Every Wednesday Michael McAleer deals with readers' motoring problems.
From Colm Mackey:
What's the best possible way of scrapping a car? Do scrap merchants still accept old cars? If so, is there anywhere that I can get a list of places? I live in Booterstown, Co Dublin.
Dublin City Council runs a free service whereby owners simply contact the Abandoned Vehicles Division which then send out a form to the owners. This is returned along with the log book and within two days the vehicle is collected and scrapped.
Unfortunately Booterstown is in the Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown Council area, where €50 is charged for taking away cars for scrappage. Still it's a very useful system of getting rid of old cars and prevents the countryside being littered with rusting wrecks.
Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown uses an outside contractor to take cars away so there is no guarantee as to how many days it would take but it's unlikely to be very long.
For others, however, scrappage schemes remain rather an aspiration and some local authorities have been slow to put into place systems to dispose of scrapped or abandoned cars. Readers should contact their local authorities to ensure such a system exists.
From Anthony Toher:
What's the relationship between BAR and lb/sq inch for tyre pressure? It's a nuisance as all my gauges are in pounds.
To give you the mathematical relationship, one bar = 14.5 lb/sq inch, or PSi as it's more commonly known.
According to the expert knowledge of Ray Connolly, technical services engineer with Bridgestone Ireland, both systems are pretty common in measuring tyre pressure, with BAR more commonly used on the continent and in the US, while in Ireland and Britain PSi is more prevalent.
The most common pressure reading for car tyres is about 28 PSI. In the end they are just two of a number of systems that effectively measure the same thing. We agree its a nuisance, but perhaps PSi gives a more accurate reading, so maybe you should stay with what you know.
From Sandra Maguire:
We own a Mondeo and regularly go for weekend trips around the country. We take our large collie with us but there's many places where we can't bring her in. What's the best way to leave a dog in a car and how long should it be left?
There are no hard and fast rules on the length of time a dog can be left in a car, according to Ciaran O'Donovan, a director of the ISPCA. It very much depends on the temperatures at the time.
In summer time, it's best not to leave a dog in a car for longer than a few minutes. However, at colder times of the year, dogs can be left, provided there is adequate ventilation - that means having more than a small opening in one window.
Dogs also need water, so an idea would be to leave a small bowl of water in the car. You should always bring adequate food with you. And, remember, on a trip take regular stops to let both dog and owner stretch their legs.
Finally, be aware of your parking location. If you park on a busy street the chances are that passing pedestrians, and indeed other dogs, will only get your dog excited and he/she may injure themselves.