bassplayer
Guest
Just a short tale of woe from last October. (not that short really).
On my way back from Orkney last October I had a blow out on the rear of my motorhome about sixty miles north of Fort William. I changed over to the spare and carried on my way. I stopped at Morrisons petrol station in Fort William to check the pressure in my spare, to check the wheel nuts, and to fuel up. I then went onto the supermarket carpark and popped into the supermarket to get some chewing gum. I was back in the van within a few minutes. About a mile out of Fort William (heading south) the wheel I had replaced came off the van and I only narrowly avoided a nasty accident as the van proceeded to use all of the road, verge, and footpath for some considerable distance. On examining where I once had a wheel I was perplexed to find that four wheel nuts were missing and one wheel stud was snapped. I never did find the wheel I suspect it was somewhere in the loch. The local AA crew recovered my van back to Spean Bridge and put it up on blocks so it was level enough to stop overnight. The next day the AA stumped up for the labour and running about, and I paid for the new wheel and wheel studs etc. This got me mobile and was quicker than having to relay an immoveable van back to Darlington.
The thing is, I used to be a diesel fitter, and if theres one thing I do know, its making sure that your wheel nuts are tight enough! I really couldn't understand how the wheel came off. It was only last week that I was talking to an acquaintance in the pub and recounting this tale of woe that I got an inkling of what may have happened. The guy I was talking to is a security guard at Morrisons in Darlington. He'd been on holiday near Fort William in November and seen two of the Transit pickup uninsured cruising the Morrisons car park. They stopped next to a delivery van and started to take a wheel off. He shouted across the carpark and asked them what they were doing and they jumped in their pickup and legged it. He went into the shop and informed the staff of what had happened. I don't usually use stereotypes, and I believe people should live however they like. However, I do seriously wonder whether these two gents or some of their bretheren were disturbed by my returning to my van so quickly and abandoned their task leaving me with only one wheelnut out of the five! If so they came close to killing me and my mate Jamie. I for one will not be leaving my van unoccupied in that particular car park ever again. And I always walk around the van before I set off, just to see that all the wheel nuts are in place whenever I've parked anywhere now.
On my way back from Orkney last October I had a blow out on the rear of my motorhome about sixty miles north of Fort William. I changed over to the spare and carried on my way. I stopped at Morrisons petrol station in Fort William to check the pressure in my spare, to check the wheel nuts, and to fuel up. I then went onto the supermarket carpark and popped into the supermarket to get some chewing gum. I was back in the van within a few minutes. About a mile out of Fort William (heading south) the wheel I had replaced came off the van and I only narrowly avoided a nasty accident as the van proceeded to use all of the road, verge, and footpath for some considerable distance. On examining where I once had a wheel I was perplexed to find that four wheel nuts were missing and one wheel stud was snapped. I never did find the wheel I suspect it was somewhere in the loch. The local AA crew recovered my van back to Spean Bridge and put it up on blocks so it was level enough to stop overnight. The next day the AA stumped up for the labour and running about, and I paid for the new wheel and wheel studs etc. This got me mobile and was quicker than having to relay an immoveable van back to Darlington.
The thing is, I used to be a diesel fitter, and if theres one thing I do know, its making sure that your wheel nuts are tight enough! I really couldn't understand how the wheel came off. It was only last week that I was talking to an acquaintance in the pub and recounting this tale of woe that I got an inkling of what may have happened. The guy I was talking to is a security guard at Morrisons in Darlington. He'd been on holiday near Fort William in November and seen two of the Transit pickup uninsured cruising the Morrisons car park. They stopped next to a delivery van and started to take a wheel off. He shouted across the carpark and asked them what they were doing and they jumped in their pickup and legged it. He went into the shop and informed the staff of what had happened. I don't usually use stereotypes, and I believe people should live however they like. However, I do seriously wonder whether these two gents or some of their bretheren were disturbed by my returning to my van so quickly and abandoned their task leaving me with only one wheelnut out of the five! If so they came close to killing me and my mate Jamie. I for one will not be leaving my van unoccupied in that particular car park ever again. And I always walk around the van before I set off, just to see that all the wheel nuts are in place whenever I've parked anywhere now.
as even with the air tool they could not remove it.