admiles

I have a passing knowledge. The TCA doesn't fully replicate the EU - Mexico trade deal despite what the government would have you believe.

The EU and Mexico have a bi-lateral trade agreement meaning goods imported into Mexico from the EU are not subject to import duties. The UK now we have left the EU does not, meaning the HSTs would be liable to import duty. If we were still EU members they would have been duty free.

That bit I can't answer! I'll ask next time I'm on board if I remember.

I've been dealing with car carriers at Royal Portbury and Southampton for the last three years or so (makes a change from box boats) and asked one of the FOs this. Apparently it makes the load planning and weight distribution easier. As the vehicles always board the vessel from the same side (some vessel also have side loading ramps as well as the main stern ramp) how they cross the vessel from side to side and form up on deck is more predictable and can be planned for to keep the vessel in balance. It also helps as if there's a vessel change the order vehicles are parked on the quay side doesn't have to be changed. It would if vessels could be either left or right side loading.

As this is pointed at me I'll respond. I don't need to be "pleased". I merely said it didn't, to my eye, capture the look of a 50 too well. That, as I've said is subjective. Just my opinion. We all will look at a model and form an opinion of how well it captures the look of the prototype in probably the first few seconds. That doesn't involve breaking out the ruler or counting the rivets to see how accurate it is. Merely the impression or look of the thing. Some models nail it and some don't. Where a model falls on that particular spectrum is down to the individual doing the viewing.

The pop up video I've been getting for the last couple of weeks is of a guy in a check shirt building a layout. I get the need for advertising but this pop up window covers a good 40% of the screen covering the text of the posts. No idea how to shift it!

From the photos posted on here. And as I also said (which you seem to have missed) I'm happy to change my mind if and when I get to see one in the flesh. This is a personal, subjective thing. Some people like yourself will thing it looks great and some people like me won't. There's no absolutes here.

Maybe but for me its a bit simpler. I look at a model, regardless of scale, and think "does it look like a class XX?" This one doesn't!

I'm not. Just going on how it looks to me. It doesn't give me that "it's a 50" feeling. Just looks wrong to me. Happy to change my mind if I ever get to see one in the flesh though.

Must be just me but it just looks wrong to me. Subjective of course but looks kind of hunched and the sides bow out too much. Hard to explain but for me, nope, doesn't look/feel like a 50.

I see things in a slightly different way. Several of my friends have teenage and low-20's kids and car ownership is very important to them. Most have much newer/nicer cars than I (and my friends) had at their age. This is primarily because they don't see there's any way of them getting on the housing ladder so they spend on a decent car instead. That said this is in rural Suffolk where public transport is for the most part non-existent and you have to travel reasonable distances to jobs/shops etc. I guess if you live in a city your view will be different.

You have my sympathies. Real shame people can't work together to keep things moving/working well for everyone.

Is there a bus bay or offroad area the coach can access? Presumably it was picking up or dropping off children from the school?

Not at all. Only one organization to blame. As I said I just find the whole situation ironic and if I'm honest rather sad that this country has sunk to this level. To say any more would get me much deeper into political hot water.

The irony in all that is of course that the current government was voted in, in grand style by "red wall" voters in areas such as yours at the last election. The phrase "Turkeys and Christmas" springs to mind.

Just as a matter of interest what price would you be willing to pay?

It's not me you have to convince. I don't make the decisions. Actually as Mexico have a trade agreement with the EU and the UK don't it would have cost the Mexicans less if the UK were still in the EU to import the HSTs. The A/C electric fleet is a different problem. The high cost of electricity makes it cheaper to run diesels instead. Crazy but there you go. In fairness Freightliner did replace their 86's with newer class 90's from Greater Anglia. Don't see them going anywhere for a while. Things move on, no point in trying to fight it!

Different countries, different rules. Englands railways are controlled by the Department for Transport where as Scotlands are controlled by Transport Scotland who are more "pro-rail" than DfT. You've also got to understand that as good as the HSTs are they've nearly 50 years old now and pretty tired. Sad as it is, nothing lasts forever.

Which is all well and good if it's actually the correct door which all too often with Royal Mail in my experience it isn't. They then refuse to pay out compensation continually stating they've delivered. I've found Royal Mail to be by far the worst of the delivery companies.

Yep, pure lunacy! Just another in a long line of self-inflicted damage this once great country has suffered.

But there won't be that £36bn invested in any of those things he claimed today. It's lies, nothing more.

Project management and consulting companies presumably...

Hope you can (or have) slip seamlessly into a new job!

I'm pleased you've had a good experience. The Kia dealers locally have lied through their teeth and gone out of their way to be unhelpful. Which just goes to prove how your dealer treats you can make a huge difference to your perception of a brand. That's said the Kias/Hyundais I've had knowledge of were just awfully unreliable.

Exactly this. They are also printed in an exact format to conform to the internationally agreed convention standards. Most goods are covered by ATA Carnets though there are other, lesser used types. Presenting a homemade list to a Customs border post won't mean anything to them and they certainly won't stamp you in and out of the countries you are visiting.