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Difficult to make european car industries an off shore entitiy when they are drawing government cash and operating in Europe and their govenments are part of the eu
Industries want unified standards not different standards for every country they operate in. Each country that deviates from a given standard only adds additional costs to the manufacturer and often makes a market unattractive to a manufacturer.
If the UK deviates from EU vehicle standards, that is only likely to result in a reduced number of vehicle models available for sale in the UK.
.....Like Right hand drive and the most painful plug to tread on when walking barefoot!
Anyway I thought it was up to the industry to come up with its own standard...then lobby politicians to make it policy and end suppliers to enforce it. That’s why we get hoverboards with China Export markings labelled as “CE” that blow up when put on charge.
For example our electrical standardisation: IEC is not invented by the EU but by a separate global body that puts it to EU members to vote upon to incorporate it into legislation. Despite the standardisation across europe, it seems that the UK has the most strictly enforced electrical standards going on new/updated installations. Through close ties with the IET, local buildings control and the insurance industry.
I do wish these standard had a public ‘change log’ though...pre80’s bakelite or metal consumer unit, cartridge fuse or fuse wire. Early 80’s...metal consumer unit with MCBs. 90’s...injection moulded Plastic consumer unit; presumably a faulty metal one can give you a shock. 2018...metal consumer unit again...turns out plastic can melt and catch fire if it gets too hot...who knew?
But we still like to screw it all to a plank of wood though Maybe we used asbestos at one point, but of course that’s banned.
With air conditioning; FGAS regs exist but little or no enforcement or adherence within the UK. Spain however buy an AC unit and you must give your address to the supplier and then register its installation and commissioning by a qualified professional with the local government within 12months. UK nope, nobody gives a stuff. You get more hassle by buying a TV and giving the retailer an address with no license!
Johnson is bluffing over ease of no-deal Brexit, says France
A French minister has dismissed Boris Johnson’s claim that Britain can “more than live with” a no-deal Brexit if trade, security and fishing talks with the European Union fail.
Clément Beaune, the French Europe minister who is a close associate of President Macron, poured scorn on the prime minister’s upbeat assessment that Britain could prosper without an EU deal. “If the British thought they could live with ‘the freedom’ of no deal outside of the EU — if it was so easy and so comfortable — they would have already left without a deal,” he told French BFM television on Thursday.
We needed the lorry parks anyway; For whenever French play up during their strike seasons and they escalate them to block our ports for longer than the usual weekend.
Lesson learnt from regular travel to/from France....if travelling on a Saturday...check local news for any ‘protests’. Most minor road blocks around Calais never makes it to British news, nor does it make it to Parisienne news (France24 etc). But live traffic reports will often show it as either road closures or alert warnings stating ‘people on carriageway’.
‘Operation Stack’ wasn’t ever used for Brexit
At present, even on a normal day HGVs can clog up the Eurotunnel slip road on the M20 causing tailbacks.
Last edited by ALi-B; 25 October 2020 at 10:40 AM.
Only been that route once or twice ever ( before eurotunnel was even built) , and realise Stack has been there long time , cant imagine what'll be like come Jaunary !
But was aware of the checks so went down a day earlier, stopped over in Ashford (bumping into Neil ‘Razor’ Ruddock of all people) and being rained on by soot particles as there was a massive plastic/tyre fire on a nearby industrial estate.
Started off at 4:30am on the 16th so missed it, but even then HGVs were backing up more than usual.
Last edited by ALi-B; 25 October 2020 at 10:58 AM.
Both those things, plus this little extra incentive:
"Many are rushing to wrap up deals before a 2% levy on homes bought by non-U.K. residents comes into effect in April 2021."
On the £5M and up properties that article's talking about, that's a minimum saving of £100K, so maybe these buyers are just bringing purchases forward.
So the Farage Garages are set to fill up very quickly! Who'd of thought there would be delays to a government led software project? https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-54706263
Turns out it was initial border closure followed by increased checks thereafter due to terrorist alerts after what happened in Nice and Avignon.
The Schengen code does allow temporary closures and furthermore has allowed France extended rights to close its boarders for longer with less notice due to a ‘continuous terrorist threat’..... https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/wh...der-control_en
In reality though, as its a temporary veto being repeatedly extended, it’s actually semi permanent not temporary.
So questions arise on the ‘Freedom of movement’ ideology and Schengen code in its present form is being ignored by member states. Bad legislation that gives ammunition for the loony leavers to support their case.
Turns out it was initial border closure followed by increased checks thereafter due to terrorist alerts after what happened in Nice and Avignon.
The Schengen code does allow temporary closures and furthermore has allowed France extended rights to close its boarders for longer with less notice due to a ‘continuous terrorist threat’..... https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/wh...der-control_en
In reality though, as its a temporary veto being repeatedly extended, it’s actually semi permanent not temporary.
So questions arise on the ‘Freedom of movement’ ideology and Schengen code in its present form is being ignored by member states. Bad legislation that gives ammunition for the loony leavers to support their case.
The UK never signed up to the Schengen open border agreement, so it's irrelevant to the UK leaving. The UK checks everyone arriving, even British citizens, so always had full control of its borders.
My point is that the loons will say “look at them, they have Schengen and they are ignoring it, that means it’s right to ‘take back control’”.
The UK checks everyone arriving, even British citizens, so always had full control of its borders.
I hasten to point out though that whilst officially we were never Schengen..BUT during the Blair/Brown era border controls and checks between UK and EU countries became non-existent. I could happily swan through any UK airport arriving from any EU country with barely a glance from any official at the passport kiosks and walking through the magic blue lane to the exit with no official in sight. It wasn’t Schengen but was near enough to being almost indistinguishable to an average traveller.
Same on the euro tunnel; The dog had to have more ID checks than us!
Last edited by ALi-B; 30 October 2020 at 01:07 PM.
The UK never signed up to the Schengen open border agreement, so it's irrelevant to the UK leaving. The UK checks everyone arriving, even British citizens, so always had full control of its borders.
Blair opened the UK borders to anyone, it hasn't stopped since. Can't stop it until transition is passed 31st Dec 2020
My point is that the loons will say “look at them, they have Schengen and they are ignoring it, that means it’s right to ‘take back control’”.
I hasten to point out though that whilst officially we were never Schengen..BUT during the Blair/Brown era border controls and checks between UK and EU countries became non-existent. I could happily swan through any UK airport arriving from any EU country with barely a glance from any official at the passport kiosks and walking through the magic blue lane to the exit with no official in sight. It wasn’t Schengen but was near enough to being almost indistinguishable to an average traveller.
Same on the euro tunnel; The dog had to have more ID checks than us!
Sure, they don't pay much attention, but that was the choice of the UK/Border forces. They could do whatever checks they wish if they so wanted! In reality, they know who is arriving before your plane/boat has landed and the checks are done in advance, so they only need to pull out the occasional person of interest while the majority can just walk through quickly without delays.
To say we're were not in Schengen is also not completely correct. The Schengen agreement covers many things, the one part that affects the public directly is the Schengen border free travel zone, so when people talk about the Schengen agreement, they are really talking about the Schengen zone, not the Schengen agreement as a whole. The UK didn't sign up to the Schengen zone, but did sign up to other parts of the Schengen agreement, most notably the Schengen Information System, and that's the bit that enables the UK border security to tie up the info on who's on the way to the UK with who is a person of interest to control on the border. With no deal, we will lose access to the Schengen information System and therefore will make it harder for the border forces to make sufficient checks in advance.
So if there is no deal come the first of January then one of two things will happen at the borders. Either there will be massive queues at the border as thorough checks will have to be made on everyone entering the country, or there will be no difference to the queues and tighter controls will be made more randomly or based on what you look like rather than targeted based on a huge European database of criminals. The first option is a pain in the **** for travelers, the second option means or borders are less secure! My guess is the government would prefer less border security than public outcry at huge border queues in the airports! After all, the public are only expecting extra delays for trucks, not for their personal or business travel!
21 October 2020, 10:07 AM
Maybe we used asbestos at one point, but of course that’s banned. 
