Why even go that far, it's a National Health Service so why should anyone get preferential treatment :confused:

Going very slightly off topic but if you can get a discount at Halfords then their Professional range should not be sniffed at :) These tools come with a life time guarantee which is 'No Quibble' just keep the receipt. There are not the cheapest tools sold by Halfords but they are cheaper than similar quality items..

Would Halfords offer that discount on top of the regular discounts we see for this range of tools?

If you service your own car or bike or need tools etc then the Halfords Trade card is definitely worth it (it's free after all). My last 5l of engine oil should have been ~£30 but cost me ~£23. The discounts are even better on windscreen wipers, bulbs etc. Card doesn't work on sale items though.

It seems like it's up to the store manager at the time to decide if they should hand one out. As I do all my own bike & car servicing plus I have spannered a little for some friends who race bikes, he was more than happy to give one to me. If anyone has any difficulty, simply go to another branch and try there.

@glojo...outside of sales, the discount card works on Professional range tools. All mine are Professional range. :ok:

I fundamentally disagree with you there. Anyone who joined prior to about 1994 will have joined up with the right to use Military Hospitals for the remainder of their life. When they were done away with, that right should have been perpetuated in the replacement arrangements. It was not, and that is wrong. If that means priority in the NHS, then that would be appropriate.

Not that it affects me now, as I am an ex-pat, but that very issue continues to grate.

Glojo, I don't think it does, and you do not know what the discount will be until you pay.

There is a list of discount amounts here that has been compiled


Halfords Trade Card - MoneySavingExpert.com Forums

And as said, remember as a Serviceman you can get this Discount card if you ermm qualify

Roadster, totally agree with what you say about the Hospitals, it was one of the perks of the job, a bit like having private medical care, and they allowed you some beers on the ward, subject to drugs etc

I seem to be sitting somewhere between SFFP & Roadster here. In principle SFFP I suppose you are right, but I was thinking not so much about someone like me who has the usual aircrew back problems and high tone deafness that I can get along with, but more the poor sod who has come back from Afghanistan minus a few limbs and maybe some other bits. Once he's a civilian I still think he deserves a bit of preferential treatment, but maybe that's an emotional rather than a rational point of view.

Didn't know that about military hospitals Roadster, but as I never lived within 100 miles of one it would have been academic in my case.

All very well until you find that the receipt was a till slip which has faded to a blank sheet! I bought my son a so-called "Professional" tool kit for his 18th birthday. The first time we used a "Torx" adapter to undo a brake caliper bolt, the adapter snapped clean in half. Also, the chrome is peeling off the spanners, making them unusable (unless you like razor sharp shards of chrome plating embedded in your hands). Total junk! The branch where I bought them refused to exchange or refund for the damaged items because their own till slip receipt wasn't readable due to it fading. The manageress accused me of "trying it on" and that she suggested I might have bought the tools at a car boot sale, cheeky bint!

Needless to say I now only use Halfrauds very much as a last resort. Items such as oils and filters are usually obtainable cheaper at my local motor factor. Also, Halfords staff level of technical knowledge is very poor. I asked for some half inch heater hose and was told they hadn't got any. I pointed to a box of the stuff behind on the shelf and was told it was the wrong size. It was 12.7 mm.... derr! :ugh:

Terrible thread drift but.. from personal experience I had to put the other view to that, sorry. :*

I fully understand your frustration and yet I personally know someone that used an extension bar as a drift, damaged the end of it with a hammer and the cheeky devil took it back to his local Halfords who exchanged it on the spot!! No receipt, no proof of purchase just a straight swap, damaged old item for the exact same new one.

Listening to what you are saying it might pay us folks to scan the original receipt and keep the file in a safe place (not the toolbox with the other files!):sad:

TTN

....no military hospital within 100 miles?

If, as your name suggests, you were at Marham, then RAF Hospital Ely was just down the road

more drifting thread alert - if you read the small print on the Halfrauds pro tool warranty you'll see it excludes 'moving items' so when the ratchet fails - no replace/refund I'm afraid - that said, I still bought some in the last sale as they were a great price when heavily discounted.

Going back to ex service personnel having preference over any other citizen of this country, I find it totally and utterly WRONG... Service personnel that get injured on duty and are forced to retire will already be in the system and surely no precedence is required as they are already receiving the best of treatment available?

Once those injuries have been dealt with, then in ten years time should they jump the queue if they might need further surgery? Whose place will they take, the young school child that may have been struck by a hit and run driver? What about a school crossing lady that gets mown down or someone needing a life saving transplant?

We can all get very emotional and cite our brave service personnel that are getting seriously injured in areas of conflict but what about someone that has never seen any conflict and whilst on leave gets drunk, steps in front of a vehicle and is so seriously injured the are medically discharged. They are ex service and are we seriously suggesting they should jump any queue of civilians who may have far more serious injuries?

Why not let those best qualified deal with each patient on purely medical grounds and prioritise on greatest need, be they black, white, pink, green, bent straight, ex military or perish the thought our old age pensioners!!:mad::\

Indeed it was, and in fast my oldest son was born there (it's now a private hospital, I believe)

I meant after I came out and moved to the wilds of West Cornwall!

Would that then not have put you in range of Wroughton or Halton?

"
Originally Posted by Tankertrashnav

Other than those ex-servicemen and women who have a medical condition as a result of military service I do not see that we should have any sort of priority for medical services over those who have never served.

Why even go that far, it's a National Health Service so why should anyone get preferential treatment "

To be fair SFFP. TTN does have a valid point here, and, whilst the NHS is here for everybody, those who have incurred physical / mental injuries as a direct result of serving should, at the very least, be looked after once they leave.

Those who seem to make the most noise about benefits ( various) however would also seem to be those who have not quite ( and possibly never will) been able to make the transition to Mr and probably also use their previous rank in civilian life when ever possible.

The NHS generally prioritises treatment based on need. One of the issues that the Military Covenant has tried to tackle has been the bureaucracy and list-sliding that occurs when SP and their families move into another Health Authority jurisdiction. This is generally not a problem for personnel who are still serving (we are effectively treated as private patients) but it can be an isue for dependents that are already on a waiting list with a chronic or acute condition.

I suspect the average PPruner (serving or 'ex') are able to put up a robust argument to a Health Authority when this happens; however think of your young squaddie's family with his 'partner' and snotty nosed brats - little formal education (typically), little understanding of the System and hubby away for extended periods...this is where assistance is required to receiove proper NHS treatment.

Wuh:
Indeed, and isn't that where Commanding Officers should step into the limelight to...uh, command?

You weren't a Nav, by any chance? :E

I wondered that as well :D:D:D:D:D

Halfrauds..?

Halfords voted the worst for customer service in Which? High Street survey | This is Money

Yes, perhaps they should - but often the COs aren't aware of these problems - for a myriad of reasons. The Army Welfare Servioce are typically tasked to deal with these problems, but that assistance generally falls to SSAFA or regimental association welfare officers when SP leave the Service. The SP may get the care, but it's the families that often suffer - when, for family reasons, young soldiers (typically mid 20s when they leave) are drawn back to the areas they were recuited from - where there are major problems with social provision. Again, as said before, we run the risk of developing a 'victim' culture within the Services in the UK (especially the Army) where Service leavers are viewed as 'damaged goods' but also expect to receive greater levels of assitance from the general population (access to social housing, NHS care - for non Service illnesses/injuries - job centre priorities etc etc).