Back in the the day, your tap dripped, you replaced the washer, job done. Now the tap drips, I spend ages searching online for a compatible ceramic tap valve cartridge, eventually give up as it impossible to source one, and resign myself to replacing the taps. This is a job that is a bit too much of a stretch for my diy skills, so will have to get someone in to do it.
The taps in question are about 4 years old, so fairly new. It seems so wasteful to have to replace a pair of taps because of a drip. Suppliers (in this case B&Q Cooke and Lewis) should be required to stock spares for a minimum number of years to stop this, or even better, how about a few standard valves? This is the second time I've been stung with this bathroom suite, the toilet valve was really difficult to get hold of (and of course not available in B&Q) but I've stocked up with these.