Room 101

[MAB]

I thought the idea was that the NHS sent you a text the day before reminding you of the appointment and giving you an opportunity to cancel/reschedule?

 

 

The GP does but the hospital doesn't.

[porthesia]

My appointment was made by phone call from the hospital to me. They said they would confirm by letter, they didn't but they texted me the next day instead which was fine by me and then they texted me again the day before my appointment. It was a very hot day, we live close to the sea and i presumed they'd all gone down the beach but I suppose I should have remembered that there is a problem with our ambulance service so maybe some absences were justified - 

[Anon2]

There are lots of problems with new computer systems within NHS so wouldn't assume 'no shows' even knew they had an appointment to attend.

[Anna C]

The GP does but the hospital doesn't.

Some do. I think it depends which NHS trust they are part of.

[capybara]

Katie Hopkins.

 

She achieved some notoriety for her rudeness on The Apprentice many moons ago and, since then, has developed it into a career. It may float her boat but, as far as I'm concerned, that kind of 'pitch' is surplus to requirements.

[AnneMarriott]

People who don't turn up to their hospital appointments.  Disgusted whilst i waited for my appointment to hear the nurses calling name after name until finally someone was actually there.  There were at least 10 no shows.

Agreed, but the other side of the coin is having to sit in a waiting room for two and a half hours beyond the appointment time (as happened to me recently) whilst staring at a notice going on about the amount of wasted NHS time because of missed appointments.  Reason for the delay?  My ECG had been sent to the wrong clinic.  

 

And an even more recent experience, this time sitting for five hours in a hospital day room waiting to be admitted for a minor procedure, nil by mouth from midnight, only to be hustled into a bathroom by a fraught nurse who ripped off my clothes and thrust me into a gown and a nasty pair of disposable knickers because "they" were ready for me.  The worst part of the wait was not the total lack of explanation for the delay despite trying to find out, but the cleaning lady who came and ate her lunch at the table next to me.  Never did sausage and baked beans look so appealing! And the sequel - hanging around in recovery for a couple more hours because there was no-one to clean "my" bed space.  

[Anna C]

^^Oh, big DISLIKE, Anne.

[AnneMarriott]

Thanks, Anna C.  And I forgot to mention the bitterest pill of all, a £25 parking penalty charge for overstaying my 2-hour slot in the hospital car park while my ECG was run to earth ...

[alison]

Blasted car designers who are more concerned by the overall appearance of their babies than whether their turn indicators can actually be seen from the necessary angles.  That's yet another time I've thought a car was going straight on, and so crossed the minor road, only to have to move pretty sharpish when the car turned!

[taxi4ballet]

Blasted car designers who are more concerned by the overall appearance of their babies than whether their turn indicators can actually be seen from the necessary angles.  That's yet another time I've thought a car was going straight on, and so crossed the minor road, only to have to move pretty sharpish when the car turned!

Most new cars these days are as ugly as sin!

[Jan McNulty]

Blasted car designers who are more concerned by the overall appearance of their babies than whether their turn indicators can actually be seen from the necessary angles.  That's yet another time I've thought a car was going straight on, and so crossed the minor road, only to have to move pretty sharpish when the car turned!

 

 

 

You mean to say the motorist actually used an indicator light????

 

A couple of days ago I didn't know whether to feel pleased that the motorist in front of me used his indicator light or fume that he indicated right and turned left!!!

[LinMM]

I could get very worked up about Hospital Car Park charges!!!!!

 

I've just come back from Cornwall and in the local hospital car park there you cannot now pass on your ticket to someone arriving as you have to enter your car number first before purchasing the ticket so cannot pass on to another driver.

 

I don't know why there is such a prob with this because if you have paid for three hours of parking but only need two why shouldn't someone benefit from the hour left on it.

In a way they then get the money twice for same parking space with this new rule .....drives me mad the whole issue.

[alison]

Janet, yes, he did.  And I could see it once he'd turned the corner and was bearing down on me   Seriously, you should have a look at cars' indicators these days - they're often now in a place where you can't see them properly from the side, or in front, or ...

[Jacqueline]

I do wonder how some of the people driving round here ever managed to pass a test. They certainly weren't my pupils! I don't know if it is laziness,ignorance,stupidity or all three. There seems to be no understanding of the purpose of indicating.

As for roundabouts - they sit there, staring at the person they are giving way to, wondering why they are not moving, not thinking to look and see if that person is waiting for someone else. That person is staring at whoever they are waiting for and so it goes on, until somebody makes a move before one of them dies and then they all look cross.

It seems to be a case of drive well enough to get through the test and then you can do what you like. The number of times a new pupil would say that to me because his mum/dad/whoever had said it was so. We all have our habits of course, but bad driving causes pointless problems, delays, wear and tear on the car and so on. Not to mention accidents and needless loss of life or injury. People seem unable to grasp they are driving a potentially lethal weapon. It is frightening how many people are still driving round using their mobile phones. The penalties should be much more severe for driving offences.

As for car parks, the one near town used to have a ticket machine that required the numbers from your car reg, so you couldn't pass the ticket to another person if there was time left on it. Now it is just a money in the slot job-no change of course-but you can pass the ticket to another person. It is quite satisfying to be able to do so, just to feel you may be getting one over on the council that has almost single handedly destroyed the shopping centre of this town and centuries old market, through expensive parking charges and over zealous enforcement.

[Fiz]

It sounds like St Albans.

[MAB]

Pedestrians are often reliant on indicators too, particularly when trying to cross at a T junction.  I used to work in Grosvenor Crescent, just off Hyde Park Corner, and crossing the road was perilous.  The worst offenders for not indicating were black taxi drivers I'm afraid.

[Jan McNulty]

Exactly MAB!

[taxi4ballet]

People who drive like idiots on bank holiday afternoons when they have other people's children in their car. Especially those who drive like maniacs round country lanes shouting and swearing at other drivers (and their passengers), and scaring the living daylights out of their own daughter and her friends, who were too terrified of his behaviour to ask him to slow down in case his road rage got worse.

 

               

 

My blood runs cold at the thought of what could have happened.

[LinMM]

I think those very mini roundabouts can be a problem.

 

On really big roundabouts it's much more obvious how to proceed and how to signal.

 

But on mini roundabouts apart from the general give way to right rule it can often be dangerous to signal in the same way as on a larger one.

Usually if I'm going straight on I don't signal on mini roundabouts only if I'm turning left or actually turning right eg going right round it.

 

If you signal right on moving off on these type ( before signalling left for your "straight on" exit ) because they are so small people can think you are going to turn right when you are in fact going straight on....so now I try to do what seems safest but not sure if that's actually correct in the Highway Code.

It's the same as the general guide to walk on the right hand side of roads .....when in country lanes with no footpaths....to face oncoming drivers.....when in fact this could get you killed on some lanes!! I just look at a bend and decide which side of the road would be the safest to negotiate it even if that means walking on the left side of lane.

[MAB]

Roundabouts are becoming problematic as the number of foreign drivers increases, especially lorry drivers travelling through Kent/Sussex on their way to London.  Different rules pertain on the continent as to who has right of way resulting in chaotic roundabout behaviour and inevitable tailbacks.

[Jacqueline]

My old instructor used to tell me it was better to give no signal if you are unsure, rather than a misleading one. True up to a point. That point being if you don't know what you are doing, you shouldn't be driving. Some people seem to signal because the car has an indicator and they feel they should use it now and then, regardless of how the signal may appear to other road users, for whose benefit it is really intended, allegedly. 

Some people give multiple, wrong or entirely unnecessary signals, as if to say hey,look at me, I've got an indicator, I don't really understand why but I'm going to use it!

Then again, a lot of vehicles are not fitted with any indicator apparently. All these things tell us the person driving should not be as they do not understand their responsibility as a driver, do not know how to read the road or anticipate and their reactions will be non existent. This isn't an age thing either but the one thing all these people have in common is that whatever happens, it will be somebody else's fault.

Talking of foreign drivers, I had a few such pupils. Some were doctors and consultants who seemed to forget that once we were in my car, I was in charge. When we lived further north, I aquired a Turkish man as a pupil. He was a pleasant chap but didn't speak English. He'd been driving on an international licence which was about to expire. His driving wasn't bad but he wouldn't have passed a test without fine tuning. 

Anyway, on the first lesson, he brought a friend to translate. Unfortunately, he and the friend carried on talking in their own language as well, which I couldn't understand. I found this not only rude but unproductive and said as much, explaining that no examiner would tolerate it either.

Next time he said he would bring his wife. She sat in the back with instructions to translate as required, but otherwise, not speak. She duly repeated everything I said but also in English and with an affectionate flourish - now darling, the instructor wants you to turn left/pull over/whatever, do you understand sweetie darling? Or words like that. Turned out she was English and didn't speak Turkish. 

It was so funny, I couldn't disappoint them by terminating the lesson. I don't know how it turned out for him as I arrived one day to find he and his wife had flitted overnight. At least they didn't owe me any money.

My husband is an HGV driver and says there are multiple problems caused by foreign drivers who don't understand the rules of the road here or just ignore them. It appears there is some sort of loophole and they are largely immune from prosecution.

[Piccolo]

People who drive like idiots on bank holiday afternoons when they have other people's children in their car. Especially those who drive like maniacs round country lanes shouting and swearing at other drivers (and their passengers), and scaring the living daylights out of their own daughter and her friends, who were too terrified of his behaviour to ask him to slow down in case his road rage got worse.

 

               

 

My blood runs cold at the thought of what could have happened.

On holiday recently, I asked a taxi driver to slow down. Only mustered up the courage to pipe up because the kids were on the white knuckle ride too. Speed limit was 90kph and he was doing 125kph.

 

Afterwards my son asked why I was worrying... It then came to light that when his friends dad gave him (and 4 other 15 yr old boys!) a lift to a rugby match, driving at 100mph down the motorway, "they had all been fine!" Reckless way to drive and a terrible example to set to 5 adventurous teenage boys. Food for thought for the future...

[alison]

Some decades ago, I went for a major job interview with a big-name company, whose works was well out of town.  They provided a company driver - in a Merc, or something - to take us all back to the station afterwards, and he was an extremely competent driver, apart from his habit of driving us at 100 mph down the motorway   I was just praying that we wouldn't have a blowout or something, because, good as he was, if we'd lost a tyre at that speed we'd have been lucky to survive.  I think this was before the age of Michelin run-flats. 

 

Lin, I think the approach to mini roundabouts, signalling-wise, is to treat them as though there isn't a roundabout there, i.e. signal left if you're turning left, nothing if you're going straight on, and signal right if you're turning right.  That's unless anything's changed in the last 25 years

 

My husband is an HGV driver and says there are multiple problems caused by foreign drivers who don't understand the rules of the road here or just ignore them. It appears there is some sort of loophole and they are largely immune from prosecution.

 

Now, that I'm surprised to hear.  My Dutch teacher, who was based somewhere in East Kent, was always complaining about being dragged out of bed by the police to interpret for some HGV driver or other who'd been caught driving wrongly.  Unless it was just that they never got as far as prosecuting them ...

[Jacqueline]

Some decades ago, I went for a major job interview with a big-name company, whose works was well out of town.  They provided a company driver - in a Merc, or something - to take us all back to the station afterwards, and he was an extremely competent driver, apart from his habit of driving us at 100 mph down the motorway   I was just praying that we wouldn't have a blowout or something, because, good as he was, if we'd lost a tyre at that speed we'd have been lucky to survive.  I think this was before the age of Michelin run-flats. 

 

Lin, I think the approach to mini roundabouts, signalling-wise, is to treat them as though there isn't a roundabout there, i.e. signal left if you're turning left, nothing if you're going straight on, and signal right if you're turning right.  That's unless anything's changed in the last 25 years

 

 

Now, that I'm surprised to hear.  My Dutch teacher, who was based somewhere in East Kent, was always complaining about being dragged out of bed by the police to interpret for some HGV driver or other who'd been caught driving wrongly.  Unless it was just that they never got as far as prosecuting them ...

A nice, company car on the motorway - I can imagine the temptation for some to let rip with the accelerator.My uncle in Australia was driving us down a big highway once in his company car and we had a blow out. I was 11 years old and terrified. He just completely lost control and we were veering all over the place. Luckily the road was otherwise empty at the time.

As for mini roundabouts, it is really a matter of common sense with signalling. You know, presumably, where you are going but nobody else does so any signal you give should be well timed and as clearly aligned to what you are trying to do as a flashing light on the corner of your car can be. The signal is for their benefit, so if you signal right, it is not unreasonable for people to think you are going to turn right and so on.

As for the HGVs, it is pretty much a case of not getting as far as prosecuting. The general consensus seems to be that unless it is a serious incident/accident, the time and expense involved in dealing with a driver who 'can't' speak English, whose papers are in a foreign language and whose vehicle is registered abroad is just not worth the hassle. The chances of fines being paid are virtually nil and some foreign drivers my husband has encountered see the whole system as a joke in their favour. One he met spoke fluent English but said if he was pulled up for whatever offence he would pretend he didn't understand what they were saying and they just let him go. 

Edited August 31, 2016 by Jacqueline

[Jan McNulty]

I believe the "drivers abroad" ploy works abroad for British drivers too as it is too hard for the police of whatever country to chase and prosecute foreign nationals for road traffic infringements.

 

Many years ago I was visiting a friend who was working in Munich - he told me about a colleague who had infringed road traffic regulations many times but had never had any penalties because he was driving a UK registered car and it was just too difficult to track him down and charge him!

[Jacqueline]

I believe the "drivers abroad" ploy works abroad for British drivers too as it is too hard for the police of whatever country to chase and prosecute foreign nationals for road traffic infringements.

 

Many years ago I was visiting a friend who was working in Munich - he told me about a colleague who had infringed road traffic regulations many times but had never had any penalties because he was driving a UK registered car and it was just too difficult to track him down and charge him!

What goes round etc! I suppose there are enough easy pickings fining the indigenous population for infringements anyway. Why make hard work?

[MAB]

I believe the "drivers abroad" ploy works abroad for British drivers too as it is too hard for the police of whatever country to chase and prosecute foreign nationals for road traffic infringements.

 

Many years ago I was visiting a friend who was working in Munich - he told me about a colleague who had infringed road traffic regulations many times but had never had any penalties because he was driving a UK registered car and it was just too difficult to track him down and charge him!

 

Harder to 'get away with it'  in a hired car though, after a holiday in the UAE, the speeding fines landed on the mat.  Seems that the tactic of putting the foot down to out run aggressive tail-gaters was a costly move.

[Piccolo]

A nice, company car on the motorway - I can imagine the temptation for some to let rip with the accelerator.My uncle in Australia was driving us down a big highway once in his company car and we had a blow out. I was 11 years old and terrified. He just completely lost control and we were veering all over the place. Luckily the road was otherwise empty at the time.

 

Unexpected situations like tyre blow outs are what worry me. How could anyone think they are in control of a car at 100mph, and with other people's nearest and dearest in the car too?

[Melody]

When we lived in California, the worst drivers tended to be Asians behind the wheel of a BMW or other high-powered car. You'd sort of be ready to leap for your life crossing the road when one of these BMWs was stopped at an intersection, because they seemed to wait for pedestrians to step into the road before deciding to turn right on a red light after sitting there looking innocent while the pedestrian was still on the path.

 

When a friend was visiting us from England, we warned her about the dangers of what was affectionately (or not so affectionately) known in the Bay Area as "driving while Asian." And one day she started to cross the road and was very nearly flattened by a BMW complete with Asian driver. So we said, "erm, we did warn you about Asians in BMWs..." and she said in a very irritated tone of voice," he's not Asian, he's Chinese!"

 

Apparently to her, Asian meant Indian or Pakistani, so she hadn't been paying attention to the Chinese and Japanese maniacs behind the wheel. Not entirely sure what continent she thinks China is in.

Edited August 31, 2016 by Melody

[Jacqueline]

Unexpected situations like tyre blow outs are what worry me. How could anyone think they are in control of a car at 100mph, and with other people's nearest and dearest in the car too?

It's a sort of misplaced confidence isn't it, like the idiots who speed round country lanes and generally take stupid risks with their and other people's safety. It just won't happen to them until it does. We think we are safe in our little tin cans, the more high tech the better as the car 'does all the thinking' and we don't have to engage our brains at all. Scary how many people just hand over all responsibility to a fallible machine on wheels.

Funny the things you remember - my uncle and I were going to a town called Towoomba as he was on business. It was a big, open road and he was going pretty fast. After the blowout, he couldn't fix the wheel and we had to wait ages for help. While we were waiting, I had a nervous reaction and was sick for England all over his prized upholstery. Sorry about that uncle Brian.

Edited August 31, 2016 by Jacqueline

[Piccolo]

Funny the things you remember - my uncle and I were going to a town called Towoomba as he was on business. It was a big, open road and he was going pretty fast. After the blowout, he couldn't fix the wheel and we had to wait ages for help. While we were waiting, I had a nervous reaction and was sick for England all over his prized upholstery. Sorry about that uncle Brian.

Sorry you were sick, but perfect response! Served him right!

[taxi4ballet]

It's a sort of misplaced confidence isn't it, like the idiots who speed round country lanes and generally take stupid risks with their and other people's safety. It just won't happen to them until it does. We think we are safe in our little tin cans, the more high tech the better as the car 'does all the thinking' and we don't have to engage our brains at all. Scary how many people just hand over all responsibility to a fallible machine on wheels.

Well this is the issue isn't it? High hedges, unexpected sharp bends, 500-year-old oak trees that would stop a tank, agricultural vehicles, groups of ramblers, loose livestock, horses and riders, mud on the road, motorcyclists cutting corners, suicidal deer and pheasants, the lot. Rural roads are far more dangerous than motorways.

 

My dd and her mates were petrified on their latest car journey with her friend's road-rage dad at the wheel. Fortunately he got lost and slammed the brakes on pulled over into a layby. DD and her chums had the presence of mind to get out of the car and refuse to get back in, and another girl called her mum to come and rescue them. I haven't given him a piece of my mind about it yet - I'm still too angry and would probably punch him on the nose!

[Jacqueline]

Just to wheel out the driving instruction again, teaching people to drive safely along country roads/lanes was part of the er, fun. We would drive to the nearest country lane and as we went along, I would ask the pupil to give me some examples of the kind of hazards one might find in such a place. Most of them came up with such things as a tractor or a rabbit on the road.

When I went through the list of possible hazards such as the ones rightly mentioned above by taxi4ballet, they were amazed at the possibilities for disaster. A drive in the country can be far more hazardous than driving in a built up area as one is lulled into thinking it is quiet and there is nobody about. A drive in the country on a Sunday afternoon used to be thought of as a treat but would be more of an endurance test now. Then again, there have always been stupid people driving cars, just now they seem to be extra stupid and the cars are super powerful.