SCUNTHORPE AND GRIMSBY NEWSLETTER Group No. 7080 Charity No. 106312 February 2020 Spring Issue 1 Contents Hello & Welcome 3 Ad Lad Advertising in our Newsletter Dates for the Diary 4 Social Nights MDU Committee Meetings Observer Meetings Become and Advanced Driver SAGAM Team Members 5 Group Composition Chairman’s Chatter 6 We got Mail! 6 Congratulations 7 Discount information 7/8 Caught My Eye 8 Volvo History Top Gear Review of Volvo V60 Hybrid Free Advanced Taster Drives 13 Catalytic Converter Thefts 14 Mobile Phone Loophole 15 Car & Bikes Sharing the Road 16 Get Ready for the Holidays 18 Valentine’s Day 21 Check out the IAM YouTube Channel 22 And Finally…. 22 2 Hello, welcome to the Spring edition of your newsletter and Happy New Year to you! New Year, New Decade…what else do we need? An IAM newsletter full of interesting articles, our Chairman’s Chatter and other bits and pieces to keep us occupied for a while. Our committee met for the first time this year on the 13th January and discussed amongst other things, the MDU (Mobile Display Unit). We generally have a pitch on Scunthorpe high street but the council have made changes to the way they charge and so although we would be there for one day only, we would have to pay for a full week, which makes it expensive. So, any suggestions as to other places we could visit would be appreciated. Please send to [email protected] You may have noticed a change on the front cover whereby rather than an issue number, following a suggestion by one of our members, I have changed this to a quarterly edition so future editions will be Summer, Autumn and Winter. So as always, I do hope you enjoy this edition and I would be grateful for any of your Christmas and/or New Year stories for the next edition or anything else you would like to see included. Please email any articles by 15th April to [email protected] Did you find the Ad Lad in the last newsletter? He was in the bottom left hand corner of the old IAM Scunthorpe Group Logo on Page 8. Have a good look through this edition for him……. Advertising in our Newsletter If anyone would like to advertise in our newsletters please contact Jan Burditt on 07831 170678 or email [email protected] The cost of advertising is: Full page - £40.00 Half page - £20.00 Costs are per annum and will there will be four quarterly issues 3 Dates for the Diary For 2020, your newsletters will be distributed as follows: May (Please make sure any articles are submitted before 15th April 2020), August and November. If there is anything you like or dislike about your newsletter, or if there are any articles you think our members may enjoy reading, please feel free to email me at [email protected] The dates for our social nights next year are: 26th February – Robert Fox from Highways England will be giving a presentation 22nd April – Richard Gladman from IAM RoadSmart who is the head of Driving and Riding Standards 24th June – Stuart Donald QPM will be talking about Traffic Policing in the Middle East - this meeting also includes the AGM, 26th August – Alistair Kennedy is from the Humberside Cyber Crime Unit and 28th October is the Barry Heath Quiz Night where SAGAM, Lincoln and Lincs Bikers Group will be battling it out to win the desirable Barry Heath Trophy. Proposed dates for the MDU so far next year are: 11th July Rescue Day in Crowle. Waltham Windmill in Grimsby was a great day and we hope to be there again this year. Date to follow. The Winterton Show along with the East Halton Equestrian Show are also being looked into and any dates arranged will be listed here in the May edition Committee Meeting dates for this year are: 12th February, 11th March, 8th April, 13th May, 10th June, 8th July, 12th August, 9th September, 14th October, 11th November and 9th December. As the New Inn is currently undergoing refurbishments, the venue for each of the above dates will be announced in the May edition of the newsletter and committee members will be informed of the venue for the February, March and April meetings individually. Observer Meetings for this year hosted by Paul Cassell are: Wednesday 4th March, Wednesday 15th April, and Wednesday 30th September, all at The New Inn, New Limber and all with a 7.30pm start. BECOME AN ADVANCED DRIVER We currently have an offer on whereby after completing the test successfully, you will receive £25 back. To receive your application form please send your name and contact details along with your payment to: Mr M Gothard Cheques should be made payable to: 7, West Green The Institute of Advanced Motorists Messingham For more information contact: Terry Heath on: North Lincs 01652 655601 or visit our website DN17 3QT www.scunthorpegrimsbyadvancedmotorists.org 4 The IAM Scunthorpe & Grimsby Team Members CHAIRMAN and CHIEF OBSERVER Terry Heath Tel: 01652 655601 Email – [email protected] VICE-CHAIRMAN Tel: 01724 764237 Paul Johnson Tel: 01724 721156 The views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the individual TREASURER writers and not necessarily of the IAM, Malcolm Gothard nor the Scunthorpe and Grimsby group. 01724 764237 SECRETARY The composition of our group is as follows: Dawn Kitching Tel: 01724 875276 Full Members 113 Mick Harris GDPR Associate Members 7 Tel: 01724 531625 TOTAL 120 Please note these numbers can change on a weekly basis. Paul Johnson MDU/EVENTS/GROUP CONTACT Tel: 01724 721156 Allen Hardman CH. OBS Have a look at our web page which includes lots of useful Tel: 01472 813231 information: www.scunthorpegrimsbyadvancedmotorists.org ASSOCIATE COORDNATOR John Wigmore Facebook: @SGAMG1 Tel: 07751608127 Twitter: @ANDGRIMSBY MAGAZINE EDITOR/PUBLISHER Jan Burditt Tel: 07834170678 email: [email protected] WEBMASTER Ian Greenbeck Email: [email protected] OBSERVER TRAINING OFFICER Sue Harris Tel: 01469 531625 AREA MANAGER Peter Serhatlic Tel: 07703 718907 [email protected] 5 Chairman’s Chatter Hi everyone, happy new year to you all. I hope the festive season brought everyone happiness, peace and goodwill, oh and some nice pressies. My main theme for this edition is, we desperately need to pick your brains, and ask if can anyone come up with some new ideas as to where we can take the Mobile Display Unit, to try and get more members, mainly in the Scunthorpe area. One of our best places in the Scunthorpe area has always been in the High Street on the precinct. Sadly, now North Lincs council have decided to price us out of play. They have stopped allowing people on for odd days, everyone now has to pay £180.00 for a week. Not only can we not afford this, it also means we would have to remove the MDU every night and finding the members to staff it would be an impossibility. So as you can see, we are really struggling to find anywhere. Tesco at Gallagher retail Pk will allow one visit per year, only bookable 6 months in advance. We are currently looking at asking Aldi in Scunthorpe, Lidl in Brigg, and Sainsbury’s. Morrison’s aren’t so keen now. We’ve found, that anywhere with multiple outlets are a real problem as it’s not down to the shops but the letting agents for the retail parks, and they are simply not interested if it’s not making them big bucks. So if you have any ideas, please get in touch with me, any ideas would be very much appreciated. On the social side we have a full year already booked up at Redbourn Club, with 4 very good meetings and then a quiz to finish the year off. We are going to be busy busy, so we need your help and support please! The MDU is already booked out at the 7 Lakes rescue day on 11th, July, and Waltham weekend is planned along with other events in the Grimsby area. On the driving front, we have a new “observer training officer” as you may or may not have heard. His name is Paul Cassell. Paul is a National Observer and has booked three evening sessions at the New Inn at Great Limber, and as it’s about halfway between Grimsby and Scunthorpe it seemed a good venue. If he hasn’t already, Paul will soon be contacting you all to invite you as an observer to the first of these three meetings. Keep an eye out for the invite and please make every effort to attend the meeting. Thank you. If there’s anything that you want to ask about please make contact with me and talk to me, about your group, because after all, that’s exactly what it is. YOUR GROUP. THANK YOU Kind regards, Terry Heath. Chairman. Scunthorpe & Grimsby Advanced Motorists Ch.Ob/Nat Ob/L.O.A. We got Mail! You can email, tweet or post a letter to the following addresses; Terry Heath, 48, Vicarage Ave, Wrawby, Brigg, North Lincs. DN20 8RY Email: [email protected] Twitter: @ANDGRIMSBY 6 Discount Vouchers Issue 264 of the IAM RoadSmart Weekly News Magazine offers discounts to friends and family of current members and says: “As a valued member who has already experienced the benefits of our Advanced Driver or Rider Course, we would like you to spread the word amongst your family and friends. Please feel free to print and pass on these exclusive vouchers to anyone you feel may benefit from taking one of our advanced driving or riding courses.