Has this been mentioned elsewhere?
I have just read the letter in HJ's column in Sat's DT about the Civic handbrake "failure" on the m/way hard shoulder. I am (almost) lost for words! How the person can have the temerity to write in to complain!
It is up to the driver to ensure that the car is securely parked, how could the car roll more than a few inched without the driver being aware of it yet alone across three lanes of a motorway!
Why-oh-why were they not prosecuted for dangerous driving, not taking due care, wrongful use of the hardshoulder etc etc?
And then to admit that they let that car roll down their drive way demolishing a wall in the process, thank god a child was not playing in the path of the out-of-control car!
Sheer incompetence!
Am I being harsh?
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I don't think you are being harsh. I was amazed when I read the letter. I first thought it must have been a wind up as no-one could really be that stupid.
You forgot to mention that the reason they were parked on the hard shoulder in the first place was to read a map as they had missed their turning!
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No, you're not being harsh at all...neither was HJ in his response. The guy with the Civic should not be let at the wheel. Without the use of expletives it is difficult to the describe even the guys reason for stopping on the hard shoulder anyway!
An amoeba has greater sense of awareness of its surroundings.
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What was HJ's response? I hope he didn't pull any punches...
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.. What was HJ's response? I hope he didn't pull any punches...
missltw - it helps hj earn some dosh (even if though it may amount to mere in pennies) if you click the link on the left (motoring.telegraph) to access his column in that paper.
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Link www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/main.jhtml?xml=/motor...n
19.xml
"An amoeba has greater sense of awareness of its surroundings."
LOL - line of the week for me!
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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To be fair, I read it that the problem was that after a few minutes the brakes cooled and the handbrake then released itself. I don't think it was suggested that he just got out and didn't notice that it was immediately beginning to run backwards. Apparently this is becoming quite common with modern handbrakes.
That doesn't excuse stopping on the hard shoulder in the first place, nor having seen it happen once, going on and letting the car run off for a second time.
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Sorry to sound like a stuck record but:
Leave it in gear!!!
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What amazes me is that the idiot was IN the car as it rolled across three lanes of the motorway - presumably he did not notice the car was moving as he did nothing to stop it!
One wonders what his driving is like!
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It beggars belief that someone could roll across 3 lanes of the motorway and not notice.
However I'll bet that now many 'ordinary' cars are fitted with rear disk brakes very few people have updated their practice of using the handbrake.
I always leave my car in gear, but I can't think of any colleague or family member who does. When I mention it, they're scared that they'll forget and start the car in gear (yet I've always dipped the clutch on startup anyway).
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i read it in saturdays paper and thought it was one of you lot winding hj up ;-o
there was another silly letter as well but forget what it was.........glad i dont have to do the replies i would be out of a job in a week........
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Now theres a good wheeze.............................
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Sorry to sound like a stuck record but: Leave it in gear!!!
As he'd only stopped momentarily, MW of Dorset probably left the engine running.
Must have been absolutely heartstopping for the on coming traffic.
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Fair point mare.
Just complete stupidity then.
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Must be something wrong with this guy's handbrake. I had my Civic for 35,000 miles and not once did the handbrake slip - not even slightly.
Do you think he knows that to get it to work you have to pull the lever up until you encounter resistance? Or does he think that the little red light looking a bit like this ( ! ) means that the brakes are off, and so he moves the handbrake lever down until it goes out? (A bit like the guy a few weeks back who asked why he had to turn his Passat's traction control on every time he started the car, because the yellow light stayed off otherwise...)
What. A. Plonker.
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