Years ago 1972 to be precise if you took your car on holiday abroad and it needed to be recovered and repatriated back to blighty it was done by two motoring organisations.namely the AA or the R.A.C…the difference being was the AA used other agents to bring the car to the nearest ferry and the R.A.C did direct recovery…ie they picked it up from wherever and delivered it to your home or a garage of your choice.same for stolen vehicles and recovered in places such as Spain…
or if you were unfortunate enough to be hospitalised…would send a driver to drive the vehicle home on your behalf…i saw an advertisement for a driver wanted to do this work and applied for and got the job.it was in Raynes Park near Wimbledon, and was a small family run concern.i made a fortune…
the R.A.C. would send the address of the garage and how much storage money we had to pay which varied enormously…for eg i had to collect a car and caravan from the south of france and the fee was £350…but when i got there the fee was £150…and a few francs exchanging hands got me an original receipt so i made £200 on that one job alone…
well after a year on the job throughout the summer and winter the boss decided to buy a double deck transporter trailer to recover the AA work from the various docks…i was about to ship out to switzerland and then Spain to recover a car and caravan when we checked the electric plug for the caravan and found it wasnt working…so whilst it was in the garage the boss told me to take this trailer to newhaven docks and recover a few cars from there…however there was a V.W already on the top deck and i set off for the docks.
As i was going through the docks, and over the very rough railway crossing, i looked in my mirror to see oil pouring out of the nearside ram…so once at the quayside i went to check and found the ram had in fact detached itself from the inner sleeve that normally held it in place…so i called the company (CTS new malden) and they said to lower it gently and see how i get on…well as i lowered it i could see that i would lose all the oil and once down…it wouldnt go up again…so i was told just to load the lower deck…which i did…got back to the yard.and was told my truck wouldnt be ready until the next afternoon…so to come in about 10o/c unload the transporter and the boss would take me for breakfast.
next morning we off loaded the cars on the lower deck and started to prepare to lower the top deck…this deck consisted of 4 upright posts and a ram on either side to lower and raise the top deck…behind these posts were a locking pin…one for each upright…and at the front of the trailer …on the floor was a small hand winch…for dragging up cars that couldnt be driven…the engine was running and the p.t.o. was engaged so as to maintain the pressure needed to pump oil into the system to lower the top deck…the boss loved to play about with things he didnt understand…including the levers for operating the system…
well the deck seemed to be straining against the posts…and needed a bit of persuasion to knock out the safety pins…two were already out…and the front two were becoming a problem…till the boss decided to use a hammer and a drift…well i heard a creaking noise…then i felt a huge pressure on my chest…and saw the light at the end of the tunnel…i dont remember anymore until i woke up in hospital 2 days later…i then found out the truth when the boss came to visit…i wasnt allowed a mirror…and my legs were encased in a cradle…i asked the nurse if my legs were ok…she said the doctor would be around shortly…
so apparently the emergency services were called and the fire brigade arrived first only to say after examination i think hes dead` and proceeded to cover me and the trailer up with an old carpet they found in the yard…luckily…the accident investigator arrived within seconds and wanted a second opinion…so took a look himself…and saw me breathing…but couldnt release me until the ambulance arrived…which it did in seconds afterwards…the fire brigade were by now putting in place hydraulic jacks with which to raise the deck…but the ambulance crew didnt want to touch me without administering Morphine…which they didnt have…and seeing as there was a hospital just over the road…sent for a doctor who could administer it…
and then when i supposedly couldnt feel any pain.would raise the deck and get me to hospital for treatment…it turned out that the small winch had saved my life…along with the strong floor of the VW…the deck had crushed me to a crouching position which in turn broke both ankles…the blood pressure was so great that the whites of my eyes had turned blood red…hence.no mirror…my ankles had been re-set…but were to be broken again…by the hospital.as they were not set correctly…and then a steel pin would be inserted to hold them together…(still there today)…i was in that hospital for 3 months before being transferred to a hospital nearer home…in all i was in hospital for 6 months…and not fully working for another year…
although i was able to work in the office…for a bit extra on top of my benefits…that is until the boss kept getting on my back about the intending court case for my compensation.even though he had very good insurance and kept saying not to worry as i will be compensated…i settled for £4000 in the end.plus all costs to be borne by them…and i made a full recovery.the company went on to deliver caravans to the south of france…then buy the land and supply caravans for the sites…and ended up with an office in mayfair…and a factory making caravans…so it all turned out right in the end…
be careful out there…
have a nice day
