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[PhilRich]

Sat in the car at Tesco's waiting for the missus to finish her trolley dash when there was a hell of a commotion in the bays in front of me but one parking space to my left. Next second I saw a Mk1 Veccy at full throttle ramming a empty Pug 305 backwards out of the bays into the roadway right past my passenger mirror!!!! Worse, she had put nearside lock on & I was next on the menu! I was out of the car like a scalded cat, ran around to her side & whipping the door open, I lunged over her, shoved the stick into Park & yanked on the handbrake!!! PHEW!!!!
The Old girl (in her 80's) was rigid with shock & still had full throttle on when I shut the ignition off. After checking she wasn't in imminent danger of departing this Vale of Tears I took her into the store, arranged for a First Aider & a nice comfy chair from the Staff Restaurant & told the story to the Customer Service Bods, leaving my contact details for both Parties should they need them
What a lucky escape for me eh? If they hadn't been wide Disabled bays i'd have wasted my time sanding out the stone chips on my bonnet ready for painting!
It's a bit sobering though, as this sort of thing seems to happen with frightening regularity with 'Senior' drivers and Automatics! Thank God there weren't any shoppers or kiddies behind the Pug at the time , oh, & an old git with his wits about him on hand too

[hercules]

Sat in the car at Tesco's waiting for the missus to finish her trolley dash when there was a hell of a commotion in the bays in front of me but one parking space to my left. Next second I saw a Mk1 Veccy at full throttle ramming a empty Pug 305 backwards out of the bays into the roadway right past my passenger mirror!!!! Worse, she had put nearside lock on & I was next on the menu! I was out of the car like a scalded cat, ran around to her side & whipping the door open, I lunged over her, shoved the stick into Park & yanked on the handbrake!!! PHEW!!!!
The Old girl (in her 80's) was rigid with shock & still had full throttle on when I shut the ignition off. After checking she wasn't in imminent danger of departing this Vale of Tears I took her into the store, arranged for a First Aider & a nice comfy chair from the Staff Restaurant & told the story to the Customer Service Bods, leaving my contact details for both Parties should they need them
What a lucky escape for me eh? If they hadn't been wide Disabled bays i'd have wasted my time sanding out the stone chips on my bonnet ready for painting!
It's a bit sobering though, as this sort of thing seems to happen with frightening regularity with 'Senior' drivers and Automatics! Thank God there weren't any shoppers or kiddies behind the Pug at the time , oh, & an old tit with his bits in his hand hand too

[Osprey]

Blimey Phil!  You deserve a medal for bravery. 

Lord knows how it would have ended without your athletic intervention. 

[PhilRich]

Sat in the car at Tesco's waiting for the missus to finish her trolley dash when there was a hell of a commotion in the bays in front of me but one parking space to my left. Next second I saw a Mk1 Veccy at full throttle ramming a empty Pug 305 backwards out of the bays into the roadway right past my passenger mirror!!!! Worse, she had put nearside lock on & I was next on the menu! I was out of the car like a scalded cat, ran around to her side & whipping the door open, I lunged over her, shoved the stick into Park & yanked on the handbrake!!! PHEW!!!!
The Old girl (in her 80's) was rigid with shock & still had full throttle on when I shut the ignition off. After checking she wasn't in imminent danger of departing this Vale of Tears I took her into the store, arranged for a First Aider & a nice comfy chair from the Staff Restaurant & told the story to the Customer Service Bods, leaving my contact details for both Parties should they need them
What a lucky escape for me eh? If they hadn't been wide Disabled bays i'd have wasted my time sanding out the stone chips on my bonnet ready for painting!
It's a bit sobering though, as this sort of thing seems to happen with frightening regularity with 'Senior' drivers and Automatics! Thank God there weren't any shoppers or kiddies behind the Pug at the time , oh, & an old tit with his bits in his hand hand too

 

[PhilRich]

Blimey Phil!  You deserve a medal for bravery. 

Lord knows how it would have ended without your athletic intervention. 

!!!!Splutter!!!!!.....ATHLETIC!, ME? 
Desperation works wonders with your Adrenalin Gland mate, believe me, but it don't arf turn your hair grey quick!

[Andy B]

don't Plod have a term/acronym for this sort of thing ie old doddering buggers in autos?

[hercules]

id like to thimk i will always be able to drive but at the same time i would like to think that if the day came i would be able to say i cant do this anymore.the roads are too full now to allow for mistakes and sorry old peeps but use yer buss pass(at the end of the day your in no rush anymore)

[YZ250]

Well done Phil. 

My Dad's just decided to give up driving for this very reason. He said he would feel terrible if he hurt somebody. I respect his decision as he is 82.

Regards
Alan

[Nick W]

Only a couple of weeks ago I pulled a 206 off a low wall at the top of the owner's drive. The drive was steep, and she was turning hard right to park on top of the garage(well it IS hilly round here!)
 Got the usual explanation - "I don't know what happened, I've been parking here for over 30 years" or accurately - "I was confused which pedal does what, and hit the throttle instead of the brake"

I've seen enough of these; straight down the drive across the road(miraculously missing the traffic) down the neighbour's drive and park carelessly in their conservatory; to change my mind about my mother having an auto - I know I'd be rescuing her from a similar crash. At least a manual will stall in such a situation

[Del Boy]

Well done Phil, sounds like you did a good job mate 

[cem_devecioglu]

I have to admit, if I were you I would watch it like a tv

[Osprey]

!!!!Splutter!!!!!.....ATHLETIC!, ME? 
Desperation works wonders with your Adrenalin Gland mate, believe me, but it don't arf turn your hair grey quick!

Made yer arse wink, did it? 

[Auto Addict]

!!!!Splutter!!!!!.....ATHLETIC!, ME? 
Desperation works wonders with your Adrenalin Gland mate, believe me, but it don't arf turn your hair grey quick!

Made yer arse wink, did it? 

As a senior citizen, that's why I took the RoSPA advanced driving course/test, to make sure I was still up to scratch.

[jerry]

well done mate

funnily , we were talking about this very subject only yesterday. It was our youngests 8th birthday so my mum and dad came down and one of his sisters and brothers. My daughter works for a well known insurance company and she was saying about the increases in insurance and how one of he biggest factors was postcodes but also age and that once you got to 70 how the premiums shot up again. This then led to examples of bad driving we'd seen by "oldsters" such as driving around roundabouts the wrong way etc. To be fair, my dad is in his mid 70s and he admits to finding it harder these days particularly on longer journeys and, whilst still a safe driver, is increasingly loathe to put his foot down. He still does 15k a year mostly down to travelling to visit us kids who are now spread about the country but he is at least aware of his own abilities and recognizes that there is going to be a time fairly shortly when he wont be able (or indeed want) to do this sort of driving. As an aside my daughter was telling us about the many people (sorry ladies, they were mostly of the fairer sex) who phone up for quotes but couldnt answer such questions as "what make and model is your car?" or "what size engine is it". They could probably tell you the colour though, if that was any use

[jonnycool]

Well done Phil, I'll put you forward for the next Bond movie