"Pensioners with a sense of humour or exhibitionist B&D enthusiasts?" wonders Penny Ashton.
Mind the gap - it could cost you
An Australian man who left his car window partly down on a hot day has been fined for having an unsecured vehicle. Julian Harris was visiting family in Brisbane's north on Sunday when he left two windows down what he thought was "three to four" centimetres to let some of the hot air escape from the parked car on the 34C day. Harris returned to the car about two hours later to discover a $44 fine for an offence he had never heard of. Under Queensland law, if a driver is more than 3m from their car, the vehicle must be "secured" with the engine off, handbrake applied, ignition key removed (if no one over 16 remains in vehicle) and windows up with a gap no more than 5cm.
H2 ... oh!
Linda Brown believes she may have found the most expensive water in New Zealand. "My daughter-in-law, discovering she had forgotten to bring water from home for her visit to the beach on January 1, dropped into a shop at Kohimarama beach to buy a bottle of water. She was charged $4.60 for a mini pump bottle of 400ml. When querying the price she was told it included a 15 per cent surcharge because of the public holiday! Does this mean supermarkets will be adding 15 per cent to our grocery bills in future if we shop on a public holiday?"
Motorway speed camera driving motorist mad
"Every single day that I have driven 10km down the Greenhithe motorway this month, there has been at least one speed camera. Often there are two," writes Andrew. "This is a brand new, well-lit, multi-lane, dead-straight motorway where cars are separated from oncoming vehicles by a concrete barrier. And there is hardly any traffic, even in rush hour! Why are the police wasting resources patrolling this stretch of motorway every single day in December anyway, rather than the dangerous, single-lane, unlit rural open roads where people actually do get killed during the Christmas period? It's revenue-gathering, pure and simple. The cops even shoot themselves in the foot - I could see this one from more than 1500m away. So had I actually been speeding, I would have had enough time to briefly slow down and avoid a fine. Some logic, common sense and discretion from the cops wouldn't go amiss. I don't believe for a minute that pedantically enforcing a 4km/h speeding tolerance across all types of roads and vehicles, and in all weather conditions actually saves any lives. Why don't the police just crack down on legitimately dangerous driving?"
