Almost gone
About 6 years ago, I was washing my wife's car on the drive. Our drive slopes at about 10 degrees downwards away towards the road and although not a problem for most cars, the wife was driving an old Rover 25 at the time and its handbrake was just about shot. So we got in the habit of leaving it in first and putting a brick behind the back wheel as well as the handbrake. We'd been doing this for about a year as we saved for a new car.

So I wash the body work, and I'm cleaning the alloys. I put my hand through the gap and all of a sudden, there is a screech, and the car just goes down the slope about 20cm and the car stops in the gears.

20cm may not sound much (actress to bishop), but with my hand through one of the gaps in the alloy, my wrist is heading around towards the brake piston with no gap and I'm not quick enough to pull it out..

And then it stops. My wrist is trapped, but with about 1mm either way. Another 2cm down the hill and it would have been bye, bye hand.

I won't lie, panic kicked in and I just yelled. The next door neighbour came out and with the help of a couple of builders who luckily were working down the road, pushed the car up the hill and got my hand out.

TL:DR; get your handbrake checked every year.
(Strump striving for imperfection since, Tue 4 Mar 2014, 21:03, 9 replies)

Off topic but when I was driving home on a summers day there was a guy stopped on the other side of the road with the front wheel jacked up and it appeared he had changed the wheel over. He had been looking under the wheel arch (like, head right under the arch) and just ducked back out of the gap when there was a loud squeak and the jack collapsed. His nose was about 4" from the bodywork at the time and he jumped back with fright. Near-death experience or what?
(luckylife , 0 guests and 3 bots are online, Tue 4 Mar 2014, 22:35, closed)

place the old wheel under the car
When I got my first car my dad insisted I change the wheel, oil and sparks with him just for the hell of it so I knew how to do it. Great idea, and the two best bits of advice he imparted to me on the subject of changing a wheel were that it's a hell of a lot easier to loosen bolts on a wheel BEFORE jacking the thing up and always place either the old or replacement wheel under the edge of the car to avoid catastrophe if the jack fails.
(mersault, Wed 5 Mar 2014, 12:44, closed)

This sounds like another great excuse not to clean my car
ta!
( ferret -> twitter.com/syfyautocorrect <-, Wed 5 Mar 2014, 0:47, closed)

You can employ poor people to do that

( Ghoti Fingers, Wed 5 Mar 2014, 7:52, closed)

Stay now! Baby if you got to go away! I don't think I can take the pain! Won't you stay another day!

( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Wed 5 Mar 2014, 8:33, closed)

outside it's raining but inside it's wet

(dozers, do fuck off ur a nob m8, Wed 5 Mar 2014, 8:42, closed)

Pfft.

( BraynDedd Natasha Kaplinsky's labia majora, Wed 5 Mar 2014, 9:07, closed)

Still, it would only have meant removing the 'r' from your user name.
( Happy Phantom has been to Hastings, Brighton, and Eastbourne too, Wed 5 Mar 2014, 9:15, closed)

"get your handbrake checked every year"
Great idea! Maybe we could get other things checked too like lights, tyres, seatbelts, engine emmissions... You could get a government department involved in certifying cars as being roadworthy, perhaps someone like the Ministry Of Transport....

Joking aside, I've had a fair few moments that could have been like this due to not thinking things through. Don't forget your axle stands, kids!
( pineapplecharm D d M Y, H:i, Wed 5 Mar 2014, 10:56, closed)