#!##!"##g Nightmare journey to drop car off

[tvrolet]

Everything organised perfectly - leave around lunch time (from Fife) with car on trailer. Get to NEC by 17:00ish. Leave truck and trailer and stroll across to airport. Partake of a few alcohols and fly home. Son picks me up from Edinburgh airport, the missus and I fly back down on Sunday to do the show and pick up truck/trailer/car. What could possibly go wrong.....

Well it started badly when I saw the car had a flat tyre, so whip the wheel off and a quick trip to the local garage for a temporary puncture repair. Sorted. But then as I was putting the car on the trailer the monsoon started - horizontally. So I got bl00dy soaked. Just came in to get dry/change when my son came back from college - he'd left 4 hours earlier - to say the Forth Bridge was closed due to the weather and no-one was going anywhere

But, I guess while it might add maybe an hour or so going by Kincardine (the only other way South out of Fife), I could still make it. So, leave at around 12:00....and at 15:30 I'm still less than 15 miles from the house. Did the first 5 miles in 10 minutes, then took over 3 hours to do the next 10 miles. And with the trailer, stuck in gridlock, no real chance of turning round and going home either.

Managed to get hold of a phone number for folks at the NEC, and it seems there would be folks there until 22:00, so sounds do-able. Eventually get out of Fife by maybe 16:00 (4 hours to do 20 miles)...then hit roadworks, further chaos on the M74, gales etc. Then continual monsoons from around Carlisle to Stafford - jeez it was wet. Then running on vapours on the M6 toll - in fact the needle dropped off the gauge and I had to get off to seek juice (having just paid £8 for the benefit of using it). But, to cut a long and traumatic story short, I did get there by 21:30 - so thanks for staying back lads. Mine was truly the last car there.

Flight obviously long gone, so an about turn and drive home. Still hit the monsoon North of Stafford, but now we had snow over Shap too. Got home at 3:30 this morning. And now looking forward to another 700-odd mile round trip on Sunday to pick things up again. Bl00dy weather

Just about to see if I can change the flights to something 'useable' for some other dates rather than just loose them. What a pain. It all could have been so easy.

And of course the car's covered in muck as it spent 9 hours on a trailer getting rained on/sprayed on etc. I've had better days.....

[106Lad]

i hate days like that.

When i was travelling back to Northern Ireland over Christmas i wash the 306, travelled to Stranraer to find the car absolutley stinking,

Couldnt see the plate on the rear

[TonyHetherington]

That's the PH spirit though; all so we could see your car. Thanks

[Willo M900]

Well done mate, what a herculean effort. As Tony says, that's the spirit of what it's all about. One to remember that's for sure!! I'll look out for you on Sunday

[Porkie]

I also had a shocker.... I had to get my Sierra and Skyline to NEC. It started badly when last week I had the Sierra collected from Essex and trailored to Brum for my mechanic to look at as I thought it was broken as it would not start... My diagnosis was a faulty coil pack or broken ECU. He fixed it in 3 secs by flicking the correct switch ON... felt pretty stoooopid about that!

Then yesterday started badly when I got the wrong gear in my skyline and drove it forwards into the garage wall.... scratched bumper...

then I kurbed a wheel... diving out of the way of a badly Bus!

then I mullered the front splitter at a BP station... Silly approach angle and because I am a clown.... (Luckily I brought a spare... that took my mate what felt like 2 hours to fit!!!)

I made it to Birmingham to meet my friend who was going to drive Sierra from mechanics to the NEC....

on the M42 the Sierra ran out of Fuel... in the wet and the dark. Nice!

All in all... I have had better days

Edited by Porkie on Thursday 10th January 13:23

Edited by Porkie on Thursday 10th January 23:55