trizza

I think Sheila's Wheels specialise in placing insurance for women? Insurance for women used to be cheaper as they have better loss statistics. If you are a woman, you can think the ECJ for determining that insurers' practice of taking the sex of the proposer into account when rating the risk is discriminatory. This may mean the end of Sheila's Wheels' business model and could account for higher prices for women drivers. Insurers will no longer be taking this factor into account so women can expect their car insurance rates to rise. If you are a young male (highest risk group) they should go down. See here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12606610 So, if the stats are right a woman under 30 can expect a 20%/30% rise and a similarily aged man will see the premium go down by 10%. Not sure how long it will take for this to be factored into insurers' pricing models though. Incidentally, men don't get it all their own way. As a result of this judgment pension annuities for men will go down as it appears they too are discriminatory, despite the cold hard fact that men do not live as long as women...

You should also try some insurance brokers. They often negotiate facilities with insurers that mean they can be cheaper than the insurers who underwrite the facility... (if that makes sense). I have used Adrian Flux (no connection etc. there are others out there too) for a number of years and found them to be more competitive than any of the mainstream insurers and my policies have had the same bells and whistles as those provided by other mainstream provides.

I take the A40/M40 to go to my parents and have been doing the route for about 8 years from SE1 and now SE22. My preferred route is to stick on the M40 until it turns into the A40 and just keep going into central london. It's not usually that bad - tends to be worse coming into london on sunday pm - mornings are ok. As you approach Euston Station get in the right lane and go down Southampton Row (i think) through russell square. You will then get to Holborn. You then have a couple of options: a) keep going down high holborn and over waterloo bridge and then to ED through Elephant and Castle/Peckham. b) take a left and go over holborn viaduct and through the city (very quiet on weekends :)) and then over London Bridge and then to ED via Bermondsey/Peckham. I generally do this route because it tends to be quiet in the city. If traffic is light I can get from Uxbridge on the M40 to ED in about 1hr 15 ish.

Sorry if I am a sceptic, but they didn't do much about them before the resurfacing. I'll be happy if I am proved wrong though.

Minkey, I very much doubt there are any "plans" by the Council to remove the ramps. They will likely be reactive to the whole issue. I think they will only take action if they think there will be consequences for them if they don't. So, if people do injure themselves on them then they should take legal action against the Council (they are, as I understand it, under an obligation to maintain the highway). I think you'll find they may do something after that...

Am with Virgin - the cable service (not through copper telephone line). It seems more reliable than the ADSL2 service I had in SE1 and I think the cost is reasonable - am a happy virgin customer! No links etc.

I think you could be getting confused with Buildings Regulation consent? You need buildings regulation consent for replacement windows and they have to confirm to certain standards re energy efficiency. The simple way round this is to use a company that are FENSA registered. They can certify the windows for you - no need to get the council round. The issue with wooden sashes is that if you replace them completely with other wooden sashes then its difficult to get them to comply with the new energy efficiency standards. Most people get round this by having the windows overhauled (new seals, glazed panels etc.) classing the works as repairs, not replacement - this means there is no requirement for Buildings Regulation consent. I think that this is the "loop hole" your fitter is talking about. If he is just replacing the single glazed glass with double glazed glass then I would have thought this would be classed as a repair thereby not needing building regulations consent.

Yes. You may just need a US/UK power adapter. When I was in NYC recently I looked into it. I think the Warranty on Apple products is worldwide, but you should check that too. If buy it in the US you will need to pay customs duty on it when you bring it back into the UK. This will be picked up if you buy it online and have it delivered to the UK. If you buy it on holiday... well... let's just say a lot of people seems to turn up back from holiday with new laptops (and watches) having made sure they don't have any packaging etc. so can bluff their way past customs in case they get asked... not that I am condoning that sort of behaviour.

SE22 is classified as "high risk" for the purposes of car insurance (along with most of SE london). Burbage - Ken Clarke announced some major changes to the CFA regime last week. "Success fees" for claimant lawyers are to be capped at 25% (not the 100% that is routinely charged). These cannot be recovered from defendants, but will be paid out of Claimants' damages awards (these will be increased by 10% to take account of this). There are also moves to make more claims be heard in county court (cheaper) and encourage parties to settle out of court. Unclear what is happening about ATE premiums. The above will certainly help curtail costs.

Best of luck Lady Jane, but if you're going to squat in a residential home, i'd get your skates on. Not long now until this will be criminalised. As an aside, it's interesting to see the signs that are put up by squatters referring to Section 6 Criminal Law Act 1977 and warning not to use violence to enter premises are completely meaningless in most cases where squatters move into someone's residential home. Nothing stopping residential occupier from breaking into their own home. Useful guidance here: http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/pdf/1868817.pdf Best make sure you pick a place where the owners are unlikely to force entry themselves...

Might turn into this....!

Seems a bit pointless to wage a war on the tarmac ramps. I suspect it is a war the Council will lose as you can buy ready made tarmac in packs and build a small ramp quickly and cheaply. Why not just help the shops out and have small dropped kerbs at regularish intervals? Loathed to suggest this though as it would probably necessitate the Council shutting the road again while contractors took an age to install them.

No house is burlarproof, but the new reinforced laminate double glazed glass on the ground floor of my house sure makes me sleep easier. You can get through it - but it will take many hammer strikes. One of the advantages of double glazed sash windows...

The P12 isn't a serious alternative as it's simply too infrequent. It seems a bit stupid that the bus just does a massive U-Turn near to the top of Forest Hill Road. Surely the sensible option would be to loop Brockley Rise as per henryb's suggestion. Re the cost, I appreciate there are budgetary constraints but I always thought that the point of public transport was to provide a public service - when did we start having to make a profit out of changing/extending routes? It's not as if London Transport is self financing... or is it?

I do have a feeling that those waiting for prices to fall substantially may be disappointed. My thinking is as follows: a) London is generally insulated (but not immune) to house price reductions than other parts of the country. It is a (comparatively) wealthy city and ED is a popular area. b) Although many think ED is expensive, it's really not when you compare it to places like Balham, Clapham, Islington etc. I think many who aspire to live in these areas see ED as a good alternative. A friend just sold his 1100 sq ft 3bed in Balham for ?630K - so about ?130K more than in ED. Apart from the Tube and maybe better secondary schools I really don't think Balham has that much over ED. I think this helps feed demand in ED. c) Even if interest rates go up I would hazard to guess that the majority who have bought houses in ED will still probably be able to afford the mortgage but would have to cut back on other things. There will obviously be cases where this does not apply, but I don't anticipate there is a large number of potentially distressed buyers in great houses who will need to sell once interest rates go up. d) How high will interest rates really go? Given the leverage of many loans I think the government realise that very substantial rate rises will do a lot of damage and I can't see the bank of england letting this happen. e) There has been a huge constriction in the amount of credit available. This will not last and people with decent incomes and credit histories will be able to get better mortgage deals in the future. This will help feed demand. If I was a betting man I would say that house prices will remain generally flat in ED over the course of the next few years, subject to the odd spike. I suspect many will just stay put rather than sell. However, if you are a cash buyer I suspect there will be the odd "bargain" available. The bizarre situation is that if you have equity in your home and a bit of money, house price falls may not be a bad thing if you want to trade up as it ends up saving you money. I fully appreciate the above may be wrong. I was lucky enough to get a 100% mortgage in 2003 and made good money on a couple of flats which as allowed me to buy in ED. However, I don't think the housing market is at all healthy - I find it really odd that people who have good incomes struggle to buy relatively modest homes in the suburbs of London. It may just be an enormous bubble, but if it ever pops we are all probably going to be in a world of pain.

I live round the corner, drive and cycle regulary and can't say I have encountered any real issues with this junction. Maybe I have just been lucky... I certainly don't think a 4 way stop sign junction is warranted. The times I drive I rarely see much traffic coming from either end of Upland Road.

Agree completely. Peckham Rye is a significant local transport hub. The length of time this has taken has been completely tragic. It seems Thames Water just have cart? blanche to do whatever they like for as long as they like. Does anyone know what the excuse is?

Not really a Lib Dem. BUT having moved from SE1 to SE22 I can congratulate James on listening ... and acting (or at least trying to act). Not much sign of that in SE1 to be honest. Regardless of politics I respect James for trying to act whilst taking into account the comments of the local community.

To answer your questions. 1) Yes, I would have thought so. Speeding is a criminal offence after all. I thought rear seats in Police cars had the child locks on as a matter of course anyway. 2) They have to establish his identity. He could be anyone. I'd say having a pic taken is fairly inoffensive - it's not like they took his DNA or fingerprints (which they probably would have done had he been taken back to the police station). 3) Would be suprised if that pic remained on a database somewhere. Hate to break it to you but they will probably have his photo "on file" anyway as it is scanned when you get a newish (not necessarily biometric) passport. When I had a new photocard driving licence recently they just used the photo I had sent in for my passport (not biometric passport) - there was no need for me to send a new pic in. It was quite convenient really. My advice would be to do nothing - I don't think the Police really acted unreasonably.

Thanks for all the advice. I think that having a larger bedroom is probably the right call. Yss, the third bedroom at the back would be would be about 1.7m deep (maybe a bit more) and 3m wide. Fine as a kids single bedroom I guess. We thought it would be nice to get all the work done sooner rather than later but the more I think about it, it may be a better idea getting the whole lot down before we sell when we are ready to leave. Cheers

Hi I am hoping someone knowledgeable in the ways of property can help. We have bought a 3 bed terrace. Originally there was a small bathroom in the middle house (about 2m x 2m) and a single third bedroom at the back of the house - about 3m x 1.7m or so. A previous owner has moved the wall between the rooms and swapped their use over, so there is now a large bathroom with freestanding bath, seperate shower where the third bedroom was and a small box room in the middle of the house that is currently used as a large cupboard... We want to make sure we have a useable third bedroom (even if it is small) so have two choices: 1) Keep bathroom at back of house but make it smaller (and lose seperate shower) - thereby increasing size of box room back to original size - 2m x 2m, which could be used as an additional single bedroom (for small people). This would leave us with a bigger bathroom but smaller third bedroom. 2) Move bathroom back to where it was in middle of the house. This would leave us with a small bathroom, but bigger single third bedroom (about 3m x 1,7m). Would be grateful for thoughts on which of the two options above is likely to make house more saleable as we would be happy enough with either of them. Thanks!

I use Hargreaves Landsdown Vantage account (google it)- no connection with the company etc. Easy to add monies (via debit/credit card) to buy funds and shares and hold them within an ISA or a regular share/fund account. The website is also user friendly. You get some good discounts off some popular funds by holding them in the vantage account. However, I think their charges for share purchases are probably higher than others (a collegue mentioned Share Centre?? to me). I guess you have taken a firm view to invest in shares rather than funds...

tomchance Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > trizza Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > The position with deliveries on Rye Lane seems > > ridiculous. Not sure what the parking > > restrictions are, but the fact that delivery > > lorries are allowed to basically block the road > > seems crazy. Why not make it a red route with > > deliveries only to be made during certain > times? > > I've raised this a couple of times at the > Community Council Traffic & Transport sub group > (it's as fun as it sounds!) > > At the moment there are meant to be alternating > parking times on the east and west sides, but as > with most things on Rye Lane it's not very well > enforced. The council every now and again go for a > big push on enforcing parking, or waste, or food > regulations, etc. but don't have the resources to > keep it up. > > Personally I agree - only deliveries at certain > times would help, as would taking cars away. You would think the council would be well up for it given the current economic climate... plenty of parking penalties they could hand out...

The position with deliveries on Rye Lane seems ridiculous. Not sure what the parking restrictions are, but the fact that delivery lorries are allowed to basically block the road seems crazy. Why not make it a red route with deliveries only to be made during certain times?

Not seen any buses on Forest Hill Road - it's a complete nightmare - v slippy. Stay away!