How Could They?

I have been driving for many years, and over the years I have had many cars. My brother- in-law Ray, he was always under a car fixing them for friends for a fee. Ray always came with me, to buy a cheap car, he knew what to look for, and if there was a minor problem, he was able to fix it. The car was very cheap and would last for one year, then when it failed the MOT, I would sell it for scrap and he would come with to look at the next car. The cheapest car, that Ray got for me, was £50 it was in perfect condition, with nothing wrong with it, it belonged to an old man, who was now too old to drive it. About 30 years before, I used to say to friends, “I want to buy a car for £50,” They would all laugh and say different things, “Do you want it to have an engine?” “Do you want it to have wheels?” “Will it come with seats and doors?” My reply was always the same, “A man is too old to drive it and it is just left in his garage.” That is exactly what happened many years later, when Ray told me, “There is a car for sale, it belongs to a friend of mine, he is an old man and his car is in the garage, he is too old to drive it, it is in perfect condition; he wants £50 for it.” The car was in perfect condition, it was an old car, and his pride and joy. It was the cleanest car I have ever had! While I was at work, the milkman crashed into it, doing small damage, but when the man came to look at my car, he wrote it off saying, “It would cost too much to fix it, it would cost a lot more than £50.” I was gutted. My favourite car of all time is the old mini. I had the privilege of owning one, I think I paid £250 for it, a lot of money, I only had £200, so Ray loaned me the £50. He also painted it the colour that I chose. Ray my brother-in-law didn’t see his kids born, it was not allowed back then, for dads to see that, and his second wife she already had 3 children, so he asked me, “Can I be in the room when you give birth?” LOL I told him, “No.” He was a good laugh, Paul and myself had some good times with Ray. May his hardworking soul, rest in peace. X

I worked for the site number 2 for 18 years, that was 17 miles away, I got up to go to work and my car wasn’t where I thought I’d left it, 100 yards from my home, so I walked up and down the road, looking for it, until I realized my car had been stolen, I believe it was my escort estate. I was gutted! When I got my next car, my Mum bought me a silver round crook lock, the type that covers the whole steering wheel, it cost her £70. When I kept with Rays help, having a car a year, I would use my trusted crook lock. Years later, someone pointed something out to me, “It has fitted all the cars that you have had,” until that point, I didn’t know steering wheels came in different sizes! My brothers who have very good, high paid jobs, and posh cars to go with it, would laugh at me, putting my crook lock on my cheap cars, but it gave me security, for I knew what it was like to have a car stolen! My cars might be cheap, but it did the job, got me for A to B. My Mum has dementia now but when I take her out in my car, I always say to her, “You bought me this Mum, it cost you £70.”

I put my crook lock on, without thinking, even if I am just popping in the house for something, it has become second nature to me.

This week, as I was walking home, I passed five or six parked cars, and none of them had any crook locks on, of any type. I was shocked, and thought, How could they? How could they leave their car, with no security? How could they leave their car with no protection? To me, it was an open invitation to have their car pinched!

For the car I have now, I paid £400 for it, and it was my small family run garage, that rang me up and told me about the car and the elderly man who can no longer drive it. It is a tatty car on the outside, but it runs beautifully, it is smaller than the huge seven-seater car that I used to drive, but it eventually failed its MOT, had to be sold for scrap. My ‘new’ car is a baby seven-seater, and like all my other cars before it, my trusted, bought with love, steering wheel crook lock, fits it like a glove.