As you asked

Well seeing as Drat asked in his comment on the post “ice ice baby” I thought I would expand on what happened when I wrote off my 1st car.

It was a Red Ford Fiesta and it happened back when I used to work for a different department at my company. This job meant I was on rotating shift patterns so I was on my way to work on a Saturday morning.

I suppose with the benefit of hindsight it was lucky this cold snap hit on a Saturday otherwise there would have been a lot more problems on the roads then there were.

The cold snap had hit the previous night and had been unexpected to no gritters had gritted the road the previous night. This combined with the right cold conditions the night before meant there was a lot of ice on the roads and not just normal ice but black ice as well. Of course I only know all this with the benefit of Hindsight, that morning I had no way of knowing this especially as the car had iced over so there was no indication to me that there was ice around and certainly no indication that as I started out for work I was heading directly towards a corner that had a sheet of Black Ice in the worst possible place.

In reference to Drats comment I wasn’t going to fast, in fact I was well within the speed limit for that stretch of road which probably helped me out.

When I hit the Ice I was going into the corner, I think I must have hit the edge of one side of the road, rebounded across the road whilst the car span 180 degrees at which point I encountered the other side of the road where the wheels dug into the verge. This particular corner went round the edge of a boggy field which was actually lower then the road and there was a slope. So as the car wheels had dug into the verge there was still enough power from the spinning to cause the car to flip and go down into the field. It rolled I think about one and a half times before coming to rest roof down.

Now again figuring out what happened was easy with the benefit of Hindsight. In fact it took me far longer to write that explanation that it took for it to happen. It was literally over in seconds, if that. It all happened far too quickly for me to react at all. There was just a sensation of spinning, and turning over and the realisation that something had just gone horribly, horribly wrong.

Three things occurred to me at that moment, firstly I was upside down, secondly the radio was still playing and thirdly the engine was still running, which immediately jolted me into action as I realised that, that couldn’t be good. I turned the engine off, then the radio and finally there was silence apart from the creak of metal as the car continued to rock gently. I knew I had to get out of there but I shouldn’t move just yet. I slowly did a quick check of all my toes, then my feet, then my legs, then my fingers etc. To my reliever everything responded and there was no pain. I decided that the risk of moving was greatly outweighed by the risk of staying in an upside down car with a full tank of petrol.

So I undid my seat belt and which point I realised that I had been so concentrated on trying to get out and releasing my seat belt I had forgotten the one thing which was blindly obvious. I was upside down and I hadn’t braced myself.

Bang…

I managed to get my arms up to protect my head and neck but the rest of me fell full length again the roof of the car and there’s not many times you can say that. I did a quick check and realised that getting out might not be as easy as I imagined. The car was at a angle face down as it were, this field was very wet and very boggy. So yes it complicated matters but it probably helped to absorb most of the impact. The windscreen was face down to the ground, the passenger side door was also buried into the ground. The boot was pointing sky high and I could see daylight but I didn’t dare climb back down the car if I could avoid it as I had no idea what that would do or if it would unbalance things making them worse. That left the drivers side door. I was also getting wet at this point as the sunroof had smashed and water was starting to leak in. Not much mind you before anyone gets any images of the car sinking!

I tried the door and to my relief I heard it unlock I pulled the door handle and tried to open it and it did. For about two centimetres then it stuck. What I didn’t know at this time as I couldn’t see was the car had dug itself in at the bottom of the slope. This meant the drivers side was very close to the slope jamming the door. The Fiesta was only a three door, drivers side, passenger side and boot in case anyone was wondering why I didn’t try the back doors.

I realised I could be in serious trouble here. I tried the door again and it moved a fraction more, I was starting to have visions at this point of having to be cut out of the car by the Fire brigade when I heard voices. Not the usual voices in my head : - )Two drivers from the other direction had been passing and had almost driven by thinking the upside car in the middle of the field was a result of somebody’s drink driving the previous night when they realised the lights were still on so decided to stop to investigate.

When they realised I was still in there they initially advised that I shouldn’t move but I assured them I was fine and that I just needed to get out. I also might have used one or two words to emphasis my urgent desire to get out of the car which probably would get me into a lot of trouble if I ever use it round my parents. With a combination of me pushing and them pulling and kicking the door I was able to squeeze out of the car. I sat down at the top of the slope whilst they rang for an ambulance, feeling slightly bemused and feeling like a age had just passed where I’m sure it was only less then five minutes.

The police arrived and parked and one of the officers slipped on some ice as he was getting out of the car. He gingerly walked across the road, smiled and said
“ Let me guess what happened”
The ambulance then arrived and they checked me out, saying I seemed fine but I could go to hospital if I wanted. I politely declined the request as everything seemed okay.

Tapdance and speed demon also appeared as I had called them at somepoint to let them know what was going on. We then had to rush home to find my breakdown cover details as we were going to have to organise recovery of the Car.

It took them a while to arrive as I wasn’t the only one who had encountered ice that morning. The recovery guys admitted I was there fourth recovery of the morning. In fact someone else had encountered ice on the same road and came off the road just over the horizon.

The car looked quite sorry when she was turned back onto her wheels. She was a pretty good car and hadn’t caused me that many problems unlike some of my later cars. I’d had a small hope admitally quite stupidly that she might be okay but I now knew she was a write off from the way the roof was bashed up. It also seemed that when she rolled she took the brunt of the impact on the passenger side of the roof, which combined with the low speed and the boggy field is probably what allowed me to walk away.

Due to work I had to organise getting a new car pretty quickly. In fact I ended up with another Ford Fiesta, which was also red and was also the same reg ( i.e. started with the same letter) so do the casual observer there was no difference and if I didn’t say they would be none the wiser.

I had problems trying to get the contents of the car back the recovery people. Despite having been the one driving, it was my cover that recovered the car, having the MOT certificate, insurance certificate, proof of ownership and being able to tell them everything that was in the car when I went there they said they won’t give the contents to me as the car was registered to my Mum. However if I were to bring a letter from her saying it was okay for me to collect the contents they would give them to me. It didn’t have to be a signed letter mine you or even a hand written one, one printed off from the computer would be fine.

Yeah, they hadn’t thought that set of procedures through at all had they?

I stayed with the new Fiesta for a couple of years I think, if I’ve remembered that correctly until I reached that point you do with all old cars that the cost of repairs outweighs the benefit of simply buying another car. She needed £400 of welding to pass her next MOT!

So at which point I traded her in for my current car, my KA which to be honest is probably going to be reaching the ‘trade in’ point soon.

anyway,

later folks!