On 2016-08-16 12:26:55 +0000, Recliner said:

Can the drivers of 200mph expresses see far enough ahead to be able to have
any material ability to slow or stop the train if they see an obstruction
or track problem?

No.

I would be surprised if HS2 wasn't ATO from the start, even if there
was a driver and dog (driver to sit there and watch, dog to bite him if
he touches anything) up front "just in case".

Neil
--
Neil Williams
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On 2016-08-16 12:44:14 +0000, said:

Certainly not true in Cambridge. Our experience over more than ten years is
that hire car drivers invariably come to the door in Cambridge. London's
hire car market is obviously a complete shambles.

I find a reversal between minicabs and black cabs outside London - in
MK at least it's the black cabs that are the fly-by-night pirates,
often refusing to use meters etc, and the private hire companies that
are reputable, using quality modern cars, not overcharging and
generally offering a good service that is also cheaper.

Neil
--
Neil Williams
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In message , at 15:23:26 on Tue, 16
Aug 2016, Neil Williams remarked:
I've never ordered a minicab that offered any kind of real-time
feedback about when it was going to arrive.

Really? All my local firms do, either allowing GPS tracking via their
app, or if you ordered by telephone you get a text message when the
vehicle is allocated, giving you time to get your shoes on ready etc,
and another when it is a short distance away, allowing you to walk out
of your front door near enough straight into the vehicle.

While I appreciate you live in a more rural area than I

The last time I ordered a minicab was when living in Nottingham within
the last 5yrs.

, I'm surprised any firms still exist not providing those facilities.
The text service has existed round here for well over 10 years, the
apps for about a year or two.

--
Roland Perry

In message , at 15:29:35 on Tue, 16
Aug 2016, Neil Williams remarked:
On 2016-08-16 11:14:23 +0000, Roland Perry said:

In London it's much more than that. One of the black cab's main
complaints is that Uber cars illegally (as in "waiting") congregate
outside various venues, and as well as in effect being hailed by
people leaving the venue, block the parking/kerbside so black cabs
can't be easily hailed, or drop off.

Given the significant disruption black cabs stopping where they feel
like in London, particularly in bus lanes, cause to other modes of
transport, again particularly buses, I can't help but have a quiet
giggle about that and wish Uber the best of luck.

The black cabs only stop there one at a time when picking up or setting
down (which is no more of a hindrance than buses at stops getting in the
way of taxis). Not whole clusters of them for long periods.

Personally, I think stopping on Red Routes and in bus lanes should be
prohibited for everyone at all times, taxis included,

I quite like the way some cities overseas prohibit taxis stopping on the
main drag, and make them go into a side road. he only problem there is
that so many side-roads in London are now blocked off as anti-rat-run
measures!

loading included,

Loading is already banned (if you mean goods).

--
Roland Perry

In message , at 15:30:11 on Tue, 16
Aug 2016, Neil Williams remarked:

I wouldn't be so sure of that. ATO on a slow metro system is one thing, having
no one at the front on an express is another matter entirely. Until trains
have sensors at least as good as the human eye to see any obstructions ahead it
won't happen.

No train can stop in the distance its human operator can see to be clear.

Of course they can, how else would "calling on" signals work? (Albeit
recently not so well at Plymouth).
--
Roland Perry

On Tue, 16 Aug 2016 15:30:11 +0100
Neil Williams wrote:
On 2016-08-16 11:28:42 +0000, d said:

I wouldn't be so sure of that. ATO on a slow metro system is one thing,
having
no one at the front on an express is another matter entirely. Until trains
have sensors at least as good as the human eye to see any obstructions ahead
it
won't happen.

No train can stop in the distance its human operator can see to be clear.

I never said it could. But like I said in another post, some braking is better
than no braking at all.

--
Spud

In article ,
(Neil Williams) wrote:

On 2016-08-16 12:44:14 +0000, said:

Certainly not true in Cambridge. Our experience over more than ten years
is that hire car drivers invariably come to the door in Cambridge.
London's hire car market is obviously a complete shambles.

I find a reversal between minicabs and black cabs outside London - in
MK at least it's the black cabs that are the fly-by-night pirates,
often refusing to use meters etc, and the private hire companies that
are reputable, using quality modern cars, not overcharging and
generally offering a good service that is also cheaper.

I see what you mean but Cambridge isn't that bad. A lot of hackney carriages
are operated by hire car operators.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

"tim..." wrote in message
...

wrote in message
...
In article ,
lid
(James Heaton) wrote:

wrote in message
...
In article ,
(tim...) wrote:

wrote in message
...
In article , (Someone
Somewhere) wrote:

I thought it was a bit of an exaggeration, but then I used on
online
calculator (www.entitledto.co.uk), claiming I worked 20 hours a
week
for 8K per annum and was single with 4 kids, living in a band C
council property in Tower Hamlets with a rent of £120 a week.

This is what it came out with:

Initial Tax Credit £14,996.10 £288.39 This figure is based
on the income you received last year. The Tax Credits figure shown
below is based on your current income amount. Tax
Credits £14,996.10 £288.39 Working tax credit and child
tax credit.
Council Tax Support £364.52 £6.99 Your full Council Tax bill
of
£15.30 per week will be reduced to £8.31 per week because of your
entitlement to Council Tax Support. The amount you get can be
affected by other benefits. We have included the amounts we have
calculated for Working Tax Credit (£63.91 per week). Housing
Benefit £4,835.39 £92.99 Your full rent of £120.00
per
week will be reduced by £92.99 per week because of your
entitlement
to Housing Benefit. This means you will have to pay £27.01 each
week. The amount you get can be affected by other benefits. We
have
included the amounts we have calculated for Working Tax Credit
(£63.91 per week).
Child Benefit £3,213.60 £61.80
Total Entitlements £23,409.61 £450.17

So, £23k - even more than was claimed!

and falling.

hence the reason why I plumped for 20K instead of the current maximum
of 23K

When does child benefit beyond 2nd child stop?

It doesn't (the proposal was for Child Tax Credits to be restricted
to first 2 children, but that got quashed in the Lords along with the
other recent changes)

I accept that my suggestion that someone can get 20K in benefits from
earning 8K per annum in uncommon, but it most certainly isn't the
complete fiction that you suggested it was

I thought the switch to Universal Credit was going to penalise
children
after the first 2? The point made after the Lords defeat was that it
was
only temporary.

I think it's only for children born after a certain date.

Existing claimants will keep it.

The hypothesis related to new claimants of course.

In most parts of Britain, there are no new claimants to UB.

By the time it is rolled out to them, they will be existing claimants

Yes that was the point I was trying (badly) to make.

Even in an area such as my own where UC has launched, it is presently for
singles only.

So at some point - UC will launch for all, and that will be the day zero
when existing claims are protected and new ones restricted to 2no children
only.

Cheers James

On 2016-08-16 14:40:31 +0000, Roland Perry said:

The last time I ordered a minicab was when living in Nottingham within
the last 5yrs.

Did you order it using a landline? If you did I can see why you might
not have experienced the text service.

FWIW, though, the first thing our local companies did was a "ringback"
service, which was to ring you back for 3 rings when your car was
dispatched and again when it was about to arrive. That did work on
landlines.

Neil
--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the @ to reply.

On 2016-08-16 14:44:28 +0000, Roland Perry said:

The black cabs only stop there one at a time when picking up or setting
down (which is no more of a hindrance than buses at stops getting in
the way of taxis).

Bus lanes are for buses. Buses (in London) have many people on them.
They absolutely should have priority over taxis, which are to all
intents and purposes private vehicles while in use.

I quite like the way some cities overseas prohibit taxis stopping on
the main drag, and make them go into a side road. he only problem there
is that so many side-roads in London are now blocked off as
anti-rat-run measures!

True. Though there are places where marking out taxi drop-off laybys
would be sensible e.g. Oxford St.

Loading is already banned (if you mean goods).

On Red Routes yes, in bus lanes not always.

Neil
--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the @ to reply.