Forum Topics

Fraudulent Council heating contractor, who do you complain too?

We had the usual annual gas safety check letter from Ealing council, showing us what safety checks will be carried out and when. T. Brown the contractor turns up on said day, "we've come to replace the flue on your boiler" (they've not even looked at said boiler yet). And they spoke of needing a builder to knock out a fair amount of brickwork in order to do so. They also refused to carry out the safety check, saying it was not that sort of appointment. Percival House would not deal with the matter or take a complaint from us.When the contractor turns up again, it was "because of the fault we found with the flue when we carried out the safety check we need to fit this flue" No safety checks were carried out, no-one has looked for a fault with the boiler, gas stove or any other gas related fittings to the house. They then insisted on fitting the said flue, making the comment that the boiler was old and may need replacing soon. And what do you know, it has not worked since they touched it. It worked perfectly before they got their hands on it, now it does not. We still have had no gas safety checks, T. Brown still replaced the flue to the boiler that had no reported faults to it, and had no contractor even look for a fault on it.We know what the next step will be, they will make more work for themselves by claiming the boiler will need replacing as hinted at.Why does Ealing Council have no way of reporting those sort of contractors? This is a major safety issue, no gas safety checks have been carried out yet T. Brown know of (unreported) fault to a boiler they or anyone else have never even looked at since it's last annual check.

Leslie Bailey ● 4831d7 Comments ● 4830d

What are the rules and regulations for cycle lanes?

It seems to me that on Sundays, the most likely day of the week that young inexperienced cyclists will venture out, that cars seem to park with impunity on the roadside cycle lanes.Anyone know what the regulations are?  Can they be enforced by traffic wardens or just police?

Philip Coe ● 4832d6 Comments ● 4830d

Ealing's Parks- A Scorched Earth Policy

Ealing has some wonderful Parks, why do some people desecrate them by having BBQs on the grass, when they are clearly prohibited?

Walter Wyeth ● 4832d8 Comments ● 4830d

Who is your favourite Who?

Another thread is asking who is your favourite James Bond.So, with the new Dr Who to be announced live this Sunday, I was wondering who your favourite Dr is?Mine would be Patrick Troughton. I remember the first episode. I watched it at my grandmother's house and I was expecting a British equivalent of Dr Kildare. I was amazed at what come on. Incredible theme music, scary story and a grumpy William Hartnell as the Doctor. The producers were ingenious when he announced he was retiring by having a new actor regenerate into the part.

David P Archer ● 4833d14 Comments ● 4831d

Rental charge for parking space?

What should one ask for rental to park in a drive? The drive is in a large detached residential front garden in central Ealing, close to main shops and offices. Does one have to get Council permission?

Gerry Tan ● 4832d8 Comments ● 4832d

Who is your favourite James Bond?

What made me ask this question? well today while listening to the radio news, when Roger Moore was being interviewed, he said in his opinion, he thought that Daniel Craig was the best and even better than Sean Connery.Well I disagree. I have never liked Daniel Craig. I pained me to watch 'Skyfall'. I was hoping that the baddies would kill him!Also, i never liked Roger Moore either. For me, the best and sexiest James Bond has always been Sean Connery. He is just a class of his own. There is just something about him which makes all his James Bond movies stand out and you want to watch them over and over again.

Asha Smith ● 4836d14 Comments ● 4832d

Tax credit for working parents?

I'm not sure whether I like tax credits for low-earning working parents to allow for child-care costs. Rather, I tend to favour tax relief for regular child-caring grandparents and aunts/uncles and other close relatives. Relatives who do this seldom get paid, yet its valuable help for struggling young parents.  Whadya think??

Gerry Tan ● 4832d0 Comments ● 4832d

Internet trading standards

The Internet Connection Providers have a reputation of non-compliance with trading standards, and not meeting their stated terms and conditions. Typical tricks are to reduce the actual data rate if it is seen to be used, so that "unlimited" contracts are effectively limited by the increased time required, blocking connections deemed to be less important at certain times of the day, or supplying "HDTV" at half the frame rate.My ISP arranges bulk commercial contracts for customers, and for the last few years my connection has been through an "unlimited" o2 LLU. My modem has indicated a maximum attainable rate of around 15Mbps total (up + down) so my contract specifies 12Mbps. My downloads are mainly scheduled overnight, and have consistently matched the indicated speeds. Sky recently purchased o2 with the stated intention of maintaining existing contracts, but my actual connection rate has been switched down to 11Mbps, while my modem still reports the normal maximum attainable rate.

Chris Bell ● 4851d2 Comments ● 4832d

Why is all the news about gloom and doom

Switch on the television and the first thing you hear about is a train crash and all the dead people. Read the papers and you read about fathers who have killed their children and dumped them in the boot. (This story was in the papers today. very tragic).  Talk to the neighbours and all they want to talk about is the miserable rain and their aching knees. Etc etc.It seems people like to talk about negative things. That is what makes the world go round. Positvie news does not interest people.  We hear some good news about the royal baby and still there are some miserable people who can't be happy.For once, let's talk about positive things. Let's switch on the tv and hear wonderful news. Lets read the morning papers and read what a wonderful world we live in. It's a triple effect. So start now. Give a smile to someone. Say hello to someone in the supermarket. If you see someone struggling with their shopping, kindly offer to help them carry it. If you see litter on the floor, just pick it up yourself rather that get worked up and start complaining about the youths of today. That is what i do.

Asha Smith ● 4837d7 Comments ● 4832d

Local Resident Cleans Up...

So have you seen the news that Ealing resident, Jayne Hilditch, has got fed up with the state of a street sign on her road, and taken matters into her own hands and got on with it herself ?Story: http://www.ealingtoday.co.uk/default.asp?section=info&page=eacleanup001.htmGOOD FOR YOU Jayne!I was talking to a friend about this who called her an "idiot" and said that he'd have rung the Council if it did bother him so much. "Why should I do the jobs I pay them to do in paying my Council Tax", he said.Interesting. Whilst my friends lack of either community spirit or pride in his road / area is a tad depressing, I can see his point. What are your thoughts ?Rumours are that Ealing Council will fine Jayne for invoking a serious Health & Safety risk by going up a step ladder. (Disclaimer -this is not in fact true).

Bud Richards ● 4836d19 Comments ● 4832d

Two Young asian or arabic looking boys trying door handles Vallis Way 29th July 00.47am

These people were caught by me this morning via our cctv i came out to them they made off towards ealing broadway through the park i have images of them and a registration of a POLO (Black) that was waiting for them registration R168 XOO It was reported to the police who turned up quickly while they were probably in the park but im sorry to say they didnt go in to the park they just drove around for a hour then off they went this is becoming to regular something has to be done about it maybe a text alert system when something happens it texts all registered people to let know something has happened so people are aware there is a problem

Mark Ryan ● 4837d24 Comments ● 4833d

Sports Physio W5

Any recommendation from anyone?I was thinking of giving Ealing Physio on South Ealing Road a go to have a sort out of my lower back --- has anyone here used them?

Colin Goodman ● 4851d7 Comments ● 4833d

me and mobile phones do not get on!

I have a basic mobile phone. It has no internet, no email, can do nothing except make calls and send and receive texts. Yet still I can make mistatkes by sending texts to the wrong people. It is so easily done and can be very embarrassing.I'll share with you something that happened to me a few months ago.  I had enrolled on a gym personal training course which was for a week. I decided i would train as a personal trainer because I hate going to gyms and being pestered so if i had the knowledge and qualification, I could train myself.On the first day, mid morning at break, a guy who i had not noticed before came over and introduced himself and shook my hand. I thought what a nice gentleman. I was very impressed.From then, we would chat and sit next to each other at clas and i would help him in his theory work. He was also attractive, over 6ft tall and covered in tatoos. I would wonder whether he was married or was gay because he never spoke about his life.Then on the last day of the course, we were studying nutrition and how junk food is bad for children. He suddenly said in the clas 'I take my kids to macdonalds'. He then told me that he had seperated form his first wife and was now dating an asian girl but she lived about 200 miles away and they would meet up at weekends.We left on friday. we didn't exchange numbers and that was it. Then on Saturday afternoon, i received a text. I then realised it was from him. I was very shocked as i had not given him my number.It said 'Hi Ash, how are you. Would you ike to meet up for a coffee to go through the books!!!!.Now, in my head all thoughts were going through. What does he mean. What are all the exclamation marks. Does he fancy me. Does he really want to study. How did he get my number?Now I just had to tell a friend of mine and in my message to my friend i wrote - ' I am not the type of girl to have an affair, i hope he has not got the wrong idea.and can you believe it, by mistake, i had clicked on the send button and sent it to that guy by mistake.I was horrified, mortified. Words cannot describe how I felt. I wanted to die.After half an hour, i received a reply from the guy. he wrote!!!!all i wanted was some help with my course work. I have a partner and i love her with all my heart.Now there are two ways of looking at this message.But ever since, i am so so careful with text messages. I hate mobile phones.

Asha Smith ● 4835d4 Comments ● 4834d

uploading pictures

can anyone tell me how to upload pictures on to forum

Mark Ryan ● 4838d14 Comments ● 4834d

What's going on in olive Road

Two riot vans and a leg hanging out of a window

Suzan Issa ● 4834d0 Comments ● 4834d

Name and shame dirty streets

I would like to raise further awareness to Ealing Council's ailing contractor, Enterprise and its failings in keeping our streets clean. please use this forum to post streets not cleaned on the same day as refuse/recycling day or not at all. This should provide a slightly more accurate picture rather then the  80/90% statistics which are rated clean every week which we all know simply is not true. Let me start the ball rolling:Ferrymead Avenue not litter picked on Thursday 11th JulyBarnham Road not litter picked on Thursday 11th JulyCostons Lane not litter picked on Thursday 11th July

Kris Smith ● 4853d40 Comments ● 4834d

Stained Glass Repair

A small piece of stained glass from the side panel around our front door has been knocked out and needs replacing. We are looking for someone local (w5) to fix it. Anybody know someone who could help?Peter

Peter Lynch ● 4836d3 Comments ● 4834d

Your Home As A Film Location?

Hi. I am a long time contributor to both this and the Chiswick forum. I live locally and, after a few years climbing the ladder, have just got my first job as a Location Manager on a small film coming out of Ealing Studios.I am on the hunt for a family home to use as the home belonging to one of our main characters in the film. I am looking for somewhere with a nice size kitchen and garden (I only say this because of the logistics of filming in houses), and preferably, but not essential, a teenage boy's bedroom. We are a small production of approx 20 people and will not be coming with all the trucks, catering etc. that some of you may associate with crews that have filmed in this area before.We would need access to the property for 2, or maybe 3 days, (dates not confirmed but shooting commences on 19th August). I do have a budget for this and we have all the necessary public liability insurance in place - copies and contracts will be provided.This is not for everyone, some people hate the idea, but some people enjoy it, or some may have a rental property standing empty they may consider hiring to us.Please PM me if interested and I will give you my phone number so we can discuss.Many thanksSam

Samantha-Jane Hunt ● 4836d12 Comments ● 4835d

Cudi store

Love their pitta and naan bread, best around. Also the large tomatoes are great. They sell a very large flat bread, does anyone know what it's called and what would it be served with.  It looks as if its Middle Eastern.  Thanks.

Pat Kingham ● 4839d13 Comments ● 4835d

Your views on sprung sashes please

We have some.  I'm told that they are a bit disappointing.  They need some attention as the draught excluders are now rotten.  Should we choose something different next time?

Philippa Bond ● 4840d4 Comments ● 4837d