Omega Owners Forum

Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: Amigo on 10 February 2010, 22:50:29

Title: VOSA.
Post by: Amigo on 10 February 2010, 22:50:29
Just had one of the local youths knock at the door asking for an Astra spring. The police made him follow them to the VOSA testing area & he now has the equivalent of a GV9 or prohibition... on a car????? He might have to have the whole car retested not just the new spring rechecked FFS. ::)
Title: Re: VOSA.
Post by: hotel21 on 10 February 2010, 22:59:49
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Just had one of the local youths knock at the door asking for an Astra spring. The police made him follow them to the VOSA testing area & he now has the equivalent of a GV9 or prohibition... on a car????? He might have to have the whole car retested not just the new spring rechecked FFS. ::)

Yup, correct.  He just had his MOT cert effectively ripped up, requiring a full retest (and pass) to be road legal, just like the heavies....
Title: Re: VOSA.
Post by: Kevin Wood on 10 February 2010, 23:10:06
Fair enough, IMHO. Vehicle has been pulled with a serious defect so make sure it's tip top before it's back on the road. You need an MOT every year anyway. Shouldn't be that onerous.

Kevin
Title: Re: VOSA.
Post by: Amigo on 10 February 2010, 23:16:21
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Fair enough, IMHO. Vehicle has been pulled with a serious defect so make sure it's tip top before it's back on the road. You need an MOT every year anyway. Shouldn't be that onerous.

Kevin
There goes my exhaust then. Seem like too many chiefs etc. Can't take a poo without some anorak who's attended a course, read a book been given a hi vis telling you how to wipe. :(
Title: Re: VOSA.
Post by: hotel21 on 10 February 2010, 23:19:47
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Fair enough, IMHO. Vehicle has been pulled with a serious defect so make sure it's tip top before it's back on the road. You need an MOT every year anyway. Shouldn't be that onerous.

Kevin
There goes my exhaust then. Seem like too many chiefs etc. Can't take a poo without some anorak who's attended a course, read a book been given a hi vis telling you how to wipe. :(

The VOSA check is just like the many 'Mermaid' stops that you, as an HGV (or LGV in newspeak) have undertaken.  Its basically a roadside MOT.  If the fella failed the roadside test then, ergo, he would have failed if he had taken the car for a full blown test that day.

We all know an MOT is barely worth the paper its written on but, if it were not for the testing, then there would be a fair old prportion of scrappy wrecks driving around now, just like there used to be in the days of the escort and Cortina.

And there were a fair few rustbuckets of other makes making the rounds then as well!!
Title: Re: VOSA.
Post by: Andy B on 10 February 2010, 23:27:21
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......
 just like there used to be in the days of the escort and Cortina.

And there were a fair few rustbuckets of other makes making the rounds then as well!!

I have you know that my Cortina was









a rot box too!  ::)  ::)  ::)
Title: Re: VOSA.
Post by: Vamps on 10 February 2010, 23:29:45
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......
 just like there used to be in the days of the escort and Cortina.

And there were a fair few rustbuckets of other makes making the rounds then as well!!

I have you know that my Cortina was









a rot box too!  ::)  ::)  ::)

I had one like that, but there were still MOT's, but perhaps a little less thorough.... :-X
Title: Re: VOSA.
Post by: hotel21 on 10 February 2010, 23:39:19
Operation Mermaid, in case some are wondering...

Its old, but you get the gist...

http://www.met.police.uk/traffic/news/opmermaid.htm
Title: Re: VOSA.
Post by: Amigo on 11 February 2010, 00:08:59
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Fair enough, IMHO. Vehicle has been pulled with a serious defect so make sure it's tip top before it's back on the road. You need an MOT every year anyway. Shouldn't be that onerous.

Kevin
There goes my exhaust then. Seem like too many chiefs etc. Can't take a poo without some anorak who's attended a course, read a book been given a hi vis telling you how to wipe. :(

The VOSA check is just like the many 'Mermaid' stops that you, as an HGV (or LGV in newspeak) have undertaken.  Its basically a roadside MOT.  If the fella failed the roadside test then, ergo, he would have failed if he had taken the car for a full blown test that day.

We all know an MOT is barely worth the paper its written on but, if it were not for the testing, then there would be a fair old prportion of scrappy wrecks driving around now, just like there used to be in the days of the escort and Cortina.

And there were a fair few rustbuckets of other makes making the rounds then as well!!
Understood B. I'm not an anarchist, we need proper police to maintain, protect, serve etc. I accept we can't have ropey old cars/trucks flying about, fair go. Point is many Vosa operatives hav'nt a clue what they're doing. I'm not getting mixed up with the traffic d*ckheads who shut a motorway down because a sparrow got run over, imean Vosa. Recently the adr laws changed. The driver now only has to carry a dgn not a tremcard. Instead we have to carry a chart showing each class, related hazards & our adr. I was kept nearly 3 hours nr Huddersfield on the M62 because i could'nt show a tremcard which i no longer needed to carry. The bloke did'nt have a clue & tbh i don't blame him. Rules & regs have gone too far, i'd struggle to take all that on board just for it all to be updated again & again. Again we need rules for eveyones safety but i think i'm able to do my own risk assesment to climb a ladder & clean my upstairs windies/clear the guttering without having to achieve a degree in tower scaffolding without a minibus load of so called experts who probably live with thier mums & have never had a girlfriend & a helicopter hovering overhead in case i need a plaster or break a nail....enough is enough. Surely we can decide some things for ourselves? :o
Title: Re: VOSA.
Post by: david_omega on 11 February 2010, 00:15:27
[size=20]
traffic d*ckheads who shut a motorway down because a sparrow got run over
[/size][/u][/b]


[size=20]PISS MYSELF!!!!![/size][/color]
Title: Re: VOSA.
Post by: Andy B on 11 February 2010, 00:30:47
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... of so called experts who probably live with thier mums & have never had a girlfriend  .......

Sounds like a job for the OOF student!!!  ::)  ::)  ::)  ::)  :y
Title: Re: VOSA.
Post by: albitz on 11 February 2010, 00:52:04
I had the "roadside MOT" courtesy of Belfast Traffic Branch in 1978. The list of things they found wrong with my old HB Viva was so long that I took it to the local banger track that weekend and sent it out with a bang - literally. ::) ;D
Title: Re: VOSA.
Post by: Amigo on 11 February 2010, 00:54:26
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I had the "roadside MOT" courtesy of Belfast Traffic Branch in 1978. The list of things they found wrong with my old HB Viva was so long that I took it to the local banger track that weekend and sent it out with a bang - literally. ::) ;D
I love HB Vivas!!! 8-) :y
Title: Re: VOSA.
Post by: albitz on 11 February 2010, 00:57:43
you cant have owned one then Guy. ::) ;D ;D
Title: Re: VOSA.
Post by: Amigo on 11 February 2010, 01:13:18
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you cant have owned one then Guy. ::) ;D ;D
Ive had three mate. They were all white. One saloon that never ran right, one estate that only ran with a huge landrover battery that needed a sack to insulate it from the bonnet which had to be tied down, & another saloon white again with a red boot & bonnet, 2door SL90 with the better dash so the keys did'nt fall out on the floor when driving like a d*ck jumping over things in a place i should never have been & was banned. I was only 18 or 19 in old money!!!! ::)
Title: Re: VOSA.
Post by: albitz on 11 February 2010, 01:20:11
I had a dark Green one (they were faster) :D....it was my first car. I was a tad mechanically unsympathetic - 5 clutches and 3 gearboxes in less than a year. I could change a clutch in around an hour by the time I was finished with it.
The engine was very asthmatic but I couldnt break it no matter how much abuse I gave it. Despite the fact that it was ,reallistically a heap of shite, I still have fond memories of it. :y ;D
Title: Re: VOSA.
Post by: Amigo on 11 February 2010, 01:37:56
For those who don't know what us old geezers are banging on about....
http://www.motorbase.com/profiles/vehicle/picture.ehtml?i=1038;p=168080043
 And for those that do but fancy a little nostagia... 8-)
Title: Re: VOSA.
Post by: albitz on 11 February 2010, 01:40:40
Oh the memories, life was so much easier, slower and simpler then, just like the cars. :)
Title: Re: VOSA.
Post by: waspy on 11 February 2010, 09:19:52
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... of so called experts who probably live with thier mums & have never had a girlfriend  .......

Sounds like a job for the OOF student!!!  ::)  ::)  ::)  ::)  :y

 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: VOSA.
Post by: Matchless on 11 February 2010, 13:01:41
I had a HB as a student, when the crank broke we managed to squeeze a lump in from a CF van but kept the original diff and cross ply tyres.
Had to keep a fire extinguisher on the parcel shelf because of the oil leaks from the cam cover and we couldnt get the camcover off....there wasnt enough room.
No Ford Capri could match it for axle tramp. ;D
Title: Re: VOSA.
Post by: Chris_H on 11 February 2010, 13:36:33
Never had an HB but learned on my parent's HA.  Amazing car could hold its own against my cousin's Brabham Viva round Romford's new ring road.  Only 1056 if I recall but went like stink.

Those were the days.  :)
Title: Re: VOSA.
Post by: Mr Skrunts on 11 February 2010, 13:55:07
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Never had an HB but learned on my parent's HA.  Amazing car could hold its own against my cousin's Brabham Viva round Romford's new ring road.  Only 1056 if I recall but went like stink.

Those were the days.  :)


I had a 1256 HA van and a mate at work had the car as you mention, my van was no slouch, but his little car was a flier, and could top 100mph with ease onto I think we once saw 112mph slightly down hill and a tail wind.  ::)
Title: Re: VOSA.
Post by: Amigo on 11 February 2010, 18:43:39
I had an HA which yes was a 1057cc but had the 1159cc HB engine fitted. Not fast in real terms but it felt nippy. :D
   As for the Astra springs, changed two, could'nt see anything wrong & he only has to have them inspected, not a full retest. ::)
Title: Re: VOSA.
Post by: PhilRich on 11 February 2010, 19:38:58
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you cant have owned one then Guy. ::) ;D ;D

I owned one, in a lovely shade of battleship grey (old home Fleet Grey) & I loved it, it never let me down & then I went & part ex'd it for a  ALLEGRO!!! :D :y
Title: Re: VOSA.
Post by: STMO999 on 11 February 2010, 20:17:18
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I had a dark Green one (they were faster) :D....it was my first car. I was a tad mechanically unsympathetic - 5 clutches and 3 gearboxes in less than a year. I could change a clutch in around an hour by the time I was finished with it.
The engine was very asthmatic but I couldnt break it no matter how much abuse I gave it. Despite the fact that it was ,reallistically a heap of shite, I still have fond memories of it. :y ;D


I had a hillman imp like that. I decided to kill it, so I took it on a very twisty road and tried to roll it. It just wouldn't. ;D
Title: Re: VOSA.
Post by: albitz on 12 February 2010, 00:42:57
You werent trying hard enough. ;) :P
Title: Re: VOSA.
Post by: Amigo on 12 February 2010, 16:50:15
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you cant have owned one then Guy. ::) ;D ;D

I owned one, in a lovely shade of battleship grey (old home Fleet Grey) & I loved it, it never let me down & then I went & part ex'd it for a  ALLEGRO!!! :D :y
No i did'nt own "one", i owned 3 HB's, 1 HA & 2 HC's....
    For some reason never liked the HC's & still don't. ::)
Title: Re: VOSA.
Post by: tunnie on 12 February 2010, 16:56:11
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... of so called experts who probably live with thier mums & have never had a girlfriend  .......

Sounds like a job for the OOF student!!!  ::)  ::)  ::)  ::)  :y

 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

yeh cheers for that  :(
Title: Re: VOSA.
Post by: Amigo on 12 February 2010, 17:27:23
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... of so called experts who probably live with thier mums & have never had a girlfriend  .......

Sounds like a job for the OOF student!!!  ::)  ::)  ::)  ::)  :y

 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

yeh cheers for that  :(
Steady Mark. You know i pride myself with only insulting people directly. Given the property prices in your neck of the woods & the career you've carved out for yourself i'd do the same in your shoes & build up a nest egg before buying a property.
   My comment was aimed at the anorak element of some of the OTT over inflated sense of self importance that some said folk display. I did'nt have you in mind when i posted it, Guy. :y