Gregsie

Streuth. I bet you discovered that the colour of fear was brown. I hope you are ok.

Count us in too.

Maybe you could get an old one and soup it up like this guy has on eBay

Maybe the problem is the way that Joe public perceives arborist / tree surgeons. A lot of the public think if you've an NPTC you are qualified as a tree surgeon and don't realise that it's nothing more than a certificate of competetance to use a saw and also that topping is good practice. Don't get me wrong there will always be people who want to pay little or nothing and then winge when they get problems later and the lopper and topper brigade will always appeal to this market. There are also people who are willing to pay a decent price for a decent job and want ot rely on a professional to do it for them. However how many people ring up the guy who advertises in the local rag thinking 'oh, he must be legit he's got an NPTC' and no one explains to them that topping is basically butchery how would they know any different as they would be relying in good faith on the advice they were given. At the moment (and correct me if I'm wrong), anyone could go and get my CS30, buy my self a saw from B & Q and advertise as a tree sugeon with NPTC qualifications and happily trade as such until something eventually went pair shaped. IMHO a lot of the problem is that the organisations that are meant to represent the tree care industry in the UK don't seem to be able to get their message across about what good practice is. Maybe this is because they don't have a high profile public face. I mean if you mention the AA or ISA to most people they will look at you blank and say whats an arborist. If there was a good minimum legal standard required before you could call your self an arborist or tree surgeon (either through qualifications and / or expericence)and you had to present your tickets and insurance to get a licence no. like you do to become a gas fitter or electrician and this was policed by the authorities (it would not be difficult all they would have to do in the majority of cases is pick up the local paper or yellow pages) wouldn't this reduce the no. of 'cowboys'? I know I'm new to this industry, so I'll apologise in advance if I've tread on anybodies toes or spoke out of order, or rambled on to much, but it's something thats been eating away at me - at what point can you call yourself an arborist and how easy it is to get a chainsaw a claim to be one.

Wow. It looks fantastic. How tall is it ?

Probably leaving myself wide open on this one but here goes: Reading our local free paper this afternoon and looking through the small ads in the back (as you do), it struck me how many 'tree surgeons' have NPTC qualified and tree topping mentioned in the same ad. Got me thinking, should the government bring in a licencing scheme for arborists. What I'm getting at is that you could get your NPTC tickets, have no idea about correct pruing, tree care (or BS3998) and call yourself a tree surgeon. Slightly off topic I do find it worrying how easy it is to get your CS39 tickets. I'm at college at the moment, won't be touching a chainsaw until after Xmas and will have the opportunity to take four tickets by July. IMHO wouldn't it be better to have a prerequsite of a couple of years on the ground before you are allowed to take your climbing tickets ? Anyway ramble over.

Angry Alien - absolutely nothing to do with trees, but as funny as hell.

Blimey, I bet its designed for Gangsta Arborists. What next BMW chip trucks with tinted windows.

If you get your gear embroidered and tell the tax man you only use them for work you can also claim £60 a year for your laundry !

Looked into it a few months ago while I was writing my business plan. I'm not 100% (and am ready to be corrected) but think you are ok as long as your van does not have a plated weight of more than 3500kg or if you have no plate 1525kg and you do not operate more than 100km from your business address. If you do need a tacho, you will probably need an operators licence as well. For further infor check out: http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/freight/road/workingtime/drivershoursgoods.pdf and http://www.transportoffice.gov.uk/crt/lorryandvanoperators/lorryoperatorlicensing/doineedalorryoperatorlicence/doineedalorryoperatorlicence.htm Paul

Have you tried honey / dried fruit on top of your porridge. Seems to give the dish an extra va va va voom and makes it taste a little less bland.

Found the following link on the t'internet: http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/commondata/acrobat/ps005_2077240.pdf Straight from the horses mouth. Just hope the horse has told it's mates in the field.

Didn't appear to try to hard to chase the rougue tree butcher to the end of the earth. Shame they couldn't have at least got the HSE to have a chat with the hire shop about why they rented a chainsaw out to someone with no training, experience or tickets. (suppose that would be common sense though and also not their job).

Nah, more e numbers than e: too many turkey twizzlers and sunny delight when they were growing up. Obviously stuffed up their bowel / bladder control.

.......not as much as Deans neighbour likes his. or ......I would not sleep with one even though they give me wood. or ......what feller doesn't or .......I'm very sorry I'm not willing to remove 50ft elm that is leaning precairously over your greenhouse and conservatory for £50 even if you let me keep the logs for firewood. or ......I wish pikies didn't.

I like trees but I HATE CONIFERS !

Birmingham - thats nearly in France isn't it. I took my passport with me when I went to Cannock last weekend just in case. Ditto on the big kit and also a decent demo area with plenty of trees to knock down !

The cheeky git ! I bet the boundry would have changed back quickly enough if the lad cutting the tree had been injured by the barbers chair.

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I don't think there was Andy. I'm fairly sure on the site cabins on the way in it said £15 per person full stop. What got me and the missus, is that on Saturday afternoon there were quite a few mountain bikers who seemed to be totally unaware / unrelated to the show cycling down the bridalway through the event. I wish I had known / thought about this before and invested in a local map of the area and saved myself a few bob ! Enjoyed the day though and my wife did too especially the demo area. Thought it was a good mix of kit bearing in mind how diverse the forestry / arb industry is.

Went yesterday and enjoyed the show. Ok I'll porbably never buy most of the forestry kit in the demo area but it was good to look around. As Dean say's shame there was not much tree climbing / rigging demos but I suppose it all depends on who has paid for a pitch. Being a northern tight wad was was not to keen and the £15 per head entry fee for what at the end of the day is a trade show. Chatsworth House down the road from me is cheaper to get in and SED and Hillhead manage to make it pay without taking all my beer tokens off me.

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Thanks for the info Giles.

Reccomend you try a visit to a sports physio as well as going to your doctor. They should be able to give you a diagnosis on the problem and advise you on the right stretches plus give you ultrasound or tens pain relief. I found that if you tell your doctor that you've been to a physio and tell them what they reckon the diagnosis is it tends to speed the system up a bit. It will probably cost you £30 a visit, but is a damn site quicker than waiting to get refered to a NHS physio.