kungfugerbil

Richard, Thanks for the info. I'll keep your details to hand if the planned fix this weekend doesn't take place. Cheers

Evening all, hope you can help. I had a carpet installed recently by a company who responded to an ad I posted on the forum. The guys came and fitted the carpet but left a ridge in the middle of the room which I only noticed after they had gone as they had placed furniture over it when I came to look. I called the company back who said they would come out to fix it, but never showed. This was repeated time and again - "Ok, we'll be at yours at 3om today" then just not showing. Follow up calls and emails achieved very little, they had clearly washed their hands of it. Very poor. Anyway, can someone knowledgeable tell me if it's likely that the following could be stretched out if I got a competent fitter round rather than the cowboys who came out last time: Forum rules prevent me from naming and shaming but please PM me if you've asked for carpet work recently and I'll let you know who it is. This company also offers other building and landscape services - it may be that they are OK at that and just bad with carpets, but their customer service is just plain awful. Thanks for reading!

Good post - a sensible one and not full of the usual avengelism from car/bike users Quick question - when you nerfed the back of the car as above, was there any damage to the car? If so, did you stop and talk to the driver? I only ask as (not wishing to add fuel to the fire) a while back a cyclist scraped the side of my car when 'filtering'; looked back, looked at the damage, looked at me then just rode off quickly on the pavement. Cost me 80 quid to repair which I obviously just had to accept. *That* cyclist was an utter tool and I hope *that* cyclist has something bad happen to them. Other cyclists are cool as far as I'm concerned

We used to do this as students, which would annoy the people in the queue to the extent that they would sometimes trip the safety cord leaving us stuck under the bottom floors in the dark for a few mins. Nostalgia

Just had Jon from jb heatingservices come round and do a gas fitting job for me and would thoroughly recommend him. The job was more involved than originally thought but he stuck to his original price. Even tidied up after himself and took some rubbish away! I think he is 'JBradleybz' on here. Top bloke, well worth a call for heating/gas jobs

When I ask for something and receive exactly what I asked for I generally consider it a good thing Only kidding I take your point, but if I hired "a man and a van" I wouldn't assume two men were on their way. As Alex says above, two men = two wages. I'd be the first to help out tradesmen...if it saves me money

Too right. As Eric Pickles (communities secretary) pointed out, local councils are terrible for creating 'non-jobs' - posts that there is no real need for. He singled out a few, I forget the truly juicy ones, but one example he cited was "cheerleading development officer". Lovely, great use of cash

Really? I didn't resurrect a 6 day old thread. So to clarify, you don't think a police dog could or would ever attack someone's face or neck without provocation? Not so. Ask Joe Luckey (unfortunate name!): "Luckey was working his route when Erik, the Lebanon Police Department's 7-year-old German shepherd, ran for him Tuesday, startling the mailman and the dog's handler. The dog bit his face and neck and barely missed his jugular vein. The dog was with his longtime, off-duty handler, Officer Dave VanBaale, when it ran to Luckey. Police said the attack was unprovoked, and that the dog disregarded VanBaale's commands to stop." Consider also that to the start of May this year, 17 police dog bites were reported to Derbyshire county council, compared to 12 for the whole of 2009... I don't blame the dogs by the way, I blame the training. Remember that the RSPCA stopped supplying dogs to the Police after repeated allegations of mistreatment during their training and a number of puppy deaths in police care.

Sigh. It's clear you have a strong view on this - which is great. You also seem rather blinkered; read back over the thread and you will see that I state: "I applaud police officers - their job isn't easy by any means. Just as I am a huge fan of firefighters, paramedics, mountain rescue personnel, trauma doctors" and "There is something seriously wrong with Police training if this is the case, or our police forces are underequipped." The point that is clearly lost on the rabble is this: If the officers who responded to the call need more equipment, training, backup, assistance... they should get it. Our police force should be able to deal with the problem and contain it - this isn't unreasonable.

Emo's or CCAs?

That's why I posted the link

You're not comparing like for like though are you. PCSOs receive training enabling them to, amongst other things, restrain offendors until a police constable arrives. The CCAs do not and cannot do so. PCSOs are used by the police as additional manpower for tasks like door to door enquiries. The CCAs are not. 14K for a 'lollipop lady' (your term) versus 19.5K for a PSCO? I'll take 5 PCSOs instead of 7 CCAs and pocket the 500 quid change

Well said. PCSOs are an efficient way of maintaining a visible presence, deterring minor crime, assisting the public and dealing with 'nuisance' stuff - antisocial behaviour, abandoned vehicles etc. It's precisely because they don't have to arrest, process and interview offendors that gives them the time to be on the beat, where they are needed.

Agreed. Nice enough people, but their remit isn't particularly broad and they really are a luxury - I would trade all of the ambassadors for a single police officer walking the beat...