Welsh consumer magazine. Omar gets a taste of a vegan lifestyle - and gets some nutritional advice. Rachel investigates a mobility company which failed to deliver the goods.
Omar Hamdi gets a taste of a vegan lifestyle - and gets some nutritional advice. Rachel Treadaway-Williams investigates a mobility company which failed to deliver the goods to an elderly man in Abergavenny. And external wall Insulation is supposed to cut your energy bills and keep your house warm. Lucy Owen meets two homeowners who say their Carmarthenshire home is now leaking and damp after insulation was installed.
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Keyless car thefts
We鈥檝e been investigating keyless car thefts and we have some advice to help you keep your car safe.
Car thefts in UK went up by 56% last year and driven partly by a rise in thefts of keyless cars.
To steal keyless cars thieves use special equipment to clone the signals coming from the owners fob, which allows them to get into the car and to drive it away.
There has been a spate of thefts from cars at hospitals in Swansea and Bridgend. Nine keyless聽 cars have been stolen from three hospitals in just six months. Seven of 聽the cars have been Ford Fiestas using a keyless fob systems.
We contacted Ford to see what they are doing to tackle these thefts. They said that they are continuously investing in technology to deter thefts, including alarms, and immobilisers. But they blame the increasing availability of cloning devices online.
So how do you prevent your keyless car from being stolen?
Tim Shallcross from IAM Roadsmart gave the following advice:
路 Make sure your car鈥檚 software is up to date. See the manual for how to do this;
路 Keep your fob in a metal tin or 鈥淔araday pouch鈥澛 to stop it emitting signals;
路 Get some traditional car security gadgets 鈥 like steering wheel lock .
External wall insulation
Two women from Carmarthenshire thought they had found the solution to the damp in their home, but their hopes of a dry house have evaporated.
Linda O'Connell and Lou Griffiths hired Celtic Rendering Systems, based in Llanelli, to fit external wall insulation or EWI to their home. This involves fixing polystyrene insulation boards to the outside of properties.聽
They say Celtic Rendering Systems assured them that EWI would stop water getting into their home, which had a history of problems with damp. However the manufacturer of the EWI - and the body who test building products, the British Board of Agrement 鈥 both say this form of insulation should not be applied to houses with existing damp or leaks.
The whole job, including new windows, was going to cost around thirty thousand pounds, but ten thousand of that would be covered by a grant.
But soon after the EWI was installed, their dream of a dry home turned into a nightmare 鈥 with water leaking into their bedroom and the porch. In the living room they have to use plastic sheeting to funnel rainwater into a bucket.
The company did return to carry out remedial works and re-rendered the whole property, but Linda and Lou say the leaks are still present. They now face a hefty bill to put things right.
Celtic Rendering Systems told us that they've installed EWI in more than 1500 properties in the last decade, with very few issues.
They say they were told about the history of 'water ingress' in this property but when they inspected the walls, they were 'dry and sound'. They deny going against the British Board of Agrement installation guidelines.聽
The company also say they never promised EWI would fully waterproof the house, just the external walls. 聽They insist the leaks are caused by holes in the roof. However, experts who've looked at the roof since then have disputed this.
Celtic Rendering systems say they apologise if the property owners feel they've received a poor service. They've offered to look at the property again, but Linda and Lou have refused, as they say they've lost faith.
Credits
Role | Contributor |
---|---|
Presenter | Lucy Owen |
Presenter | Omar Hamdi |
Reporter | Rachel Treadaway-Williams |
Series Producer | Joanne Dunscombe |