Minor MOT infraction
Rewind some years to just before the turn of the century. Picture, if you will, a large dormobile bus of the type commonly used to ferry patients to and from hospital day clinics etc but now in the hands of a pub and offered as something of a 'beer bus' to return drunken fools to their homes or nearest fly tip after kicking out time. Despite the high spec of this beast of burden (including a fully functional flashing amber rooftop light) it was not subjected to the highest standards of servicing or care. It came to pass that one of the windows came off second best in a minor siege situation involving a visiting English rugby team (another QOTW if the right topic ever comes up) and thus needed replacing. Being some 1.5 m sq of glass this proved prohibitively pricey so the landlord engaged the services of a couple of regulars to 'find some way to patch it up'.

Add a piece of perspex badly cut to measure roughly 1.5 m x 1 m (unlike the hole which turned out to be about two centimetres bigger in each direction), two long strips of two by four attached to the exterior of the vehicle and the perspex by a plethora of wood screws and you might have something that would be classed as roadworthy...in Kazakhstan.

On the upside, although it flexed quite badly both at speed and whenever some sozzled goon leant on it the icy gusts of wind that whistled unrelentingly through the cabin served to sober up many of the passengers during the winter months and it had only cost us about £15 quid in parts.
( number5 has been fighting tramps and losing., Thu 10 Mar 2011, 17:40, 2 replies)

hey, don't knock the kazakhs
It's common practice out there (and other similar places) to just wave down passing cars for a (paid) lift somewhere, even for day trips.

One time my friend and I wanted to spend an afternoon up in the mountains and so we stopped an old boy driving his Lada and asked for a lift.

He tottered out of the car, opened the boot, withdrew a piece of stick, took the balled up silver foil stopper out of the fuel filler and dipped his stick in.

Pulling it out, looking carefully at the level he smiled and nodded to us; yes, he could drive us to the mountains...
(pounana Slept well, and dreamed of large women, on, Thu 10 Mar 2011, 20:38, closed)

Certainly more generous than any Brit drivers!

( number5 has been fighting tramps and losing., Thu 10 Mar 2011, 20:41, closed)