Sorry officer, but I think I forgot to blow all the candles out...
There’s little to compare with the feeling of getting a new car, and for Father Antonio Rodrigues – a priest in Portugal – the feeling was, well, almost sacred. You see, he bought a new Fiesta ST, and it’s one of a kind in Portugal. That keen chassis; 148bhp; the thrills of the open road: bliss.
Like most of us around here, once he’d got the ST, he was more than keen to share his enthusiasm for the car, which was exactly when the problems started. He didn’t mind telling anyone about his love for the ST's acceleration, or his indulgence for its top speed capability, and ‘thanks to God’, the fact that speeding fines didn’t seem to come his way either. You’d think that was quite a good advert for his church in itself. As he had three churches in his parish, the ability to get between them smartish was extremely useful, and the youngsters from the local villages liked it too. Useful PR amongst the young.
However, it seems the Father has got himself into a bit of hot, and less than holy water. The Association of Auto-Mobilizados Citizens, a campaigning group in Portugal against speed, has been horrified about this quick man of the cloth and is demanding action from his superiors.
Will there be divine intervention, or is it a one-litre Peugeot 107 from now on for our dashing padre...