Topic: I ran myself over yesterday

[squeezyjohn]

I'm just going to share this as it seems to have made everyone else I have explained it to laugh like a drain:

Yesterday I drove down to my favourite local garden centre to see if I could get some real Harlequin potatoes and some new secateurs I needed.  I parked in the car park, locked the car and was headed in to the shop when the corner of my eye caught a moving car right behind me.  I jumped as I hadn't seen another car coming then realised it was my car rolling backwards on a gentle slope.  I'd forgotten the handbrake  - so thinking quickly I tried to open the door and pull the handbrake on, but the door was locked!  The car was accelerating too quickly to fumble for keys and was headed for another row of parked cars ... aaargh ... panic!  The only thing I could do was run around the back of the car and attempt to push it to a stop ... so I did and managed to slow it down ... then I ran out of space between my car and the parked cars ... as it rolled to a stop my legs were pinned between my bumper and the other car ... but a crash had been avoided.  Realising how stupid I'd been I checked that I hadn't just broken both my legs ... I hadn't but at that angle I could no longer push the car hard enough to move it ... I was completely and utterly stuck!  For the first time in my adult life I had to resort to shouting "HELP" there was no other choice.  A bewildered bloke who was loading a van on the other side of the car park investigated the commotion and helped push my car off my legs and after checking that they still worked I got the keys out and parked the car again.  I bought some Ratte potatoes and the secateurs in a state of complete embarassment.  I returned home with a bruise and dirty trousers ... it could have been much worse!

Moral of the story ... never forget your handbrake 

[galina]

Sorry you suffered bruised legs and hope the pain goes away quickly! 

Thanks for the warning.  My BIL could have done with it.  He parked his car on his drive, went into the house.  Meanwhile the car gently rolled and rolled and rolled ........... into a lake.  Well the rear half was in the drink, the front got stuck on bushes on the shore.  Either way it was a write-off.

There is a lot of this sort of thing about it seems 

[Obelixx]

Ouch!   Have you been checked out in case of hidden damage?   I do hope you're OK and will be fit for the rapidly approaching planting season.

[squeezyjohn]

I haven't as I'm pretty sure it's OK.  I visited our over-used NHS with a badly sprained ankle before Christmas and the doctor basically sighed and said rest it and take painkillers with the kind of smile on his face that barely hid "oh no not another one ... we have real medical emergencies to deal with on a shoestring here" ... I kind of agree with him!

[Palustris]

Too easily done. Mind the only time it has happened to me when I got into the rolled away car, the hand brake was actually on. No idea why the car rolled. It would not move until I released the brake to drive it back into its parking spot.
I did manage to have my foot driven over once when trying to help a friend park. Now that hurts somewhat.
Hope the legs are not too badly hurt or you won't be planting the seed potatoes any time soon.

[ed dibbles]

Someone I know parked at a garage forecourt, went into the shop to buy something, only to discover upon going outside again that his car had rolled into the air/water machine.

The forecourt owners were very good about it. They only charged him eight hundred pounds to fix the machine. 

Perhaps you can take comfort that you are not alone in having a runaway car on your hands. (or legs for that matter)

[woodypecks]

And I hit myself in the face with the garden loppers ..over reaching to cut down ivy on a wall ..yes blood..and bruising ...Sigh.... There must be something in the air ! SqueezyJohn I do hope you feel better soon . Debs   

[pumkinlover]

When I was a community nurse I left my car outside a patient house. Came out to find no car, cursing the thieves I finally looked down the road and at least 200 yards away there it was.
Normally a big van parked there, older people and kids walking about and other cars. On this occasion no car or pedestrians and it rolled down the road and bumped up the pavement finally landing in an overgrown garden resting in brambles just missed a concrete post.
The hand brake was on but one notch more was needed.
When I think what could have happened............
Glad you are ok squeeyjohn.

[galina]

I haven't as I'm pretty sure it's OK.  I visited our over-used NHS with a badly sprained ankle before Christmas ... I kind of agree with him!

I don't, because only after an A and E doctor tells you that it is NOT a broken ankle, then it becomes a lesser injury.  Having hobbled painfully on an actual broken ankle for 3 days as teenager (because my parents did not believe it needed looking at) has always made me wary of ignoring a potential broken limb.  You had every right to have it checked out. 

[Poppy Mole]

My daughter came home from work the other day & parked her car on the drive, with the handbrake on, intending to get out & clear the snow from it before putting it in the garage, when it just slid back down & into the road. Luckily she was still in it & that it was a very quiet road.

[pumkinlover]

Looks like a few of us have had lucky escapes.