milleplod

Specials are volunteers, granted. But, as sworn officers who hold a warrant, they have exactly the same powers and priviliges as regular officers, they're very useful. The point I'm making is that its a sad day when politicians (May in particular) plan to have volunteer investigators, CCTV operators and other backroom staff keeping Forces running. They'll be able to turn up as and when they like. That's a great political commitment to policing - but, hey, crime is falling, so we shouldn't grumble (or....crime figures are falling....which is very different). Pete

PCSOs are paid though, Dave! They might not do much, but they're paid and so are obliged (to an extent!) to turn up for duty. Once a force starts relying on volunteers to make up numbers, there's the potential for serious problems - what can you do to compel a volunteer to turn up?! PCSOs and HATOs cost a vast amount of money to set up. Neither organisations have powers worth having, from a policing point of view. What do HATOs do exactly?.....whatever you might hear serving HATOs say in respect of their responsibilities, the money spent on them is wasted. Their 'job' was done by warranted police officers ('road traffic'), who could also do other very useful stuff when not doing roads-related work. HATOs can do zilch when not engaged in minor traffic related matters. I do think a lot of the whingeing from senior police officers and the Federation regarding cutbacks is exaggerated, but politicians have an awful lot more to answer for than just tightening the purse strings. Pete

I've run my IS250 on 225s all round, as an experiment more than anything else. The car drove the same, felt the same, handled the same. Its been mentioned in an earlier thread - http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/103259-all-season-tyres/#entry927507 Pete

He's a complete and utter **** - although I think the driving ban is the least of his worries. "A brazen drug dealer who made up to £750,000 selling cocaine and cannabis has been jailed for 11 years. Arrogant Shaun Davis repeatedly bragged: "Crime does pay." However, after more than 10 years dealing drugs in the Rushden area the 34-year-old, who had homes in Grangeway and Newton Road, Rushden, was caught by police who installed a bugging device in his car. He was jailed yesterday at Northampton Crown Court and now the proceeds from years of drug dealing could be seized. Benjamin Aina, prosecuting, said: "This is the commercial supply of cocaine in the Rushden area between 2003 and 2004. Davis openly flaunted his criminality and made no secret of the fact he was a drug dealer. He had, for example, a set of registration plates marked 'Drugy'." A similar set of plates carried the words "Crime does pay" – an expression Davis often used when laundering his proceeds by paying cash to fund a luxury lifestyle. The court heard the lavish lifestyle included buying a Ferrari Spider for 35,000, buying a home with his mother for 249,995 and using 10,500 of drugs money to buy a spa pool. Between April 2003 and September 2005, 483,000 passed through his nine bank and credit card accounts despite him never having worked." "A group of people accused of running a drug-money laundering operation in Northamptonshire have appeared in front of a judge. Eleven of the 13 defendants alleged to have taken part in the Northamptonshire-wide conspiracy appeared at Northampton Crown Court yesterday. Of those to appear in the dock Shaun Davis, 42, of Crow Lane, Billing Aquadrome, stood accused of conspiracy to produce cannabis in Northamptonshire alongside Jason Hobbs, 45, of Glassbrook Road, Rushden; Neil Brookes, 38, of Wilfred Avenue, Northampton; Robert Allen, 24, and Jordan Davis, 22, of Hove Road, Rushden. The Crown Prosecution Service alleges money made from the drug enterprise was laundered through the purchase of several items registered under the names of others. Davis is accused of buying a £20,000 ‘Plaza Grande’ caravan at Billing Aquadrome as well as a number of vehicles, namely a Kawasaki motorbike, an Audi RS6, a Lexus and a Range Rover with money made from the sale of drugs." Pete

But....they're not all like that, and they never will be. End of. Pete

My point all along Mike has been this - you choose to tar all motorcyclists with the same brush...... (Me........"Have you ever seen a motorcycle ridden responsibly?" You......."On the odd rare occasion and then its was a Police bike.") ........I don't do that. You can't even bring yourself to say that you've seen a single, civilian motorcycle, in your presumably many years of driving, being ridden properly. That's a nonsense. Motorcyclists aren't all the same, they never will be. None of us should stereotype people from a certain group based on what we see a minority of that group doing. And no matter what you say, you've only ever seen a minority of a huge group misbehaving. Pete

The Telegraph report is 14 years old.....you say the meet has been shut down. So, some motorcyclists used to get together and do antisocial stuff. They don't any more. Or......how about "Motorcyclists in shock normal behaviour scenario" ......"In Matlock Bath, Derbyshire, on any Sunday or Bank Holiday when the weather's decent, upwards of 20,000 bikers come into the area from all directions. A few are caught speeding on the way in/out sometimes, but the vast majority ride safely and sensibly, with a huge amount of respect for the local area and its population. There is zero anti-social behaviour. These riders, sometimes carrying their wives, girlfriends or children as pillion passengers, spend lots of money in local businesses, which equates to very happy shopkeepers. Parents visiting the area take their children to look at all the bikes, its very much a friendly atmosphere. Derbyshire County Council runs BikeSafe events from the centre of Matlock Bath - riders have the opportunity to get their riding assessed for free by police or police-trained assessors. All-in-all, this mass-gathering of like-minded people enjoying themselves is a sight to behold, with local residents and business-owners alike in their praise for the people helping to keep their community alive and thriving." Pete

....steepens! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34697149 We have Special Constables, and have had them for a very long time - sworn officers with exactly the same powers as regular constables. This, though, shows just how far down the line we've gone. It will be interesting to see how this develops. Pete

Yep, keep those blinkers on Mike! :D Pete

Well, bear in mind I used to hunt out the idiot riders for a living, on an unmarked bike, I'd say that 80 to 90% of those I saw were anything but idiots. Unskilled, some of them, for sure....and inexperienced, a lot of them. And this was in the Peak District, including Matlock Bath, a Mecca for bikers from all over the country. But I don't accept that 'they', as you call them, were all idiots. I don't think I ever had a 'starry eyed view' of bikers, or car drivers for that matter - I wiped up too many bodies (and knocked on too many doors to deliver the bad news) to think that everyone's an angel, believe me. So, Mike, I can only assume that you choose to ignore the fact that some motorcyclists (excluding bobbies of course!) are just the same as you and me and lots of other folk - they ride carefully, perhaps occasionally break the rules (as every one of us does) and generally go unnoticed. :winky: Pete

I give up! :D Pete

Fortunately Mike, I don't 'have to live' with anyone else's misconceived notions! :winky: When I was serving, I saw many things that could easily have turned me into a serial stereotyper. I soon realised though that that would be a surefire route to bigotry. I'll try asking again, then I'll leave you to your viewpoint. Have you ever seen a motorcycle ridden responsibly? Pete

You must be unlucky then Mike, if the only motorcyclists you ever see are the idiots. Or is it simply a case of not noticing the ones riding properly? Have you really never seen a motorcycle being ridden sensibly, by a rider who falls outside of your 'they' generalisation?! Pete

That's another huge generalisation Mike. An awful lot of motorcyclists ride safely. Pete

Sorry to hear of your family's loss Mike, a terrible thing to have happened, made more so because, like so many road deaths, it could have been avoided. Its very easy to stereotype particular groups of people, based on the actions of a few from within that group. I have a low opinion of cyclists, solicitors and Audi drivers (amongst others). That's part of the human condition, I think - its how we are, we disagree. But then I step back and realise just how irrational I'm being in my dislike of a group that I actually know so few of. Pete

Yep, lots of idiots out there, on bikes and in cars, and the chances of them being caught are about zero. You have to think that these days the only enforcement the authorities rate as important is the automated sort.....which, generally speaking, doesn't catch 'bad' driving. (Another pet hate of mine is inept, incompetent and downright dangerous elderly drivers who need taking off the roads....also brainless, selfish idiots who use their phones whilst driving....... but they're rants for another time!). In some ways, we reap what we sow - many moons ago, the Daily Wail ran an extended campaign against the use of police officers in a roads policing capacity. Their catchphrase was something along the lines of 'shouldn't they be doing proper police work?'....presumably 'catching rapists and muggers', rather than dealing with the sort of antics posted above. The campaign by the Wail, whilst not by any means the prime mover in the disbanding of 'road traffic' departments countrywide, helped cement the idea in the public's mind that automated enforcement was preferable to bobbies swanning around in big cars 'doing nothing'. That's where the rot set in. I spent the bulk of my service on road traffic (or 'roads policing' as it became), a lot of it in unmarked vehicles and on unmarked bikes, catching idiots and prosecuting them, and also advising motorists as to their behaviour and driving standards, something no machine can do. I couldn't have conceived of a time when our roads wouldn't be policed by people....but here we are, calling for the return of the 'good old traffic bobby'. Who'd have thought it?! Pete

Welcome to the Forum Andy! :winky: Pete

That will be the 'human interface leeway' I mentioned then Dave! No 'legal' standing, just something tolerated by a bobby at that particular time. The bobby 20 miles down the road though might see it differently.....and you wouldn't have a defence if he/she chose to report you. Mind you, at least there's a chance of a let-off with a bobby! Pete

Its never been 'legal' to exceed a posted limit, although various urban myths would have you think otherwise! Back in the 70s, the only enforcement done would've been by a person, and drivers would certainly have been given more leeway than machines do today. Pete

why do you think there are plenty of low milage is250s in breaker yards? its probably one of the hardest to find i would imagine. Its not exactly a marque sold in the same volume as corsas and the like. 'Plenty' is relative.....they're not hard to find in breaker's yards, are they?! Perhaps I shouldn't have added 'low-miles'! Pete

Just to back up what's been said above about ss and noise - I fitted a very expensive ss system to my Hirsched 9-5 Aero. It sounded lovely at tickover, and as the revs rose. But....at a steady 55-80+ mph, it was annoyingly resonant, a drone that could be heard even when the radio was on loud. I took it off, sold it at a loss and went back to standard. Had you thought of a system from a breaker? There must be plenty of low-miles IS250s being broken. Pete

This has been all over the 'net for a week or two now - East Yorkshire police's latest attempt to catch speeders. Its not 'urban myth' stuff, the force in question did a press release all about it. Opinions invited, ladies and gentlemen! Pete

Thanks for the reply. Each fob has the driver's seat memory programmed to it - open the driver's door with my fob, the driver's seat automatically moves to my position....the same happens when the wife uses her fob, ie the seat moves to her position. Occasionally, that doesn't happen with one, or both, fobs, and they have to be re-programmed with the 'forgotten' seat positions (which are still saved in the '1,2,3' door-switch memories). I'll fit new batteries, just in case! Pete

Both of the key fobs for our IS250 occasionally 'lose' the memory for the seat position. Is this a sign of the fob batteries going? Or something else? Pete

Mine's hot.....as in, not too hot to touch and stay in contact with....but not just warm....if that makes sense! Pete