Konrad

Steve I have had no reply to my pm (s).

Thanks for all the advice and suggestions. I can only assume the people with loads of old bikes in their barns do not read this forum. So it looks like I will be scrutinising la vie de la moto for local meetings and checking le bon coin and possibly ebay. Unfortunately this means I have to continue renovating the house and not playing with scrap metal. C'est la vie.

Thanks for the offer of the K100 BMW. However, I think I will have to decline as a big Beemer basket case might just be a bit too difficult for me. Regards

Thanks Polly We are on the border with the Gironde, near Montpon-Menesterol so a lot further West than Sarlat. I am not full time in France so may have easily missed the references to the meetings that you highlighted. I will check the la vie de la moto website and keep an eye out for those meetings.[:D]

Tony What thickness are they? I want something that will last and was thinking about something of the thickness of railway sleepers, although I know they are not generally available in France.

We are in the Dordogne. I have been buying la vie de la moto fairly regularly but there never seems to be a Bourse near us. We seem to have the odd scooter rally but that is not for me. I will just have to keep looking.

Does anyone know of any motorbikes that are rotting (not too much) in a barn somewhere. I would like the challenge of doing one up. Preferably one with a 4 stroke engine with a minimum capacity of 250cc, although the bigger the better.

I want to build some raised beds using wooden sides for vegetables. Does anyone know which is the best of the DIY places to get these boards/scaffold planks.

Unfortunately the description given by Sunday Driver of an alternative chain of events around the accident is very similar to what my insurance company came back with once they had approached his insurers. I don't know if the sticker on the windscreen of French vehicles includes the name of the insurer as well as the policy number, but no doubt there will be a way that I could have got that information as well. For the record the other driver is not aware that I have an apartment in one of the blocks where he services the lifts I wanted to hold that one back for the moment. Also for the record this accident did happen exactly as I said although I think (hope) Sunday Driver is playing devils advocate here. I am clearly not destined for a career in crime otherwise I would have picked on a vehicle that had signs of an accident to photograph !! I was not aware that I had any come back through the small claims courts but that is a route that I shall investigate.

Thanks for taking the time to make some suggestions. I know I am probably wasting my time but it really irritates me that that smug b*****d has got away with damaging my car when we were stationary. I would like to send the information to as many people as I can in Schwindlers just to see if I can stir up any trouble for the driver. The fact that I got his name and all his insurance details and a picture of his van straight after the accident, perhaps suggests that we did have some discussion, although my insurance company did not do much about this I feel. I think they knew it was going to be difficult claiming back from a French Insurance company from the UK. The only plus point for me is that in our apartment block in France, we have a lift that is serviced by you know who. When he drove into my car he then came up to service the lift. I shall be waiting for his visit in future.

In December 2008 I was leaving a Super U car park in my car, which was driven by my wife. We were in the exit lane and were stationary waiting for a van to move so that we could drive out of the car park. The other driver (who works for Schindler - the lift people) clearly did not see us and reversed his vehicle very slowly from his parking space until it pushed into the door of our car. There was no obvious damage to the Schindler vehicle. He drove back into his parking space whilst we exchanged insurance details. Neither of us could locate the European Accident Statement Document, although typically I found ours as soon as we had driven away. At the time I did not call the police as he seemed apologetic and told us that his insurance was good. The fact that he worked for a company that we had heard of also reassured us. There were no independent witnesses although my wife was in the driving seat and I was in the passenger seat. However we were not too concerned as he was clearly at fault. I reported this to my insurance company and went ahead with the repairs which came to approximately £1200. I had to pay an excess on the policy of £200 which my insurance company said they would claim back from the other driver. In November 2009 I was contacted finally by my insurance company to say that they could proceed no further as the otherdriver had not reported the accident and that his insurance company were denying that he had been involved. I have since contacted Schindler customer relations in the area nearest to where the accident took place. Although they initially responded they are now not answering any EMails from me. In summary: No independent witnesses No Agreed statement of facts and a third party driver who denied any involvement. His company are refusuing to communicate My insurance have given up. This irritates me greatly. I have a picture of his van taken at the time although I think they are suggesting that I drove around the car park and randomly took the picture. Any suggestions. Any contacts at Schindler that I can write to.  Konrad

I was hoping I could cancel online. I went onto the Dossier Familial website but couldn't see how to cancel. There are plenty of ways to subscribe strangely!

I have an account with Credit Agricole and through them I get sent a copy of Dossier Familial magazine every month or two and for this I pay about 40€ annually for this magazine which I do not read. Does anyone know how I can cancel this?

Can anyone explain then how there are British registration cars owned by expats that have had the contol technique and are presumably insured in France that never return to the UK. Presumably someone will always ignore the rules and fortunately the gendarmes are not as vigilant (yet) as the UK police with the numberplate recognition cameras. I suppose in the more rural areas it is too much trouble to pick on the Brits as they are probably holidaymakers and can't speak the language anyway. There are also undoubtedly a few Brit vehicles driving around in cars that have not been registered under the French system and probably have lapsed UK documents. I suppose the clue was in the original question as to how do you bring a vehicle into France legally!

Thanks for all your help. I also found the Kentingtons article really useful and very clear so I am sure I now know where I stand.

Thanks Nick. Is it normally a separate operating switch here. I just thought with the lights being above the bathroom I could easily run a spur to the extractor, similar to the one I used to have in the UK Is there any other reason why they don't have light switch operated extractors?.

I will be visiting France several times during this year to work on a house. It is likely if I added it up that I would be in France for over 6 months during the year, therefore making me French tax resident - I think. Next year I may be here for less than 6 months. Am I responsible for flagging my residency up to the authorities this year and if so what do I do next year, presumably I will revert back to UK tax resident. Apart from me and presumably UK or French customs does anyone else track my time in the Country. Am I better off just keeping a low profile.

If I want to carry out electrical work such as wiring in an extractor in the bathroom that is activated by the light switch, am I alowed to do this myself or do I have to get a qualified/trained electrician to do the work or check it out.