Bedford Driving Lessons » Funny

Motorist gets ticket overturned after warden blunder!

admin — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 21:41:57 +0000

A motorist has won his appeal against a parking ticket after the traffic warden claimed he had visited two towns 28 miles apart in 35 seconds. Leighton Leyton-Purrier, 53, obtained official logs which appeared to show that the warden had travelled between the Shropshire towns of Shrewsbury and Ludlow faster than a jet. Mr Leyton-Purrier, who got the ticket in Ludlow, took the case to an independent tribunal, claiming the suspect statistics undermined the council’s credibility, and the tribunal ruled in his favour. He said he believed the council had attempted to find a way to make the penalty stand despite the bizarre statistics. Mr Leyton-Purrier, a publisher who lives in Ludlow, said: “I parked my car but moved it for more than two hours when I went home. “When I came back later in the afternoon the same space was available and so I parked in it. Later, I found I had a parking ticket. More

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Lorry stuck between houses after sat-nav directions!

admin — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 21:42:19 +0000

A HAPLESS lorry driver has become the laughing stock of a quiet rural village after wedging his truck between two houses. The unnamed culprit’s humiliating error of judgement in sleepy Bruton, Somerset, forced him to spend the night in his cab. The trucker was due to make a soft drinks delivery at a nearby convenience store when he unwisely opted to take a short cut down a narrow lane. Guided by his equally incompetent Sat Nav, his 13-ton HGV was brought to a scraping, brick-breaking halt by two properties located too close together for the vehicle to pass through. More and pictures

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Van rams Ferrari into river!

admin — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 22:09:44 +0000

The owner of this luxury Ferrari was left feeling a little seasick after a runaway van rammed it into the sea. The Ferrari 360 Spider – with the registration plate LJ-BUUM – was parked at the water’s edge in Pag, Croatia, while its owner ate at a restaurant just yards away. But he watched in horror as the brakes failed on a white Renault Master truck, which rolled into the back of his pride and joy and shoved it into the harbour.

The incident on the Croatian island, in the Adriatic Sea, was captured on camera by Tibor Svirovicza. The 29-year-old, a composer from Zagreb, said: ‘The Ferrari guy was a Slovenian tourist who had been harassing people in his car by making a lot of noise. ‘It was like he was driving around purposely trying to wake up tourists with his fancy Ferrari.’ The owner, who appeared calm throughout the whole incident, owned a towing company in Slovenia and ordered one of his trucks to pull the Ferrari from the sea. More

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U-Turn lawyer gets car stuck in freshly laid road!

admin — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 22:07:24 +0000

As a lawyer she should have been used to getting out of sticky situations. But when this woman driver attempted to do a U-turn on a street full of roadworks in Houston, Texas, yesterday, there was no way out. Houston police said that it received a call at 8:30am from a roadworker reporting that a Lexus had been driven straight into a freshly laid section of road. The caller told officers that the car had attempted to cross the stretch of cement, despite it being marked off by bright orange cones. In photos of the rush hour mishap posted on the Internet, the female driver appears to still be in the car. More

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Australian caught drunk driving a cool box!

admin — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 22:03:48 +0000

Chris Petrie has lost his licence for 10 months and been fined £320 after being caught driving a portable cool box while three times over the legal alcohol limit. The 23-year-old Australian from Noosa, in Queensland brought the motorised cool box from eBay for AUD $600.00 (£383). After assembling it with some friends while having a few drinks he could not resist the temptation to take it out for a spin near his home. “By the time we built it was quite late. So we thought we’d go for a bit of a test run,” said Mr Petrie. He was stopped by police driving the along Noosa Parade just before midnight on June 16 and breathalysed. More

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Mad mayor uses tank to deal with parked cars!

admin — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 22:33:11 +0000

This is the incredible moment a frustrated mayor drives an armoured vehicle over a Mercedes S-class – for parking in a cycle lane. Arturas Zuokas, 43, took the drastic action after becoming infuriated with motorists parking their luxury cars illegally around the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. The flamboyant politician decided to take the novel approach of fighting illegally parked cars by destroying them with a camouflaged Russian armoured personnel carrier. He said: ‘I wanted to send a clear message that people with big and expensive cars can’t park wherever they feel like and ignore the rights of pedestrians and bike riders. ‘It shows a lack of respect and won’t be tolerated. Of course, you have to have a sense of humour in my line of work and I thought this would be a way of drawing attention to the fact that the city intends to be proactive in its fight against illegal parking.’ The shocked ‘owner’ of the Mercedes was photographed exiting a shop to find his German saloon destroyed by the smartly dressed civic leader, who shakes his hand, tells him not to park his car illegally ever again and merrily cycles off. More

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Charlie and Ruby revealed as the UK’s most popular car names!

admin — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 21:18:58 +0000

Research released today reveals over a quarter of UK motorists have a pet name for their beloved cars. The survey by car insurance experts Confused.com has identified the most popular car names as Charlie and Ruby. With nearly half of drivers describing their cars as ‘part of the family’, the Confused.com research reveals that 33% of car owners initiate a daily car-versation with their motors, talking to them not only about day-to-day matters and their frustrations on the road, but also about relationships and personal problems. The average UK motorist considers their car to be female, with a personality that is sensible (25%), cute (8%) or playful (7%). Findings also confirm that 16% of men see their cars as women, choosing words such as sexy (6%) and mischievous (5%) to describe the personality of their vehicles. More

Council waste more money on ‘daft’ sign!

admin — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 20:56:48 +0000

It is, perhaps, as pointless a sign as one could find. For reasons best known to itself, a London council has hammered in a sign urging motorists to “keep off the grass” on a scrubby bit of verge no bigger than a bath towel. Merton, a Labour-controlled authority in the south west of the capital, declined to say how much it had spent on trying to protect this minute patch of green. The council also declined to say which officer had take the decision to send a workman – or team of workmen – to hammer in the sign. “The sign was put up to remind motorists that it is illegal to park on the footway, and is designed to deter indiscriminate parking,” a spokesman said. More

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Austrian wears pasta strainer on head in driving licence photo!

admin — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 22:45:41 +0000

Austrian Niko Alm has been granted the right to wear a pasta strainer in his driving licence picture – for religious reasons. .The atheist says he belongs to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, with followers labelling themselves ‘Pastafarians’. After discovering headgear was allowed in official pictures for ‘confessional’ reasons, Alm decided a pasta strainer would be a suitable representation of his faith. He promptly sent off his driving licence application form along with some photos of himself sporting a colander headpiece. More

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Teenager caught drink driving a lawnmower!

admin — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 23:06:27 +0000

A teenager has been banned from driving after he drunkenly got behind the wheel of his father’s £1,700 lawn-mower. Joel Maunder, 18, boarded the 15mph vehicle with the intention of visiting some friends, but saw his journey cut short by police. The A-level student had driven about a mile from his family’s £500,000 home in the affluent village of Dinas Powys, in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. His blood-alcohol level was found to be more than twice the legal limit when he was stopped on a Saturday night last month. The sixth-form pupil originally faced prosecution for being in charge of a mechanically-propelled vehicle while unfit – the equivalent of drunkenly riding an electric bicycle.

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Cheated women take revenge on their partners cars!

admin — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 20:28:41 +0000

One in 10 women say they would smash up the car of their cheating partner in revenge for an affair, a new survey reveals. More than a quarter (27%) would consider damaging the paintwork if the car was his most prized possession with 13% vowing to slash the tyres and 9% targeting the windscreen. A further 26% would sell the vehicle on eBay for 50p, according to the Autoglass® poll. Six out of 10 (59%) say the aim of revenge would be to humiliate their unfaithful boyfriend or husband although 18% would gain satisfaction just from seeing them lose their most treasured belonging. More

Flash motors with not so flash parking!

admin — Sun, 29 May 2011 20:34:07 +0000

It is a driving habit guaranteed to enrage even the most docile motorist, but these supercar owners show such bad bay parking they have been exposed on an internet gallery of shame. Whether it’s parking across multiple spaces, double yellow lines or disabled bays, mega-rich motorists have had their appalling parking revealed. The drivers may escape punishment from the authorities, but their flagrant disregard for road rules has been shared by internet users branding them ‘selfish and inconsiderate’. More & Pictures

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MP calls for more royal wedding to help fix up our roads!

admin — Fri, 06 May 2011 22:15:55 +0000

More royal nuptials could help accelerate road repair work, resulting in smoother surfaces across the UK, an MP has joked. Conservative Greg Knight said more royal weddings should be conducted in order to help fix the country’s potholed roads. Ahead of Prince William and Kate Middleton tying the knot on April 29, road surfaces on the procession route between Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace were repaired. Speaking during discussions on future Parliamentary business, the Tory called on Leader of the House Sir George Young to allow time for a talk on royal weddings. Mr Knight said: “Early last week potholes in Parliament Square were filled in and areas of damaged Tarmac in and around the square were resurfaced. More

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Council to refund £1M parking fines after using wrong camera!

admin — Fri, 06 May 2011 21:58:26 +0000

Motorists could be in line for a £1million refund of parking fines after council bosses used the ‘wrong sort of camera’. The CCTV Smart car cameras had not been declared an ‘approved device’ by the Department of Transport. As a result thousands of tickets issued by Richmond Council, in south London, could be ruled invalid. The surveillance cars have since been taken off the streets and Lord True, leader of Richmond Council, has now indicated that all affected drivers could be due refunds. He promised a full investigation after it was claimed cameras on the council’s two CCTV cars were not correctly certified and fines had been issued illegally since 2009. Last year alone, the council issued 12,305 tickets, raising more than £573,000. A council spokesman said: ‘We are taking advice and are considering the question [of refunding motorists].’ More

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The top ten worst Sat nav blunders!

admin — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 21:34:51 +0000

Here are ten examples where motorists would have been well advised to ignore the little voice in their Tom Tom or Garmin and look out of the window.

Capri, Italy. Two Swedish holidaymakers were attempting to reach the island of Capri but ended up 400 miles away in an industrial town at the other end of the country after mistakenly typing “Carpi” into their sat nav. A spokesman for the Carpi regional government said: “It’s hard to understand how they managed it. I mean, Capri is an island. “They were surprised, but not angry. They got back in the car and started driving south.” List

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Rude private number plates to be removed!

admin — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 21:01:18 +0000

An Australian woman was told to remove her personalised number plates which bear her nickname ‘Kiki’, following a complaint that the word is Filipino for a part of the female anatomy. Kristen Perry, known as Kiki by her friends and family received a letter from the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) in New South Wales demanding that she show “just cause” for using the plates, otherwise they would be confiscated. The RTA said it had received a complaint from a member of the Filipino community because Mrs Perry’s nickname Kiki translates to “vagina” in Tagalog. “At first I thought it was a joke, but then I realised it was actually quite serious and that my number plates would be taken off me if I didn’t respond appropriately,” Mrs Perry said. She said she was given the nickname Kiki as a baby in relation to her Greek heritage and had no idea of its other meaning. She was given the personalised plates as a gift from her husband five years ago. More

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Workmen hash up double yellow line painting!

admin — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 22:33:46 +0000

Furious traders at first thought they had been vandalised when they saw the scruffy, crooked yellow lines and white, mis-shapen parking bays on the historic cobbles of their town. Some car-owners even reported their vehicles being sprayed with white and yellow paint when council workers carried out the two-day botch-job in Yarm, Teesside this week. It has caused chaos among the heavily-used parking bays as vans and family cars are unable to fit in the spaces which have been made too small. The affluent area is frequented by footballers and businessmen and is the local shopping area of former England manager Steve McClaren, who lives nearby. The debacle has driven the council to apologise and announce that they will be replaced this weekend. High street trader Kaye Allan said: ‘People are honestly just stunned. Some of the lines are thin, while others are really fat and uneven. It is absolutely appalling. ‘I really didn’t believe they were from the council – I thought it was a practical joke. We have become the laughing stock of the country and it is ruining our beautiful cobbles. It is awful.’ Peter Bell, of designer clothes shop The House, said: ‘We became very suspicious when we realised he wasn’t actually very good at spraying and was marking bays in the wrong directions and the wrong sizes. More

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Breakdown men to help repair our roads!

admin — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 15:21:31 +0000

A 2.2 million pothole plague has spread across the UK as a result of three cold winters and cutbacks in road maintenance.

Now AA patrols with specially equipped vans will be tasked with filling in any potholes they come across when travelling between breakdown jobs.

AA Pothole Assist is a new service following in the footsteps of AA Fuel Assist and AA Battery Assist. The AA’s entry into the road maintenance market is a direct response to concerns raised by members:

• The recent AA StreetWatch survey conducted by 2,000 AA members identified potholes as the most serious concern.

• An AA/Populus poll of 20,000 members showed that the majority believe that road conditions have deteriorated over the last decade.

• AA Insurance has seen a four-fold increase in claims due to pothole damage in the last two years.

AA patrols will be using a revolutionary new solution ‘quick seal yellow’ to fill potholes quickly without delay to traffic. The AA has agreed to invest £250,000 in a pilot scheme starting today. Pothole Assist will also be used to promote the AA to all road users as the potholes will be filled with yellow solution and branded ‘AA’ or ‘AA for the Road Ahead’. If a road suffers more than 20 potholes in a ten metre run the whole road will be resurfaced yellow with ‘yellow lines’ painted black where appropriate. More

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Council paints double yellows in tree filled narrow parking space!

admin — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 20:25:06 +0000

For the council officials, it made perfect sense to paint a 3ft yellow line next to a tree – even though it is nigh on impossible to park there. But for the inhabitants of Brighton that logic would appear more akin to that displayed in Alice in Wonderland. Pedantic and silly are just two of the responses given by residents to their local paper The Brighton Argus when it asked ‘Are these Sussex’s most silly double yellows?’ That the tree – located in Shaftesbury Place – is there in the first place should be warning enough that it is not possible to park there. But the council is unrepentant about its decision and declared that it is important to make it clear to all and sundry where one can or cannot park. Their concern was that if the yellow lines were not painted then drivers would attempt to park in the tiny space knowing it would be legal. And that could lead to them contesting parking tickets. A council spokesman said that the lines were painted to stop cars jutting out and drivers contesting parking tickets Or, if there is an accident, perhaps caused if a vehicle is jutting out, then the council could be deemed culpable. Either option would prove costly. So to stop that, they have painted the double yellow lines. A spokesman for the Brighton and Hove City Council told MailOnline: ‘There was a little bit of overkill in the Argus – they went out to interview people. ‘If you look at the picture it does look a bit silly, but when you know the reasons behind it, it’s not so silly. More

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Council workers tarmac around parked BMW!

admin — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 22:50:08 +0000

This parked car failed to stop a council resurfacing a road – as workers simply laid the new Tarmac around it. The driver of the silver BMW ignored signs not to park on the street before contractors were due to work on Blenheim Way in Birmingham, West Midlands. But the bungling workers have since been labelled ‘farcical’ by angry councillors after they carried on regardless. The car, which had no road tax, is now left stranded on an island of old, weathered road surface. And the taxpayer can expect to fork out again for the contractors to finish the job once the car is finally towed away. Councillor Keith Linnecor blasted: ‘This really is a complete and utter farce. ‘I can’t believe we have got a situation where there is a partially covered surface on a road because of a parked car. Birmingham City Councillor Keith Linnecor ‘The car was parked, but when the tax ran out on March 1, it should have been towed away. ‘And if that was not possible then the job should have waited until a time when the whole road could be completed. ‘As it stands another crew are going to have to come out now and finish the job – at a cost to the taxpayer. More
(AD ~ Councils have little more these days, and they waste what little they do have!)

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Frank Skinner ordered to take breath-test!

admin — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 23:09:00 +0000

Frank Skinner has revealed he was pulled over by police and asked to take a breath-test – despite not having had a drop of alcohol in 25 years. The comedian and Absolute Radio presenter said he was stopped by police while driving over Tower Bridge in London. He was pulled over after police suspected him of speeding. Speaking of the moment he was asked to take the breath-test, Skinner said: “I thought, I’ve never been more confident of passing a test in my life.” The police officer asked if he had been drinking that evening and he replied: “I can tell you now, I haven’t had a drink since September 24, 1986.” The comic added: “He just looked at me in disbelief.” More

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Council contractors resurface around parked car!

admin — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 22:56:53 +0000

Council contractors have been branded ‘unbelievable’after asphalting around a parked car. Workmen were due to resurface the Market Street car park in Whitworth last week. But when the arrived they found one driver had ignored signs telling people not to park there. But undeterred they carried on the with the job anyway – and left the patch around the Ford Focus uncovered. Glynn Normoyle was in Whitworth Post Office directly opposite when the work was being carried out. He said: “When I realised they were resurfacing around the parked car, I couldn’t believe it. “The workmen spent a long time on the phone when they first arrived – I suppose they were trying to find out who the car belonged to and what they should do next.” A sign warning drivers not to park went up at 8am on Monday February 14, with workmen arriving two days later. Whitworth mayor, Coun David Chorlton, who owns Market Street plumbing and bathroom business UBS, said: “A few people told me about it when they came in the shop. “They found it highly amusing and I thought they were winding me up, so I went to have a look. More

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DVLA in licence picture mix up!

admin — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 19:12:09 +0000

When Scott Allan received his provisional licence through the post, he realised something was not quite right. While the bearded white 27-year-old’s name, address and date of birth was all correct, the photograph showed a picture of an Asian woman in an hijab. The green card, which had been issued by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), also contained the signature of an unknown person – presumed to be the woman in the traditional Muslim head dress in the picture. Mr Allan, from Acton, West London, applied for his licence on the internet but was told he would need to send a photograph and proof of ID in the post. So he was startled to receive a licence a couple of weeks later – before he had even supplied his picture and passport. Mr Allan said: ‘I was surprised when I opened the envelope from the DVLA and found a driving licence because I had not completed the application process. ‘That surprise turned to disbelief when I looked closer and saw the face of an unknown woman staring back at me beside my name, address and date of birth. More

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Popular car names revealed!

admin — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 22:37:40 +0000

A poll has revealed the attachment owners have towards their cars, with many drivers even christening their vehicles. A survey by webuyanycar.com showed 53% of drivers call their vehicles by name, with the most common ones being Betty, Betsy and Bess. Owners may be prepared to pay good car insurance for Bertie, Daisy, Bertha and Meg who are among the popular vehicle names, the poll of 3,000 people revealed, while Ford owners call their motors Harrison and Anna. Uncommon and unpredictable names have also been used, one driver dubbing his vehicle God because “it moves in mysterious ways”: another motorist named his car after Nigerian-born football player Efan Ekoku. While red and blue vehicles have more chance of being named, grey and green cars have a lower probability. More

19 girls squash into one car!

admin — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 20:45:45 +0000

KARACHI: Aymen Saleem, a second-year A’ Level student at Karachi Grammar School, was browsing newspaper headlines in her living room, when she came across a story about the world’s largest cake. The story sparked her curiosity and soon enough she was searching for her very own record to break. After a quick search on Google, she found the perfect challenge. All she needed was 19 willing girls and a Smart Car, a two-door micro-car manufactured by Daimler AG in France and Germany. Luckily for Aymen, she happened to have one of them parked in her very own driveway. It was a birthday present from her father Yousuf Saleem. On Wednesday, Aymen and 18 other girls, from different A’ Level institutions across the city, including KGS and Southshore School, managed to break a previous record by fitting into the vehicle with its doors closed for five seconds. The current official record holders are the Climb FitTeam of Australia who compressed 18 students into a standard SmartCar at the Warringah Mall, Sydney Australia on January 25, 2010. The girls managed to meet the challenge at the BBQ lawn of Creek Club in front of a jury at a historic event organised by Karim Mohammadi and Rehan Elahi. The chief guests included the federal adviser on textiles Dr Mirza Ikhtiar Baig, adviser Sharmila Farooqi, Sindh Assembly Speaker Nisar Khuhro and former cricketers Wasim Akram and Saleem Yousuf. The girls had been through the drill numerous times. They positioned themselves and with precision crammed one by one into the two-door car in layers. Within a minute they were all inside the car and not only did they manage to break the world record, they managed to stay in the car for a gruelling 10 seconds, double the current record time. More

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Car gets wedged between two houses!

admin — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 22:34:21 +0000

A car went airborne and wound up wedged between two homes, 8 feet off the ground, in an early morning crash Sunday in San Pedro, police said. The odd accident in the 1400 block of West 17th Street caused significant damage to one of the homes, which was unoccupied at the time. The home had apparently sold just a few days ago, officials said. Residents in the other home were awakened by the 1:05 a.m. crash, but were unharmed, said Officer Midian Koons of the Los Angeles Police Department South Traffic Division. The crash occurred at a T-intersection at West 17th Street and South Weymouth Avenue near Averill Park. The driver, who was allegedly drunk, was headed west on 17th and never stopped, authorities said. “He launched right over the curb,” Koons said. “The driver never stepped on the brakes.” The two homes are about 10 feet apart and 10 feet below street level. The black Ford Fusion was lodged between them at a slight angle, with the front and rear of the car stuck in the walls of the homes. The rear of the car wound up in the living room of one home, and the front of the car was lodged in the kitchen of the second home, the most significantly damaged. More

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Family covered in white paint after car crash!

admin — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 22:22:32 +0000

Four family members had a lucky escape after crashing into another car – but they did end up being smothered in almost 25 litres of white emulsion paint. The two adults and two children were driving through KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa with a giant 25litre tub of paint in the back when the smash happened, sending the emulsion everywhere. It is believed that the tub, which had been placed on the back seat, was catapulted forward during the crash, covering the inside of the car and its occupants. Despite the smash, the two adults and two children were able to clamber out of their newly-repainted car, looking at each other in shock. As they stood by the side of the road, several pedestrians and drivers stopped to stare at the family, causing a large traffic jam build up behind them. Some passers-by offered to help out – although unless they happened to have a handy 25litre tub of white spirit with them, there probably wasn’t much they could do. The family and the driver of the other car – which, fortunately, was already painted white – were not hurt. However, it is thought that their blue Fiat car, which had its bonnet crumpled by the crash, is likely to be a white off. The family were said to be overcome with emulsion. Pictures

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Vauxhall launch ‘snow socks’ for cars!

admin — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 21:26:14 +0000

Vauxhall has come up with a clever new way of tackling damage to vehicles during heavy snow – a set of ‘snow socks’ for cars. The car giant’s new accessory is a pair of fabric snow chains for tyres designed to give the car wheels that extra grip required to drive over thick-laid snow. The new product is expected to bring down the rising car insurance claims made due to snow-related damages. Vauxhall says the innovation is better than winter tyres and less troublesome than the usual snow chains, as it is made from a fabric in which fibres are “arranged at right angles in the direction of travel”, allowing them to plough through the snow more effectively. More

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OAP shunts parked car out of his way!

admin — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 22:55:06 +0000

It’s an unusual way to get out of a tight parking space. But reversing into a car that blocked his garage and shunting the offending vehicle into the road has landed one 83-year-old with a hefty fine and a driving ban. The moment of parking rage was captured on CCTV as Ronald Pemberton used his Peugeot estate to move a Ford Ka opposite a primary school. Two weeks later he was caught repeating the offence by pushing a Mazda into the road. A court heard how Pemberton, who still works running two stationery companies, has rented the garage near his home for 20 years but had become frustrated by people parking in front of it. But Sarah Regan, prosecuting, said he had not taken the right course of action. She said: ‘The way you deal with it is to leave a note on the windscreen and have a word when they come back. You don’t use your car to move it.’ Giving evidence in the trial, Pemberton said he was unaware of the presence of pedestrians when he carried out the manoeuvres near to Cabot Primary School in Bristol. More

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Guy dressed as a mobile breathalyser arrested for drink driving!

admin — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 22:30:00 +0000

A Nebraska teenager – dressed as a mobile breathalysing unit for a Halloween party – was pulled over on his way home and arrested for drink-driving. Matthew Nieveen, 19, of Lincoln, was arrested early on Monday for driving under the influence and being a minor in possession of alcohol. Nieveen drew the attention of patrol officers while driving erratically in his Ford F-150 – a large pick-up truck. It is not known whether the officers had a mobile breathalysing unit to test Nieveen, but they did find the incident ironic enough to include what he was wearing in their report. The charge sheet read: ‘He was dressed as a PBT [preliminary breath testing] alcohol sensor and had been attending a Halloween party prior to the stop.’ More

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New driver gets licence then crashes into test building!

admin — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 22:17:53 +0000

A man who had just passed his driver’s license test failed to properly park his vehicle and drove into the Drivers License Center in Collier, police said. Collier police Chief Thomas Devin identified the driver as Robert Keller, 34, of Carnegie. Efforts to reach Keller this morning were unsuccessful. “He shook up a couple people, but he’s not going to be cited,” Devin said. The incident occurred yesterday at the facility in the Chartiers Valley Shopping Center on Washington Pike. “(He) had just passed the test and pulled into a parking space in front of the center to drop off the instructor,” Collier police Sgt. Brian Halbleib said. “He thought the vehicle was in park.” When the vehicle started moving, Keller panicked and apparently hit the accelerator instead of the brake, police said. The car jumped the concrete parking stop and slammed through the front door and glass wall, coming to rest inside the building amid more than a dozen startled and scared customers and employees. More

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Council bans smiles for parking staff!

admin — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 20:42:34 +0000

Brighton and Hove Council managers have been accused of losing their sense of humour after telling employees a smile could “inflame situations”. New staff joining the parking complaints team have been told to remain stony faced when dealing with griping members of the public. Mark Turner, branch secretary of the GMB union, said the advice, dished out at a staff induction training course, was “laughable”. He said: “I find this astounding. It flies in the face of common sense. “Smiling and cracking a joke is the best way of defusing a conflict situation. The GMB union don’t send me on courses telling me not to smile at the negotiating table. “This council love putting staff on pointless courses. They should focus on useful training that employees really need. But instead they fritter away time and money on ridiculous advice like this. “It is outrageous in the current financial situation.” Yesterday, a council spokeswoman said: “We provide training for our staff to ensure good customer service and to give staff the opportunity to develop their skills. “Training is also given to new staff on how to handle confrontation. This is a very specific situation and the training is designed to help staff use body language that would not inflame the situation. “This includes being aware that smiling when dealing with confrontation could be taken the wrong way.” More

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Now men are not allowed on mechanics course!

admin — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 20:28:03 +0000

John Mandy’s retirement dreams have stalled after being told he can’t go on the mechanics course he wanted because he’s the wrong sex. Mr Mandy, 58, of Stockport, Manchester, had sensibly planned to tune up his skills ahead of a trip of a lifetime around Europe in a VW camper van with wife Joy, 57. But his plan failed as the one local evening class he could find – at Trafford College – only accepts women so that men can’t ‘intimidate’ them in lessons. Mr Mandy, who works at Kellogg’s in Old Trafford, said: ‘I just can’t get my head around it. ‘I could understand if it was swimming classes or something like that, but it would just be a group of people in overalls learning about cars. I don’t see what difference it makes whether you’re a man or a woman. ‘I wouldn’t be any sort of threat to anyone learning there. I doubt anyone knows as little about mechanics as me.’ John, who hopes to retire in the next two years, bought a 1972 VW ambulance for £6,500 on Ebay and plans to convert it into a camper van for his big trip. He said: ‘I’m completely clueless about cars and need to learn how to be able to maintain an engine if we’re to go travelling, but it seems that men just aren’t catered for. More

Car wash nightmare for guy – a lesson for all!

admin — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 23:10:07 +0000

There’s always a dilemma when it comes to keeping your car clean. Do you spend an hour or two doing it yourself, making sure that your pride and joy is absolutely spotless. Or do you drive down to your local service station and put a few quid into the autowash to get a quick, but basic clean. Why not combine the best of both? Why not let the carwash do its thing, and touch up yourself any bits that it misses? If you think this sounds like a good idea, I insist that you watch this video to find out why not… More and video

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In US parking tickets now have Yoga advice to calm motorists!

admin — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 21:17:59 +0000

A US city is handing out parking tickets with pictures of yoga positions on them in a bid to calm down angry recipients. Parking control officers in Cambridge, Massachusetts, have been issued with 40,000 of the placatory citations. They are the brainchild of one Daniel Peltz, an “artist in residence” with the Cambridge Traffic and Parking Department. The tickets have an image of a yoga position on the front of the envelope, with instructions on the reverse on how to implement various moves. Susan Clippinger, the city’s transportation chief, tells The Boston Herald the purpose of the tickets is to “debunk the idea that all parking tickets are a hostile action. We’re not writing tickets to get somebody. We’re writing tickets to help make the city function.” More

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50 Year anniversary of traffic wardens in London!

admin — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 22:54:18 +0000

Parking wardens have marked 50 years of patrolling London’s streets. The capital’s first 40 traffic wardens, as they were originally known, were deployed in Westminster in central London on 19 September 1960. The wardens – who wore distinctive yellow cap bands – could hand out fines of £2 for illegally parked motorists. Today approximately 200 parking attendants – now called Civil Enforcement Officers – patrol Westminster each day. Parking is now under the jurisdiction of the local council but it was originally under the Metropolitan Police’s control. The very first ticket issued was to Dr Thomas Creighton, who was answering an emergency call to a West End hotel to help a heart attack victim. The medic’s Ford Popular was ticketed but was eventually let off the fine More

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Revenge of the binmen as car blocked in by wheelie bins!

admin — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 21:04:50 +0000

WHEN brassed-off binmen found their route blocked by a parked car, they decided to take action against the offender. They dragged dozens of wheelie bins from surrounding streets to give the motorist a taste of his or her own medicine, but their cheeky prank was caught on camera and uploaded to the video-sharing website YouTube. Now their actions are going viral and becoming an internet phenomenon. The footage was put on the world wide web just a few weeks ago and at the start of this week only a handful of people had seen it. By last night, thousands of viewers had logged on to watch the footage. The undated footage shows binmen putting more than a dozen empty bins around the car, which is obstructing their passage down a back street. More

It takes 22 minutes for in-car rows to start!

admin — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 20:49:21 +0000

They may have a long drive ahead, but many couples will spend much of the time in silence, it seems. The arguments start on average just 22 minutes into a car journey, research suggests. More than half of couples admit that they spend the remainder of the trip not talking to each other. One in ten motorists admit that an in-car argument has been so bad that it led to separation. Disagreements about directions and getting lost top the list of trigger points, with nearly half of those surveyed (44 per cent) citing these as reasons for a bust-up. It is followed closely by arguments over finding and manoeuvring into parking places. Driving too quickly causes more than a third of rows (34 per cent), while nearly a quarter of disagreements centre on driving too closely to the car in front. Whoever is at the wheel, man or woman, they do not welcome advice from their partner. Backseat driving is responsible for one in five rows. The survey of 3,000 motorists reveals that 71 per cent of adults have argued with their partner about the quality of their driving. More

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Landrover crashes into golf course bunker!

admin — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 21:47:33 +0000

THIS is the moment a suspected drink-driver was arrested after crashing his car — into a GOLF BUNKER. The Land Rover Defender was discovered on its side in the sand trap at Royal North Devon Golf Club in Westward Ho. Club officials say two people were found asleep in the back of the vehicle — both dressed as PIRATES. It is thought they drove across the golf course after leaving a party. Golf club chairman Doug Bushby said: “The greenkeepers saw it, went down there and saw two bodies in the back and rang police. “A paramedic came too because they wondered if they were injured, but apparently they were just asleep. “It is a strange place to drive at night. You can get very disorientated very quickly. “It will be a considerable cost to repair the damage.” A 28-year-old man will appear before North Devon Magistrates Court on September 24 charged with drink-driving. Pictures

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Have we reached the end of Butt Hole Road?

admin — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 21:33:56 +0000

Dozens of councils across Britain have reported cases of residents changing the names of their street because they are embarrassed by or dislike the one it had been given. For the residents of Bladder Lane, Bent Street or Butt Hole Road, just providing their address could be fraught with potential embarrassment. But the solution for them – and many others left similarly red-faced by their odd-sounding street names – was simply to change the name of the road. Dozens of councils across Britain have reported cases of residents changing the names of their street because they dislike the one on the map. In some cases, the name change has followed years of ridicule. The inhabitants of Butt Hole Road even had to put up with coach loads of US tourists visiting to have their pictures taken near the road sign, after the street appeared in an American book and on the internet. The name, which is thought to refer to a communal water butt once located in the area, has now been changed to Archers Way. Last week residents in the street expressed relief at the change. One, who declined to be named, said: “We had had enough. We are much happier now. We just want to move on.” Bladder Lane, in Plymouth, believed to have been named for the bladderwort plant which grew in an adjacent meadow, was changed to Boniface Lane at the request of a St Boniface’s Catholic College, on the road, which was unhappy with it. Bent Street, in Blackburn, was renamed following lobbying from a new sheltered accommodation complex on the road. It has now been given the rather more bucolic-sounding Greenhurst Place. In the same town, a local college has also successfully requested that Brewery Street, on its campus, is changed to the more scholarly – and more sober – University Close. “We just felt it was more appropriate,” a Blackpool College spokesman added. However, the changes have upset local heritage campaigners, who are concerned about the loss of local history in such names. More

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The Old Bill need help with their parking!

admin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 21:23:53 +0000

Due to the number of crashes by official cars and their escalating repair bills South Yorkshire Police have decided that every new vehicle will be fitted with a warning device. The force spends an average of £60,000 a year mending cars damaged during parking manoeuvres. Many incidents take place in police yards where space is limited often damaging two cars at the same time. The sensors emit “bleeping” noises to alert drivers if they get too close to an obstacle. Most are fitted to the rear of the cars but some vehicles supplied to South Yorkshire Police also have them on the front so drivers avoid crashing when moving forwards. Regular collisions are occurring even though police officers have to pass more stringent driving tests than ordinary drivers. Humberside Police also buys cars with reversing sensors but only chooses models with the equipment as “standard to save extra costs”. North and West Yorkshire police only add the devices to large vehicles, such as secure cell vans used for transporting prisoners. David Blunkett, the Former Home Secretary and Sheffield’s MP for Brightside and Hillsborough, commented: “Perhaps it would be worth spending a bit of money on advanced driving courses.” More

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Scottish car park machine refuses Scottish notes!

admin — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 22:43:22 +0000

Pay machines at a multi-storey car park in the Highlands are refusing to take Scottish bank notes but readily accepts English currency. The controversial newly-installed machines at Rose Street car park in Inverness take English notes without a hitch. But they are rejecting Scottish money, to the anger of motorists. Highland Council has admitted the problem, claming it was an oversight. Transport official Les Houlker said: “It’s something that’s probably slipped through without realising. “There is no problem with English notes, but in Scotland you have the Bank of Scotland, Royal Bank and the Clydesdale, all with different notes. Even the £10 and £5 notes vary with different designs, so I think that’s part of the problem.” The new machines, which replaced a pay-and-display scheme this month, were altered when the problem was first discovered. But Mr Houlker added: “After initial complaints we amended the software and we thought that had cured it, but we understand it is still not accepting all Scottish notes. More

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Lads driving distracted by girls skimpy outfits!

admin — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 22:09:08 +0000

The scorching heatwave in early July caused road accidents to soar because male drivers were distracted by womens’ skimpy outfits, according to insurance claim figures. The latest statistics show that 29 per cent of men admitted being distracted by short skirts and low-cut tops in the Summer weather, leading to record numbers of accidents on the roads. And according to car insurance company Sheilas’ Wheels, the summer smash phenomenon is getting worse each year – in 2009 men made 16.4 per cent more claims during the Summer than in any other month. The insurance company also found that a quarter of male drivers have had at least one summertime crash or very near miss in the last five years, compared to just 17 per cent of women. Behavioural psychologist Donna Dawson explained: “Research shows that men are far more easily distracted behind the wheel than women. “Men are more visually orientated and so distractions such as an attractive woman walking down the street can quickly take their attention away from driving and the job in hand. More

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Joy riding bear trashes car!

admin — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 21:23:22 +0000

A bear climbed into an empty car in the US state of Colorado, sounded the horn and sent the vehicle rolling down hill with the terrified animal still inside. The car’s owner, 17-year-old Ben Story, took a snap of the panic-stricken bear as it demolished the inside of his vehicle in its bid to escape. Police in Larkspur, near Denver, eventually freed the animal by opening the door from a distance using a rope. It is believed the bear was attracted by a sandwich left on the back seat. Mr Story and his family were asleep when the bear opened the unlocked door of his 2008 Toyota Corolla in the early hours of the morning and climbed inside. Mr Story’s father, Ralph, said the bear must have hit the car’s automatic transmission into neutral sending it rolling backwards 125ft (38m), off the driveway, down an embankment and into a thicket of trees. “The four-way flashers were on. It’s like he knew what was going on, and kept hitting the horn,” he told Denver’s 7News. Once the car door closed behind the bear, it was trapped inside. Ben Story said his car was wrecked. More

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Workers paint white lines around dead badger!

admin — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:20:19 +0000

THE famous white stripes of the humble badger seem to have been put to an unusual use lately, saving the taxpayer money for paint and council contractors a few seconds on their long days. Reader Kevin Maul was on his way home from work when he noticed double white lines had been painted on an S bend near the county border on the A338. Lying sadly amid the fresh paint, however, was a badger who had breathed his last more than a week before. Mr Maul, who had been posting flyers for his business Lawntender around Fordingbridge and Damerham, said: “I couldn’t quite believe my eyes when I saw him, this poor old badger who had been there over a week. “I’d seen him every day as I went by and wondered if he was going to be picked up. Then on Friday I drove home to see his body between the lines – they had painted the road, but left a gap where he lay.” More

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‘Eating English food changed the shape of my ears’ Claims test candidate!

admin — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:31:09 +0000

WORKERS at a driving test centre were stunned when an Albanian man told them eating British food had changed his appearance – including the shape of his ears. Lefter Duka, 33, had booked in for a driving theory test but the man who turned up at the reception desk looked nothing like the picture on his provisional licence. He was shorter, stockier and more bearded than Mr Duka – but insisted it was his diet that had altered his look. The real Lefter Duka, from Gloucester, was then prosecuted when he turned up for a driving test himself. Paula Davies, a test centre administrator told magistrates in Gloucester: “We brought up the point that he didn’t look like the photo on the licence and he said that the food here had made him put on weight compared with where he was from. “We said that his ears were different and he said the same thing – that the food was at fault. “We said his eyebrows were much bigger on the photo and he said he had shaved them.” Staff were not satisfied that the man was Mr Duka and they refused to let him take the test. More

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Parish Councillor paints yellow parking lines outside his house!

admin — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 21:47:18 +0000

Fed up with neighbours parking outside his house, Paul Syrett decided he had to draw the line somewhere. So he did – in bright yellow, right outside his property. After dark, the parish councillor set to work with his paint brush, marking out two parking bays to deter motorists from encroaching on his territory. And while taking the law into his own hands attracted the wrath of the local authority, they have apparently surrendered in the face of his refusal to remove the lines, admitting it is not worth wasting taxpayers’ money. Neighbours yesterday expressed outrage at the decision, branding it ‘completely unfair’ on the road’s other residents. Sandie Mills, 42, who has lived opposite Mr Syrett for four years, said: ‘As soon as I moved in he made it clear that those spaces belonged to him. ‘I took him at his word because he seemed so sure. ‘It was only after he painted the lines that I looked into it and was assured by Gloucestershire Highways that they were illegal.’ More

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4×4 on the wicket stops play in cricket match!

admin — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 22:36:39 +0000

All afternoon he had listened to the thwack of leather on willow from his garden beside the village green. But when the fifth ball crashed against his window, Neil Cutts decided it just wasn’t cricket. The enraged 38-year-old software engineer leapt into his 4×4 and drove it on to the pitch, scattering players and sending spectators running for cover. Then he parked it in front of the wicket – and refused to move until he got an apology. Astonished officials were forced to abandon the match and ask Mr Cutts to remove his Toyota Rav4 from their freshly mown strip. Eventually the players – who posed for photos with the unlikely addition to the pitch – apologised, and the father of two removed his car. But yesterday the remarkable saga was the talk of the the village of St Helens on the Isle of Wight. More

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Trucker pulls out one of his teeth while driving!

admin — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 22:47:11 +0000

A Kitchener truck driver is facing a careless driving charge but on the bright side, his tooth doesn’t hurt anymore. Lambton County OPP say they stopped a big rig driver doing some driving dentistry along Hwy. 402 on Wednesday. Const. John Reurink told the Sun Saturday it’s the first time he’s ever heard of a driver being pulled over performing dental surgery. “I’ve never heard of this sort of thing occurring before,” Reurink said, adding he has stopped drivers doing their make-up, reading a map or talking on a cellphone. “Somebody doing an amateur tooth pulling? That’s a first.” Reurink said it all started June 30 when an officer was on Hwy. 402 in Warwick Township, near Sarnia, and a passing driver pointed him to a tractor trailer being driven “all over the road.” The officer found the eastbound rig and pulled it over. Cops determined the 58-year-old driver was driving so poorly because he was trying to pull out a tooth while he was driving. “The driver was very forthright with the officer,” Reurink said. The amateur dentist of a driver had rigged a string around his hurting tooth and then tied the other end to the roof of the cab, police said. “One good bump and the tooth should come out,” police explained. More

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Motorway closed by fake arm!

admin — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 22:47:56 +0000

A HALLOWEEN style plastic arm sparked a major police operation off the M62, disrupting thousands of motorists. The drama, complete with a helicopter and police dogs, was caused by a joke shop forearm with fake blood. Today police said it may have even fallen from a passing lorry or car. The saga began when members of the public reported seeing a severed arm lying on an exit sliproad, prompting police to scramble the force helicopter. The slip road approaching Tarbock island at junction 6 was shut down for several hours while scientific support officers scoured the verge with police dogs while the chopper roared over head. Initial reports suggested the police were hunting for a city villain, but by late afternoon rumours began to circulate that a severed arm was the cause of the incident. Eyewitnesses at the scene reported chaos as members of the public wandered around in the road and police cars lined up at the traffic island. More

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