Brian Berry

My last car before the Lexus was a red Toyota Celica which I brought over from the Hague, Holland. My wife developed a slight hip problem and had difficulty getting down and then into the Celica. After 12 mths I part exchanged it for the Lexis IS200SE and got in part exchange value what I had paid for the Celica. The Celica was great to drive but had no room in the back and the doors had a tinny sound when closed. I get more people coming over and admiring the Lexus and telling me so rather than the teenagers who looked twice at the red Celica.

I remember in London years ago in Park Lane the council came and put down a new road surface making the height of the traffic lights 3 ins less. One motorist got done for a traffic light offence. He measured the height of the traffic lights and they were 3 ins too short . He was not prosecuted and other motorists who had been done around that time and fined got their fines repaid and sentences squashed.

Hi Chris, Saw the quizical smiley. Did'nt mean to be rude, its just that there are so many names that at the meets its a problem trying to sort out who is who. There are many regular contributors including yourself from whom much useful info is obtained. Obviously at the meets you hope to see the Lexus celebrities!

Hi Tony I think, being a senior citizen ( over 60) that I am one of the eldest. I have been to one meet and am still trying to put names to faces . I was going around asking ' Are you the Gooseman or Shipley?' I did find both. I am now hoping to sort out everyones real name. Its a pity we have'nt got a personal mugshot gallery. Great fun though!

This is many years ago when McMillan was Prime Minister. I was fresh from National Service and being in the Pay Corps I hardly wore my army boots. I kept them and on joining the Met Police I was sent from Cannon Row to guard the rear of 10 Downing Street. It was very cold and I wore 2 pairs of socks and also my well studded army boots. Mrs Mcmillan complained to my superintendent that during the night my constant walking up and down the gravel on what is Horse Guards Parade was keeping her and the PM awake! I was then assigned to Trafalgar Square.

I have found a web site which when I asked the local constabulary they had never heard of it. It is: www.policelaw.co.uk It contains legislation, appeal cases, bills to be presented to parliament and contains links to other agencies. (Could not find heights of swings only ' a child under 36 mths must be supervised on a swing' ) Ah well, makes sense!

Ref my enquiry I recd a reply from a Jennifer Coates and she said' I am away on leave until Saturday I will let you know then' (My request was that in the vehicle registration document what is the name and model ?)

I have also sent an e-mail to the vendor asking for confirmation that in the vehicle registration book the make is: LEXUS and the model: RX300 I will let you know the result.

I think that what happened here was that the police were initially assisting Immigration and another police force and were not expecting physical aggro.This complacency does exist especially concerning giving aid. Its easy to be wise after the event. I would have thought that in policing todays society that at no time should there be any relaxation and in such cases the top priority should be to tool up with the necessary body armour, gas sprays ( and a firearm unit even if its on standby). This tooling up should apply to all officers attending the commitment and not just the Tactical Unit where I believe in this case went in first wearing body armour but failed to handcuff the detainees.

Claire I signed up and intend going as long as the weather conditions are reasonable. If its snowing I will stay in Southampton.

Its very difficult overtaking gritter lorries when on dual carriageways or 2 lane motorways. The drivers have their foot down and the grit is being spread out across the carriagway at full pressure. They could be held liable to any damage but proving it especially in adverse weather conditions is difficult.

It is only an offence to leave the unoccupied car running when on a highway maintained at public expense. This is a road which comes under the jurisdiction of the Road Traffic Act. The offence under the ' Construction and Use Regs has been around for decades. What the police have done is to add it to the list of offences where you can be given a Fixed Penalty Ticket. Another obscure offence is parking during the hours of darkness with the offside next to the kerb. All vehicles must be parked on the left hand side so as to show reflector lights to the rear. Again it must be a public highway.

Mud flaps do help to keep the car cleaner during bad weather. They are quite easy to fit.

I think that the world has gone mad. Oh, for the values of yester year! Such programmes are utterly disgusting and some form of censureship should be brought in. When common decency is outraged to such a degree that uncivilized people are making such programmes then they should be banned from the airwaves. Its all very well talking about the liberty of the subject and freedom of expression but when depravity is evident to all then there must be some form of control. If unchecked where will all this end?The moral and intellectual leadership of the country is at risk.

You can then move up market and listen to Classic FM on 100.4

Happy Christmas and I hope to meet you guys next year at one of the meets.

Thanks Mat. I will purchase a cap and I am even thinking about becoming a GOLD member in the new year! I think that the advice of always driving according to the prevailing conditions at the time as suggested by Bluebeard is very sound.

Reading all this I will certainly leave my flat cap at home should I journey to any meets. I take it that a baseball hat is in keeping with the Lexus image . Is there one with the Lexus logo? Ref winter driving I think one should also bear in mind that the ABS only comes on at 10mph +. I once did an emergency stop at 10 mph and the brakes locked with the result that the car being a heavy vehicle skidded forward in a straight line.

No problems in the rear when transporting my adult daughter from time to time. She did however complain bitterly when she had to fold up to slide into the back of the new Celica when I had one.

Petrol stations with old pumps tend to take a much longer time to fill up. Quite often the cut off switch comes on too early or is faulty and this can be very annoying.

I must admit that I did everything out of sequence. I became very academic when aged 30 and whilst a number of police were attending their masonic meetings I studied with the Open University and got a degree. Luckily I was able to move into town planning and did my Post Graduate Diploma in 1990 . I had a student rail card at 50 years of age which always got a laugh. After 15.5 years in planning I retired on a second pension aged 61. I have now gone back to planning on a six month contract for 2 days a week. My advice to young people is to get their degree early on in their career then build on it. Fortunately for me the OU gave me a chance for a second career and I took it. This also gave me enough money to buy my Lexus!

TDIPLC Let me know if there are any garages who do servicing in the Southampton area that you know and trust. I have lived here all my life and I am still looking!

Sorry don't get it. Where did I go wrong? Perhaps I have watched too much PARTRIDGE!

LOZ Worth driving in the snow for a garage like that!

I think we do care because Cherie is a very astute QC specialising on issues of human rights and is also the wife of the Prime Minister. It is interesting to see how the Blair family are attempting to talk themselves out of the pit where they have fallen. The fact that when found out they are not fully open but insist of spreading a smoke screen is the main reason why so many are disatisfied with the situation. Justice should be all about stating the truth not attempting a 'cover up'.