John-Mark.

When I bought my car last year, it cost me £400, it was recommended from my local family run garage, it was in their garage, they had just told me, “Your car has failed its MOT.” Then a few minutes later they rang me back and said, “We have a car here at our garage, if you like it, you can buy it for £400, but in one months’ time, it will need to go for its MOT, and to get it through the MOT it will cost around £400.” I went and had a look at the car and loved it, I paid the £400 and drove it, knowing that in one month I would need to put it in for its MOT.

But as it was a new car to me, when the sign that came up said, “Need to add water,” I ignored it, thinking it was like my 7-seater, car that I had before that would still have plenty left in the water tank. So soon after those words came up, something bad happened, while I was far away from home and near-ish my Mum’s home, I suppose it blew up! I videoed the steam pouring out of the front of the car. I was in a very large Sainsbury’s car park and it was on the vary cold lonely night that after many hours they came to me. It is all a blur now as to how I got home, I think he poured water into it and I followed him the many miles till I arrived at the local garage that had sold me the car in the first place!

Some men said it was one thing, and other men said it was another, some said, “It is ruined, it can’t be repaired,” Others said, “It will cost a lot of money.” I was very sad, for I had ruined the cheap car that I had, if only I had listened and did what the car had said, how was I to know it was going to blow up! I think it was a few days before the MOT was due to be done, I asked him, “Please do not to the work, until you give me a quote, as I may not be able to afford it.” I was nervous, as now it meant two things, the MOT and the repair, if it were possible, to repair the water tank that I had blowen up. My lovely new car, that I had gotten to love, would he be able to repair it? Would it cost me and arm and a leg? My car was at his garage for a while, parts needed to be bought.

Finaly it was ready it was all done, and repaired and passed it MOT. I was chuffed to bits. He told me, “Watch the water sign, top it up as soon as the sign comes on.” I would now, I would not make the same mistake again. Once bitten, twice shy.

That was almost a year ago, and the sign has not come on since, I don’t travel far, everything is local, and I only work a few minutes’ walk from work! Yes, I do use the car to get work. The sign came on about 10 days ago, I always have bottle water in my car, so I put some water in, as I don’t know anything about cars, it took me a while to remember how to open the bonnet! I found the leaver, but I searched ages to find how to open the bonnet, eventually I found the push thing and opened it up. I looked at all the lids and had to tried to remember which one was for the water! I could clearly see oil, and there was a tiny one, that was too tiny to hold water, then I was sort of confidant, that I had the water one. I put a lot of water in. I was pleased with myself. But a few days later it said, so again, so I put more water in.

The same message that said, “Need water,” Said, “Risk of ice,” I thought, how clever is this car, my other car was nothing like this! This car was supposed to be older than my 7-seater car.

Then the next day, we heard it was going to snow a lot! Paul said, “We need to buy some anti-freeze, as it may be frozen, that might be why it is saying it needs more water.” So, Paul who has never driven, did his research on line, and said, “We will need to add some anti-freeze, then add some water on top of it,” While I had read something completely different, that we need 50% water and 50% anti-freeze in the water tank.

We decided to a shop first, that sells everything for a pound, but in there, they had none. We then went to our local superstore, and we looked on what was on offer, it was a wide range, in price from £4 to £7 to £17. Paul decided on the £7 and I agreed, as soon the MOT would be up and they would probably top it up anyway, ready for the year ahead.

Paul had suggested we park on a flat surface, so I suggested the top floor of the car park, with the natural light of the sky rather than underneath with the lights. The thing is, when it starts to get dark it goes quite quickly.

I opened the bonnet and we were not sure where to put the anti-freeze, so Paul saw a man nearby and called to him, Paul said, “Hi do you drive, can you come here and help us?” The man came over, we explained that we had anti-freeze, but we were not sure where to put it, it was ready mix.

The man showed us where to put it, in the water tank, he then confidently put his finger down into the water, and said, “Put all of the anti-freeze in,” So Paul did. The man showed us what the other tanks were. He then confidently squeezed another thick tube and when he did that, the water in the water tank, came up to the top.

The dark was coming, so I put the torch on my mobile on, but it was too tiny to make any difference, the man walked away to his car and came back with the most powerful torch I had ever seen! He shone it under the bonnet. He told us, “You need to add more water,” Paul did, until he said, “That is enough.” He was fabulous. It was freezing up there.

He worked at the superstore; he had just finished work. When the job was done, we thanked him, and I said, “God Bless You, what is your name?” He said, “John-Mark,” I said, “Thank you for taking the time out to help us.” We also told him our names.

As he drove off, he pipped his horn to us, and we waved to him, our thanks and goodbye’s. x