Comment Time June 2022

 

Comment Time June 22

 

I have had a number of emails from MAG (Motorcycle Action Group) asking me to respond to a couple of surveys. I have just completed both of them and I feel a bit jaundiced about the outcomes. The first one was TfL and the increase in ULEZ does anyone know about this one?? A well kept secret to minimise the response you still have a couple weeks to respond. Look up projects on the TfL website under air pollution and do the questionnaire. I found it quite irritating because they asked questions that were emotive and you had to answer yes to them like is air quality important to you but did not ask me how I would be affected by the implementation of these measures.  It was a questionnaire designed to support what they want to do. I have a couple of classic cars that are not yet historic vehicles, the El Cid, the Burton and the Van as from January I will have to pay ULEZ on them just to move them off my drive. Just my luck they would install an ANPR camera on the lamp post opposite me. AS you may gather I am not too pleased about ULEZ. It will curtail my presence at car club meetings and events. Going to a 2CV club rally will add £25 to the cost of the weekend if I go. Being within the M25 I cannot escape payments until all the cars are old enough to be historic vehicles.

The other questionnaire was about parking charges in Hackney. At the moment visitors on motorcycles do not pay charges but that is about to change with banding being the same as a car for the same engine capacity. Not many 650cc cars around they are claiming to do it on levels of pollution but there is a flaw in the argument in the size of the vehicle as the only comparable car is a 2CV and they have no information on them form the government database. I have read their information about the impact on health and all the figures are estimated which means they have made them up and now are quoting them as fact. I continue to ask what are the figures?  Where is your data to support what you say? I asked that with the ULEZ as well. I know they do not have that level of detail otherwise they would be making use of it. I really do not like it that statements are made with no information to support them and claimed to be fact because it is an emotive issue. You can tell I am wound up I’ve started to repeat myself.

Last whinge of the day: I did not mention it in Spanish Adventure Part Two but on our trip to Caceres I filled up in Valladolid at a Carrefour supermarket. Excellent fuel 98 super and gave nearly 49mpg compare that to the previous fill up with E10 95 from Sainsbury’s in Plymouth that returned a dismal 37.9mpg! I know I filled right up and only a few miles from getting on the ferry but sometime during the crossing some 30 miles worth of fuel disappeared. There was a full tank going on and a noticeable loss when I drove off. I mentioned this to my friend Bob and he had noticed a discernable drop in fuel economy with E10. My policy was not to fill up before parking the El Cid for the night after that. Let me know if you have had similar problems with E10 fuels. There was no leak from the fuel tank, no theft as it is locked. So why did the volume of fuel shrink? Could it have been that fuel is delivered at a standard temperature of 15C and the temperature in the hold of the ferry being about 10C could the drop in temperature really take away 3 litres if fuel? Certainly getting on and off the ferry did not use that much fuel. Does anyone know the expansion rate for E10? It is 1/273 for water but we are not dealing with water.