Christmas gift from a stranger

[Satch]

Who left the car park without wishing to be thanked.

From the expanse of broken lens plastic and glass left behind pretty clear that damage to their vehicle was substantial. Behind the user friendly plastic bumper on a Land Cruiser lurks a BFO transverse steel girder arrangement which is bolted directly onto the ladder chassis.

I have polished out the paint marks and levered things back into place.

The headlamp units have plastic protective covers on and that saved the cost of a new unit, which are not cheap. The cracked bumper is probably amenable to a small area repair but the headlamp wash unit had been destroyed, which was a swine as the remains of the unit still attached to pipe fell down behind the bumper & siphoned all the washer fluid out.

So many thanks for your gift, whoever you are. May your left ear wither and fall into your right pocket.

 

[Dieselman]

You should have let the Police have a look before polishing the paint off.

Any chance of witnesses or CCTV?

 

[jamesfuller]

That was nice of them. It doesn't help you to fix your Cruiser but its nice to know their car came off much worse!

 

[IanA2]

Deeply annoying. As DM says, check around for CCTV. There are so many cameras about these days.

 

[Palfrem]

My LC feels your pain.

 

[Satch]

Not doing too well here.

Late yesterday afternoon driving along a country road, sun shining, all well.

And then the upper parts of a tree which had broken off in the storm finally gets around to obeying the law of gravity.

With perfect timing it lands on the road directly in front of me. Not a hope of avoiding it, if fact by the time I hit had only just got near the brakes and only just started uttering the traditional words.

So I drove over and through it at about 50mph. Not pleasant, because although the Land Cruiser rode over the main branches (which were about 3inches max, happily) without a huge drama, a lot of smaller stuff lashed the windscreen, bodywork and mirror housings.

Came to a halt, got out and only then became aware of the chaos behind me.

A blue Mondeo had been some distance behind me yet had managed to not only to hit the tree wreckage but end up off the road as well. It had not fared well, quite knocked about at the front, windscreen cracked, leaking coolant and the rather elderly driver & passenger both looked a bit grey. In fact rather like they had just ploughed into the remains of a tree which some bloke in a Land Cruiser had just driven through.

So that was another couple of hours of my life wasted but happily for me at least, after crawling around this morning underneath removing twiggy bits the only lasting damage is cosmetic and on the other side of the already cracked bumper.

Life, eh?

 

[brucemillar]

Some say these thing happen in three's. Stay in bed..

Glad you are OK from your last two incidents.

 

[IanA2]

Some say these thing happen in three's. Stay in bed..

Glad you are OK from your last two incidents.

Exactly what I was thinking.

 

[kalvin928]

totally sympathy for you... even more reason I am now preparing to get dash camera for my cars... had a couple near misses on the road over last month and decided sooner than later

 

[frglwer]

totally sympathy for you... even more reason I am now preparing to get dash camera for my cars... had a couple near misses on the road over last month and decided sooner than later

Where can i get one of those?

 

[robertall]

FYI, im not liking the incident, but good grammer and the articulate way of how it is written "obeying laws of gravity" etc.

I had 2 incidents in 3 days once in my pug. A car changed lines on a piece of dual carriageway when there wasn't the room, and then slammed on brakes a split second later, i couldn't stop, but i only tapped her. The other way was in a WIDE LANE, big enough for 2 lorries to pass, woman coming towards in the MIDDLE of the road, my left mirror touches the hedge, and gets pushed in, my right mirror slams into hers and i lose my mirror cover, but i looked into the middle mirror to see that her mirror was completely destroyed. Brand new Hyundai too (i30, maybe).

Its annoying when these kinda things happen. But the tree? Unpredictable to say the least!

 

[Giantvanman]

totally sympathy for you... even more reason I am now preparing to get dash camera for my cars... had a couple near misses on the road over last month and decided sooner than later

I have been trying to research the best value (not the same as cheapest, you understand) and find it is quite confusing.

Have you any particular make/model that you are leaning towards?

 

[jamesfuller]

I have been thinking about a dash cam after recent events (and watching certain Russian videos)
This may be of help.
PoliceWitness.com: Which in-car camera or dash cam?

 

[l5foye]

Do not rush to buy off the Policewitness site. I have just seen a camera on their site at £139.95 which is available elsewhere at £79.95 - a staggering £60 cheaper !

 

[Mr E]

Have to admit, after recent events it's something I'm thinking about for myself and Mrs E's motor too.