UK road tax 2017 changes

There is what is coming for you UK vehicle owner and driver.
Read more in this article of auto express.co.uk

To SORN or not to SORN?

Dim-dip lamps

Looking into the electrics manual of the LDV pilot van I had to check out what "Dim-dip" meant... Wikipedia holds the answers... "Dim-dip lamps UK regulations briefly required vehicles first used on or after 1 April 1987 to be equipped with a dim-dip device[37] or special running lamps, except such vehicles as comply fully with UN Regulation 48 regarding installation of lighting equipment. A dim-dip device operates the low beam headlamps (called "dipped beam" in the UK) at between 10% and 20% of normal low-beam intensity. The running lamps permitted as an alternative to dim-dip were required to emit at least 200 candela straight ahead, and no more than 800 candela in any direction. In practice, most vehicles were equipped with the dim-dip option rather than the running lamps.[37] The dim-dip systems were not intended for daytime use as DRLs. Rather, they operated if the engine was running and the driver switched on the parking lamps (called "sidelights" in the UK). Dim-dip was intended to provide a nighttime "town beam" with intensity between that of the parking lamps commonly used at the time by British drivers in city traffic after dark, and dipped (low) beams; the former were considered insufficiently intense to provide improved conspicuity in conditions requiring it, while the latter were considered too glaring for safe use in built-up areas. The UK was the only country to require such dim-dip systems, though vehicles so equipped were sold in other Commonwealth countries with left-hand traffic.[38] In 1988, the European Commission successfully prosecuted the UK government in the European Court of Justice, arguing that the UK requirement for dim-dip was illegal under EC directives prohibiting member states from enacting vehicle lighting requirements not contained in pan-European EC directives. As a result, the UK requirement for dim-dip was quashed.[37] Nevertheless, dim-dip systems remain permitted, and while such systems are not presently as common as they once were, dim-dip functionality was fitted on many new cars well into the 1990s. The Jaguar XJS used this system, including the final Celebration models produced up until 1995" source: wikipedia article

Posts and comments for advices on LDV vehicles

Dear readers!

Many thanks for your praises and comments. I have to apologise for not being able to answer all your questions. I'd love to be able to keep up with them but I have neither time nor expertise for it.

I direct you once more to the excellent and ultra friendly social network groups I turn to for advice. I recommend these two for the best advice, banter and learning together:

Club LDV
and
Club LDV/Freight Rover Convoy/Sherpa/Maxus/Pilot/Cub, Van/Camper/Day van 

You take care
Enjoy the LDV beast,

Yours faithfully.

World's fastest Pat the Postie LDV van

Get out of me fookin way I gotta a letta to deliva!!

A list of 39 caravan breakers, new and used parts in UK.

I found this great list of caravan breakers and used parts in UK in a post on caravanningnow.co.uk by Richard Cole (many thanks).
There is also a very good page with many caravan related links, check it out!

"a non-profit making site that provides all sorts of information about caravanning, for both experienced and new caravanners, in what I hope is a simple and straightforward manner." (Richard Cole - creator of caravanningnow.co.uk)

traveller life: history about traveller people

source: gipsy traveller help website

A Short History of Gypsies & Travellers in Great Britain

"To look at this subject we must first establish the various kinds of Travellers and Gypsies and then look at their origins.

Here follows a list of nomadic peoples in The British Isles:

• Romany Gypsies, Roma, Scottish Travellers, Welsh (Kale)
• Irish Travellers
• New Travellers
• Bargees
• Showmen
• Circus People   

Let us now look at the history and culture of these Travelling groups.

• Romany Gypsies are, by far, the largest group of Travelling people in the UK. They were thought to have originated from Egypt, hence the name Gypsy. However the studies of English Romany in the 19th century lead to the conclusion that their origins were from Northern India. Scholars such as John Samson realised that English Romany language was mainly Sanskrit with foreign words added. These words would have been picked up along the way and incorporated into their native tongue.

It is possible to track their progress through Europe by the words they now speak. There are still Roma tribes living in India who share the same linguistic and cultural roots. We know now that they left India about 1000 A.D. They arrived in Western Europe about 1300 and crossed over into Britain about 1514 when we have the first record of them. By then many of them had accepted the Catholic faith mainly because they could mask themselves as pilgrims and could travel anywhere in Europe without hindrance. When they arrived in Britain, it was at the time of the protestant reformation and Henry VIII thought of them as dangerous spies for the Roman Church. In 1530 Henry forbade Gypsies to come into the country. In 1554 Mary 1 passed a law in England making it a crime, punishable by death, to enter the country as a Gypsy. Elizabeth I passed a law, that if Gypsies did not give up their way of life they would be put to death and their belongings taken away. The Romany Gypsies survived all of these persecutions and became a useful part of country life. The farming community used Gypsies and Travellers for many years to harvest the crops. They were useful in that, they were itinerant and after their work was done were happy to move on elsewhere. The word Romany comes from the word Rom which means in Romany, man or human being. Romany people have a strong family based culture where the family is very much their support system. Romany people are from birth to death, governed by strict hygiene laws known as Mochadi which can be translated as unclean. Romany's believe cleanliness to be of great importance and strict principles have been laid down. Washing one's hands is very important: *Prior to handling food or dishes, *After getting dressed in the morning *Before going to the kitchen.

To a Gypsy, bodily fluids are thought to be “Dirty”, therefore latrines are to be well away from the living area. This is why Gypsies find modern housing very difficult as it breaks Mochadi. To the Romany a house is a dark and depressing place because they are very much out of doors people.

• Roma are Romany Gypsies who have arrived here in the last century mainly as refugees from Eastern Europe. Under Stalin the Roma as they call themselves, were forced to settle, they literally took the wheels off their caravans and in some parts of Eastern Europe they are still living in those vans. However Stalin set up Roma schools all over the Soviet Union and wrote down Romany in Russian script. He wanted to create a Roma communist elite and in some circumstances he succeeded. Many of the children in these schools became high up officials in government and the Red Army. At the collapse of the Soviet State the Roma became the target for racial abuse and this continues to this day.

• Welsh Romanies or Kale as they call themselves, are mostly the descendants off Abram Wood, who was a talented violinist. They entered Wales about 1700 and until recently they spoke their own type of Romany which is very much more like continental Romany and was of great interest to the linguist John Samson. He thought of it as being a purer language and thought it was far closer to the original language of those who left India a thousand years ago.

• The Irish Travellers, or Pavee, are one of the oldest Travelling people of the British Isles and some scholars believe them to be the descendents of the original hunter gatherer people of these islands. They speak two languages, Gammon, which is spoken in the south of Eire and Cant which is spoken in the north and the west of Ireland. They were at one time tin smiths, tinkers and peddlers and also brought information from place to place. This was valued because before 1700 Dublin was the only Irish town to have its own news paper. In culture they have the same hygiene laws as the Romany Travellers, which is very much a mystery to anthropologists as they have little to do with each other and intermarriage is rare even to this day.

• Groups of Scottish Travellers developed between 1500 and 1800 from Scottish craft workers, who married into immigrant Romany groups from France and Spain. In 1969 one third of them were still living in tents. Much of Scotland's traditional music has been collected from Traveller families. They have their own language which is known as Cant. In October 2008 K MacLennan v Gypsy Traveller Education and Information Project (CaseCheck Case Reports 2008) led to a landmark ruling that Scottish Gypsy/Travellers are a distinct ethnic group bringing them within the protection of the Race Relations Act (Amnesty International UK Blogs 2009).

• New Travellers or as some quite wrongly call them New Age Travellers started to form in the 1970s. Most of them come from the settled community and there are many reasons for this. Some chose the way of life because they thought it was better for the environment, being that they used less of the worlds depleting energy stocks. Others however are just poor people who have been forced through economic circumstances to live on the road. In the dark old days of unemployment and the poll tax, many young people from the North and from the Midlands where poverty and unemployment were at their highest, groups of homeless young people simply did what the then minister told them to do, they bought old vehicles such as Buses, Lorries and took to the road to live like Gypsies. Today many of those people would like to come off the road but because they are being constantly moved on they have no chance of getting into council housing.

• Bargees are a distinct group of Travellers who live and work on barges. There are now very few Bargees in Britain as canals are no longer usually used to carry freight. However some New Travellers wishing to get away from constantly being moved on by local authorities have bought up old narrow boats and travel on the canals. Recently this has come under fire from the water authority, who again want to move them on.

• The Showmen and Circus People probably travel the most out of all these groups. The word fair comes from the Latin word Feria meaning holiday. There were probably fairs in Britain before the Roman invasion. In the middle ages, traders from Europe brought goods to trade from all over the world. Travelling entertainers such as jugglers, musicians and tumblers performed wherever people gathered to buy their goods. Rides first appeared in the 1800s. In 1889 the fair ground people formed the Showmen's Guild. Some of the guild members are from Gypsy decent, others are not but this made them distinct from all other Travellers.

• The first Circuses were travelling shows with musicians, jugglers and acrobats performing in open spaces and collecting money for acts. Later circuses were held in enclosed spaces and people paid to watch. The first modern circus was held in London in 1768, but tents were probably not used until the 1820s.

The plight of Gypsies & Travellers today is not easy. In 1968 a law was passed saying that each local council had an obligation to provide a site for every Traveller. This promise was never honoured and the sites that were provided were often old rubbish tips or even under flyovers, places no one else would want to live.

In 1994 the conservative government abolished the Caravan Sites Act and took away the obligation for local councils to provide sites. At least 5000 families were left without any legal home. The Gypsies and Travellers were told that they should look for their own sites and that councils would give them planning permission. Again this never happened and families were forced to either go into housing or apply for planning permission retrospectively, because no Gypsy could ever get planning permission granted because of local prejudice.

In recent years many of the old traditional stopping places such as commons, old roads etc. have been sealed up and this has made it more difficult to live on the road. Those who have chosen the housing route have often found hostility from the settled population and many of these folk forced to live in houses have landed up clinically depressed. Young people living on these estates have lost their cultural roots and have ended up with a dysfunctional family life.

It is difficult to count how many Gypsy Travellers there are in the UK because they move so often. It is thought that at the least there are 120,000 of them. It would not be greatly difficult to solve this problem, if only the settled population were less prejudiced. It costs the tax payer over £20,000,000 a year to just evict these people from one place to another and make their lives a misery. That money could build many sites and solve the problem. However; there is a lack of political will to do this, because the settled community are so hostile to the Travelling community. This hostility comes from fear and ignorance and until this is addressed, as the Gypsies would say- We are on a puckering cosh to nowhere- (a sign post to nowhere.)

Revd Roger Redding, Chaplain to Gypsies & Travellers, Chairman, SWANomads."

Traveller life. a reasonable and decent discussion about irish travellers in UK

My favourite post in this reasonable and decent  discussion about irish travellers in UK on UKhippy.com forum, although the use of the word "pikey" can be and often is offensive to irish travellers therefore note that this article is an excerpt from a thread in a forum (and does not reflect the expressions associated with this site):

"We have a huge traveller community here in Frome. The council-run gypsy site is full of irish decent travellers.. pikeys if you like... lots of them have been rehoused in the social housing in the town so there are ALOT of them about.. makes life colourful :)

I lived with some on a field for a while and they were ok...

Manthing washes the windows and all the upvc for some who live on their own bit of land.. very nice people.. i know one of the women quite well .. her little daughter is same age as Henry.

My experience of pikeys is that they don't rob off their own, they don't do their own no harm so if you are friends with them then your stuff is safe pretty much...They're very closely bonded in their families and its a brave man what goes up gypsy lane lookin for trouble...They are careful bout who they invite in.. but if you pass then they can be the loveliest caring souls .. they like fine bone china and mammoth frilliness.. well at least marie-ann's mum does LOL!

The men folk who was on the field that time would play a game with the lads - sort of chuck a penny game.. that was cool to see.. i got a similar sense of masculine gaming at trev last week when there was a good old fashioned game of "bung the rugby ball dart thingy" happenin from one end of the field to the other. The women did drive from their trailers to the toilets which were about 50 foot away cos they didn't wanna get muddy...was funny :) They thought us quite mad for livin in trucks/lorries etc.. they seemed like very proud people... never spoke to any of the women mind..just the men came out socialising.

My friend up the road is the first gypsy lady who has ever spoken to me but she isn't gypsy by birth she has married in... tis her husband who is the traveller and its his parents they live on land with...

You can't get one over on a pikey and they always want sommat for as little as possible and preferably nothing..." (by Sarah).

Commercial vans (including LDV) history peep...

Starting from the Morris J which I was told is the ancestor of the LDV vans...
An article by Keith Adams.

LDV vans facebook group

One of the few most friendly and efficient LDVers network group in UK is a click away!

where you can find loads of useful and free LDV files (manuals etc):

LDV files group

and LDV owners ((wild and/or musical) camping) meet-ups!

Spare parts from LDV vans in UK

Yet another link to a used LDV van parts dealer in UK (ebay link) that has been regularly posting up his latest bits on the facebook forum.

(Almost classic) LDV porn

Austin J4, Leyland sherpa, LDV... enjoy :) and feel free to add in the comments.

Protection

This company offers protection for LDVs (not for the Pilot but Convoy's services will probably fit) and ply lining.
Never seen that type of (specialised) trade before here, that's why I'm posting it.

Van Insurance

"For all you looking for insurance firms spotted these on a forum - 30 year olds with no claims bonus getting it for £260 plus so worth a try if nothing else http://www.brentacre.co.uk/ & http://www.justkampersinsurance.com/"

(from Michael on LDV files)

MOT - Structural Integrity and Corrosion

http://www.motuk.co.uk/mot_appendix_c.htm

Online LDV used parts shop

Thought I'd put this on here... not that I earn anything from it but could prove handy.
LDVANS

LDV Pilot towbar

http://www.towbars-uk.co.uk/product/6607/ldv-and-leyland-and-daf-pilot--van

Check LEZ compliance

The online checker
https://lowemissionzone.tfl.gov.uk/b/pb/lezComplianceProvideVRM.faces

England counties quiz

http://www.lizardpoint.com/geography/england-quiz.php

cause im pretty crap at geography...

LDV-sherpa forum - The Revival

Since the previous one went off line and much LDV van owners asked where it went and why, I set up the new ldvsherpauk forum.
Hopefully that'll be as helpful as the previous has been to me...

LDV van camper conversion

http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=502 http://www.knaufinsulation.co.uk/en-gb/insulation-news-archive/motorhome-insulation-shows-demand-for-efficiency.aspx#axzz2j3N7OjvE