[OT] Stranded Woman Saved By GPS



F

Fran

Guest
Well OK, perhaps the heading's a little on the dramatic side,
and I must confess here and now that this isn't a walking-
related topic; however I have finally used my 'yellow peril'
eTrex as a means of escape from inhospitable wilderness. Sort
of. Our intrepid heroine (i.e. yours truly, but you'd
probably guessed that) was driving from the Rhondda to
Lampeter, across the Brecon Beacons, and looking forward to
the large mug of tea that awaited her arrival. Her trusty(?)
steed, however, was having none of it, and ground to a halt
not far short of the Storey Arms (but too far to walk to the
tea van and back before rescue arrived - grrr). Nothing
daunted, and in possession of a signal on her mobile phone,
our intrepid heroine emulated ET and Phoned Home - to get
Charlie to call the RAC. "Where exactly are you?", was the
inevitable question from ground control; a question that was
easily answered after reference to the Yellow Peril, even
though it would have made everyone's job a lot easier if our
heroine (for it was she) had been able to remember which of
the ten figures to ignore when giving an OS GR...

Anyone got a spare clutch for a Peugeot 205 sitting around in
their garage not doing anything?
--
If you can keep your head when all around are losing theirs...
then you've failed to grasp some important aspect of the
situation.
 
"Fran" <[email protected]> schreef in bericht
news:[email protected]...
> Well OK, perhaps the heading's a little on the dramatic side,
> and I must confess here and now that this isn't a walking-
> related topic; however I have finally used my 'yellow peril'
> eTrex as a means of escape from inhospitable wilderness. Sort
> of. Our intrepid heroine (i.e. yours truly, but you'd
> probably guessed that) was driving from the Rhondda to
> Lampeter, across the Brecon Beacons, and looking forward to
> the large mug of tea that awaited her arrival. Her trusty(?)
> steed, however, was having none of it, and ground to a halt
> not far short of the Storey Arms (but too far to walk to the
> tea van and back before rescue arrived - grrr). Nothing
> daunted, and in possession of a signal on her mobile phone,
> our intrepid heroine emulated ET and Phoned Home - to get
> Charlie to call the RAC. "Where exactly are you?", was the
> inevitable question from ground control; a question that was
> easily answered after reference to the Yellow Peril, even
> though it would have made everyone's job a lot easier if our
> heroine (for it was she) had been able to remember which of
> the ten figures to ignore when giving an OS GR...
>
> Anyone got a spare clutch for a Peugeot 205 sitting around in
> their garage not doing anything?

I think your car broke down because of a close encounter of the third kind.
You've probably met, without knowing, the mythical Paul Sondraas. After all,
you *were* in the Brecons Beacons. Beware woman, these are dangerous times
we live in. (not been tresspassing I hope ;-)

--
Theo
www.theosphotos.fotopic.net
 
[email protected] said...
> > Anyone got a spare clutch for a Peugeot 205 sitting around in
> > their garage not doing anything?
>
> I've got a friend with a spare 205 sat around doing nothing if that's any
> help. It even starts and is open to offers.
>
Blimey, really? It was a sort of joke, but if there are parts
available... whereabouts is the friend though? If he/she is
miles away it'd be a false wotnot since the car's not worth a
great deal, what with it being around 14 years old.
--
If you can keep your head when all around are losing theirs...
then you've failed to grasp some important aspect of the
situation.
 
Fran <[email protected]> writes
>Well OK, perhaps the heading's a little on the dramatic side,
>and I must confess here and now that this isn't a walking-
>related topic; however I have finally used my 'yellow peril'
>eTrex as a means of escape from inhospitable wilderness. Sort
>of. Our intrepid heroine (i.e. yours truly, but you'd
>probably guessed that) was driving from the Rhondda to
>Lampeter, across the Brecon Beacons, and looking forward to
>the large mug of tea that awaited her arrival. Her trusty(?)
>steed, however, was having none of it, and ground to a halt
>not far short of the Storey Arms (but too far to walk to the
>tea van and back before rescue arrived - grrr). Nothing
>daunted, and in possession of a signal on her mobile phone,
>our intrepid heroine emulated ET and Phoned Home - to get
>Charlie to call the RAC. "Where exactly are you?", was the
>inevitable question from ground control; a question that was
>easily answered after reference to the Yellow Peril, even
>though it would have made everyone's job a lot easier if our
>heroine (for it was she) had been able to remember which of
>the ten figures to ignore when giving an OS GR...
>
Useful when you have someone at ground control, to translate the GR to a
localtion, but when I hit a stone wall, totalled the car and blocked
half a road out in the wilds, the AA would not work from a Grid Ref, and
needed two attempts to get the road number correct!
It was a 999 call and the arrival of an efficient copper who got the
nearest Green Flag recovery depot out to us who rescued the situation.
--
Gordon Harris
 
Fran wrote:
> our intrepid heroine emulated ET and Phoned Home - to get
> Charlie to call the RAC. "Where exactly are you?", was the
> inevitable question from ground control; a question that was
> easily answered after reference to the Yellow Peril

When the same happened to me the clueless numpty in the RAC control
centre had no idea what to do with a grid reference. I told him to
get a map but five minutes later he came back saying he couldn't
find any.

When he asked where I was I replied that I was in the middle of
nowhere with no landmarks and no buildings, and it was dark. He
said there must be something, a petrol station perhaps, and couldn't
believe that I was maybe ten miles from the nearest house.

One clue I was able to give was that nearby the road crossed a river.
But he had no rivers marked on his poor excuse for a map.

He even asked if I could be more precise in giving my location, to
which I replied "is a grid reference accurate to seven metres not
sufficiently precise for you?" !!!

RAC never again :-(

Andrew

P.S. They even had the cheek to invoice me for recovery (I had hit
a deer (poor thing) which mangled the radiator) without warning me
first. If I had known I would have called the insurance company first
but I assumed a breakdown was a breakdown. The invoice said "driver
error" !!!!!
 
I broke down on the M6 last year.... Repair made... and 3 weeks later
the repair broke - Predictable I know.

I t broke when I was on my way to visit Dumglow.... I tried to tell
them where i was, they would not accept a GR.. Bet they have anice
electric map in the call centre,,,,

Eventually I guided them in on the GPS...

Was towed to a garage in Kelty Regent Motors - remember them..

They got me going again for £24..... Somebody had not tightened a
nut on the original repair.....

RAC Clowns..... Regent of Kelty - Service ++++++!!! Please use if
in area.

Richard Webb
 
"RJ Webb" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I broke down on the M6 last year.... Repair made... and 3 weeks later
> the repair broke - Predictable I know.
>
> I t broke when I was on my way to visit Dumglow.... I tried to tell
> them where i was, they would not accept a GR.. Bet they have anice
> electric map in the call centre,,,,
>
> Eventually I guided them in on the GPS...
>
> Was towed to a garage in Kelty Regent Motors - remember them..
>
> They got me going again for £24..... Somebody had not tightened a
> nut on the original repair.....
>
> RAC Clowns..... Regent of Kelty - Service ++++++!!! Please use if
> in area.
>
Anyone got any warnings about the AA here? Never had a problem with them in
the past. I've just rejoined them after a row with Tesco Motor Insurance
about the price of their Green Flag breakdown cover (£79 to join afresh,
£114 for the annual renewal).

Nick
 
On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 13:46:19 -0000, "Nick Pedley"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
>"RJ Webb" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> I broke down on the M6 last year.... Repair made... and 3 weeks later
>> the repair broke - Predictable I know.
>>
>> I t broke when I was on my way to visit Dumglow.... I tried to tell
>> them where i was, they would not accept a GR.. Bet they have anice
>> electric map in the call centre,,,,
>>
>> Eventually I guided them in on the GPS...
>>
>> Was towed to a garage in Kelty Regent Motors - remember them..
>>
>> They got me going again for £24..... Somebody had not tightened a
>> nut on the original repair.....
>>
>> RAC Clowns..... Regent of Kelty - Service ++++++!!! Please use if
>> in area.
>>
>Anyone got any warnings about the AA here? Never had a problem with them in
>the past. I've just rejoined them after a row with Tesco Motor Insurance
>about the price of their Green Flag breakdown cover (£79 to join afresh,
>£114 for the annual renewal).
>
>Nick
>

Why go through Tesco for Green Flag?

Also - the cheapest I've found is Europ Assist, which was way cheaper
than the AA or the RAC, and quite a bit cheaper than Green Flag.

I left the RAC when they would no longer allow the missus to pay for
my membership, citing money-laundering regulations!
I left the AA when they constantly cocked up the direct debits.

--

R
o
o
n
e
y
 
Nick Pedley <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
> Anyone got any warnings about the AA here? Never had a problem with them in
> the past. I've just rejoined them after a row with Tesco Motor Insurance
> about the price of their Green Flag breakdown cover (?79 to join afresh,
> ?114 for the annual renewal).
>

I was in the AA for about 10 years, and never needed to call them out.
One icy morning (by home counties standards ...) I burst a radiator
hose due to frozen coolant.

By lunchtime I'd got the car fixed by pushing it to a garage and
bodging a repair, but still hadn't succeeded in getting an answer from
the AA's call centre - their caller queue was so long that public
callboxes dropped the call before I got to the head of the queue.
Goodness knows how long the service van would have taken if I'd
ever managed to register the breakdown.

Doubtless they're fine when they're not busy, but I didn't bother
joining the next year.

-adrian
 
Nick Pedley wrote:

> Anyone got any warnings about the AA here?

You should all be members of the Environmental Transport Agency
(ETA). They campaign on behalf of Transport 2000 while the others
are members of the Road Transport Lobby. ETA also use local agents
rather than a national system. I've only had to use them a few
times but they've never let me down.

Chris
 
On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 11:43:52 +0000, Andrew Brooks wrote in
<[email protected]>, seen in uk.rec.walking:

[...]
> When the same happened to me the clueless numpty in the RAC control
> centre had no idea what to do with a grid reference. I told him to
> get a map but five minutes later he came back saying he couldn't
> find any.
>
> When he asked where I was I replied that I was in the middle of
> nowhere with no landmarks and no buildings, and it was dark. He
> said there must be something,

I had something similar when requesting assistance after an accident
deep in the countryside.

Unfortunately the person I was speaking to wasn't in RAC control. They
were in a 999 service control room, which shall remain nameless.


Still, the driver of the other vehicle was very dead, so the delay
didn't bother him. His passenger, and the passengers on my train,
OTOH...

--
Ross, in Lincoln
Reply-to address will bounce; replace "junk-trap" with "me" for e-mail
 
* The air of uk.rec.walking was filled with the delicate perfume
* of violets, as Fran <[email protected]> descended on a shaft
* of golden sunlight, and announced:

<snip>
> miles away it'd be a false wotnot since the car's not worth a
> great deal, what with it being around 14 years old.

It's a French car - it wasn't worth much more 14 years ago! ;^}

Regards: Jim Ford
 
The message <[email protected]>
from "Chris Gilbert" <[email protected]> contains these words:

> > Anyone got any warnings about the AA here?

I have called out the AA about a dozen times in the 42 years I have been
a member and have had no problems that I can recall. indeed the last
time (April last year) they even provided a low loader to take my car to
a local garage for repair when they couldn't fix the petrol leaks and I
have not subscribed to their recovery service for 30 years.

> You should all be members of the Environmental Transport Agency
> (ETA). They campaign on behalf of Transport 2000 while the others
> are members of the Road Transport Lobby. ETA also use local agents
> rather than a national system. I've only had to use them a few
> times but they've never let me down.

I would have thought that the connection with Transport 2000 would be a
very good reason for any car owner to stay well clear of them.

--
Roger Chapman so far this year 17 summits
New - 11 (Marilyns 0, Sweats 1, Outlying Fells 10)
Repeats - 6 (Marilyns 1, Sweats 2, Wainwrights 6, Outlying Fells 0)
 
[email protected] said...
> > Anyone got a spare clutch for a Peugeot 205 sitting around in
> > their garage not doing anything?
>
> I think your car broke down because of a close encounter of the third kind.
> You've probably met, without knowing, the mythical Paul Sondraas. After all,
> you *were* in the Brecons Beacons. Beware woman, these are dangerous times
> we live in. (not been tresspassing I hope ;-)
>
No, definitely not trespassing. At least - has the Aie four
oh whatever it is between Hirwaun and Storey Arms been taken
into private ownership? Perhaps by the mysterious Mr Sondraas
himself? Nah, it can't be that - I don't believe in his
existence any more than I do the abominable snowman or the
yeti. Hang on... what's that over there on that hill? No,
not there, there. Look! Can't you see it? It's the...
aaaarghhhh!
/me disappears in a cloud of insanity
--
If you can keep your head when all around are losing theirs...
then you've failed to grasp some important aspect of the
situation.
 
[email protected] said...
> * The air of uk.rec.walking was filled with the delicate perfume
> * of violets, as Fran <[email protected]> descended on a shaft
> * of golden sunlight, and announced:
>
> <snip>
> > miles away it'd be a false wotnot since the car's not worth a
> > great deal, what with it being around 14 years old.
>
> It's a French car - it wasn't worth much more 14 years ago! ;^}
>
We've had a Peugeot 205 before, albeit a slightly bigger
engined one than my current aberration. It was just as bad
except that by the time it reached 15 it was long dead.
IYSWIM. Had I been given a choice I certainly wouldn't have
had another one; however when one is given something as a
present it's not always terribly polite to tell the donor what
one /really/ thinks :)

--
If you can keep your head when all around are losing theirs...
then you've failed to grasp some important aspect of the
situation.
 
In message <[email protected]>,
Chris Gilbert <[email protected]> writes
>
>Nick Pedley wrote:
>
>> Anyone got any warnings about the AA here?
>
>You should all be members of the Environmental Transport Agency
>(ETA). They campaign on behalf of Transport 2000 while the others
>are members of the Road Transport Lobby. ETA also use local agents
>rather than a national system. I've only had to use them a few
>times but they've never let me down.
>
I'll add my support to the ETA. I've been with them for many years now
and have had to use them several times, usually in remote spots in the
Highlands, and their agents have always been very good.
 
Rooney <[email protected]> wrote :

>Why go through Tesco for Green Flag?
>
>Also - the cheapest I've found is Europ Assist, which was way cheaper
>than the AA or the RAC, and quite a bit cheaper than Green Flag.

AutoAid pay and reclaim service is £29 and covers -

- Roadside Repair
- Recovery - Vehicle, driver & 5 passenger to a place of their choice
- Alternative Travel - Where neither of the above options is taken. Driver & 5
passengers to destination or back home and a later collection journey by driver.
- Emergency Hotel Accommodation - Where none of the above options is taken.
Driver & 5 passengers get the cost of hotel accommodation.
- Home Breakdown - Repair of recovery to garage. Limit of £45.
- Theft or Vandalism - Recovery to home or selected garage.
- Caravan & Trailers (standard 2" coupling, max length 10') - Repair or
recovery.

I've used it several times, see a previous post I made here
<URL:http://boards.fool.co.uk/Message.asp?mid=8885343>

>I left the AA when they constantly cocked up the direct debits.

I've seen other people posting about this as well.

Daytona
 
"Rooney" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 13:46:19 -0000, "Nick Pedley"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
> >> RAC Clowns..... Regent of Kelty - Service ++++++!!! Please use if
> >> in area.
> >>
> >Anyone got any warnings about the AA here? Never had a problem with them
in
> >the past. I've just rejoined them after a row with Tesco Motor Insurance
> >about the price of their Green Flag breakdown cover (£79 to join afresh,
> >£114 for the annual renewal).
> >
> >Nick
> >
>
> Why go through Tesco for Green Flag?
>
It was a deal offered with my insurance that allowed me to spread the
payments at a time when I didn't have much savings. Looking at the Green
Flag site doesn't really offer me much saving, plus I had no trouble with AA
callouts in the 5 years I was a member. I will keep an eye on the DD
situation though...

Nick
 
Nick Pedley <[email protected]> writes
>
>Anyone got any warnings about the AA here? Never had a problem with them in
>the past. I've just rejoined them after a row with Tesco Motor Insurance
>about the price of their Green Flag breakdown cover (£79 to join afresh,
>£114 for the annual renewal).
>
I called them out when I got a dead battery last week (Homestart) and he
was soon here and very efficient. In the wilds of Yorkshire (on and A
road, they couldn't handle a grid reference.
--
Gordon Harris
 
On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 00:01:54 -0000, "Nick Pedley"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
>"Rooney" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 13:46:19 -0000, "Nick Pedley"
>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>> >> RAC Clowns..... Regent of Kelty - Service ++++++!!! Please use if
>> >> in area.
>> >>
>> >Anyone got any warnings about the AA here? Never had a problem with them
>in
>> >the past. I've just rejoined them after a row with Tesco Motor Insurance
>> >about the price of their Green Flag breakdown cover (£79 to join afresh,
>> >£114 for the annual renewal).
>> >
>> >Nick
>> >
>>
>> Why go through Tesco for Green Flag?
>>
>It was a deal offered with my insurance that allowed me to spread the
>payments at a time when I didn't have much savings. Looking at the Green
>Flag site doesn't really offer me much saving, plus I had no trouble with AA
>callouts in the 5 years I was a member. I will keep an eye on the DD
>situation though...
>
>Nick
>

I change insurers every year or two, because I've found there's always
a much better deal to be had elsewhere when the renewal notice comes -
sometimes hundreds of £££ savings. Sounds like Tesco were pulling a
fast one.

--

R
o
o
n
e
y
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom Back