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You may find that the UK would want to introduce some special arrangements into the new relationship with the EU to establish a special deal with Ireland for obvious reasons.

I remember the guy's face but not his name and his company. The register you linked to is useful but there are many more contracts that are simply not listed, otherwise, you only have to find the entries with bikes in their texts.

ferries from Dublin to Cherbourg, Rosslare to Roscoff, are they still running?

That register has too few listings, that contract is not in the register.

Yes, but they wouldn't have to ask the whole of the EU to come to Southend to take out the little guys.

I am worried about the 25kph cutoff. If they go on cycle tracks, their width (94cm against 70cm for bikes) will be a problem for other cyclists. If they go on the roads, their 25kph speed makes them a nuisance for cars. Either way, they can be a nuisance. If they run out of battery, how are they...

That's why I am not worried by brexit. My comments are in relation to brexit. If someone asks what I think of the tendering process, I will of course have no comment.

yes, that is the right course of action if it comes to that. The French do this all the time, it's called direct action. The EU sees the jobs as a labour 'market', a commodity to be traded. What happens to the people whose jobs have been traded?

yes, opportunities for the big guys and costs for the small guys. You know I can't be specific on this.

No, I would not be criticising the EU today if I had lost to a UK competitor because on a personal level, I like to be in the EU. I lived in France and Germany many years and can always live there again. You know very well that before you decide to take on a tender and submit your bid, you would...

your standpoint is front the distribution. If you were to spend hours and days prepping the tender document and then discover that among the competitors, there are EU companies that you have never heard of, you'd feel the chill. Trust me on this. You'd ask yourself the question: why do I and my...

huh? you may reduce the smaller kind of corruption you get from casinos and brothels around the Med but for large public work, I reckon the EU offers less vetting to outsiders. They are the ones that can offer cheap deals.

you still can't see it. If it's restricted to UK companies, I can complain to you because I know where the real push is coming from. If it goes to a Dutch dealer, there is no easy way to know who the real pushers are. I used to sell a lot of PCs to colleges until Dell wanted my customers so I do...

A new, more caring government? (not a tory government)

I disagree. The problem is the EU rules. If my council does not have to advertise to the whole of the EU, it would only bring in UK competitors. If I work with you and a guy offers a big discount on KTM, I will take it up with you and I reckon you'd have little choice other than offering me the...

I agree. They did not take the cheapest. Read my previous posts. It's the level of discount that I object to in this particular case. Assume for a moment that I work with you. Suppose I have a tender for my local council for 100 bikes to loan to the local companies (typical scheme to encourage...

They did not take the cheapest quote, they bought a better bike at a good discounted price. I object to the level of discount.

They don't even have to do the dirty work themselves. There are plenty of EU dealers out there for that.

That's because you have something special to offer whereas to the paper pushers in our town halls, a bike is a bike is a bike right? You may have much higher ethics than the average bike dealers.

The point is the EU regulations force all authorities to open their tendering to all EU and thus large, foreign competitors are favoured against smaller local businesses. A large Dutch dealer can be systematically more competitive on supply thus winning contracts and wiping the floor with me and...