Paging Champ

yes - I thought that was exactly the point of the exercise! ;-)

 

Indeedy. IMHO you should be told where it is and offered the chance to
do X or spend Y, not have someone do something, then bill you.[/QUOTE]

I'd wonder if plod was getting something back from the recovery firm.
A friend of my kids stuck her car into a field and as it happens I
came along the road about 10 minutes later. No injuries, just a
damaged fence and car. So confirmed with the farmer that he was happy
for Rachel to arrange recovery of the car and when her mother arrived
I left them sorting it out via phone with the local garage around a
mile away.

In the meantime some helpful soul had passed the scene and called plod
who rocked up and basically insisted that the recovery be carried out
by their designated contractor. Since I wasn't there by this time I
was in no position to argue the point. So the standard £100ish that
Champ got stuffed with, whereas the local garage would have been about
1/2.

 

Arseholes.
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

Teach a man to fish and he and his pikey mates will have the
river cleaned out in a day.

 

<gulp>

So the guilty party is narrowed down to a choice of two.

 

<dives in, too>

On the hill I live on, it happens semi-regularly. Not so much because of
the cables snapping, but because of brake disks cooling, shrinking and
the handbrake failing to hold.

Fences and walls have been demolished, several cars have ended up upside-
down in one sunken garden, even a porch support's been taken out. Not to
mention gawd knows how many bent panels and broken lights.

 

A few years ago I had a similar moment with a transit I'd hired to do
a house move. I parked it up in the parking area outside my flat, got
out, locked the door, and walked away. Seeing movement out of the
corner of my eye, I turned round to see the transit rolling backwards
towards a row of parked cars and realised I'd forgotten to put the
handbrake on.

Never before have I moved so fast. With a matter of seconds to spare I
managed to unlock the door, leap in and stamp on the footbrake before
it started to get expensive. Oops.

I really do have a memory like a sieve.

 

*ding*

My car crunched my mates garage door because of that. It was one of those
very rare occassions that I didn't leave it in gear.

 

OTOH at Chimay this year, I showed someone how the parking brake on the Ural
worked. I usually never use it, so I forgot that it was applied when I
departed on the Monday morning. I managed about 30 miles before I realised,
by which time the rear hub had changed from green to brownish-green.

 

Dan White says...

Beelzebub lives on a steep hill. I was visiting her one weekend and
parked the Golf behind a Vitara facing down the hill, I didn't leave the
Golf in gear. When we were going out the next morning I noticed the
Vitara had slipped its handbrake and moved a couple of feet up the hill
and into the front of my Golf. I did think about remonstrating with the
Vitara's owner, but as no damage was done to either vehicle I didn't
bother.

--
Lozzo
Triumph Daytona 955i SE
Suzuki SV650 K3
Honda CBR600 F-W
Yamaha SR250 SpazzTrakka
Suzuki GSX-R750L

 

Up?
Spooky.

 

Grimly Curmudgeon says...

Think about it. I'm not going to adnmit it was my fault, am I?

--
Lozzo
Triumph Daytona 955i SE
Suzuki SV650 K3
Honda CBR600 F-W
Yamaha SR250 SpazzTrakka
Suzuki GSX-R750L

 

I think, just think, I can hear a whooshing sound.

 

at least you didn't do a Brian Harvey.

 

I almost caused a major incident with a Renault 19 and a chinese take
away some years back.

Take away is in a row of shops with parking opposite side of forecourt.
Pulled in to parking space (luckily on full left lock), went into
takeaway and ordered food. Sat there waiting, engrossed in
complimentary copy of Sun and notice black Renault 19 "parked"
parallell to plate glass window.

Thank **** I never straightened the wheels up, otherwise it would have
been rather more interesting.

Actually, did it again with the Jag S Type at daughters school. Came
back from parents evening to find jag where I left it, but with note
under wipers and bricks under front wheels. So, no handbrake and not
left in "park" either. I shouldn't really be allowed out.

 

My 70s Moto Guzzi key does something similar. Except the central locking
remote bit.

 

Me and my regular mate Mick [1] towed an old Morris 1000 van with an
equally old Morris Traveller from Stourbridge to Aberystwyth - 100 miles
on a rope [2]. We stopped for a bite to eat, parked on a hill and came
back to find the van a bit further away with a tight rope rather than the
inches and loose rope it had been.


[1] He appears in that photo of me on the front of the VOR steam engine.
[2] Hilarious.

 

Saabs are great.