Icelandic volcanic ash no joke if you marooned abroad

My family had no idea how fortunate we were flying in on Monarch Airlines from Cyprus on Wednesday 14th April 2010. After landing at Gatwick Airport Wednesday night, we had the usual tussle to get round the M25, but eventually made it home to Beaconsfield in Bucks blissfully unaware of the major event unfolding in Iceland. Sometimes in life we do not appreciate how fortunate we are, as many air travellers have now missed weddings, funerals, holidays, family events, business appointments and been massively disrupted.

The upside is that here in the UK we can now more appreciate National Express, bus and coach travel, our railways, and ferry services, as these have been the only means of travelling any distance. It also shows us how much our country, economy and lives depend on air travel, so hopefully it will be appreciated more, along with our bus, coach, rail and ferry services in the future.

My family are extremely grateful for being able to get home safely and on time and do feel for the tens of thousands in Europe who are stranded and who face a difficult task getting to where they want to be. I for one do tend to take our environment for granted, so it is a reminder to us all that it does not take a lot to upset the planets equilibrium, and that you can not beat nature!

CATAGORY|Major Events

Make sure you claim if a pothole damages your vehicle

Whilst I accept we had an exceptionally severe cold snap in January 2010, I was dismayed by the apparent lack of urgency in repairing the dangerous potholes that exist on our roads (and getting worse the longer they go unattended). Even weeks later the main roads where I live and work in Beaconsfield and High Wycombe were littered with hundreds of potholes that can seriously damage vehicles and must be a severe danger to cyclists?

I can only hope that all the Council Tax we pay to South Bucks District Council and Wycombe District Council will get them to liaise with the Buckinghamshire County Council Highways Agency to make resolving this totally unacceptable situation an absolute priority. The suspension to my own car had to be fixed recently, so I know what is is like to hit a deep pothole in the dark, partcularly where there is no street lighting and the headlights of the car coming towards you masks your view of the road infront of your vehicle!

Consequently, I decided to see what I/we could do about it and went on to Google and typed in “Potholes Compensation”. The top two generic links that came up were for “What Car?” and “Potholes.co.uk”. Both these landing pages are worth a visit if you want to know how to claim compensation if your vehicle has been damaged by a pothole?

The potholes.co.uk website offers drivers a step by step guide to potholes, contact details for your local council, how to claim, find potholes, report a pothole, ask advice and the facts about potholes.

The What Car? website has a very helpful brief summary of “what you should do if your car has been damaged by poor-quality roads, here’s what you need to do to claim compensation.

• Take a picture of the pothole, including something which shows the size of the damage to the carriageway.

• Take pictures of the surrounding area to show that there’s no warning of the damaged road (such as warning signs, cones or bollards), and take pictures of the damage to your car.

• Get a garage to prepare a quote for the repair work and, hopefully, corroborate your claim that the damage was caused by a pothole.

• Report the road and car damage to your local authority’s highways department, and submit a claim for compensation covering the cost of repairs.

• Ask the highways department if the carriageway damage has been reported before and, if so, when. Ask why it has not been repaired” (Source an article dated 23rd March 2007 on the News page of the What Car? website)

So to ensure Buckinghamshire County Council’s Highways Agency, Wycombe District Council and South Bucks District Council all work together to repair our roads, make sure you claim if a pothole damages your vehicle. And in the ironies to end all ironies Bucks “council chief responsible for roads suffered two burst tyres after driving through a pothole. Buckinghamshire County Council leader Councillor David Shakespeare lost two tyres on his BMW while driving along Maxwell Road, Beaconsfield as the recent snow began to thaw.” (post by Oliver Evans on BFP Website 10/2/10)

Vote in our pothole poll about how many potholes you pass on your way to work!

CATAGORY|Major Events, UK Politics

Events prove we should carry out fire risk assessments

When buying or renting a property, or looking at replacement double glazed windows, I am sure that carrying out a fire risk assessment, or ensuring one has been carried out by the landlord or local council, is not the first thing you would think of doing?

Sadly, recent tragedies do prove that carrying out a fire risk assessment could indeed save lives. Earlier this month, Ed Davey for BBC News, London wrote an article on the BBC News website that should be a wake up call for us all called “Lives risked by cheap fire option” following a BBC London investigation.

The article expressed concerns that “across London vast numbers of buildings have seen traditional wooden window frames replaced with PVC plastic, including a block in Croydon which burned to the ground in 2007. These replacements had also been made at Lakanal House, in Camberwell, south London, where six people were killed when a fire ripped through the building, last July.”

Ed Davey’s article went on to report that “experts have blamed the speed that the fire spread there on a windows as well as a replacement facade for the building made of plastic.”

From reading the article it does appear that the installation may not have been done properly, which was then compounded by a fire risk assessment not being carried out. It goes without saying that as PVC is plastic it will obviously melt in a fire, so it is important to ensure that if you do own a house with these windows, or are considering replacement UPVC windows because they cost less than hardwood or aluminium windows, that they are installed properly. In the article Chris Houston, a fire risk consultant, was quoted as stating that “any fire engineer will tell you PVC burns easier than wood.”

Every window material on the market place has advantages and disadvantages, so it really is important to ensure that the products you have or are going to have in your property are as safe as they possibly can be, given there is no 100% safe solution, as obviously wood also burns, and aluminium will also eventually melt in intense heat, although it does not give off the sort of acrid smoke PVC does when it burns.

In terms of the fires involving PVC windows in Croydon in 2007 and Camberwell in 2009, BBC London “learned of the striking similarities in the Lakanal disaster to that of the fire which destroyed the block in Croydon, on Christmas Day 2007. The official report into that fire blamed incorrect installation of PVC windows. Along with replacement PVC windows in place, neither had had a valid fire risk assessment – meaning both councils had not carried out basic safety checks.” Read Ed Davey’s entire BBC News article

Given that six people died as recently as July 2009 in London because of these factors, we should think seriously about not only what type of windows we have, but also how they are installed, and in essence carry out our own common sense fire risk assessment of where we live. When looking for replacement double glazed windows or energy efficient windows for an extension or new build project (which must comply with Building Regulations anyway), it is worth remembering that, in my view, cheaper is very rarely better, as in this precious life, one tends to get what one pays for and living in safety is something you can not put a price to.

CATAGORY|Major Events

Bank of England claim “housing crash past its worst”

“Housing crash is now past its worst”, says Bank of England

David Miles, the Bank of England’s new resident expert on the mortgage and property market, may have announced the best news of 2009 so far. Positive news that will resonate around every home in the UK, and will surely instill confidence with estate agents across the land. If his comments are correct, the UK’s housing market has stablised and is set for recovery and mild growth. This sits in stark contrast to his report a year ago that claimed the economy was the worst it’s been for 20 years. Nationwide, the building society, supported the turnaround by announcing that housing prices in June rose for the third time in four months.
“It may be the case that we get what looks like a very sharp rebound over the next few quarters: one might interpret that as a V-shape but that doesn’t really tell you an awful lot about what the likely path of GDP growth will be,” Professor Miles said. “The prospect of a rapid return to growth doesn’t seem a highly probable outcome.”

Professor Miles also added, however, that neither the housing market nor the UK economy could expect more than “anaemic” growth in the coming years due to the severity of the financial crisis that proceeded.

We’re just happy to finally see some prosperous news on the property horizon, and hope that it can be sustained. Hazlemere Windows is unequivocal in its support to the UK’s housing market, and feel confident that we can bounce back as one on the leading economies in the world.

CATAGORY|Major Events, UK Politics

Brian O’Driscoll and Irish team finally win Grand Slam

Ireland’s first Grand Slam since 1948 was almost thrown away by late second half schoolboy errors in Cardiff, not worthy of the manner in which the Irish came out at the start of the second half. As usual the excellent and tenacious Brian O’Driscoll lead from the front at the Millennium Stadium, leading the Irish to their first Grand Slam for 52 years. His try changed the momentum of the game and put Wales on the back foot.

Tommy Bone’s individual try for Ireland set up Ireland for a long overdue Grand Slam and helped write Brian O’Driscoll and his Irish Rugby Union team into the history books.  Ireland almost threw a winning position away with silly penalties and errors, especially when Stephen Jones drop goal gave Wales a 15-14 lead with 5 minutes remaining on the clock.

Nevertheless, Ronan O’Gara’s drop goal with two minutes to go won the match 17-15, Six Nations Championship and Grand Slam for Ireland, but only just, as had Stephen Jones last kick of the game penalty gone over, Wales would have won the Triple Crown and this marvellously entertaining International Rugby match, denying Ireland the Grand Slam.

A thrilling end to a enthralling Six Nations decider, and certainly one than all the long suffering Irish fans will not forget. My congratulations to Ireland’s Captain Brian O’Driscoll and all the Irish team for the success they deserve after so many near misses. As Lewis Hamilton proved during the F1 title decider in Brazil last year, last minute last gasp championship wins are still a win, and the history books will always record him as World Champion, the margin of victory in the end only relevant if you were watching at the time. Ireland will always be Grand Slam Champions of 2009, but having watched the final kick of the game at the Millennium Stadium fall yards short of the uprights, and Lewis Hamilton’s one point victory in Sao Paulo, I will not forget how close both these Championship wins were.

CATAGORY|F1 Formula One, Lewis Hamilton, Major Events

Guy’s house saves him from deadly Australian bush fire

Australian Guy Williams is alive today largely down to how he constructed his house in Steel Creek, Victoria, Australia. Guy, a 49 year old electrical engineer found some autoclaved aerated concrete bricks at a home ideas show in Australia. He built the house himself using no timber, just these concrete bricks stuck together with glue, steel double glazed windows and steel framed doors.

Guy explained to www.gatoday.com that the fire that bore down on his house was about 1200 degrees, hot enough to soften the metal but not melt it. Glass doors and windows in his house are all double-glazed. Some of the outside panes cracked in the heat. Next time he’ll add shutters!

“Through the double-glazed doors of his bedroom, Guy Williams watched flames roar around his home” whilst sadly all his three vehicles, plus the entire bush and every other home around him, all perished, with dozens of Australians losing their lives in this horrendous bush fire which apparently burnt at 1200 degrees centigrade. Even Guy’s balcony was constructed largely from steel so there was no timber to speak of for the fire to get hold of, so it clearly seems that Guy’s self built house saved his life.

The article goes on to explain that the use of aerated concrete blocks is not common in Australian houses. David Hallett, general manager of building advisory service Archicentre, says the market prefers the look of brick and tradesmen are used to working with it.

“The most cost-effective way our building industry’s found to build buildings is concrete slab, timber frame, pre-fabricated roof trusses, and traditionally a brick-veneer skin. Increasingly these days they’re leaning towards more lightweight cladding,” he says.

“Building code requirements (in Australia) are designed to prevent ember attack, and while the concrete blocks are a good product and Mr Williams’ design clearly worked, it’s more expensive for home owners to build a house to resist an inferno”, he says. All I can say is well done Guy!

According to BBC News the death toll has now reached 200 since the Australian bush fires started, and more tragic still, will rise further according to Australian Police. How and where people build their homes in Australia is very much in the spot light and shows how important building materials are when considering buying or building a property. Guy Williams was saved by his common sense and foresight and though sad today, will hopefully grow to be proud of what he achieved.

CATAGORY|Home Improvements, Major Events, Windows & Doors

Hats off to airline pilot Chesley Sullenberger

If anyone deserves a medal it is Captain Chesley B “Sully” Sullenberger for safely landing US Airlines flight 1549 in the Hudson River in New York, not only saving the lives of all of his passengers and saving the aircraft, but also the lives of New Yorkers who could have been killed had he not made the brave decision to land on water and not try for the alternate Teterboro airport six miles away in New Jersey.

Having taken off his Airbus 320 from Laguardia Airport and been hit by a double bird strike, pilot Captain Sullenberger landed his plane in the Hudson River saving all 155 passengers and crew. The entire take-off, flight, bird strike and landing occurred in less than five minutes, so you have to admire the split second decision making and execution of a text book landing on water. Hats off to you Captain Chesley Sullenberger, not only do you deserve a medal, you’ll get one. Many many congratulations from all of us at Hazlemere Windows and well done indeed.

CATAGORY|Major Events