TV licence

[Paul C]

9 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

A few years ago I went to currys in Oxford to buy a new telly. Picked one up and took it to the checkout to pay. Postcode please says the lady. I dont have one says I. Everyone has a postcode says lady and its illegal to sell you a telly without you giving your post code ( this silly law has now gone ) I live on a boat, boats dont have postcodes says I. Sorry I cant sell you the tv then. Now I could have got out of this ridiculous burearocratic nonsense easily by using anyone of a number of postcodes at my disposal but simply said ok and left the tv and walked towards the door. Gone a few steps and I hear, Excuse me sir can I help.........some bloke in a suit,  so I tells him the tale which he obviously had witnessed and he says please come to this till......he puts sale through and gives me the telly I had left on the side and I said how did you do it,  to which he replied he had simply put the stores postcode in as any postcode is accepted by the pooter. He will I suppose have been the store manager so it was a sale added to his target and common sense prevailing over red tape crap.

 

9 hours ago, Athy said:

....and you've lived in their shop ever since.

 

It begs the (not very interesting) question......does a TV shop need a TV licence? They have loads of tellys on all day, after all.....

[ditchcrawler]

47 minutes ago, Paul C said:

 

It begs the (not very interesting) question......does a TV shop need a TV licence? They have loads of tellys on all day, after all.....

When I worked in one we had one, but that was a long time ago

 

[GUMPY]

10 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

What about the speedometer or fear view and wing mirrors  

Does this mean you are scared of things behind you?

Edited March 2, 2019 by Loddon

[1st ade]

9 hours ago, Iain_S said:

More distracting if it wasn't in view, and I had to listen to it!

And a quick glance will confirm (which the voice doesn't) whether Blonk Street is the only left turn in the next half mile or is the middle of three close spaced left turns.

[Momac]

22 minutes ago, Loddon said:

Does this mean you are scared of things behind you?

It is my understanding you should be aware of vehicles behind  . Unless the rules have changed to say you must only look out of the windscreen?

[Athy]

17 minutes ago, 1st ade said:

And a quick glance will confirm (which the voice doesn't) whether Blonk Street is the only left turn in the next half mile or is the middle of three close spaced left turns.

Yes, that's a fair point.

[cuthound]

23 hours ago, Athy said:

How is talking on a hands-free phone any more dangerous than talking to another person in the car?

 

Because a significant percentage of the population prioritise talking over driving.

 

In a previous life my employer expected me to participate in long conference calls when driving to maximise productivity. Fortunately I prioritise driving over talking, but this leads to the other party ssying "hello, hello, are you still there?" when the driving demanded my full attention.

 

Following an employee being seriously injured whilst driving and participating in a conference call, company policy changes to ban the use of mobile phones in vehicles when driving on company business.

[David Mack]

22 hours ago, Athy said:

If the car is stationary, is this not legal? Or does the engine have to be switched off? Many modern engines cut out when the car stops moving anyway.

 

22 hours ago, Loddon said:

Needs to be parked, handbrake on and engine off.

You can be done for stopping in a layby and making a call if you leave the engine running or handbrake off.

 

Read a newspaper piece recently that said that paying by phone at a Macdonalds drive through is technically an offence if you haven't stopped the engine and applied the handbrake.

[Jim Riley]

So, re licence, total liveaboards and their request for a land address, put a letter to them offering to pay, stating the paradox they have to sort out, it is of their making after all. Then leave it with them, you have offered to pay, they have refused to accept, the judge would fall off his chair laughing. 

[Momac]

33 minutes ago, cuthound said:

 

Because a significant percentage of the population prioritise talking over driving.

 

In a previous life my employer expected me to participate in long conference calls when driving to maximise productivity. Fortunately I prioritise driving over talking, but this leads to the other party ssying "hello, hello, are you still there?" when the driving demanded my full attention.

 

Following an employee being seriously injured whilst driving and participating in a conference call, company policy changes to ban the use of mobile phones in vehicles when driving on company business.

The company policy where I work has changed too. At one time it was  said to be perfectly safe to use hands free.  

There is no ban but we are no longer required to answer the phone if it is not safe to do so. 

I do think hands free mobile while driving is all very well for  a quick call but not for anything more . 

 

[Athy]

56 minutes ago, David Mack said:

 

 

Read a newspaper piece recently that said that paying by phone at a Macdonalds drive through is technically an offence if you haven't stopped the engine and applied the handbrake.

I would suggest that they are mistaken, because the driver would not be on a public road - I am not familiar with these "drive-throughs" but I assume that you have to drive on to their property in order to make your purchase.

 

Offering McDonald's hamburgers for sale in the first place should be illegal. That would solve the problem. 

[GUMPY]

Places such as Maccy D's and supermarket carparks are not considered private for Road Traffic Act purposes 

[LadyG]

7 minutes ago, Loddon said:

Places such as Maccy D's and supermarket carparks are not considered private for Road Traffic Act purposes 

explain?

[WotEver]

1 hour ago, David Mack said:

 

 

Read a newspaper piece recently that said that paying by phone at a Macdonalds drive through is technically an offence if you haven't stopped the engine and applied the handbrake.

I’d have thought that a McD’s drive through was private property. 

 

Oh, I should read the entire thread before replying...

10 minutes ago, Loddon said:

Places such as Maccy D's and supermarket carparks are not considered private for Road Traffic Act purposes 

How so?

[furnessvale]

4 minutes ago, WotEver said:

I’d have thought that a McD’s drive through was private property. 

 

Oh, I should read the entire thread before replying...

How so?

Life is quite complicated.  For example, you can be guilty of drunk driving on a pub car park.

 

A lot depends on the exact wording of the legislation and how the law has been modified by judges' decisions over the years.  It needs researching to see if a drive through could be called a public place or even a public road according to the criteria I mention.

 

George

[GUMPY]

Generally if the public has access to a place then the Road Traffic Acts apply.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/192/enacted

There will be case law modifying certain locations.

Never sleep it off in a car park!

 

[cuthound]

23 hours ago, tree monkey said:

I was very bah humbug about sat navs, until my job required navigation to specific pole mounted sub stations on the overhead power network, a sat nav loaded with the locations made life so much easier.

Since then I am a sat nav covert,  driving around unfamiliar city's I think they make for safer driving,  not least lane selection on the bigger roundabouts that seem to have been designed by a blind 12 yr old

 

Likewise. I only started using one after I left BT. One would have been very useful when trying to locate some of BT's then 6500 telephone exchanges.

 

Locals couldn't always be relied on to provide accurate instructions and things could change between receiving the instructions and making the journey.

 

Two examples.

 

One exchange was described to me as "the tallest building in the town, you can't miss it". The only problem was it was at the bottom of a valley, so overshadowed by bungalows further up the hillsides. I asked a local resident where the exchange was and he said "well I've lived her for 40 years and didn't know we had one!"

 

A visit to Grimsby took place on a Monday, having been given directions on the Friday. The only problem was the local council chsnged the direction of the one way system over the weekend.

 

As Monkey says they are most useful in strange towns where side turning can be very close to each other, and thus make a significant contribution to safety by allowing the driver to look for hazards rather than street signs.

Edited March 2, 2019 by cuthound

[Mike Todd]

2 hours ago, David Mack said:

 

 

Read a newspaper piece recently that said that paying by phone at a Macdonalds drive through is technically an offence if you haven't stopped the engine and applied the handbrake.

But surely the Macdonalds is not actually on the highway? Or perhaps you're thinking that buying a Big Mac is the offence?

[WotEver]

42 minutes ago, Loddon said:

Generally if the public has access to a place then the Road Traffic Acts apply

The public have access to my drive but it ain’t a public road. 

[Paul C]

8 minutes ago, WotEver said:

The public have access to my drive but it ain’t a public road. 

....but the laws apply.

 

Just as, if I came into your house and hit you with a hammer, a bunch of laws still apply irrespective of the location. In other words, the requirement isn't "public place", its "accessible by the public" ie private car parks and similar too.

[ditchcrawler]

9 hours ago, Loddon said:

Does this mean you are scared of things behind you?

Might be, just don't say Boo

 

[ditchcrawler]

3 hours ago, MartynG said:

The company policy where I work has changed too. At one time it was  said to be perfectly safe to use hands free.  

There is no ban but we are no longer required to answer the phone if it is not safe to do so. 

I do think hands free mobile while driving is all very well for  a quick call but not for anything more . 

 

Maybe 30 years ago I would handle a hands free call OK, but not today, I need to concentrate on the driving more and having a conversation on a phone doesn't allow that.

Edited March 2, 2019 by ditchcrawler
Sipping before Lodon sees it

[Wanderer Vagabond]

1 hour ago, Loddon said:

Generally if the public has access to a place then the Road Traffic Acts apply.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/192/enacted

There will be case law modifying certain locations.

Never sleep it off in a car park!

 

We seem to be confusing the various Road Traffic Acts quite a lot here, in a forlorn hope of clarification, Section 5 of the 1972 Road Traffic Act (the one making drunk driving illegal) clearly states:-"....A person who, when driving or attempting to drive a motor vehicle on a road or other public place, is unfit to drive through drink or drugs shall be guilty of an offence...." whereas the legislation making using a mobile phone and offence (Section 110 of the Road Vehicles Construction and Use Regulations 2003) equally clearly states,"...No person shall drive a motor vehicle on a road if he is using  a hand-held mobile telephone....." the drive through of McDonalds is not a road, it is a public place in which you can quite obviously use a mobile phone, much the same as you can use your mobile phone whilst sitting in a  car park if you wish. The offence is committed on a road 'cos if they meant a public place as well, the legislation would say so.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

28 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Maybe 30 years ago I would handle a hands free call OK, but not today, I need to concentrate on the driving more and having a conversation on a phone doesn't allow that.

More like 30 years ago you thought you could do both at once safely. Now the wisdom of those extra 30 years means you know you can't.

Where hands free car mobile phones even a thing 30 years ago? From what I remember they were big, large, handsets, only affordable by businesses. We had company pagers and would have to go find a land line to reply. <yorkshireaccent>Tell that to kids today and they don't believe you.</yorkshireaccent>

 

Jen, doing her best to divert the topic.

Edited March 2, 2019 by Jen-in-Wellies

[mrsmelly]

3 hours ago, Athy said:

I would suggest that they are mistaken, because the driver would not be on a public road - I am not familiar with these "drive-throughs" but I assume that you have to drive on to their property in order to make your purchase.

 

Offering McDonald's hamburgers for sale in the first place should be illegal. That would solve the problem. 

Too bloody true!! I completely agree. people who feed them to their kids should be arrested for child abuse!!