The Truck and tables future maintenance

[Chris]

Dear All

As you are aware there are problems with the truck.

The real issues are that the table hire charges just do not cover unforeseen issues a) with repair of the truck and b) repair of the tables.

Without the truck and tables all larger events beyond using local tables could not be held.

We are already in a situation where we will struggle to pay our public liability and volunteer insurance which now costs £980 a year, due to recent issues with the van we have had to use these monies for it, I will personally cover the shortfall in the interim, but will require it paid back.

The hire of a van would cost us £200 for a weekend, which we would have to pass on to associations for events, I can just see their responses if we did this. So miraculously and thankfully SAV thumbs up%has kindly stepped in for a short while.

But the monies are still not there and required.

My proposal is this, for ALL EVENTS THAT HIRE THE TABLES

I propose a £1 levy per player to be taken by all organisers to be paid to the AEBBA. You pay a pound at local level to play a game, so for one of your games you will in theory be paying to play.

Example if the entry fee is £10 you will pay £11, if £6 you will pay £7.

This means that ALL WHO USE THE TABLES PROVIDED PAY TOWARDS THEIR DELIVERY AND UPKEEP

This is not a long term solution. It just keeps us going at present.

It would be the organisers that would collect the extra £1 please and then forward this by cheque to the AEBBA.

Why would I not put up table costs instead? because it penalises small events, as the rise would be exceptionally high!!

OK I wait for the written banter !! but can I ask that you truly consider that if all playing contribute a £1 for this year in every event, it means that all playing on our national tables are making a fair contribution

[BB Warrior]

Hi Chrissie,

Firstly, a big thank you for personally stepping in to help financially at this time, I am sure that I speak for many of us that enjoy playing in the competitions when I say that it really is greatly appreciated.

I think that the idea to ask for donations from the players that are using the tables to help towards the costs is a good one.... we will try to start the ball rolling for you at the Sussex Individual Competitions this weekend. Hopefully, other competitions will also support this throughout the year and (as auditor for the AEBBA) I know how much difference this would make to AEBBA finances at this time.

I would also like to thank Chris Saville, who kindly went up to Reading to collect the tables and delivered them down to Sussex this afternoon.

[bigtj]

Just to endorse Daves comments a huge thank you Chrissie for stepping in and also to Sav for volunteering to collect and deliver tables at short notice and for also doing so for forthcoming events when he is available

[Chris]

I truly want to thank all that donated at the Hurst Club today with over £100 raised from 60 players WOW

A very special thanks to Mark James who kindly donated £100 Thank you Mark

I know that Dave, Colleen and Tony are aiming for collecting some more tomorrow so my heartfelt thanks for making this so key in the day.

But a HUGE THANKS TO ALL THE PLAYERS who never hesitated to contribute and just wanted to suggest ideas to help.

THE TEAM SPIRIT TOWARDS THIS WAS AMAZING, THANK YOU ALL PLAYERS XXX

[BB Warrior]

I am pleased to advise that we managed to raise a total of £355 over the course of the Sussex Competitions weekend at the Hurst Club, as follows:-

Mark James - £100 Donation (cheque given to Chrissie on Saturday)
Ian Lelliott - £100 Donation cheque
Cash from other players - £155

The cash and cheque from Ian will be paid into the AEBBA Account today at the local branch of Lloyds.

I would like to say a HUGE THANK YOU to all of the players that made a donation, I think that everybody made a contribution to the fund at some stage over the weekend which goes to prove how much the game means to us all.

[Chris]

Thank you so much to Dave and Collen, Mark, Ian and all the Sussex players, you are all stars

[Chris]

UPDATE RE THE TRUCK

Dear All

Sadly the ECU is not repairable

We have spent a fair amount of monies on the van in the last few months and therefore the following has been discussed and decided with all of the AEBBA Committee.

We will source a second hand ECU with Sav and Dave liaising here. This will need to be purchased and then fitted. Cost from £750+ including the unit itself.

This is a gamble and it may still not work if further damage has been done to the electrics themselves.


We still desperately need the support of players, to raise the monies that will ensure the supply of the tables in the future.


This is a short term solution and I therefore propose that a meeting of ALL PLAYERS is called, this could be held at Bournemouth, to discuss the long term future of how we secure transport for the AEBBA Tables.

Heartfelt thanks to all of you that are supporting this especially as without transport there are no tables and therefore opens

Thank you
Chris

[milhouse]

Do we know a rough cost of a new (well 2nd hand!) truck ?

[Chris]

Hi Mark

We have not done any research into that side, as of yet Mark.

It may be that we have to, as a next step.

It's a very fine balance between, do you continue to put monies into the existing truck, given that a considerable sum has already been spent on it recently? or do you call it a day and research a newer model or alternative?

If we do, then we are looking at a considerable sum of monies (which we don't have), my guess would be nothing less than 4-5k?

Here#s hoping Sav and Dave can work a small miracle with the ECU, allowing us some breathing space to have a clear discussion at Bournemouth.

Chris

[Chris_Sav]

The problem with buying another truck is mileage and dodgy traders that may have clocked or bodge repired a vehicle, a particular risk in this category of commercial vehicle.

My feeling is that we would need one with a full service history and decent mileage, that would likely mean going to a dealer and you are then looking at £10k for anything four or five years old.

Unless anyone knows of a good van going then auction is the other option to get a cheaper £5k van, but fraught with risk. Ex police van would have a full service history.

I have no idea which trucks are likely to have a long reliable life.

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=1345726

is an interesting thread.

Sav

[Chris]

Sav has, despite being truly poorly , got the tables to Salfords Redhill. Our heartfelt thanks to him

I have discussed with Dave and Sav re the ECU and we are going to buy one, kindly sourced by Sav at £250 but this needs fitting and the costs here are far higher... cannot give an exact amount. A new one from Mercedes hit £2k

This is the last attempt to get the current van on the road.

WE NOW NEED SOME HELP FROM A PLAYER PLEASE... the tables will go back to Kent following this weekend and are then needed at Oxford for the 8th/9th |February and I assume to be delivered on the 7th and delivered back to Kent on the 9th very late !!! CAN ANYONE HELP WITH A TRUCK??????

If not we will have to hire to at least fulfill this commitment and that will be a considerable charge

We are ok after that up to Bournemouth again thanks to Sav but after that ????????????????????

Chris

Solution Focused ideas gratefully received

[Chris_Sav]

A second hand ECU has been ordered as of this morning for £300.

We have been unable to ascertain an accurate estimate for the cost of the Work Mercedes have to do, it could be as much as £700, but we are hoping for less as the ECU is identical to the one on there (except that it works )

This is not s definite fix but all the symptoms are that corrosion and water ingress have fried the ECU. We pray that there is not another wiring fault that has contributed.

After much discussion we have decided to go ahead with the repair. It would be a shame to write off the £2k spent last year and equally wrong to rush in at haste and buy a replacement unadvisedly.

It is not clear at this stage whether the truck will be ready for Oxford, so Chrissie's previous comments for a contingency plan still apply.

Chris

[barbelman]

Thank you all for your efforts to resolve the situation - fingers crossed!!

Tony

[Chris]

I know Sav and Dave will appreciate your thanks Tony.

They, especially Sav, who should have been resting today!! bless him, have done all the work here.

It is a gamble as Sav has said, we do though need a definite contingency for Oxford.

I have contacted Mark and made him aware of the situation. We will have to hire a vehicle as a back up to this event, if we cannot complete before the event.

What I would though like to say is that players have supported re donations , don't know what we raised at Surrey yet???

AGAIN Without the van there are no events beyond leagues or what you can do locally.

We will have a meeting at Bournemouth and I am now looking for solution focused answers re long term ideas to maintain/secure a van.

[Chris]

The ECU that has been ordered has not yet arrived. Dave will check how long it will take to fit and get the van going should this be the solution.

That is the latest update.

Chris

[Chris_Sav]

Checked with the supplier and he has apologised and assured me that the ECU will be posted to Reading today.

[Chris]

Really kind of you Chris

Thank you

[bigtj]

More good work Chris, thanks for all your sterling efforts.

[Chris]

Sadly the ECU has still not arrived


But hey we have a driver to pick the tables up from Kent on Friday


Our thanks go to Dave Alder who is going to get them in a hire truck


I also want to thank those that I called tonight, for trying so hard to solve the situation with the van, you know whom you are THANKYOU


We are truly hoping that the Conservative Club can store the tables following this weekends event until the van is fixed. I know that both Mark and

Ian are checking this for me Thanks guys

[Chris]

Last update before the Oxford Open.

The ECU is not available after all and we cannot find another suitable one at present. ANYONE KNOW A GOOD TRUCK BREAKERS YARD???

Dave will be hiring a van to collect the tables at £83 for the 24 hour hire + fuel for the Friday. Thank you Dave for this


Leon Beer is very kindly providing transport on the Sunday for the tables to be returned to Reading. That is truly great of you Leon and is

sponsorship in itself to the AEBBA. Thank you from us all


Sav is very kindly still going to sort the Hurst and Bournemouth hires but after that, unless we can find an ECU, we have no

truck and therefore tables cannot be delivered.


....so whilst I wanted to wait until Bournemouth, I believe we have a problem now in terms of future transport of the tables.


DEAR All we need some solutions ??? we need to be solution focussed here and I would ask for any ideas??

[joiner88]

Have you tried any of the "Find-a-part" web services?

Can you let me know  Make, Model, Year, Reg no & Part no? I will make some enquiries down here

[Chris_Sav]

I've hunted high and low

Found one in Romania but it looks pretty ribby to me, have sent the link to Brian Dawkins for comment

www.keysoftware.ro/product_info.php?products_id=1234.

see the link for details.

Found one in  Holland (akossen.nl) but they won't deliver to UK, thought about going there but its a channel crossing and 250 miles either way!

Found what we thought was one in Poland at www.auto24parts.com/pl/searchquery/A01854577/1/full/5?url=A01854577 but they don't have one.

ECU Express don't have them, nor bba-reman, nor others I have tried.

ECU Electronics www.ecuelectronics.co.uk/mercedes-290-tdi-bosch-0-281-001-303-0281001303-a-018-545-77-a01854577-msa-15-2-5cyl/

are the company we have been dealing with but they have not come up with the promised ECU, now it looks like we will need to try and get our payment back.

Spent a lot of hours hunting this so fresh pair of eyes welcome!

[Dave J]

No doubt you have been down the route of getting the ecu repaired.
ecu.co.uk/mercedes/engine-control-unit/msa-15.x---msa-25.x/mercedes-a0185457732-bosch-0281001303-102663.html

[Chris_Sav]

Feb 6, 2014 9:30:05 GMT Dave J said:

No doubt you have been down the route of getting the ecu repaired.
ecu.co.uk/mercedes/engine-control-unit/msa-15.x---msa-25.x/mercedes-a0185457732-bosch-0281001303-102663.html

Yes thanks, it came back as unrepairable through corrosion and water ingress.

Just heard the Romanian one is untested so guess not for that one. 

Anyone going to Holland, North of Hamsterjam??

[Dave J]

If they won't deliver to uk, will they allow us to have a courier to collect?

[Chris_Sav]

Investigating that at present, but his English is only a little better than my Dutch

TNT will do it but having problems with the translation

[Dave J]

I have several courier accounts. If they allow it, and you need it, I can help get it collected.

[Chris_Sav]

Guess what!! ten minutes after I had opened a PayPal dispute case, the ECU arrived at Dave's despite all the delays and me not having received the requested tracking information by yesterday's deadline.

Fingers crossed now people!

Sav

[joiner88]

Hope it's good news Friday

[Chris_Sav]

Won't be any news today as the truck is now on an island with no bridge!

Dave's just left here with the tables in rent-a-truck.