Basilbrushhead
New Member
Hi Guys and Gals,
Thought I'd update you all on the beginnings of this ones new chapter...
You may have seen this lovely van for sale a few weeks back... well, I'm pleased to say it's finally made it back to Salisbury... give or take the odd hitch!
The fun started the night before Glastonbury - I'd hoped (although I knew it was a long shot) that I would have had a Commer for our trip to Glastonbury this year.... it didn't look like it was going to happen - we saw this van and knew it was the one... however someone got there first... I was disappointed but hey... not meant to be... that was when I got the call from it's previous owner to say their buyer had not come up with the cash in time and was I still interested... "absolutely" I said, "where are you?"... "Derby" was the reply...."No problem, I'll set off after work".... which I did - almost 200 miles hitting what seemed to be every bit of work traffic going but we got there in the end just before sunset.... the van was better than I had hoped and I then set about transferring the money... painfully... this ended up taking well over 2 hours with most of this being in the HSBC queue to speak to telephone banking.... then I got cut off! The lovely previous owners were very patient and we sat together nattering whilst logged onto the HSBC live chat trying to sort out the transfer... I think at one point I was chatting with a robot!
To cut a long story short, we cancelled the pending payment and managed to find a friend who was also with HSBC to the payment went through immediately... Phew... we could leave - but it was now very much the middle of the night.... so we set off on what was always going to be a long journey....
We got just 10 miles when the engine cut out at some traffic lights (hazard lights worked though) and that's where we stayed for the next 90 mins. The AA arrived (local version)... who advised the alternator was shot and asked where I was going..." hmmm... Salisbury in Wiltshire" - 185 miles away at this point! It looked like good news... I did have a relay service with the AA - Great, until they told me it was for a maximum of 10 miles! "oh dear" I'd have to pay for an upgrade to a 50 mile radius and then pay £2.50 per mile thereafter to be towed back... "Ouch..."
At that point, I had a brain wave - my Dad (who was with me) was a member of the RAC - so let's try them instead.... Bingo - we had full service relay available... "We'll be approx 70 mins" they said.... OK, it was then that the local pick up chap said, call them back and tell them I'm already here and get a job number - he as an approved suppliers for them too - another call to the RAC and they agreed and we were good to go!
At that point, we sent the van off to a garage in Wiltshire and made our own way home.... we arrived back home vanless and sleep deprived at 6am - just in time to get ready to go to Glastonbury! Oh the Fun!
Glastonbury over and a couple of calls to the local garage, they confirmed it was indeed the alternator and a replacement would be £220 - a quick look at the forum and a call to Commer Van Spares and the next day we had our new alternator at half the price.... Great stuff and thanks!
The final photo is my 3 year old Wilbur who's been asking when our new camper was going to be here.... I'm pleased to say, it didn't disappoint! It wasn't easy to get him out of it though!
We're now looking forward to some family camping trips over the next couple of months.
Quick bit of advice please - any suggestions on the best way to get safety belts in back? It's all original so we can have the rear seats facing each other at the table facing front for travelling...
Sorry - this story wasn't meant to be quite soooo long!!!!
Bye for now.
Dan (Commer name to be confirmed....)
Thought I'd update you all on the beginnings of this ones new chapter...
You may have seen this lovely van for sale a few weeks back... well, I'm pleased to say it's finally made it back to Salisbury... give or take the odd hitch!
The fun started the night before Glastonbury - I'd hoped (although I knew it was a long shot) that I would have had a Commer for our trip to Glastonbury this year.... it didn't look like it was going to happen - we saw this van and knew it was the one... however someone got there first... I was disappointed but hey... not meant to be... that was when I got the call from it's previous owner to say their buyer had not come up with the cash in time and was I still interested... "absolutely" I said, "where are you?"... "Derby" was the reply...."No problem, I'll set off after work".... which I did - almost 200 miles hitting what seemed to be every bit of work traffic going but we got there in the end just before sunset.... the van was better than I had hoped and I then set about transferring the money... painfully... this ended up taking well over 2 hours with most of this being in the HSBC queue to speak to telephone banking.... then I got cut off! The lovely previous owners were very patient and we sat together nattering whilst logged onto the HSBC live chat trying to sort out the transfer... I think at one point I was chatting with a robot!
To cut a long story short, we cancelled the pending payment and managed to find a friend who was also with HSBC to the payment went through immediately... Phew... we could leave - but it was now very much the middle of the night.... so we set off on what was always going to be a long journey....
We got just 10 miles when the engine cut out at some traffic lights (hazard lights worked though) and that's where we stayed for the next 90 mins. The AA arrived (local version)... who advised the alternator was shot and asked where I was going..." hmmm... Salisbury in Wiltshire" - 185 miles away at this point! It looked like good news... I did have a relay service with the AA - Great, until they told me it was for a maximum of 10 miles! "oh dear" I'd have to pay for an upgrade to a 50 mile radius and then pay £2.50 per mile thereafter to be towed back... "Ouch..."
At that point, I had a brain wave - my Dad (who was with me) was a member of the RAC - so let's try them instead.... Bingo - we had full service relay available... "We'll be approx 70 mins" they said.... OK, it was then that the local pick up chap said, call them back and tell them I'm already here and get a job number - he as an approved suppliers for them too - another call to the RAC and they agreed and we were good to go!
At that point, we sent the van off to a garage in Wiltshire and made our own way home.... we arrived back home vanless and sleep deprived at 6am - just in time to get ready to go to Glastonbury! Oh the Fun!
Glastonbury over and a couple of calls to the local garage, they confirmed it was indeed the alternator and a replacement would be £220 - a quick look at the forum and a call to Commer Van Spares and the next day we had our new alternator at half the price.... Great stuff and thanks!
The final photo is my 3 year old Wilbur who's been asking when our new camper was going to be here.... I'm pleased to say, it didn't disappoint! It wasn't easy to get him out of it though!
We're now looking forward to some family camping trips over the next couple of months.
Quick bit of advice please - any suggestions on the best way to get safety belts in back? It's all original so we can have the rear seats facing each other at the table facing front for travelling...
Sorry - this story wasn't meant to be quite soooo long!!!!
Bye for now.
Dan (Commer name to be confirmed....)
, I guess you slept through half of the festival