Part-Worn’ stamp and why does it matter? Let’s take a look. Is it Illegal to Sell Second-hand Tyres? There’s nothing inherently criminal about selling tyres that have already been driven on. After all, whenever you buy a second-hand van, you’re buying the second-hand tyres that come with it. Moreover, sometimes vehicles are written off because of faults that have nothing to do with the condition of the tyres, and it’d be wasteful to simply sling them. With that said, there are laws governing the proper sale of used tyres. These are to be found under a section of the Consumer Protection Act. You can’t sell tyres that have lumps, bulges and scratches in them. The tyre in question needs to also pass an inflation test, and you need to have…

How Long Can Your Safely Drive Without a Break?

August 30th, 2019 by Rebecca Webb

A van is a wonderful thing, capable of traversing long distances on a single tank of fuel, and transporting all manner of heavy goods at the same time. And many of us take advantage of this by pushing the vehicle to its absolute limit, driving all the way to central Europe and back without so much as stopping for a Big Mac. Now, this isn’t a practice we endorse. Driving (and particularly motorway driving) is exceptionally tedious stuff, and just the smallest lapse in concentration can be deadly. Research by the RAC revealed than most of us drive beyond the recommendation of just two hours behind the wheel in one go (that’s the bit we all remember from rule 91 of the Highway Code). And around 28% of us are driving for more than five hours without a break, which is beyond the legal limit of four-and-a-half hours stipulated by EU law. What can we do about tiredness? So, what’s the problem with excessive fatigue, and how do we deal with it? Well, firstly, there’s the chance that you’ll fall asleep at the wheel. And obviously, the more sleep you need, the more likely you’ll be to drop off. This…

Rubberised Roads: What’s the deal?

August 30th, 2019 by Rebecca Webb

This week, Highways England have experimented with a different approach to motorway resurfacing. They’re laying rubber from old tyres into the surface of a major British motorway for the first time. The logic behind the move is pretty obvious: when you have loads of old tyres knocking about, why not mince them into slurry and mix them into the asphalt mixture you’re about to lay down? The section of road in question is the M1, just south of East Midlands airport. If everything goes well and the stuff stands up to real-world punishment, then we could see it being used in other British roads, saving the taxpayer thousands and helping the environment in the process. What’s behind the change? Now, you might be wondering why some bright spark hasn’t had the idea of mushing up old tyres and sticking them onto a road before. And the answer is that they have – but that it’s actually cheaper to export old tyres to parts of the developing world, where they can sit in a landfill. This is because EU rules prevent us from storing them in landfill here in the UK. Most of these tyres end up in Kuwait, where there’s…

Cleaning your Van

August 30th, 2019 by Rebecca Webb

Hampshire police recently took to Twitter to publicly shame a driver whose car was so messy that they couldn’t actually reach the handbrake. The vehicle in question was so crammed full of cigarette butts, old newspaper, potted plants and plug adaptors that, at the crucial moment, said driver could not prevent it from backsliding into the vehicle behind. Other Twitter users, obviously, were keen to jump on board the ridicule bandwagon. But let’s be real: many of us have seen far worse instances of hoarding behaviour than this. Some of you reading this might even be just as guilty. After all, it’s easier to throw the wrapper from your KFC over your shoulder than it is to stow it in a bin. There are reasons to keep your motor clean that go beyond road safety. For one thing, there’s hygiene. For another, there’s the impression you leave on would-be customers. So, we thought this might be a good opportunity to run through some cleaning tips. Make a Habit of It Much like going to the gym, tidiness is a habit you have to form over a long time. If you just clean the entire van in one mammoth effort, then…

Setting the Tyre Pressure

May 8th, 2019 by Rebecca Webb

Among the first rules of van maintenance is that you should look after your tyres. This means keeping them at the right pressure, and replacing them when the tread depth gets a little too low. In the case of bikes and cars, this matters a great deal; but if you’re driving around a heavy load every day, you’ll need to take this even more seriously if you want to save money (and get to your destination in one piece). Let’s run through a few investments you might make in order to keep your tyres in good nick. A few simple purchases can pay off in the long run! Invest in a good pressure gauge If you don’t have a handy pressure gauge available, then the chances are that you’re only going to monitor your tyre pressure every time you go to inflate. This will prevent you from staying on top of the problem. You’ll have two options when it comes to checking your pressure: digital and mechanical. The former tends to be more precise, but needs a power supply to work properly. We’d suggest going for something with a simple needle: you don’t need precision; you just need the pressure…

Speed Limiters: What could go wrong?

May 8th, 2019 by Rebecca Webb

It emerged toward the end of March that the UK is going to be conforming with the European Commission’s new bright idea about road safety, whether we’re in or out. The Department for Transport is well on board with the idea of mandating that every vehicle sold in the country be built with a speed-limiter on board. Drivers of heavy goods vehicles will be familiar with the frustrating sensation of having their speed capped. But this is something a little bit different. It’s called ‘Intelligent Speed Assistance’, and it uses a combination of GPS and on-board cameras to basically prevent you from going over the local speed limit. It won’t slam the brakes on; it’ll just cut the throttle until you’re under. Is this such a good idea? The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) seems to be aware that this is going to go down rather like a bucket of cold sick, and thus they’d like it phased in gradually. To begin with, you’ll be able to override the tech by pushing the throttle all the way down. Then, when we get to that point, they’ll make the rules stricter. When is this coming? You can expect speed limiters to…

Pavement Parking: Where do we stand?

May 8th, 2019 by Rebecca Webb

This month has seen the launch of a new parliamentary enquiry into that most concerning of motoring problems: pavement parking. We drivers engage in this practice for good reasons, but there are also good reasons why pedestrians give us grief about it. In any case, we’re looking forward to seeing Westminster solve this problem once and for all, by getting a bunch of MPs into a room to have a long and productive conversation about how the rest of us should be driving. This is a devolved issue, so the Transport Committee will only be thinking about how to penalise motorists in England. The Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish will have to answer to their own pavement-parking inquisitions. What’s wrong with parking on the pavement? Objections to pavement-parking tend to fall into two categories. First, there’s the fact that every vehicle parked on the pavement is going to reduce the amount of space available to pedestrians. While a slim person might be able to squeeze past the front end of your Transit without much difficulty, wheelchair-users and those in mobility scooters might not. Second, we should bear in mind that parking a car (or van, or lorry) on the pavement…

Denting and Dashing: Who does this?

April 11th, 2019 by Rebecca Webb

If you spend a lot of your time driving, then the chances are overwhelming that at some point you’ve found your vehicle dented, and the responsible party nowhere in sight. This week, we learned, via research carried out on behalf of YourParkingSpace.co.uk, that around one in seven of us would certainly run away after having dented someone’s motor – these people presumably having taken lessons in responsibility from Homer Simpson. Unlike dining and dashing, denting and dashing is pretty much risk-free. If it’s the middle of the night and you’ve just backed in to someone’s Astra, the chances of them ever tracking you down to exact Liam-Neeson-style revenge are slim to non-existent. So, if no-one sees you do it, what’s the harm? It’s not like this is a problem unique to motorists: we all remember that parliamentary expenses scandal. And there’s a frankly enormous body of psychology there to prove what we already know: many of us will do the wrong thing if we think we won’t ever be caught. We’re not here to lecture you all. If we were the sort of people who liked to dent people’s vehicles and then scarper, that’s exactly what we’d do to appear…

What’s The Parking Act 2019 all About?

April 11th, 2019 by Rebecca Webb

You could have been forgiven for missing a recent and significant piece of motoring news, buried as it was amidst all of the Brexit-related goings-on. After a long (some might say overlong) wait, the Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019 received royal assent on March 15th. This piece of legislation is designed to protect motorists from unscrupulous private parking operators, who, for decades, have been slapping motorists with ginormous bills for trivial infractions. This is one of those rare occasions where something obviously worthwhile happens in Westminster. Reaction to the news was almost universally warm, with the party-animals over at the British Parking Association claiming to have ‘popped a bottle of Champagne’ in response to the announcement. So what’s actually happened? You might think ‘Royal Assent’ means ‘done and dusted’. The Commons proposes something, argues about it, passes it to the Lords to argue about it a bit more, and then the Queen gives it a stamp of approval. But this isn’t quite what’s happening here, because the bill and the code of practice are two different things. Confused? Let’s unpack a little. This is what’s called an ‘enabling’ bill. If you look at the law itself, you’ll see that…

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