preecy

We looked at replacing our gas fire with a modern one but found it cheaper to simply have the old gas fire removed and capped (cost us £30 for a corgi registered engineer to do this). We then bought a wall mounted/hung electric fire. These can cost from £100 to £1k', depends what you want to spend. Anyhow, the point is, this was the cheapest and easiest solution for us.

Yeah, you only broke the law a little bit so we'll brush that under the carpet! So what about motorways? The national speed limit is 70mph. I do a lot of driving for work and I'd reckon 75% of motorway drivers do at least 80mph and a good percentage of those do more than 90 mph! Are these classed as "real" speeders?

I'd put money on it! Are you really saying you beleive the police take money from their own funds to put us on these speeding courses? i doubt the police get much from the usual £60 speeding fine, maybe a small percentage for administration purposes. Speed cameras are privately owned organisations who work along side the police. Im sure all parties involved do very we'll from the cameras and courses. "Now here's an idea... how about we forget about those 3 points and in return you give us an extra £11. For that we'll sit you in a room for an hour with 30 other naughty speeders. We'll have a 3rd party contractor comes in to tell you all how to drive properly". A nice £330 an hour revenue. quote from Yorkshire post article "In South Yorkshire it is anticipated the surplus from the courses will provide up to £500,000 a year, so much the county's safety camera partnership is having to introduce a policy to dictate how it is spent." http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/Speeding-drivers-to-pay-for.5243379.jp

give over... you really think these courses arent in place to make money. see: http://www.properpolicing.org.uk/articles/Ex%20cop%20makes%20a%20million.pdf

Now that really peee's me off! They'll waver peoples points if you give them more £. Blatant money spinning scheme to fill the police forces pockets!

I got done in Leeds by a mobile van a good few years back, 36mph on a 30 road. Got a £60 fine and 3 points on my license. That wasnt too bad but i was only 24 at the time and had a group 16 insurance rated car. Needles to say the insurers screwed me for the next couple of years! I'd reckon that ticket cost me and extra £300-400 on my insurance over the last 4 years!

Looking for a mobile mechanic who knows there way around a Clio. I'm in the S13 area. Any suggestions appreciated?

Just took the car upto a local garage and they wanted £395 to replace the front and back pads as well as rear discs!!! Anyhow, my brother (a car mechanic) is coming to stay with us next weekend and he's offered to fit them for me providing i have the new parts ready. Where can i get 4 sets of brake pads and a set of rear discs for a Clio sport 172 (53reg). I'm happy to buy online or from the Sheffield area. thanks in advance

Can anyone recommend a good place to buy a new bed from. We're looking to buy a king-size leather (or faux-leather) bed and mattress in the Sheffield area? Hoping to pick up a bargain in the boxing day sales

I'd highly recommend Dave and the lads from '2 Men and a Van'. He moved us from Sunderland to Rotherham and then from Rotherham to Sheffield a month later. Very professional, friendly and prices are very reasonable. Also has a range of different sized vans for the job. I dont think he'd mind me sharing his contact deails: 01142645140 or 07904698726

They're usually worthless and over priced. They dont provid you with any kind of guaranty or cover if you discover problems with the property at a later date. Even if i were buying an older property I'd probably get a basic valuation done (to satisfy my mortgage lender) and then pay a experienced/qualified builder to check it over. I'd bet it would work out a lot cheaper and would probably be more effective. The house we bought last time round was from imediate family. The property was pretty new so we were almost 100% sure it was structurely sound however we still had to folk out £450 for a basic survey. We had a £30k deposit so there was little risk to the lender. They guy that came out to survey the building was in and out within 5 minutes. A nice way to earn a quick buck if you ask me! The price we pay for a home buyers survey, you think they would check important things such as the central heating system, plumbing, etc.

hips are a complete joke, they're even more useless than a buyers survey! it seems yet another way for the government to sting us. the estate agent we used to sell our property basically told us we could use them or get our own, they didnt really mind either way. his opinion was 'they were a waste of time and money too'. he even told us they've had roughly 3 or 4 veiwers, in the last couple of years, who have specifically asked to look at the hip for a property they were intrested in.

We're moving into a rented property in Catcliffe at the weekend and need to arrange contents insurance. The house was one of the lucky few which wasnt touched by last years floods (as its situated on a small bank). We're guessing insurance brokers will not take this into account and simply mark Catcliffe as a high risk area. Therefore we were wondering if there are any members who live (or use to live) in Catcliffe could recommend a broker? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Unless you're in a cable area then you need a bt landline. Bt will charge you £120 if an engineer needs to visit your house. They will also tie you in for 12 months contract for the phone line. There's plenty of cheap broadband offers at the minute (ie: tiscali, sky, etc) however dont expect a great service or a short contract term. I'm with freeola who charge £23 per month, no contract, 30gb allowance and so far a very reliable service. I suppose time will tell if they're any good. You could probably pickup a 3g datacard/usb dongle for £10-£20 per month if you're just going to be browsing the net. This way you wont need a landline but downloading is probably a no no!

Our monthly joint income is £2200 - £2500 (i get regular profit related bonus). We'll soon be moving from a £450 mortgage to a £850 mortgage. However we have no other loans or monthly outgoing other than the usual rates & living costs. If you have loans, ccard, a car on finace, etc then you should take these into account.