Andy Collins

Be really good if someone local to Rex can give him the leg up I think he deserves from what I've read here.

Ah, "self employed" has no minimum wage, that's down to you IMO. I also feel he should be employing you properly, and paying NI and taxes. And should be paying you at least min wage as an employee. Either sort it, or leave.

I was at a local hire shop last year, a company came in to hire a chipper, hitched on, signed paperwork and left......the chipper behind. Latch not locked down. About 20 minutes later they returned red-faced to say they'd lost the chipper. to say they were relieved to hear it was still there was an understatement, they'd crossed a mainline Inter-City high speed crossing on route to their job. I've seen the bolts shear on tow hitches, on the truck, chipper comes off and goes across the road missing cars, tow ball still locked to chipper (never slip the check cable over the tow ball!!) and I've seen the drawbar of the chipper fracture and luckily be held by a fag-paper of metal (check chipper routinely) In this case it sounds like someone with light fingers has unhitched it in traffic. Easily done without a lock.

Not having tickets is going to seriously affect your earning ability, as well as lack of experience. Many people feel they're entitled to far more than they're worth to a company. A small business does not have a bottomless pit of money to dish out to its staff. What age are you? look up the minimum wage for your age and that shouldn't be far out. Go get your tickets, plus some more, and some experience, then you'll start making the company money and be worth more.

Reading this, it appears that the emphasis and resulting fine is due to the inadequate risk assessment, to send a message to others to get it right. The injury is, IMO, relegated into 2nd place in this case.

Guess I'm a proby, 50 in Nov this year. Aches and pains...pah! Backs good, legs good, hands good and head good. Can still see, can still see me toes without a mirror, had a slight medical blip a couple of years ago resulting in bowel removal but that just means I can't crap myself when I get old.

Yeah it's good to be fit and well again, got to crawl into the over 50 club at the end of the year

Don't discount the Jo- beau range of little chippers, had my M300 for a few years now and it's still going strong. Changed the blades this morning for next job. Greased up, tensioned belts, and gave it a wipe down inside an hour. I'd thoroughly recommend one, but I'd equally recommend the Greenmech range also, they are both superb at what they do.

Alex, I have an old military anchor similar to the mil-spec ones you posted. It has a 4foot shaft on it, it's never pulled out of the ground yet when wound right in.

Flew away

Thanks to all of you who listened to our spiel at the show, please don't forget to log your kit and make this work, it needs us to make it work. W

I know the recycle centre at Bury St eds has facilitates for green waste, I guess most councils do this now and produce compost from it to sell on? If you're producing a reasonable volume is it not worth hiring/buying a shredder to reduce the amount? Do you have room for a skip and occasionally fill that when you have enough?

Why not do a little photo assisted resume of your work and post it up, pics speak volumes and may help you in a busy market place? And it might be interesting too.

I've never understood the mentality of some staff around and about. I've heRd all sorts of "reasoning" for this behaviour. "The boss can afford it, have you seen how much he charges?" "The gears all knackered, best to break it so he buys new", or just "so what!". So glad I don't sub out these days and have to deal with this mentality daily. The biggest issue I see even nowadays, is unsecured loads, tools thrown in the (full) load of chip waiting to bounce out at the first opportunity (and they do). I've even seen the chipper come off the tow ball as it's not been checked. They must have driven a few miles before they returned red-faced to the hire company they'd collected it from ( or not).

Hang on, who's paying the wages? Who's finding the work so the employees can earn a living? Who's careful planning to keep them all gainfully employed has been chucked into a cocked hat and messed up? Of course the employer can be a little "short" when his days have been messed up out of his control. I'd be a bit peed off myself. Of course, then you realise that there is nothing you can do to change it, and you hastily re-organise the day and everything works out in the end. It's not the lads fault if the car plays up, or the other ones fault that he needed a lift, thigs happen, but people need to remember who pays the wages these days.

No one should ever belittle stress. It is one of the biggest killers in the modern world. What triggers it in one, won't in another, but there is always something that gets someone. I used to be wound up about my work, I'm not any more. I used to be highly stressed, the cause (unknown at the time) was a hyper-active thyroid producing too much thyroxin (sp?) and chemically messing me up, causing high BP, racing heart and the ability to work hard for long hours without getting tired. Sounds great? It's not, something has to give, and st 47 it did. I developed a severe IBD resulting in major surgery to save my life. Now thats stressful. So was the resulting chaos when the op failed, waiting for a re-op, then having acute kidney failure which again tried to finish me. If it hadn't been this my heart or something else would have failed. Now I wake up in the morning, work is unimportant, I go if I feel like it, if I don't I put it off til tomorrow. So long as I can earn enough to live, it really does not matter. There really is more to life than work.

I've been s/e since 96 and I'd be lying if I said I don't get stressed. But I handle things very much differently these days. You have to learn to switch off "work".get in from work, make your calls, visits, get paperwork done, switch on answer phone and leave off for the rest of the day. Do something, anything else. Do not let your business run you, you run the business. Stress will make you ill, lack of sleep will make you make mistakes, either financial or worse. You know how to do the job, you have the means to do it, just relax and enjoy it. Lying awake at night does not make it happen any easier. Chill out and enjoy it, you're in it for the long haul.

Personally, I find a variety of trimmers/cutters best for varying jobs. I like a one sider for long expanses of compact hedging, where straightness is paramount. There is less likelihood of dipping the tip into the hedge, a bit like screeding a floor vertically! But I also like the double-siders for a really neat clip, as it cuts both ways as your sweeping across the top, so if a bit pings up you can get it. Agree with Steve on the fact that many don't take enough off each season. It also amazes me that if I do a hedge straight for season after season, they get in someone else and they can ruin years of work in one go. Take a pride in what you do, if you think tree work is competitive, hedge work is more so, every body knows someone with a leccy trimmer that will have a hack at it. The secret is to do it very well, clear up properly, if it's a formal hedge, keep it tight and straight. Oh and keep a trimmer for the pukka jobs, don't use it for the rough hedges or where there may be wire etc in the hedge, I normally put aside a "retired" trimmer for crap hedges.

Ok that's making sense so far. Will investigate further later. Quick question, key refers to Woodruff? Correct? The engine is not knocking, sounds "tight" still, the back fire only started the other day, resulting in me laying it up. I made the usual basic checks, change plug, clean fuel and filter, air filter, check leccy connections from switch, and the shop cleaned the carb ultrasonically. They didn't look at the woodruff or the timing to my knowledge. Thanks both for your input.

Trimmer fires up ok, runs up to 3/4 revs ok and holds revs ok to that point. On full revs only, it develops a backfire, drop off revs and it's fine again. Sent it in for a tune -up and sort out, to be told it's knackered. I don't believe it is, but I can't put my brain into gear to think what it could be. Ideas please?

Can anyone afford not to have either accident or sickness cover? Unless you're lucky enough to be directly employed by the NHS or a very large business, I doubt you'd get paid othar than SSP for a limited period. Serious accidents, or serious illness, drastically change your life financially when you are out of action. Insurance means you do not need worry about household bills, finance payments, and other when you're at you're lowest. Also, make sure your spouse/partner is covered adequately, as in the case of their accident/sickness, you may need large amounts of time off work to care for them. Of course, insurance may be seen as a waste of money, you may go through life unscathed and perfectly fit, but the odds are seriously stacked against that!! As always, don't necessarily opt for the cheapest offer, read the smallest print carefully, make sure you're getting the cover you really need.

I used to work (years ago) for a woodsman who would only use his waste hydraulic fluid for chain lube. Never understood that one, and we did work on RSPB reserves and sensitive sites where "controls" were said to be "stringent". I used chain oil, and he'd mutter that it was no wonder money was tight if I was going to throw it away on extravagances like chain oil. I guess he probably still does things the same way.

Back to the topic, I have a Honda powered BCS mower, and it's brilliant. It's controllable, it cuts, it stops cutting on demand, it goes forward anid reverses. It's reasonably economical, and will cut the biggest thistles and brambles in its path. It doesn't make you sweat to use it, it plods along cutting efficiently. I recently hired it out to a mate for £60 a day, and he was well pleased with the results.

Next door house to my mum got a strike a couple of weeks ago. It also fried everything electrical in her house. Boiler electors, phones, Internet router, TV, nothing was spared. No fire, no fancy bolt of lightning, just a huge power surge. BT are currently replacing miles of fibre optic cabling they'd just installed after a ground strike the same day, that was about a mile from me.

All I can offer is my sincerest condolences, and hope that our thoughts help you and your family through this time.