OH just spotted this on the BBC News site. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-40598537

I may or may not be receiving an NIP in the post soon. But I wish to vent my spleen somewhat over the circumstances of two incidents within the last few days involving traffic lights. The first was at a flyover with a roundabout underneath. There were three sets of lights to pass through in order for me to proceed onto a slip road where traffic merges from a 30 MPH zone to a 50 MPH portion of the motorway. I passed through the first set of lights on green at 20-25 MPH. The second set of lights changed to amber as I was crossing from one side of the road onto the slip road only for me to be met by the red lights of a pedestrian crossing. Which turned from amber to red at the same time as the second (previous) set of lights. There was no delay between them. There was a small space before the third set of lights for approximately one car length to stop. Because I was in the process of accelerating onto the slip road I would have had to slam on the brakes to avoid passing through the lights on red. This seemed counter intuitive to what I would expect when driving onto a slip road. Regardless of what the law says regarding driving through red lights. I felt it was not a fair system and in fact dangerous. I reported this to TFL on their website (without giving them my details of course). I have been beating myself up about it since. I am not sure if there were cameras there or not and it caused me considerable anxiety. The second time was only yesterday. There is a dual carriageway with a 40 MPH limit. This particular set of lights is quite odious. It has a red light camera (I assume) and speed camera lines on the junction. It is a major road junction that allows turning of traffic onto a minor road. I approached it with some trepidation wondering what the best plan of attack was. Begin to slow in preparation for a red light or continue at just under 38 MPH. I made the decision to continue at speed and that was when the lights turned amber. I decided to continue at speed and accelerated ever so slightly. I do not believe I broke the speed limit. However I am unsure if I made it through in time for the light turning red. From my understanding there is no requirement to slow down when approaching traffic lights unless they have already begun changing to amber and you do not think you will be able to cross the junction in time. But I may need my mind refreshing on if the highway code says otherwise. Especially since this was a dual carriageway with a 'continuous' 40 MPH limit. Because this is faster than 30 MPH it requires more stopping distance and this concerns me. Especially since they appear to have placed a speed trap on the junction as well. If you are getting close to the lights at speed (remember I have not broken the speed limit) then it leaves you very little room to stop without slamming on the brakes. But if you are pushed to accelerate through the lights at amber this could place you at risk of being snapped on a speeding charge or possibly being hit on both a red light and a speeding charge. The whole thing appears a bit catch 22 and very suspect IMHO. I have been VERY aware of my driving with regards to traffic lights of late and every time I approach a set I get more cautious and 'driven' to distraction with regards to how they operate and how I should deal with them. I have been driving for over 30 years now and it's only in the last few years I have noticed these issues. I never used to have issue with passing through lights but in recent times it appears the odds are being ever more stacked against drivers to be pushed into 'breaking the law' so to speak. Despite what they keep telling us about it being in order to make things safer for both drivers and pedestrians. The odds are you will make that 'mistake' sooner or later. To me it smacks of both incompetence and a cash grab.

Me and my freind were riding our bikes down the A 11 last week and we were pulled over near Snetterton race track. We were both reported for dangerous driving as there had been reports of two bikes wheeling on the A 11. My freind admitted to wheeling as he did do it and didn't really know how to reply back to the copper as he was very manipulative and wanted to get a confession. I never once did a wheelie so denied the accusation but admitted to speeding as I knew I did speed I was sitting at 80 when he pulled behind us. The problem me and my freind are having is we don't think they have got any evidence of a wheelie but he's already admitted it. My main question is do they need evidence to give my freind dangerous driving and myself when there was no copper or any car at all when he did a wheelie which I might add only lasted two seconds. The copper never tried to prove anything and I thought if he did have proof he would of shown it to us. It seemed like he didn't have enough evidence to convict us of any dangerous riding so had to try his hardest to get my freind to admit his wheelie and tried getting me to admit a wheelie. What can we expect to happen next as he wasn't very clear on what would be happening and frankly we are both in bits at the minute as we risk getting a ban through dangerous driving which neither of us obviously want. Hope this makes sense many thanks.

http://m.bbc.com/news/health-32594556

Do not trust or deal with DIRECT BIKES operating under Scooter.co.uk. The brand new bike arrived damaged in a rusty crate, unsecured and we were unable to move it, on opening the bike was damaged. We contacted Direct Bikes within 1 business day and they didn't want to know and when we challenged them they said we had to pay for the return of the bike at £85 which we now find out is completely false and they tried to bully us into keeping the bike. It had 1 mile on the bike and yet inside were rusty nails, after just 3 months the clutch went which the garage said was poor workmanship, the free roof box arrived damaged and unable to use. Direct Bikes said their warranty did not cover the free gift - what is the point of a free gift worth £49.99 if they supply it broken, then the rear grab rail shafted off at the bolt. Direct Bikes have been the most appalling and aggressive people to deal with. The Bike (VIPER) has been serviced at 300 km and 1100km, Direct Bikes have done their upmost to deny the rights of the Distant Selling Act and the Sale of Goods Act. This bike is a danger, cheap Chinese rubbish that is rusty from the inside, also Direct Bikes if you challenge them will be aggressive and defiant and deny all your evidence. We have supplied video evidence, photos of the bike with 1 mile on and rust under a sealed dash. This is just typical of an aggressively managed company that has no interest at all in their customers safety or vulnerability on the road. Once they have your money you will struggle if you have any issues. It is a clowns bike and every day we wonder what will drop off. We have had 2 services and spent more than £300 on service and repairs in just 3 months all of which Direct Bikes vehemently and aggressively refuse. Be very careful, Cheap Chinese rubbish.

I really don't know what to do, I purchased a hyundai tucson from exeter 4x4 centre a year ago with a new mot with no advisories and a full service history. I unfortunately trusted this, a year later i put the car in for its mot expecting the usual wear and tear, only to be informed by the garage that the whole rear cenre frame was corroded right through and needing completely replacing. He informed this was dangerous which he stated on the mot report. Unfortunately that was only the start and the repairs got up to £1800, at that point he didn't even bother checking the breaks ! Also athough it would have been ok for a year the avisories stated the clutch was on its way out and would also need replacing within the year. Even if I could have afforded to pay for the repairs i dont even know it would have been worth it. I have had to sorn this vehicle and pay out £700 for a car to get me to work. I sent a letter recored delivery to exeter 4x4 giving them the opportunity to respond and also sent them an email asking them to at least acknowledge the letter and have heard nothing. Can this company really be able to supply a car that obviously had a dodgy mot but more importantly was dangerous and I have driving my daughter round in it, any advice would be gratefully received.

I've had a disagreement with my landlord over penetrative damp coming through a plug socket. Other than this issue there is little else I'm too bothered about with my tenancy. Please take a look at the below images. (If a mod couldn't edit the link to work after checking it that'd be great) hxxp://imgur.com/a/LAma8 I notified my landlord of this after discovering it in my new tenancy (who had already been notified by other tenants previously). I explained I felt it was a serious electrocution hazard and probably a fire hazard. My landlord put it in writing that due to good weather he was busy doing repairs on other houses that had broken fences/gutters. I disagreed with this and felt that despite this being ignored for sometime the presence of a young child meant this should be an emergency repair. Broken fences and gutters can't electrocute people, his priorities are wrong here right? Anyway, after 3 weeks of dilly dallying I eventually put my foot down and said if it were not addressed I would be calling the council. Someone came the next day but I was out (common area in shared house, allowed access without warning I think). All that has occurred is the faceplate being replaced with a flat one without plugs. My landlord tells me the electrician has stated that this is now safe and is ignoring my communication. I have a feeling he's telling me porkies and that this is in fact still dangerous and/or a fire hazard. What should I be doing in this situation? He has told me as a result of the back and forth of me trying to get him to do SOMETHING (prior to the council threat) that I am the worst tenant he has had of 100s in his 17 years as a landlord. I feel like I've been pretty reasonable and just wanted action on a dangerous hazard. I still feel like it's a fire hazard and further action should occur. What should I do here? What are my options? What do the experienced here think? If opinion is against me then fair enough, I'll put my hands up and admit fault and lack of reasonableness. I however feel like this should have been resolved in the kind of timescale that an owner-occupier would have prioritised it, and with a small child regularly in the house I feel like that's a hazard worthy of immediate repair. Yes? No? Right? Wrong? Thoughts. Thank you very much all.

We moved into a 3 bed semi detached property may 2013, from the offset weve had allsorts of problems, bei it curtain poles falling out of the ceiling to rainwater coming in and flooding the kitchen. Time frames are ridiculous, getting things repaired ie. in September 2013 we complained the chinney was looking dangerous due to a small tree growing out of the back - a contractor quoted the landlord and the neighbour to re-render the shared chimney but the neighbour refused to pay, as its our side of the chimney that is damaged. Still the chimney hasn't been done, still I feel its going to fall down and possibly injure us should we be sitting in the garden. This week took the biscuit, our oven stopped working, the guy came out to look at it after two and a half weeks of faffing (one guy came quoted and didn't hear from them again week 1, then the handy man came out then a week later the REAL guy came. He was alarmed, the earth had been wired up wrongly, a cable had burnt out laving a fire mark, and the earth had been wired up to the negative - We have old type fuses, which the man said was the reason for it not tripping - they were forcing the current through, for it to work. He was baffled it worked at all. There are no smoke alarms at the property, we bought in our own to be safe. The whole place is just cheap fixtures and fittings and bad workmanship, being even dangerous, who knows what other dangers lurk. Should we not have had an electrical safety check before we entered the property? If so, it clearly wasn't adhered to. Being without a cooker for almost 3 weeks, with 3 kids, We've had enough! My point now is - what options do we have? We have signed a 12 month contract, ending in November, but wed really like to get out asap as we're sick of the constant repairs, bodges and dangers we unveil. We've looked through the contract and there's little we seem to be able to get out on, what are the chances of reducing our rent period? Can we claim damaged as per our contract, if so, what? It seems if we breech the contract we're out on our ears with fines, yet he can provide us with a crap service and theres nothing we can do to break the contract because of them. Please help.

Not sure exactly where to post this - sorry if this is the wrong place. My experience is with Nat West but I believe the issue is of wider relevance. I have just sent Nat West the following complaint, after they sent me a 'Contactless' debit card without me asking for it and with a leaflet that tries to claim that the technology is safe and secure. Any thoughts? "You have just sent me a replacement Visa Debit card after I left my last one in a shop and subsequently cancelled it. With the card you sent me a leaflet telling me that the card includes 'contactless' technology and explaining how it works. My very first thought was that if I were to lose my card again, a criminal would now be able to make transactions for up to £20 without the need to know my pin number. How many such transactions could they make? The leaflet doesn't say. The leaflet says that 'from time to time' the pin number will be needed. How many transactions could be made fraudulently before the requirement for a pin is triggered? 3, 10, 50? Again, it doesn't say. I telephone the bank and your operator said that I should report any card loss immediately and that the bank would then be responsible for any fraudulent use. What if I didn't know that the card had been lost or stolen? Well, he said, the bank security team would block any apparently fraudulent uses. What if they didn't do so or didn't realise that it wasn't me using the card? What was the maximum number of £20 transactions that I could be liable for? HE DIDN'T KNOW! I have asked the bank to replace this card with one without the contactless technology and that has been agreed. However I am shocked and totally disgusted with the Bank's ethical position in this. Your leaflet explains that 'Contactless is very safe. Your card comes with the same secure technology used in all our cards....." The leaflet makes no attempt to spell out the potential liability that customers may now be exposed to. It appears to me that you are keen to increase the number and value of transactions that your cards process but that you couldn't really care less about the increased potential losses for your customers. YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE THE DECENCY TO SPELL OUT THE FACTS OR BRIEF YOUR TELEPHONE STAFF ON THE MATTER. And then there is the social damage. Prior to the mass use of this technology, people are aware of the attractiveness of the cash that they carry to petty-criminals. But cards at least had the protection of pin numbers. By introducing this technology on a mass basis, without engaging in ANY kind of debate with customers or even offering informed choice, you are actively fuelling petty crime / muggings. How do the managers of the bank live with themselves?"

Hi everyone, I need some advice.... About a year ago I hired a gas safe registered plumber toinstall a new boiler, nothing in writing, all verbal agreement. I supplied the boiler and all of the materials. The job was actually carried out by theplumber’s junior, who as it turned out was not Gas Safe registered. I only realised this at the end of the job whenthe junior stated that his boss would return to commission the boiler and dothe paperwork. I complained in writing tothe plumber about the legality of the work and he lied to me stating that hisjunior had all relevant qualifications but he stopped short of actuallysupplying his junior’s registration number. I also complained that the flue was dripping lots of water to theoutside and that I suspected it was fitted at an incorrect angle. I reported the plumber and his junior to Gas Safe forillegal work and Gas Safe came out and did a safety inspection. The inspector condemned the installation asthere were dangerously high levels of carbon monoxide in the flue. He disconnected the gas supply as the boilerwas too dangerous to use in the state it had been left in by the plumber’sjunior. After over a week without heating and hot water I managed to findanother plumber who was prepared to take on the responsibility of sorting outmy dangerous and defective installation, commission the boiler and sign it off. I was extremely disgusted, upset and angry. I told the original plumber in writing that Ididn’t want him to rectify the work, couldn’t trust him and that I wasn’t goingto pay his bill. I didn’t receive anapology or even any acknowledgement of the appalling service I had experienced. That was 8 months ago but last weekend out of the blue I receiveda letter from a company hundreds of miles away threatening legal action for anoutstanding debt to this plumber for over £800! Far higher than the original quote. I’ve replied to the company briefly outlining the details of the casestating that I do not consider I owe the plumber anything, illegal work, incompletework, dangerous installation etc. I alsosaid that I can prove everything I’ve stated to them. I’ve not heard back yet but I don’t think the plumber has aleg to stand on. What I want to know is,if the original plumber has ‘sold on’ the alleged debt and the company doestake me to court who will I be defending my position against, the company orthe plumber? I suspect the company is a debtcollector but their letter is worded such ‘our client is prepared to take legalaction’ which I don’t think a debt collector would say. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks. PD

Hi - not sure if this is the right forum for my question but I'll post anyway as I am interested to hear others opinions on this issue. It concerns the definition of dangerous or careless driving. In short, I live in a relatively quiet 'residential close' where children play outside on the pavement and in the road - and have done without issue for many years. 99% of the residents enjoy seeing the children playing and have no cause for complaint. However, we have one neighbour who clearly dislikes children and over the past 2 years or so have had a series of issues where she has attempted to 'discourage' them from playing anywhere near her house. I won't got into these here! Not having achieved her aim she has raised her game with this latest incident which has caused great concern from parents. This involved her driving her car off the main road towards her house without slowing down for the children who had to jump out of her way onto the pavement. When they then went back in the road after she had passed she stuck her car in reverse and reversed towards them to frighten them. No child was hurt but her message was clear! There were two adult witnesses to her action who said that she clearly acted out of anger/irritation and I am trying to ascertain whether we have a case here to bring to the police? The incident has been reported but police response has been slow - I am hoping to speak to them directly this week.

Hi all. My OH bought one of these from Argos a couple of months ago: http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/8331836.htm Last night, my daughter was about to take a shower and the rubber fitting over the hot tap ruptured down the middle, covering her and pretty much the entire bathroom in hot (but thankfully not scalding) water. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like my OH kept the receipt so I doubt that we can return it, but my main concern anyway is that Argos and the manufacturer are aware of the potential fault - if this had happened to someone elderly, the outcome could have been far more serious. I'm not trying to scaremonger here - we checked all the reviews before purchasing, and it's obvious that this isn't a common occurrence! If there are any serial or batch numbers on the shower, I'd be more than happy to provide them if they are required for checks to be made.

We bought a car from a dealer on the 27th May this year. It has just had it's MOT and failed dismally. It has been deemed dangerous to drive and the cost of getting it roadworthy is over £1000. These are things that would have been wrong with the car when we bought it. As most of the issues can only been seen from underneath the car we were obviously not aware of them. Also, the rear brake is so dangerous that the car should never have been on the road. It also needs some welding work as it is so corroded near the suspension that it could have given way at any time. The other issues are minor compared to these two. I called the dealer who said that because the car was bought for less than £1000 it's not his problem. He said that we took the car on a test drive and were happy. If you can call a 200ft drive a test, then yes, we did. We could not take the car on to the main road as it had no tax and no insurance. So, in effect, we didn't test drive it at all. Just to the end of his drive at the garage and back again. I'm so angry. I spent hard earned money on a car that is dangerous. I have a young child and knowing that it could have given way at any time is a scary thought. I have resigned myself to scrapping the car but I'm just wondering, should I report him to TS or anything like that? Have I really got no rights to demand he put the car right (after all, it was sold unfit for purpose). Any help would be appreciated.

Heads up anyone wanting to eat Cockles: Cockles from a Lancashire estuary have been found to contain dangerous levels of E.Coli and environmental officials have warned they should not be eaten. Trade in Ribble cockles has been banned until further notice by West Lancashire Environmental Health Department. Foulnaze Bank fishery, which was closed due to large numbers of unlicensed cocklers, had been due to reopen on 25 July. It will now remain closed until contamination levels decrease. More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-18838022

I was stopped by traffic police who spotted my passenger open his door for a few seconds while the vehicle was moving and the officer gave me a FPN (3 points and £60) for dangerous carriage of a passenger. My partner asked (politely!) for an explanation of the charge and he threatened both of us with arrest for breach of the peace due to the distress caused to the police officers passengers who thought that there was a child unsecured and moving around in the back of the car. We believe that they mistook the movement of our dog (secured in the boot but still able to move about within that area) for a child and was unwilling to back down when it turned out this wasn't the case. I've googled the charge and the only references I can find are to people being stopped for having children unsecured in cars which seems to back this up. I definitely plan to make a complaint about the police officer's behaviour but the question is should I just pay the fine & take the points or would I have a reasonable case if it went to court? The door was open a crack for a few seconds but it was opened by my adult, seatbelt-wearing passenger, we were travelling within the speed limit and both myself and the dog were safely secured also. Thoughts?

The UK has the safest mains plugs and sockets in the world, however there are many illegal and dangerous counterfeit plugs being sold. Counterfeit plugs are often distinguished by having partially sleeved earth pins in clear contravention of BS 1363, that means that they cannot be legally sold (The Plugs & Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations (1994)). Despite that they are freely available from (amongst others) many ebay sellers, and even Amazon! Some of the counterfeits also have counterfeit fuses fitted, others have no fuses whatsoever! (To see what a counterfeit fuse can do, watch the video on the website at www dot bs1363.org.uk - this has lots more information and includes samples of ebay and Amazon sales listings. One unexpected aspect of this despicable trade is that ebay have shown far greater responsibility than Amazon. ebay have so far removed over 60 listings of power leads since a trading standards officer first raised it with them one month ago, but Amazon simply say they are "investigating" whilst continuing to ignore the law and carry on selling these potentially lethal items!

My sister bought a 2008 Audi TT from a local Audi dealer on an HP agreement not too long ago. There has been a 'ticking' sound from behind the dash for some time, which she's tried to have fixed. Despite repeated attempts, more than five, the reason for the sound was not immediately identified by the garage. She took the car in a few weeks ago regarding the nosie again - and was told the steering column needed replacing! It seems unlikely that these two issues are connected - can anyone shed any light on this? She then picked the car up once the new column had beed fitted and drove away, with her 5 month old daughter beside her. She soon realised however that the steering was not working properly and had little control when trying to turn the car. She very carefully managed to return to the garage, quite upset. This had clearly been a very dangerous situation. Once the car had been checked again the after sales manager told her that because something had not been done to the ABS the steering would not work correctly - he was clealry extremely annoyed (with the mechanics) and offered my sister a weekend away fully paid for the inconvenience, which my sister promptly refused - she just wants to have a car that is safe. Two things; (1) she feels unable to trust the garage now and clearly something has not been right with the car since she bought it - can she refuse to take it back? She has said she wants a different car but the garage have refused. Is this one of those cases where she'll need to go through the finance company as it's an HP agreement? (2) Can she do anything about the dangerous situation the garage put her into? It is only by luck that perhaps something serious did not happen. I should say that as she's just had her first baby recently this is all getting a bit much for her, and I offered to try and find out some info - she could well do without the hassle. Can anyone out there please help? Thanks