From Home

Motorcycle dealerships are still ripping us off according to a survey in RIDE magazine. A CBR600 was rigged with 19 basic faults and sent to seven different dealers around the country for a full service. Faults ranged from a leaking front fork seal to a blown bulb.

None of the dealers returned the bike with all the faults rectified or serviced to Honda specifications. In all cases the bike would have subsequently failed an MOT.

A six mile journey to his local bike shop cost unlucky Darren Wilson £970. The zip on his rucksack blew open and he left a trail of £0 and £20 notes fluttering in the breeze. Unfortunately, this also meant he was unable to buy the bike that he was riding to the shop to collect.

The British Road Federation (BRF) is claiming that the Government made a £30 billion 'profit' from road users last year. In a recent report the BDF says the Government raised £35 billion in road taxation in 1999, but that only £5 billion was spent on the national road network.

Ferry company Stena-Line have announced a new 'biker friendly' package for riders travelling to Assen for the World Superbike round in September. A peak season 5 day return from Harwich to the Hook will cost £127, a saving of £29 on last years prices. Stena are introducing this service to meet the forecasted demand for the fastest direct sea crossing to Holland.

20 years after it was made, British cinema audiences may finally get the chance to view ' Take it to the Limit', Peter Starr's 97 minute film about motorcycle competition. Mr Starr, maker of some 30 motorcycle films is hoping that the film will be released in the UK this year to mark its 20th anniversary.

"The film has never been released in the UK" says Mr Starr. "There have only been two feature length films about motorcycling that have ever received any level of success - 'On any Sunday' and 'Take it to the Limit'. I am now exploring a 20th anniversary release of this movie for the UK, and I'm looking at running it as a 40-50 city tour of the UK in the autumn or winter. I view it as a special promotion that would involve the motorcycle industry, or at least some key motorcycle sponsors."

Mr Starr, who is originally from Coventry, has won numerous awards for his motorcycle films, which include portraits of road race world champion Freddie Spencer and moto cross world champion Roger De Coster.

COMPANY car drivers clocked up a 100% failure rate when they sat the basic Highway Code theory test as part of a new police initiative.

The shocking lack of knowledge was revealed when 100 of them sat the test - and all failed - as part of Fleet Safe, a Warwickshire Police one-day scheme instructing company car drivers in tackling road risk.

It also found evidence of a lack of management responsibility, with company car drivers being pushed to meet excessive work schedules, calling for them to drive hundreds of miles daily across the country without a proper break.

And the officers behind the scheme say they have every reason to believe that this snapshot of the UK's company car drivers is indicative of a nationwide lack of awareness of safety issues.

PC Alan Rogers, who with fellow officer Steve Postlethwaite has been instructing the drivers, said: 'It's clear that complacency has set in and drivers are not bothering to keep abreast of new laws in the Highway Code.'

He claimed to have met drivers who were expected to cover hundreds of miles a day, two or three times a week, in order to meet their schedules. One had been stopped after touching 98 mph while driving from Sussex to meetings in Manchester, Derby, Wolverhampton and Cirencester, before returning to Sussex on the same day.

Interest from companies in the county in Fleet Safe has been generated by word-of-mouth, with police officers holding four training sessions for companies with fleets of between six and more than 100 vehicles.

For more information about Fleet Safe, contact PC Rogers or PC Postlethwaite on 01926 415473