Mobile-sawman.

Re-read the posts..... the £65 is the costs for the small claims (county) court. A costing for the excess has not been mentioned, nor has he indicated if he has actually claimed on his windscreen policy! My advice would be DO NOT claim on a windscreen policy, as it pushes your insurance up the year after! I know its not supposed to affect your insurance, but believe me it does! You are seen as a "higher risk" to the insurance company and they spank you for it. I proved this just two wks ago when I came to insure my new truck- when I mentioned that I had a windscreen claim, my policy jumped up by over £100! All that besides..... Its the principle involved... weather its £500, £65 or 65p, they should be held to account!

A few posters have not read the original post........... its not £65, thats the cost of small claims court. The damage was over £500!!!

Policy cover provided to our ccustomer is for loss or damage caused as a result of negligence on the part of our customer. Information provided indicates all reasonable precautions have been taken in this instance, we therefore do not consider our customer has been negligent. Whist we sympathise with you in relation to this matter, our liability decision remains unaltered. We have no offer of compensation to make to your self' That is the standard reply sent out by the councils insurance company.. you need to point out to the council that you will be taking THEM to court, not their insurance company. If you already have it in writing that they admit to breaking the window, any judge in the land will grant your claim! They do not need to admit to negligence, its the fact that the actions they took resulted in your broken window. (a bit like manslaughter, I.E I didnt mean for him/her to die but my actions caused it) Just make sure you keep ALL communication in writing , and make copies of all the letters as you will need to include them as evidence in a claim.

Hi, Your insurance company probably wont be interested in contacting the council as the cost of them paying out, minus your excess will probably be cheaper than instructing a solicitor. The same would apply to you (I.E the prohibative cost of legal help would cost more than the value of the claim!) Your best course of action would be to write them a letter asking them to explain the reason that they are refusing to pay for the damage that they have caused (you already know this, but you want written evidence) Then, write to them stating that you intend to take action via the small claims court, and any costs, plus a reasonable amount for time off work etc will be added to the claim. ( give them 14 days to pay) This normally works, as the council will not want a legal judgment against them, and the cost of defending it would be more than the cost of settling! If they decide to take it all the way..... they wont have a leg to stand on as you have the written evidence that they admit to the damage! There is no need whatsoever to pay solicitors fees for such a simple claim. The court costs would be around £40 and you claim that back anyway. Also have to say.... this has nothing to do with health and safety, its negligence that resulted in damage and not injury. good luck!

Hi Rob, A mate of mine is the course tutor at one of the big arb collages. When the collage is out, or at wk ends, he undertakes private one on one tutoring at my place. He can do all the cs stages, and then take you to the collage where the NPTC assesor will do your tests. Hes very reasonable on rates, and its a good way of testing the water to decide if arb work is for you or not without commiting to thousands in fees. You would require your own PPE, and I can loan you a saw (you break it you pay for it!!) There is a private woodland at my place for practice, and a few good "climbing trees" should you want to go on to cs38 & 39. All I ask is you respect my property and leave it as you find it. (you can buy me chippy dinner if you like) This is in no way dodgy and assesment is with NPTC with certificates issued (assuming you pass!) If your interested PM me and I will sort something for you. TOM.

My understanding of this is that your chipper is NOT classed as a trailer, but as a machine I.E it is not used,or even capable of carrying goods so impossible to have a laden/unladen weight! Ive been pulled over twice by the "high viz jacket brigade" (VOSA) in the landy with the woodmizer on the back. Both times I got the usual "can we have the key for your fuel cap", a quick look at the tyres/washers/lights etc and after a dissapointed sigh because I wasnt running on red got sent on my way! I dont know if the mizer came under the forestry exemption?? If anybody can clarify this let me know!

Hi mate, I can help you out on this one.... my original trade was a plumber! Go to your local plumbers merchants and ask for a 3/4 female iron to copper fitting. put some PTFE (or boss white) on the thread that you have filed back, screw the new fitting on and you will be left with a nice shiny new "socket" to connect your pipework to. Hope this helps!

Evening all. Just a reminder I have a tip site available near Bury, Gtr Manchester. (will take all arb waste) Also have Woodmizer for hire. PM for details.

Apply to the local authority for a "special dispensation permit" to avoid getting a ticket. In my neck of the woods they are £45 and run for up to a week. (you need to prove that you HAVE to park there for the work to be done safely) Another cost you can do without, but you can give the traffic wardens the two fingered salute!

No, Bury near Manchester....bit far from you. But to be fair....you have changed your location! It said lakes when I read it!

Hi, I have a small private woodland on the side of my new yard at Rammy, near Bury if you ever down this way! Your welcome to use it, and my mate just happens to be the climbing instrucor at the local arb collage if you need any pointers!

Works with any type of mobile that is GPS tracable (nearly every newish I.E upto about 6 yrs old) It works by triangulation of the signal- so no internet connection needed!

Should i take it Sir, that with the you are indeed emberassed? Or should i be seeking further satisfaction?? Only kidding, I just wanna help like minded people whenever I can.

I use traceamobile.co.uk. Its £26 for 15 credits (or searches) no contract and you can add loads of phones, so ill have one in the woodmizer, landy, bobcat etc. Mobiles can be bought on fleabay for £5ish... signal strength is a factor, but at least it gives you a fighting chance if anything should go walkies. (you could fix an external aeriel i suppose, you've just given me another idea! ) I have tried it in the middle of nowhere on a farm near Sheffield, worked fine, and also "test" it every now and again just to make sure all working.

Nice one! Im currently looking into making one of these, using a mercury switch off an old alarm system. Just need to get my head round the wiring of the auto text system. Think Ive to much time on my hands....or is it not enough time on my hands??

I do like to carrot dangle! Ok here goes! I admit its not 100% free..... but most of you will have the bits at home! There are several websites that offer Mobile phone tracking for locating your kids/granny etc. Costs can be as little as £1.50 month or per "search". (average 17p) So you now have two options. If you always remeber to do things, Just register the spare phone that you will have collecting dust in the drawer with one of the sites, bang a pay as you go sim in it and drop it under the engine cover/some other place every morning before going out to work. This only works when you place the phone ON the chipper/van etc! My improvement to this- and so that you get full 24hr protection- I got myself a spare phone, in car charger, female 12v socket, pay as you go sim and a subscription to the tracking service. Find a suitable location on said chipper/van etc Hard wire the 12v socket to a permanent live. (direct to battery is good) Plug the in car charger into the socket. set up the phone (you need to send a confirmation text to the tracking co) Wrap up the whole thing with insulation tape. (you will need access to the keypad to occasionaly send a confirm text) Hide the package so its not obviouse. (make sure god signal) PRESTO HEY! If your chipper goes walkies, you send a text to the number of the tracking phone (under chipper, van woodmizer etc) and the tracking co will send you a text back with the postcode of the house nearest your property, or if your near your PC you can view it on a map. Its accurate to within a few metres! Its better than a tracker because you dont need to follow a signal, completely GPS based! Even if the battery is disconected, the phone is fully charged and should be locatable for a few days or so! Theiving scum wont be looking for this type of device, and neither will the Police, so you can either call the plods or go and find your gear and have a "private word" I read somebody on here had one fitted at a cost of over £400...mine cost me £12 for the bits/sim and about £30 year to maintain! cheap peace of mind considering the cost of my setup! (defender and Woodmizer, £20k) I should have patented my idea I reckon.....but if anybody uses it and gets some kit back you can donate to my "i want a new car" fund

Evening All. After reading the stories of stolen gear, I thought this may be something to share with you guys! I sort of "invented" a cost effective, accurate locating device that you can fit to your chipper/van etc, so if it does go walkies you can find out exactly where it is! (your choice if u inform the plod ) Its easy to build with some basic skills, I built and fitted it to my Woodmizer in about 4 hours! Dont want to rant if nobody interested, so if you are PM me, or if enough interest i will post details up here. (not sure where as im new to arb talk, perhaps moderator can help?) Regards, TOM.

Hi, Dont try running on 100% bio as this will "sludge up" when the weather gets cold, and solidifys in your pipes/filters etc! I run on 75%bio to 25%fossil. You will need to change ALL filters after around 1 or 2k miles. In a transit, you also need to disconect the wires that are on the fuel filter, as there is a sensor that will sense that the fuel is thicker, and sends a message to the ECU. The ECU will then put the engine into "limp home mode" resulting in a MASSIVE power loss, and a trip to the main dealer to get the fault code cleared- a costly exercise! Good price on the Bio!

If you can afford it I would recomend doing the basic course! Ive used chainsaws for years without any problems, but then when i did the course it was suprising how many little snippets of info you can learn! you may think its just common sence, but if it was then the course wouldnt exist! I would defy anybody on here to say they never learned ANYTHING by doing the course.

I would have thought that it is an impossible statistic to measure, as most stove owners I know (including myself) dont bother informing the local stazi (council) as doing so is just inviting a knock on the door from a nerd in a high viz jacket asking what you are burning. It would also depend on location etc...... high percentage of council/social houses and it will be near zero as they wont allow them, but in the more rural/private houses everybody seems to be waking up to wood heat! As a rule of thumb, leaflet drops bring in ONE job per THOUSAND leaflets! (thats actual jobs, not enquiries) I would stick to well placed signs and cards in shop windows etc!

Afternoon chaps (and chapasses) Tipping site available in Rammy/Bury area, log or chip or both! Bobcat available to unload if required. Gladly take any longish stems to mill- (woodmizer available for hire) Anybody interested PM me...... TOM.

Ive done the course.....TWICE! Your only supposed to be able to do it once, but after i did one in North Wales I then got "scamerad" by the plods in Lancs. Seems some forces dont share info with each other so when the form came and asked if ive been on a course before I just said no! I then had the pleasure of sitting in said room and listening (honest) to a pair of patronising tw@s and supporting their "buy me a new car" campaign! The next day I went out and bought miself a snooper radar detector, never had a problem since! And no I dont have a lead foot, I was doing 33MPH!!!!

Yeah mate, do we know each other??