There is a whole can of worms here,you really need to be absolutely clear what probate means and what the whole process entails,everything has to be gathered together,all accounts,premium bonds etc and everything has to be valued before you can move forward both for probate and IHT..In my view(recently done all this) you and your brother need to appoint a solicitor to administer the estate, take control and deal with your sister,otherwise you 3 are just going to end up fighting over this.It will also take time,far longer than you think,ours was 15 months and that that was considered fast.
If you sell the car now where does the money go?..your Mum’s accounts should all be frozen at death(tell me they are ?) so that’s going to be a point of friction as well.
It all worked well in my case as the solicitor became the point of contact for everything and everybody,yes its a cost but in the big picture its worth it for your own sanity if nothing else (my niece works in this field and some of the stories are difficult to believe,when there is money involved everything,family ,loyalty ,morals ,it matters not ,it all goes out of the window)…don’t get dragged into this.
For me the grieving process was helped by being able to disperse Mum’s estate as she wished,leaving the house neat and tidy for the new owners and tying up all the loose ends so her and dad could be at rest,it felt like closing a book.

Finding this thread has been a revelation for me,since losing Mum in March after a long drawn out illness, dealing with the estate,solicitors and accountant had kept me busy and as this has gradually faded into the background I have been overwhelmed with anxiety,depression and anger…exactly what others have found..I didn’t understand what was happening,everything I enjoyed doing before became toxic,I didn’t dare ride my motorbike,driving was a chore mixed in with bouts of anger,my 2 days of work a week became an exercise in frustration and anxiety and a mildly annoying home situation got blown out of all proportions.
This prompted me to talk to a counsellor who, whilst helping, didn’t really nail this down for me but this thread has,it appears I am normal after all!
I have made some changes,more downs walking,less work pressure on myself (not sure if the business will survive this winter) and to try and avoid stress risers…not sure how Xmas is going to pan out,looking forward to see my children but a large family gathering may not be the best place for me,I may just stay at home and look after the dogs instead.
I might even get a bike down from the loft!!….crazy I know!
Thoughts to everyone missing someone today..everyone’s journey is different but places like this forum provide a safe haven..Thank you.

Done this with my Mum’s estate and whilst I was happy to pay a solicitor an hourly rate for all the work that needed doing,I just couldn’t get my head around the percentage thing irrespective of the amount of work done,sure there must be winners and losers but it just sounded wrong..in the end she ended up doing everything including distributing the estate as per the will (30+ different people and charities!) and charged just over 7k on a 900k estate.
I was recommended to use the people who looked after my Dad’s affairs when he died as they would be familiar with allowance’s etc and it certainly simplified things.
I rang around a few solicitors (south coast) and i was gobsmacked to find that some that found it normal to charge for an initial consultation or needed a signed contract before any talk at all!..
Ring around,find someone to talk to..you are the customer!!

Brads…condolences to you .. TJ is so right,and in years to come you will find comfort in knowing that you were there for your Dad when he needed you..I know I do with mine.

I cannot state how important Power of Attorney is..just coming to end of all of this..lost Dad in 2011 after a long illness,peacefully at home thankfully and Mum was insistent in all us 5 children having P.O.A over both her finance and health issues..6 years later when Mum was reduced overnight from being fit and active to a semi-paralysed,brain damaged and nearly blind wreck from a series of strokes it allowed us to deal with her immediate needs,get her out of hospital(which was clearly upsetting her) and into a nice nursing home to look after her,to be able to pay her bills,rent out her house and do all the things that needed to be done with the minimum of fuss..she left us in March of this year after nearly 4 years of watching her slowly fading away,,the person she used to be long gone.. but we can look back and know that we did the very best we could and I’m sure Dad would be proud of us.
Please Please Please get your POA sorted out,you may never have to use it but if you do it is a godsend…I simply cannot imagine how we could have coped otherwise

After a spirited discussion the ball is in their court now…the directors refuse to talk to me in person..all happens through my op’s manager…..what a way to run a business!

I guess ,for me,it’s all about the principal…tired of people wanting something for nothing,tired of putting max effort in just to get kicked in the nut’s again…guess it will all kick off on Monday.

Thanks everyone,some useful stuff there.

I’m on a 25hr a week full time contract….between May and November I’m expected to do as many hours as necc to get the jobs done..on top of which is this call out duty…quite happy to do the former but not the latter.

Oh yeah..our main local competition are 2 companies both set up by disgruntled former employee’s…Go figure!

The contract is rather vague..just says you are expected to do a call out duty…no details at all…..after doing this a couple of times I am not prepared to do any more …I feel it is an unreasonable expectation that wasn’t really clear until undertaking a duty…….TBH I don’t really give a monkeys at this time of my life (59) and won’t lose any sleep if the job goes down the pan…just interested in what the hive mind thinks.

It always seemed to me that the Cycle Room was a top end,well appointed shop in an expensive location catering to a fairly small market..in my view very much a ‘fashion’ shop…it’s when grass root bike shops that are part of the local scene give it up ,like the Bike Store in Worthing, that when you realise things are changing…

I see that Bike Store’s premises is now to be a micro brewery,named The Old Bike Store Brewery,next to the closed down pub..the face of change.

I did the same as you Bud..draining an old Peugeot radiator over a cut on my hand…came up like a boxing glove..came very near to losing a couple of fingers too…..then had to spend a week in hospital with my arms above my head and massive amounts of anti-biotic being run in as the bug would attack where the IV was put in…they never did identify what it was….got back to work (mechanic in said peugeot garage) and my boss gave me £10.00 sick pay for the week and said I should be happy with that!

Took weeks to get the taste out of my mouth too.

Enjoy?

Nice bike!…..What are you doing with the baby dragstar now?…I fix a few of these and I was asked today if I knew of one for sale(I have one but its too dear for him)..he hates e-bay!

Have you thought about cruiser style bikes,like the xvs above?..the v-twins are bigger bikes so they feel more like “real”motorbikes plus you won’t be so cramped whilst riding it…Honda Shadow and Yamaha Dragstar are the main runners,the Shadows were built up to 2007 so you could get one thats not to worn out /rusty…really good engine,mine will do 70 ish and can keep up with and overtake traffic if you plan ahead,the same engine is used in the Varadero (later ones with fuel injection)..the xvs runs out of gears a bit quickly but is not as heavy so handles a bit different,the last ones were made in 2004 so you need to look closely at the frame etc..seen some really rusty ones about…and I’ve repaired a few with snapped off side stands..Seems a steady market for them when you have finished with it too,they seem to appeal to the older guys looking to learn to ride.

It might make you think about what led you to being caught…in my case I realised the delivery van I was driving was now being loaded to the vans wieght limit rather than what was doable in the allocated hours..told the boss that I was going to get caught again and/or have an accident..neither which I felt was responsible or sustainable…he didn’t agree and I walked…kept in contact with other drivers and routes/drops have now got even bigger!

Don’t get me started on this…after 35 years in the motor trade I thought I had seen it all…until I retrained and entered the cycle trade…I worked in 3 shops and turned down a 4th…poverty level wages(Evans pay less than 15 k),unrealistic expectations (I met them all at the time but they were not sustainable) and dysfunctional and blinkered management,both in chains and LBS’s.
My advice?..stay out of it and just enjoy your riding
I drive a delivery van around London now..and earn far more than a Cytech 2 mechanic was apparently worth to the local bike trade.

I’ve got TINAS’s swift….love it,could well end up being my only S/S.

My advice?..just buy,build and ride,we can’t all be wrong can we?

I did this with ATG training…it was a good course and group and as all shops were looking for Cytech 2 and /or years of experience it was the only way in for me,chain stores are your friend here …..after 3 jobs I realised that the whole retail thing wasn’t for me,basic pay,weekend/bank holiday working etc….I went back to enjoying bikes instead.

Good luck

I had this in a new job in a local bike shop….after a week or so I was informed that instead of finishing at 5.30 everyone had to stay for an extra 15/20 mins every night as the shop was cashed up….this and being expected to sign an unfair and restrictive contract(with a threat of non-payment if I refused) had me out of the door pretty damn quick!

Probably a corporate event…all the big event players run them..Raw Energy were taking down signs in Sussex this afternoon too.
These tend to have a spread of riders invited from semi-pro pacers to sunday doodlers and ,if a big client company,from branches all over the world…maybe someone not used to riding on the left?

Hi singlespeederx2

That was a lwb we used in wales last year..at the time we had lwb,swb T5’s and a Reno Traffic 6 seater swb,the Lwb was the most popular to drive and the most versatile..the Traffic I thought was pretty good for the money,the swb was always the short straw vehicle.

Jameso….you could well be right…heat of the moment stuff…I’m sure there’s plenty of good people there,yourself included…I’ve just not met that many of them.

Not acceptable…I work at an Evans store and recently had a Norco here with a snapped swing arm…3 days to get authorised,2 weeks to get a new arm from Canada and to fit it,job done. Some are even quicker,2 days for C/dale road bike from coming in to riding out on new bike,it’s all down to the store manager I’m afraid,he can drive it with the warrenty guys.
Get on to customer services and they will light a fire under the manager….Christ knows why I’m defending them though,anyone from store manager upwards needs a frontal lobotomy and an injection of morals…treat your staff like s@it and this is what happens.

A lot of the London shops don’t have workshop space so all bikes are collected by van and taken to a central workshop,repaired and then returned to the shop…it doesn’t make sense to do this for a small adjustment/repair(not saying it’s right like) so everything is upsold to a service level…that doesn’t mean all branches of that chain behave like that,just the London one’s.

All my Dad’s railway books ,and there was a lot,went to our local transport museum at Amberly Chalk Pits…..they sifted through them ,kept the local relevent ones for their own libary and sold the rest at their own open days with the money being used for new projects….I know Dad would have been happy with that.
Maybe there is something similar local to you?

It is UKCE who you need to be mailing….you won’t get a refund but they will transfer your entry to another event if you ask nicely….well,they have done in the past.

re muggomagic….my guess is its a Roller down at the plant in Goodwood,theres a pump “in plant” for roadtest use.As for repairs it was always a big no no…the last incident I saw there led to a reshell on a brand new car,oh and the other one which dissappeared to Germany to be used as a hack and a new build allocated to the buyer.

So where do think they are going with their current staffing policy?…. mate of mine has just started working for them(as a stop gap)..Cytech 2 qualified at £6.81 p/h!..he says the place is a joke,contracts for 16/20 hrs with flexibility demanded,i.e the next step up from zero hours contracts,and no fulltime customer facing staff being hired …is that going to attract good staff who want to take the brand forward?.The answer to that is clearly no…so much for the much vaunted relaunch.

Theres 2 older singlepivot Marins running as s/s down here on the southdowns..1 uses an old rear mech(not pretty) and the other uses an on/one doofer type of thing….they need 1 extra tooth on the rearcog (in comparision to a hardtail)because of the extra weight and complexity..apart from that they work pretty well.

Makes you wonder who did the PDI on that?…..clearly not right.

For me it’s James Lee Burke…love the way he writes.

Good for you matey…I’m trying hard to do the same thing,(or bike retail) but despite 30+ years on the tools as a car tech and the last ten years fixing/building my own bikes its proving a bit difficult.Local shops seem to want (A)Bikeshop Experience(above counts for nothing apparantly) (B)Cytech 2 min (C)a chance to muck you about.
I’m quite happy to do the training myself(although the courses seem a bit sporadic,or is that just because I’m not in the trade?),just want to do it in one hit which seems difficult,but slightly reluctant to spend the money if Bikeshop experience counts for so much…bit of a Catch 22 really.
Based in South East if anyone knows of anything ?

Thanks everyone…some good stuff there,shes been looking at Travelex,this gives her a few more options,knew I could rely on STW!

Cheers,that looks ok…they charge for ATM use though…but like the idea of using a “name” card rather than something off the net.

Small world..say hello to Phil and Boo for me,Phil was at Mays with me and I see his other brother,Steve,around down here in Sussex(he MOT’s my cars!)..told you it is a small world!

Cheers
Robin

Rob..I’ve been in a similiar sort of thing,gentle chats don’t work,just bat it straight back saying the contract is unacceptable and illegal as it stands..make sure you know how the Working Time Directive works and keep as your mantra “no-one works for free”
Its time to put your foot down ,you have been flexible in the past and that has been your undoing really…now they are taking the mickey!
The whole business needs to be put on a more structured footing,a good thing for the employee’s, but there are better ways of doing it.

In my case everything got sorted,it was more a lack of communication really, and when I moved on a few years ago the company was doing very well.
Good luck mate

Ah yes..think that used to be known as Shirley Garage…used to know some of the lads that worked in there,moved on by now I should think.
Anyway,best of luck with it,I got out of motors and into bikes…best thing I ever did!

Re Happyrider…Bookham used to be my old stomping ground where I dabbled in the motor trade for a while…I’m intrigued as to where you are?
Did my City and Guilds at what used to be F.W Mays up at Effingham traffic lights by the way(a long time ago!!)

Thanks for helping…it involves a well known Surrey riding spot…I want to nip this in the bud.

We were happy with Homecare until recently…the boiler was condemned and disconnected at its annual service….excessive corrosion cited as reason(boiler about 14 years old)….we asked why this wasnt noted on its service last year..no answer…then told they had no record of this..quoted us £3800 to replace!!

Local man(ex BG,fed up with the way they operate) did it for £1650 all in,including magnetic filter and new pump…happy days.

Will be telling BG to stick their homecare….