monkeybusiness

I’m pretty sure in an employee/public liability claim (ie a third party affected by the actions of the ‘insured company’) the insurers would have to pay out for whatever they were insuring, whether the company met their conditions of insurance or not. The insurers would subsequently look to recover what they could from whoever hadn’t done what they should have. The reason I quoted the post above is because my sister wrote off her car when drunk (into a field, nobody else involved, no injuries). She reported herself to the police (incredibly) and the car was recovered while she was arrested (and later charged). The insurance paid out the value of the car/recovery/3rd party damage. Seemed bonkers to me but there you go!

I have this issue with one of our stoves (a clearview that was always a doddle to light in our previous house). I’ve basically got it nailed now through trial and error - I shut the door of the room it’s in thus sealing it off from the rest of the house (not amazingly sealed!) and open a window. Then light as normal (paper, cardboard, anything flammable from the recycling bin, some small logs) with vents wide open and door open a crack. The door open is the key and not something I’ve ever had to do previously with this or other stoves. It seems wrong and likely to fill the house with smoke which is why it took me so long to try it (without the door open the stove was always filling with smoke to the point where it would start to find its way out of joints in the flue and around the door). Works perfectly for me every time now.

I think you are way too cheap at £80 for 1.2 cube personally (and it is this sort of pricing that keeps me well away from entering the firewood market). As for Centre Parcs - it's supply and demand. If people will pay it then why not sell it to them?! They are no doubt better off selling fewer logs at higher prices than knocking out hundreds of tonnes a week at little-to-no-profit.

Professional thieves - the world is unfortunately overflowing with them and this place and Facebook are shop windows for the dirty swamp-dwelling cowardly scumbags. If anyone encounters them please make them disappear and be sure that you don’t mention anything to anyone.

You've also got to look at it as a great way of selectively removing your less desirable customers - if they are fickle enough to go with someone approaching in this way you probably don't want/need their work anyway. Not all business is good business...

No idea on price but I'd imagine a lot... There will be a firm local to you who can re-core it for a couple of hundred quid - be like new then.

Have you had the rad inspected/tested by a specialist? You can get them re-cored. It could have internal blockages that restrict the water flow, even if it appears clear through the fins.

The sycamore isn't huge - it's all firewood really. Probably about 10 tonnes in total, will be ringed up unless someone wants to come with a crane.

Hi - we are felling a couple of big ash trees and a few sycamores in the middle of Usk next week and need a home for the logs and chip. If anyone is interested please give me a ring on 07970188050. Cheers, Dan

Dunno really, I'm open to offers. It's got Mot etc, is the big 3l engine (amazing tow truck), huge chip box, uprated springs. Needs a couple of tyres and has an occasional intermittent starting fault but runs perfectly once started.

Where are you in the country? I've got an Iveco daily double cab and Toyota dyna tipper both looking for new homes but haven't got around to advertising. They are a bit rough cosmetically and might need a bit of spannering but both have decent chip boxes and are ready to earn money. I'm in Cheshire, not far from Crewe if of interest.

If the groundy kept up with the brash with that chipper on that job then you need a quicker climber!

I know JPM will build them in from the factory if you want.

Attach a ball hitch to the headboard to help secure, and winch it in/out via a strop around the chipper's axle as it gives the ability to steer it still. It's at least a two man job loading and unloading though!

This is great advice. We sub to a number of these large outfits, GC are pretty good to be honest but it would be easy to grow your business on the back of any one of them promising/requiring/demanding all of your resources right now for a really important project they are struggling to deliver. The problem is none of them (IME) offer sustained, guaranteed long term work - remember that you are simply providing them with a resource that they can pick up and put down at will - don't get too dependant on any one of them as the workload can dry up very quickly and there is no loyalty with any of them, no matter what they tell you. Also watch how much you end up bank-rolling these firms for - it is very easy to have them owing you £30k, then £40k, then £50k etc. You never get that money out of them until you stop working for them as their payment terms can be pretty poor (Ground Control tend to be 30 days which isn't too bad). If they go bump (which unfortunately appears to happen frequently in this game - look at Fountains and Man Coed as examples of firms that have gone bust and taken subbies for hundreds of thousands of pounds, sometimes more than once which seems ridiculous but is the world we live in!) then you will lose whatever money they owe you. Use them only as an additional work stream (in the same way that they will use you) but don't ever get into any of them for more money than you can afford to lose would be my advice.

Get a lorry and a box of matches pal.

I largely agree, but at the same time some trees/shelterbelts hide unpleasant views also. What do the apartments look like when viewed from the sea/opposite shore etc? I'm into the Ozzy approach apparently used under such circumstances around Sydney harbour - replant and at the same time erect an enormous billboard that blocks the newly acquired view with information as to why said billboard now exists.

I've got a 3l 2006 Iveco daily 3.5 tonner (same colour/shape as your 6 tonner) with a good engine that's due to find a new home. The rest of the truck is tatty but the engine is a peach. I'm not sure about the electronics on these with regards ease of swapping though.

What he said. If you want to make a really good job of it run some leads from your 4x4's battery to your towbar terminating in an anderson connector, and have a lead from your trailer's battery with a similar connector so you can charge the trailer whenever you tow it with your truck.

Take your hat off to the man - he's investing his money and doing something that will be everywhere in a couple of years I'd imagine. He is ahead of the curve with this and I'd imagine will make some decent money quickly if he can find a market for the products.

This is the sort of strengthening that should help (hopefully!)

Get two cheapies (non genuine Isuzu) or get yours repaired and keep one as a spare - they are prone to failing every so often (normally when someone turns the key with a bit of timber jamming the flywheel after running down with the feed rollers engaged). You should pick them up from any decent auto electrician off the shelf, or next day if not. You are potentially in the mire when they fail as you effectively have 2 tonnes of immobile deadweight parked wherever you last turned it off. The starter is quite awkward to remove/refit on that model too, but can be done without removing any of the exhaust. Refitting the winch loom (where fitted) is the most awkward bit...

Have you had any issues bending the grab shells? I've got a Cranab timber grab (which to be fair is built very strong for what it is) fixed on a 6 tonne machine and it doesn't like abuse to be honest. I'm going to replace it with a demo grab that closes tip to tip as they are much much stronger - timber grabs are designed to free-swing and in my experience can't handle twisting forces.

I've just done NPORS excavator, excavator as a crane, lorry loader and road roller (needed that one for a particular job). The assessor came to my site for the day, did a written test for each item of plant in the morning, then he set me various tasks to complete so he could assess my competence with the machines. I updated my touchscreen health and safety test and now hold an NPORS card with the CSCS logo. The card lists the attachments tested on the assessment too, so states 'Attachments: Includes Tilt Rotator with Grab, Fully-automatic Quick Hitch Awareness'. It cost nowhere near the CSCS prices suggested on here, in either time or money.

What is the frequency of the future refreshers going to be? Will it be a similar case of refreshing every unit? Will there be any crossover with CS units (at present there appears to be confusion whereby you can refresh UA2.1 - 2.3 but still need to do CS climbing/chainsaw refreshers, basically covering the same things twice. Has this lunacy/NPTC cash cow been addressed?).