Season's Greetings

[suffolkpete]

A very merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all my fellow Matra addicts.  May your breakdowns be few and far between and your spares readily obtainable.

[JV]

Thank you and I wish you the same. May 2010 be a year with good health and with prosperity.

[Oetker]

Happy Matra year, Oetker*********************

[michaltalbot]

All the best to New Year 2010 to all Matra fans from me, Maria and Natalie 

[Titus]

A very Happy New Year to you all.

2010 opened with me waking to my work car having being smashed into at 4am on New Years Eve/Day by an uninsured and unlicenced driver. Rear end taken out leaving the car undrivable. That means I have to pay £350 excess on the cost of repair and an increased premium next year! Not to mention I can't make a living without it. The little Matra will not suffice in my line of work.

The culprit turned himself into the police the next day so that's how I know his details. Why did he do this? Well he left so much debris behind from his front side that it was easy to see that that he was driving a blue Vauxhaul Astra.. I suspect he was drunk at the time of the collision. Better for him to confess once sober than being found later by the police.

I don't know about you guys on the mainland but here in England the scum run riot. There is one law for the law abiding and one for the under class: No insurance will get you a small fine, to be paid @ £2 per week (less than the cost of insuring the car in the first place) and a driving ban of 1 year or so. If you have no licence then what does that matter to you!

My work car is a Volvo estate. I have gathered a posse of like minded Swedish car enthusiasts to hunt down the offender and put him in a barrel of rotting fish. Unfortunately the demographic of Volvo drivers means me, a 83 year old General with one leg, three mums accompanied by 10 children under 9 years old and all the antique dealers in Cheltenham.

I could do with some support in this venture if anybody is available to cross the water before the end of January. A warm beer and a few hours of minor repairs to a 1.6 Murena will be your prize

Happy New Year to you  all.

[michaltalbot]

That's sad and also I'm surprised by the system in GB. Here in CZ is lot of insurance companies and be insured is a statutory duty. If someone causes the damage inunsured, than there is Insurancers Office which pays all costs of the repair to damaged side and after that they demand the money from inunsured person + penalty for inunsured time (2,-E/each day). If he don't have money, than he can expect executors after some time. The system works because of every part of it have lot of extra money, for example: I forgot to pay one penalty for speeding 1000,-CZK (40,-E) and after half a year (and it's their advantage not to remind me) a had to pay 1000,-CZK + 17000,-CZK penalty!!! So I had to pay 720,-EUR! And also Insurancers Office is very willing to pay everything because it's not from their pocket. Lot of laws here in CZ is made by law in states of western Europe, so I mean that You can try to ask insurance companies in GB if there is some possibility to get money from them this or similar way

[suffolkpete]

In the UK, we have the Motor Insurers' Bureau, funded by a levy on insurance premiums.  They will pay for the damage caused by uninsured drivers, but only after you've failed to recover the money through the courts, so the system is a lot more complicated than the Czech system sounds.  Insurance is compulsory in the UK too, but as Titus says, the penalties are often less than buying insurance, so a lot of people don't bother.

I could do with some support in this venture if anybody is available to cross the water before the end of January. A warm beer and a few hours of minor repairs to a 1.6 Murena will be your prize

  If this doesn't sound attractive, remember the beer is a lot cheaper than in Scandinavia and you will feel quite at home in the current cold weather.