Jan and John Maggs Antiques

A Freak Accident

It was Friday morning, the third day of our spring visit to the UK. The preceding day had been very frustrating and fruitless, and we were pleased that we had already found several good items. We picked up a sandwich and juice at a grocery store in Hungerford and optimistically headed north, towards the Cotswolds, where we planned to spend the afternoon.

Just outside of the town, we pulled off the road into a narrow layby, or rest area on the road’s shoulder, joining three vehicles already parked there. We turned off our engine and took out our lunch.

As we ate, cars and trucks drove past, and our little Renault rocked in the turbulence they produced. Although this can be a bit intimidating at first, laybys like this one are very common on England’s highways and byways, and one quickly gets used to them. We ate our lunch and chatted about the morning’s successes.

Suddenly, an unusually strong gust hit the back of the car. I looked into my side mirror just in time to catch a glimpse of the grille of one of the huge semi-trailers the English refer to as lorries driving past us at very high speed. At the same moment, we felt our cabin pressure change and heard a sound like tearing cloth. I looked into my rear view mirror. The rear window of our hatchback had become opaque. As I watched, a hole the size of a softball appeared on my side of the window. Immediately, a second, slightly smaller hole appeared on the passenger side.

By the time we realized what had happened, the lorry was nearly out of sight, much too far away for us to read its plates. We first had assumed that a truck tire had thrown a stone through our window. Further examination revealed that this was not the case. Not only was there no stone to be found in the car, but also the entire window was shredded with fine cracks, resembling more a one-million-piece jigsaw puzzle than an automobile window. We concluded that the blast of air produced by the oncoming lorry had caused the glass to implode.

As passing vehicles continued to dislodge small sections of glass, we called Avis, who offered several alternatives. They could give us another car, but we would need to drive or be towed to one of several locations from 25 to 50 miles away. Alternatively, they could send a crew to replace the glass, but this might take several hours.

We decided to take matters into our own hands. With the driver’s and passenger’s windows open to admit fresh air, w drove thirty miles to Basingstoke, where we could be given a smaller replacement vehicle. Before leaving, I broke off most of the remaining glass, placing it in the rear of the car. Though we’d be unable to close the rear of the car, flying bits of glass would not endanger others.

We arrived at Basingstoke and traded our Renault Megane for a Peugeot 307, much smaller than our Megane, but adequate to our needs—as long as we didn’t buy anything large. When I asked about the insurance issues, no one was sure. The questionnaire asked “Who do you believe was at fault?” I squelched the temptation to blame the government for placing the layby so near the road or for not enforcing the 50 mile per hour limit or Renault for designing a rear window incapable of surviving on a highway.

We've made an insurance claim to our VISA cardholders. We've been assured that they will reimburse us, but we need some paperwork from AVIS, which is very slow in coming.

We suggest you stay tuned. This may go on for a while!

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