Crash , bang , wallop

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I came close to being rear ended yesterday ; It would have been just typical as I had just bought a little Polo as a run-around since my two Mercs are currently off the road ( the SL needs a few jobs doing before going back on the road for the summer , and I was waiting for the better weather before starting , and my 190 developed a problem with the diff , and has been in bits on the drive for about three weeks now since weather prevented work progressing any further ) .

Anyway , I had been out in my little car , which I'd had all of three days , and returning home , my house is on the left with an unsighted side road immediately before it . I was second in a line of cars , behind a red Audi , who signalled left to turn into the road just before my house , and since I was going to pull in just beyond the junction , I had slowed down as well .

Just as Mr Audi started to turn into the side road , he was confronted by a huge lorry coming out of the junction , taking up most of the width of the road , and he stopped dead . I stood on my brakes and stopped without hitting him , and the gentleman behind me managed to stop without hitting me . Unfortunately , the three or four vehicles behind weren't so lucky and there was a pile up . The chap behind me was rear ended by the car behind , which was shunted into him by a Renault , and it in turn had its back end well caved in by the Mitsubishi L200 that was following .

Since I was 30 ft from my parking space , I parked my car and went back to help . The old chap who had managed to stop without hitting me was out of his car and clearly in shock , shaking all over , he asked me to get his walking stick , which I did . I then offered to move his car onto the pavement in front of my house , out of the way of traffic , which he accepted .

Mr Audi , who hadn't hit anything nor been hit , drove off , as did the black car which had rear ended the old chap ( something not right , no insurance , licence , MOT ?? - hence fled the scene ! ) .

As luck would have it , a police van came along a couple of minutes later and the two cops started taking details . We asked the old chap , who was 89 , if he'd like an ambulance as he seemed to be badly in shock , but he was having none of it , but ended coming into my house for a cup of tea . After giving my details and an account of what happened to the WPC , I went into the house to see how the old gentleman was , and left the rest to sort themselves out .

The old chap was most concerned that he was late for visiting his wife in hospital , where his daughter was due to meet him , but despite trying repeatedly to phone the daughter , we couldn't reach her , nor by phoning the hospital and being put through to the ward , where the nurses told us the daughter wasn't there . It turned out he was ex-army and punctuality was everything to him .

In the end , I drove the old gent down to the hospital , and went in to look for the daughter . She wasn't there , but the nurses had a mobile contact , which wasn't the number the old chap had given us . It turned out she had gone looking for her dad and was at his home , so we kept him there until she arrived , at which point I left , telling the daughter her dad's car was at my house , safely parked up and that , if she wanted , I'd drive it back to his house once they were finished visiting - which is what we did .

Of course , some of the drivers in the crash were blaming the Audi for stopping suddenly in the road , but as I commented to the police , he couldn't have done anything else as he met the lorry in the mouth of the junction , and the fault was that of those who weren't able to stop safely when the cars in front stopped - with which they agreed .

I had intended working on the 190 that afternoon , but got nothing done at all ...
 
The incident reminded me of a time very many years ago when I was driving round the Guildford bypass. The Rover in front of me suddenly braked for no apparent reason so I braked fairly heavily, but not sharply, to a stop behind him. The mini behind me also stopped but then there was a loud bang followed by a thump into the back of my Austin A60 (I told you it was a long time ago).

As I got out of my car to see what had happened the Rover drove off, apparently oblivious to what had happened behind. When I walked round and saw the mini completely crumpled at the front I was hesitant to look at the damage to my car, but it turned out to be just a slight dent in the bumper - tough old things those big Austins. The mini’s doors and frame were so bent the driver could get our; he actually just sat there calmly reading his newspaper!

Then the driver of the Triumph 1300 who had rammed into the back of the mini, pushing it into my car, came round and started ranting at me for having stopped sharply without reason. Of course by then there was nothing in front of me to show why I’d stopped. As I tried to explain, with him not accepting a word of it, another guy walked over to join in. He was the Rover driver who was alerted to the incident by his daughter and had turned round and come back to see if anyone needed any help.

After explaining why he’d stopped in the first place (a dog ran into the road) the Triumph driver realised he was having a go at me unnecessarily. When I then asked him why he didn’t stop soon enough, he replied “You know how it is when you’re at the back of a line of cars, you have less time to stop.” He just walked off in a huff to inspect the damage to his car when I said “Yes, I know. That’s why it’s a good idea to increase the gap the further back you are.”

The Rover driver and I then set about kicking and pulling at the Mini door to get the driver out. He was so laid back about the whole thing I was surprised he hadn’t fallen asleep. He even apologised to me for denting the bumper on my already beaten up Austin. I wasn’t bothered by the extra dent. We stayed until the breakdown truck arrived (having been called from a nearby telephone box) then went on our way. I didn’t hear anymore about it.
 
When I was 'rear ended' (oooh vicar) on the M1 - thats another story. The driver of the Artic that pushed the small van under the rear of my car causing all three to catch fire, exclaimed to the traffic Police (shows you how long ago that was) "Everybody just stopped" The Policeman replied "Not everybody, just stopped, did they Sir?"
 
The incident reminded me of a time very many years ago when I was driving round the Guildford bypass. The Rover in front of me suddenly braked for no apparent reason so I braked fairly heavily, but not sharply, to a stop behind him. The mini behind me also stopped but then there was a loud bang followed by a thump into the back of my Austin A60 (I told you it was a long time ago).

As I got out of my car to see what had happened the Rover drove off, apparently oblivious to what had happened behind. When I walked round and saw the mini completely crumpled at the front I was hesitant to look at the damage to my car, but it turned out to be just a slight dent in the bumper - tough old things those big Austins...

Due to their sturdy construction, the A60 / Farina range was the backbone of banger racing in the 70s and 80s and they remain a big favourite to this day at classic banger events:

DSCN4826.jpg
 
Due to their sturdy construction, the A60 / Farina range was the backbone of banger racing in the 70s and 80s and they remain a big favourite to this day at classic banger events:

DSCN4826.jpg
Mine was slightly less battered, and definitely not pink!
 
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