The Good Samatitan!

Summer 1987: The Family in Distress. The Background: I had dropped Mary (wife) and Ian (my son) off at the farm (in laws place), and had just set off to drive to Heighington (home, 20 miles away), when I was involved in serious accident in my Cortina. In trying to get out of the way of a skidding new Datsun, I was hit hard on the drivers side and both offside doors and the rear quarter were very seriously damaged. The doors were jammed shut. Incidentally, after I had extricated myself (the car was pushed completely off the road by the impact) the other young driver (who incidentally had just borrowed his father in laws two week old car) first words to me were “Its your fault, you were in my way”! How I controlled myself I don’t know, but since his skid marks were 165 feet long (measured by a policeman), and the car behind me witnessed everything, the result was judged to be not my fault at all. The road conditions were damp, and the silly young fool was going far too fast for the conditions, and he locked his brakes when he saw me, and never took his foot off the pedal until after he had hit me. All he had to do was release the brakes for a second and he would have been able to steer his car away from me! Oh for ABS in 1987! Incidentally, the woman following me was also in a Cortina, and she says she said to herself “What a nice condition that Cortina is in, much better than mine”, and then I saw it destroyed before my eyes! Incidentally, the impact was extremely hard, his car burying itself deeper into mine as it went down the side (its not a nice experience), and it bent the back wheel, and I found out later it had actually bent the half shaft and the back axle casing as well! After all the usual statements, etc, I drove it back to the farm to change the wheel, and then drove to Heighington. The Co-incidence: The next day I was due in Wales, where the day after I was expected to be on the top of Snowdon with my microwave radio gear, and there were lots of radio hams all over the country expecting signals from me. But would the car make it? I decided to give it a go, but it wasn’t easy getting into the drivers seat from the passenger side, the gearbox tunnel making life very difficult! I packed the car with all my radio gear (rucksack weighed 55lbs) and set off, and lots or test and repair gear if things broke or failed. All went well until just after Chester, when I slowly became aware of a rhythmic zing zing sound from the back axle as it turned every revolution, and I decided to stop at the next available pull-off to investigate, which I did. Having jacked up the back wheel and spun it, I reluctantly concluded, yes the damn thing really was bent, so packed everything away and sat in the passenger seat considering what to do next. Naturally being youngish) and skint, I wasn't in any of the national rescue services! While I was doing this, I became aware of the car in front of me. I hadn’t really been noticing what was going on there when I was inspecting the back axle, but what I saw now was a family of two adults and a very young child, who were taking all the contents out of their car and distributing them around the car, and then going through every box and contents in great detail and consternation. The kid was crying and becoming progressively more upset with all this. Naturally, I wondered what the hell was going on? After a while, unable to contain myself any longer, I got out and walked across. “You couldn’t hot-wire this car could you please?” said the man. To which I replied “Yes, very easily, I have all the equipment I need with me! But why?” Well, said the man, we’ve just stopped for a “jimmy riddle” and somehow we’ve lost the car keys in the process, and thats why we’ve taken the car apart trying to find them! So I did the deed. It was easy. It only took a couple of minutes. I had everything I needed, including a couple of wires with crockodile clips on the ends (just like the professional thieves), which I gave to them. They were ever so grateful! So, what's the chances of that? Being just in the right place, at the right time, again! Additional: Incidentally, the “pain” I was being subjected to was not over for this weekend! After this incident, I remember just turning the radio up and ignoring the graunching back axle, and I did get to Snowdon, camp, and get up Snowdon the next day, on the train! Had a great day playing radio, and had so much success that I was UK champion that year. But, I got so engrossed playing radio, at about 4.15pm I went to the railway station and asked when the next train was departing and got the answer, “It went ten minutes ago. You can just see it, can't you, and it’s the last one, can you see it there in the distance?”!! Damn, to put it politely, and I had no walking boots, and its about ten miles (down) with a 55lb pack, and walking down puts a real strain on all sorts of muscles you didn’t know you had. It was a wonderful clear day though. About three hours later, I staggered to the car, drove to the campsite, and went to sleep. Christ, next morning I could hardly move. And I had to leave early to get back to Lincoln. Any movement was agony. Getting out of the campsite was mind blowing. First get into the car, passenger side, over the tunnel (serious pain), drive 50 yards to the gate, get out over the tunnel (christ, the pain), open the gate, walk back, get in (oh hell), drive through the gate, get out (aargh!), close the gate, get in (aaaargh), and drive off! When I got to Lincoln, I drove straight to the Police HQ to present my documents (producer), and after I’d staggered up to the desk, the police officer spent some time commiserating with me, saying it must have been quite some accident if it had this effect on me! I actually did put him right, and I could barely walk for days!