Best Karma witnessed?
Discussion
Stick Legs said:
AmyRichardson said:
In the best of PH tradition there'll be someone along to tell you something how "using all the available road space makes more sense than merging early" (or some similar nonsense...)
Except it isn’t just ‘some bloke on PH’ it’s in the highway code & advocated by all research into traffic management.By all means pull in early if you like, just don’t get cross if others don’t. I’ll take my chances at not being able to get off the M20 or whatever in that unlikely event.
A good few years back when I was a traffic Sgt I got called to attend a community/NHW type meeting in a sleepy fairly well to do residential area
Seemingly one local councillor was being a right pain and kicking off to all and sundry about people using one of the roads in the area as a rat run/race track
MP’s/Chief Con etc etc and slagging off the old bill for not doing anything about it
So muggings here was sent along to represent the constabulary’s finest ( and take the flack ) alongside the neighbourhood team
To cut a long story short (ish) he was a right obnoxious t
t slagging everyone including me off and demanding rapid robust action
So I agreed we’d do some silent checks and see if there was indeed an issue and suitable for enforcement .. did make the caveat that due to the nature of the area, and previous experience it was most likely local residents not outsiders
Told by gobste and others that absolutely it wasn’t locals and they didn’t speed
Ok then .. silent checks showed a slight issue just within the parameters for some enforcement
I know you can guess what’s coming
We rocked up one day unnanoinced and started checking cars in the 30mph zone and Lo and behold a car comes flying up the road, clocked in the 50’s iirc
It was stopped by a traffic cop and the driver invited to view the readout on the speed gun
Well Chappy wasn’t happy at all and began ranting so I got called over and yep it was our friend from the meeting
He said we shouldn’t be doing locals etc etc
Anyhow he got a straight summons to court due to the speed being way above our ticket threshold
One very angry unhappy bunny went on his way awaiting a date with the magistrates
Fast forward to court, and it turns out he already had a number of points on his licence and not only did he get a hefty fine but also a period of disqualification for his efforts
As an aside it transpired quite a few of those in the meeting also got stopped and processed/ticketed for various offences and not one of the detected offences was from someone not local
We never got another request to do enforcement at that location oddly enough and I do wonder whether he got himself reelected
Seemingly one local councillor was being a right pain and kicking off to all and sundry about people using one of the roads in the area as a rat run/race track
MP’s/Chief Con etc etc and slagging off the old bill for not doing anything about it
So muggings here was sent along to represent the constabulary’s finest ( and take the flack ) alongside the neighbourhood team
To cut a long story short (ish) he was a right obnoxious t
t slagging everyone including me off and demanding rapid robust action So I agreed we’d do some silent checks and see if there was indeed an issue and suitable for enforcement .. did make the caveat that due to the nature of the area, and previous experience it was most likely local residents not outsiders
Told by gobs
te and others that absolutely it wasn’t locals and they didn’t speed Ok then .. silent checks showed a slight issue just within the parameters for some enforcement
I know you can guess what’s coming
We rocked up one day unnanoinced and started checking cars in the 30mph zone and Lo and behold a car comes flying up the road, clocked in the 50’s iirc
It was stopped by a traffic cop and the driver invited to view the readout on the speed gun
Well Chappy wasn’t happy at all and began ranting so I got called over and yep it was our friend from the meeting
He said we shouldn’t be doing locals etc etc
Anyhow he got a straight summons to court due to the speed being way above our ticket threshold
One very angry unhappy bunny went on his way awaiting a date with the magistrates
Fast forward to court, and it turns out he already had a number of points on his licence and not only did he get a hefty fine but also a period of disqualification for his efforts
As an aside it transpired quite a few of those in the meeting also got stopped and processed/ticketed for various offences and not one of the detected offences was from someone not local
We never got another request to do enforcement at that location oddly enough and I do wonder whether he got himself reelected
Watched a group of young lads empty their lunch cartons, drink bottles through the windows of the car they were sat in at Leicester Forest Services, they were having a right laugh about the litter all over the surrounding area, they only stopped laughing when the unmarked police car driver got out of his car, ordered them all out, made them collect every scrap of litter and walk to the bins to deposit their rubbish, driver got a right bking as well. Made me so happy to see karma served.
king as well. Made me so happy to see karma served.
8IKERDAVE said:
Stick Legs said:
AmyRichardson said:
In the best of PH tradition there'll be someone along to tell you something how "using all the available road space makes more sense than merging early" (or some similar nonsense...)
Except it isn’t just ‘some bloke on PH’ it’s in the highway code & advocated by all research into traffic management.By all means pull in early if you like, just don’t get cross if others don’t. I’ll take my chances at not being able to get off the M20 or whatever in that unlikely event.
Earthdweller said:
A good few years back when I was a traffic Sgt I got called to attend a community/NHW type meeting in a sleepy fairly well to do residential area
Seemingly one local councillor was being a right pain and kicking off to all and sundry about people using one of the roads in the area as a rat run/race track
MP’s/Chief Con etc etc and slagging off the old bill for not doing anything about it
So muggings here was sent along to represent the constabulary’s finest ( and take the flack ) alongside the neighbourhood team
To cut a long story short (ish) he was a right obnoxious tt slagging everyone including me off and demanding rapid robust action
So I agreed we’d do some silent checks and see if there was indeed an issue and suitable for enforcement .. did make the caveat that due to the nature of the area, and previous experience it was most likely local residents not outsiders
Told by gobste and others that absolutely it wasn’t locals and they didn’t speed
Ok then .. silent checks showed a slight issue just within the parameters for some enforcement
I know you can guess what’s coming
We rocked up one day unnanoinced and started checking cars in the 30mph zone and Lo and behold a car comes flying up the road, clocked in the 50’s iirc
It was stopped by a traffic cop and the driver invited to view the readout on the speed gun
Well Chappy wasn’t happy at all and began ranting so I got called over and yep it was our friend from the meeting
He said we shouldn’t be doing locals etc etc
Anyhow he got a straight summons to court due to the speed being way above our ticket threshold
One very angry unhappy bunny went on his way awaiting a date with the magistrates
Fast forward to court, and it turns out he already had a number of points on his licence and not only did he get a hefty fine but also a period of disqualification for his efforts
As an aside it transpired quite a few of those in the meeting also got stopped and processed/ticketed for various offences and not one of the detected offences was from someone not local
We never got another request to do enforcement at that location oddly enough and I do wonder whether he got himself reelected
I think I was at that meeting, Seemingly one local councillor was being a right pain and kicking off to all and sundry about people using one of the roads in the area as a rat run/race track
MP’s/Chief Con etc etc and slagging off the old bill for not doing anything about it
So muggings here was sent along to represent the constabulary’s finest ( and take the flack ) alongside the neighbourhood team
To cut a long story short (ish) he was a right obnoxious t
t slagging everyone including me off and demanding rapid robust action So I agreed we’d do some silent checks and see if there was indeed an issue and suitable for enforcement .. did make the caveat that due to the nature of the area, and previous experience it was most likely local residents not outsiders
Told by gobs
te and others that absolutely it wasn’t locals and they didn’t speed Ok then .. silent checks showed a slight issue just within the parameters for some enforcement
I know you can guess what’s coming
We rocked up one day unnanoinced and started checking cars in the 30mph zone and Lo and behold a car comes flying up the road, clocked in the 50’s iirc
It was stopped by a traffic cop and the driver invited to view the readout on the speed gun
Well Chappy wasn’t happy at all and began ranting so I got called over and yep it was our friend from the meeting
He said we shouldn’t be doing locals etc etc
Anyhow he got a straight summons to court due to the speed being way above our ticket threshold
One very angry unhappy bunny went on his way awaiting a date with the magistrates
Fast forward to court, and it turns out he already had a number of points on his licence and not only did he get a hefty fine but also a period of disqualification for his efforts
As an aside it transpired quite a few of those in the meeting also got stopped and processed/ticketed for various offences and not one of the detected offences was from someone not local
We never got another request to do enforcement at that location oddly enough and I do wonder whether he got himself reelected
And got caught, but I was not the grumpy t
t, Anyway, my best witnessed karma was a very long time ago now, nearly 30 odd years ago, near Whiteley's shopping centre in Bayswater. I was walking down Bishop's Bridge Road and was waiting to cross Porchester Terrace at the traffic light controlled crossroads. The lights were green for cars turning right from Bishop's Bridge Road towards Whiteley's, but then turned red. They then turned green for all cars going straight on Bishop's Bridge road on both directions and a motorcycle moved off first from Whiteley's towards Paddington station. At that moment, a Sierra bombed down Bishop's bridge road, with its tyres screeching it went through the red light for cars turning right into Porchester Terrace and crashed into the bike. However, while that was happening, I had also noticed that a police car with it's blues on was coming up from Porchester Terrace itself so before I could volunteer as a witness, the accident had happened directly in front of the police car and the 2 cops, stopped their blue light run, left the lights on but go out of the car and dragged the driver of the Sierra out of the car. Luckily the biker was up immediately and didn't seem to be injured. I hung around for a while but nobody wanted anything from me, they seemed to have enough reliable witnesses anyway so I left, but thoroughly enjoyed seeing the moron in the Sierra being immediately pulled up by the police.
West End London, usual long queue of heavy traffic. Two mounted police officers come out of St James’ Park so my pal who is driving stops and allows them all the time they need to cross which they kindly acknowledge.
Mr less observant two cars behind is beeping his horn like mad. Police officer stops his horse, half turns in his saddle and with a stare that would melt rock, gives the guy the curly finger of doom…
Mr less observant two cars behind is beeping his horn like mad. Police officer stops his horse, half turns in his saddle and with a stare that would melt rock, gives the guy the curly finger of doom…
A few weeks ago on the A1 in between Newcastle and Team Valley.
3 lanes of traffic with the inside lane eventually filtering g off to the Team Valley exit.
Due to roadworks beyond Team Valley lanes 2 and 3 are crawling while lane one is flowing relatively well, with the occasional person nipping back in to lane 2 just before the junction.
We are heading to Team Valley so are in lane 1. Just as we approach a fairly new Kia SUV thing he starts straddling lane 1 and 2, being the captain of the road and stopping all these horrible people from pushing in.
We are stuck behind him for a good distance, with lane 3 travelling at the same pace as lane 2.
Some guy in a van clearly sees what Mr Road Captain is doing so pulls from lane 3 in to the the space Mr Road Captain has left behind in lane 2, meaning the Road Captain now has to move in to Lane 1 fully with nobody letting him pull back in to lane 2 before he is forced to take the Team Valley exit and queue to get back on to the A1 again at the far side.
3 lanes of traffic with the inside lane eventually filtering g off to the Team Valley exit.
Due to roadworks beyond Team Valley lanes 2 and 3 are crawling while lane one is flowing relatively well, with the occasional person nipping back in to lane 2 just before the junction.
We are heading to Team Valley so are in lane 1. Just as we approach a fairly new Kia SUV thing he starts straddling lane 1 and 2, being the captain of the road and stopping all these horrible people from pushing in.
We are stuck behind him for a good distance, with lane 3 travelling at the same pace as lane 2.
Some guy in a van clearly sees what Mr Road Captain is doing so pulls from lane 3 in to the the space Mr Road Captain has left behind in lane 2, meaning the Road Captain now has to move in to Lane 1 fully with nobody letting him pull back in to lane 2 before he is forced to take the Team Valley exit and queue to get back on to the A1 again at the far side.
Travelling along the M4 last year and noticed a chavved up BMW 5 series (E60) in my rear view mirror. The "driver" was racing around and weaving in and out of all 3 lanes, accelerating and hard braking, swerving left and right (you get the idea).
I was in lane one as I was coming off at the next junction anyway. The BMW hurtles past me in lane 2 and still weaving around and off into the distance.
My junction comes up and iif anyone knows Juntion 7 heading West bound you would know it bends quite sharply to the left as you exit the motorway.
I see the "driver" has lost control just as the slip road bends to the left and hit the barriers and is side on to the traffic and stopped on the hatching.
How I had to snigger as I drove by.
I was in lane one as I was coming off at the next junction anyway. The BMW hurtles past me in lane 2 and still weaving around and off into the distance.
My junction comes up and iif anyone knows Juntion 7 heading West bound you would know it bends quite sharply to the left as you exit the motorway.
I see the "driver" has lost control just as the slip road bends to the left and hit the barriers and is side on to the traffic and stopped on the hatching.
How I had to snigger as I drove by.
Petrol stations seem to be a common theme in causing angst and the resultant karma. I think it's because certain types of people live chaotic lifestyles with no planning and can only react to things. Popping past the petrol station on your way home at night and seeing no-one refuelling? 2 minute splash and dash? Nah. Get home and potato and watch strictly. Turn up at the petrol station the next day to find six deep queues for each row of pumps and they are late dropping little Jimmy off at Kung Pao Karate.
One very early morning I turned up at an Asda petrol station to refuel. It was coned off and a tanker was dropping its load. The tanker driver saw me and held 3 fingers up to mean 3 minutes. I gave him the thumbs up and went to buy my lunch first. As I walked back to my car I saw a driver who wanted fuel RIGHT NOW arguing with the tanker driver. The driver left in a rage. As I drove around the tanker driver removed the cones to open up and I said thank you for letting me know that the forecourt would be open soon. He said to the guy arguing with him that he would be another 20 minutes.
One very early morning I turned up at an Asda petrol station to refuel. It was coned off and a tanker was dropping its load. The tanker driver saw me and held 3 fingers up to mean 3 minutes. I gave him the thumbs up and went to buy my lunch first. As I walked back to my car I saw a driver who wanted fuel RIGHT NOW arguing with the tanker driver. The driver left in a rage. As I drove around the tanker driver removed the cones to open up and I said thank you for letting me know that the forecourt would be open soon. He said to the guy arguing with him that he would be another 20 minutes.
I used to commute to Chertsey every day and J11 of the M25 anticlockwise has two lanes on the slip which correspond to left and right turns at the traffic light controlled roundabout at the top of the slip. In rush hour, the right hand lane was always queued or moving slowly, and the left lane was always empty. Most days you'd see someone charge up the slip road in the left lane and barge/force their way in at the top.
One day, a chap in an Audi A4 did exactly that. The lights at the top had just gone green and the traffic was starting to move. He picked the Focus ahead of me to barge in on. The Focus driver was having none of it, and stayed a cigarette paper off the car in front as the traffic trundled forward at not much more than walking pace. The Audi driver kept coming across, and the Focus driver stayed resolutely on track, until inevitably the cars touched. Audi-man pulled clear to give himself room to get out (blocking the left lane of the slip road completely), flung his door open and walked round to the driver's side of the now stopped Focus, yelling all manner of abuse and waving his arms around. I'm sitting in the car behind with a ringside seat of what was unfolding. Audi-man started banging on the windows of the Focus and goading the guy to get out of the car. This went on for 20 seconds or so, with no reaction that I could see at all from Focus man, before Audi man gave the drivers door of the Focus a hefty kick, punched the door mirror, and went to walk away.
Focus man opened his door, got out, and just as the Audi driver turned back to start having another pop, Focus man landed the most beautiful right hook I've ever seen, straight in Audi man's face. Audi-man staggered backwards and crumpled, disappearing down somewhere in front of his car. Focus man got calmly back in his car, and drove away. As did I, and as did every other driver in the queue.
I still remember the sight in the rear view mirror of a shiny new Audi A4, driver's door open, with its driver lying flat on his back just in front of it.
I'd love to think this made the idiot reconsider his choices from that moment onwards.
I
One day, a chap in an Audi A4 did exactly that. The lights at the top had just gone green and the traffic was starting to move. He picked the Focus ahead of me to barge in on. The Focus driver was having none of it, and stayed a cigarette paper off the car in front as the traffic trundled forward at not much more than walking pace. The Audi driver kept coming across, and the Focus driver stayed resolutely on track, until inevitably the cars touched. Audi-man pulled clear to give himself room to get out (blocking the left lane of the slip road completely), flung his door open and walked round to the driver's side of the now stopped Focus, yelling all manner of abuse and waving his arms around. I'm sitting in the car behind with a ringside seat of what was unfolding. Audi-man started banging on the windows of the Focus and goading the guy to get out of the car. This went on for 20 seconds or so, with no reaction that I could see at all from Focus man, before Audi man gave the drivers door of the Focus a hefty kick, punched the door mirror, and went to walk away.
Focus man opened his door, got out, and just as the Audi driver turned back to start having another pop, Focus man landed the most beautiful right hook I've ever seen, straight in Audi man's face. Audi-man staggered backwards and crumpled, disappearing down somewhere in front of his car. Focus man got calmly back in his car, and drove away. As did I, and as did every other driver in the queue.
I still remember the sight in the rear view mirror of a shiny new Audi A4, driver's door open, with its driver lying flat on his back just in front of it.
I'd love to think this made the idiot reconsider his choices from that moment onwards.
I
Earthdweller said:
A good few years back when I was a traffic Sgt I got called to attend a community/NHW type meeting in a sleepy fairly well to do residential area
Seemingly one local councillor was being a right pain and kicking off to all and sundry about people using one of the roads in the area as a rat run/race track
MP’s/Chief Con etc etc and slagging off the old bill for not doing anything about it
So muggings here was sent along to represent the constabulary’s finest ( and take the flack ) alongside the neighbourhood team
To cut a long story short (ish) he was a right obnoxious tt slagging everyone including me off and demanding rapid robust action
So I agreed we’d do some silent checks and see if there was indeed an issue and suitable for enforcement .. did make the caveat that due to the nature of the area, and previous experience it was most likely local residents not outsiders
Told by gobste and others that absolutely it wasn’t locals and they didn’t speed
Ok then .. silent checks showed a slight issue just within the parameters for some enforcement
I know you can guess what’s coming
We rocked up one day unnanoinced and started checking cars in the 30mph zone and Lo and behold a car comes flying up the road, clocked in the 50’s iirc
It was stopped by a traffic cop and the driver invited to view the readout on the speed gun
Well Chappy wasn’t happy at all and began ranting so I got called over and yep it was our friend from the meeting
He said we shouldn’t be doing locals etc etc
Anyhow he got a straight summons to court due to the speed being way above our ticket threshold
One very angry unhappy bunny went on his way awaiting a date with the magistrates
Fast forward to court, and it turns out he already had a number of points on his licence and not only did he get a hefty fine but also a period of disqualification for his efforts
As an aside it transpired quite a few of those in the meeting also got stopped and processed/ticketed for various offences and not one of the detected offences was from someone not local
We never got another request to do enforcement at that location oddly enough and I do wonder whether he got himself reelected
Brilliant.Seemingly one local councillor was being a right pain and kicking off to all and sundry about people using one of the roads in the area as a rat run/race track
MP’s/Chief Con etc etc and slagging off the old bill for not doing anything about it
So muggings here was sent along to represent the constabulary’s finest ( and take the flack ) alongside the neighbourhood team
To cut a long story short (ish) he was a right obnoxious t
t slagging everyone including me off and demanding rapid robust action So I agreed we’d do some silent checks and see if there was indeed an issue and suitable for enforcement .. did make the caveat that due to the nature of the area, and previous experience it was most likely local residents not outsiders
Told by gobs
te and others that absolutely it wasn’t locals and they didn’t speed Ok then .. silent checks showed a slight issue just within the parameters for some enforcement
I know you can guess what’s coming
We rocked up one day unnanoinced and started checking cars in the 30mph zone and Lo and behold a car comes flying up the road, clocked in the 50’s iirc
It was stopped by a traffic cop and the driver invited to view the readout on the speed gun
Well Chappy wasn’t happy at all and began ranting so I got called over and yep it was our friend from the meeting
He said we shouldn’t be doing locals etc etc
Anyhow he got a straight summons to court due to the speed being way above our ticket threshold
One very angry unhappy bunny went on his way awaiting a date with the magistrates
Fast forward to court, and it turns out he already had a number of points on his licence and not only did he get a hefty fine but also a period of disqualification for his efforts
As an aside it transpired quite a few of those in the meeting also got stopped and processed/ticketed for various offences and not one of the detected offences was from someone not local
We never got another request to do enforcement at that location oddly enough and I do wonder whether he got himself reelected
Quite a bad one to be honest as it involved an innocent little old lady, but I did sadistically chuckle to myself at the time.
A12 dual carriageway at East Bergholt near Colchester there's a very short slip road off the outside lane to Higham. I was waiting for a gap on a slip road on the left side of the carriageway a bit further down from the right hand slip road, and I could see a couple of tailgating chumps weaving and racing each other coming up VERY fast. It's an average speed camera section there and they must have been doing 100, at least. Clearly the knob measuring contest over ruled their prefrontal cortexes.
The lead chump reacted in time for the old dear who was braking sharply for said slip road and abruptly swerved into the inside lane, forcing a HGV to slam its anchors on. The following chump didn't and drove straight into the back of her. He must have shunted her a good 50 yards.
You know how these random life events that occur in an instant, but at the same time appear to happen in slow motion? Well, the following chump's face as he leaned on his brakes was a picture. I could clearly see his face go paper white during his 'oh fck' moment.
Thankfully the little old lady he stacked into appeared to be OK, as was he. A gap presented itself at the same time and I joined the carriageway as there were folk waiting behind me. I could see other people slowing down to assist in my mirrors as I sped up, so there wasn't much I could add to the situation.
Needless to say the lead chump cleared off.
A12 dual carriageway at East Bergholt near Colchester there's a very short slip road off the outside lane to Higham. I was waiting for a gap on a slip road on the left side of the carriageway a bit further down from the right hand slip road, and I could see a couple of tailgating chumps weaving and racing each other coming up VERY fast. It's an average speed camera section there and they must have been doing 100, at least. Clearly the knob measuring contest over ruled their prefrontal cortexes.
The lead chump reacted in time for the old dear who was braking sharply for said slip road and abruptly swerved into the inside lane, forcing a HGV to slam its anchors on. The following chump didn't and drove straight into the back of her. He must have shunted her a good 50 yards.
You know how these random life events that occur in an instant, but at the same time appear to happen in slow motion? Well, the following chump's face as he leaned on his brakes was a picture. I could clearly see his face go paper white during his 'oh fck' moment.
Thankfully the little old lady he stacked into appeared to be OK, as was he. A gap presented itself at the same time and I joined the carriageway as there were folk waiting behind me. I could see other people slowing down to assist in my mirrors as I sped up, so there wasn't much I could add to the situation.
Needless to say the lead chump cleared off.
Many years ago I was very slowly going through some heavy traffic in London, approaching a roundabout. A bellend in a Golf GTI came up, shoving his way past the queue as if he were filtering on a motorcycle, and forced his way onto the roundabout. He tore round it and aimed for his exit, but there was a hefty concrete divider separating the entrance and exit sides of the road as it met the roundabout. Unable to push in and going too fast to stop, he went headlong into the concrete which brought him to an instant halt as the sump smashed into it. There he sat, engine dead and with a small lake of oil pouring out from under his car, as everyone he’d just pissed off went back past him laughing.
I was on the way home from visiting my mum on a rainy November evening a few years ago. I was following a reasonably cautious driver down a twisty road through the Forest of Dean at 10-15mph below the speed limit (60), there was a lot of surface water and a high possibility of wild animals running out in front of the cars, so I was happy to follow.
A Vauxhall Vectra (Mk1) with loads of stick-on Irmscher tat comes flying up behind me, welds himself to my rear bumper, constantly weaves into the middle of the road and back again like he was going to go for an overtake before tucking back in. I already think the guy is an idiot, but let him carry on. About half a mile later we get to a T-junction and the car in front of me turns right, I turn left and the Vectra follows me and before I'm even out and away from the junction he is level with my rear quarter going for an overtake. I let him carry on as he is obviously a bit special, so he goes shooting off down the road towards a corner that I know will have a stream of water across it about half way around. He dabs the brakes just before he starts to turn, then he hits the stream of water and I see the back of his car shoot off to the opposite side of the road towards a grass bank and then as I start to round the corner I get to see him fly back across to the other side of the road and put his Vectra about 50 yards off the road into very boggy grass.
I pull over into the entrance to a long private driveway and see that he's desperately trying to get his Vectra moving again - no chance. I get out and walk down to him to see if he's injured in any way and he's still gunning the engine and spinning wheels fruitlessly. As I get level with his car (but still on the road) he switches it off, gets out and his first words to me were 'Can I get a lift to ?'. Uhhhh, no, you're not injured and you're a prat. He wasn't bothered about getting his car out, he just wanted out of there. I start walking back to my car and he's following me, then I realise I've left my engine running, so I quicken the pace and get in my car. He's begging me he needs a lift somewhere, I still refuse and make an excuse I have to get a relative to hospital so can't spare extra time taking him somewhere. I drive off just as someone from a nearby house comes out to see what is going on, so I guess they heard the Vectra crashing around. I did have second thoughts about going back as I got a couple of turns away, but ultimately decided not to.
For another seven days the Vectra sat in the same place before he must have finally decided to get it recovered. I caught it on the dashcam I used at the time, but as I was in the middle of a forest at night with no street lights and rubbish headlights you can only really see some tail lights bouncing around in the distance.
A Vauxhall Vectra (Mk1) with loads of stick-on Irmscher tat comes flying up behind me, welds himself to my rear bumper, constantly weaves into the middle of the road and back again like he was going to go for an overtake before tucking back in. I already think the guy is an idiot, but let him carry on. About half a mile later we get to a T-junction and the car in front of me turns right, I turn left and the Vectra follows me and before I'm even out and away from the junction he is level with my rear quarter going for an overtake. I let him carry on as he is obviously a bit special, so he goes shooting off down the road towards a corner that I know will have a stream of water across it about half way around. He dabs the brakes just before he starts to turn, then he hits the stream of water and I see the back of his car shoot off to the opposite side of the road towards a grass bank and then as I start to round the corner I get to see him fly back across to the other side of the road and put his Vectra about 50 yards off the road into very boggy grass.
I pull over into the entrance to a long private driveway and see that he's desperately trying to get his Vectra moving again - no chance. I get out and walk down to him to see if he's injured in any way and he's still gunning the engine and spinning wheels fruitlessly. As I get level with his car (but still on the road) he switches it off, gets out and his first words to me were 'Can I get a lift to ?'. Uhhhh, no, you're not injured and you're a prat. He wasn't bothered about getting his car out, he just wanted out of there. I start walking back to my car and he's following me, then I realise I've left my engine running, so I quicken the pace and get in my car. He's begging me he needs a lift somewhere, I still refuse and make an excuse I have to get a relative to hospital so can't spare extra time taking him somewhere. I drive off just as someone from a nearby house comes out to see what is going on, so I guess they heard the Vectra crashing around. I did have second thoughts about going back as I got a couple of turns away, but ultimately decided not to.
For another seven days the Vectra sat in the same place before he must have finally decided to get it recovered. I caught it on the dashcam I used at the time, but as I was in the middle of a forest at night with no street lights and rubbish headlights you can only really see some tail lights bouncing around in the distance.
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