imagine the scene – it’s getting dark, raining, in a local minimarket car park. There’s a car with its engine running about 5 bays away from where your car is parked. The reversing light comes on.
Would you step behind this car or wait until it had done its reversing?
Happened to me this evening, I was doing the reversing. look all around, release handbrake & start – slowly – reversing out, looking over my shoulder as I go. suddenly there’s a loud bang, like I’d hit something hard and fast. So I stop moving, put the car back & get out to see what I’d hit.
nothing there.
5 bays away there’s a bloke going round the back of another parked car & climbing into his own.
So I wait until hes reversed out & asked – politely – “was that you? did I hit you? I’m sorry, I didn’t see you, where did you come from?”
“no, you didn’t hit me but you could have done and broken my leg. That would have cost you a lot of money”
“sorry again; what did you do to make that loud bang?”
“I hit your rear light with my hand”
“very hard from the sound”
“yes, I had to or you would have run me over”
I was all apologetic & as it turned out no harm done, but now it’s bugging me. Was he looking to make a scene? or one of those ambulance chaser fees?
“broken his leg” at car park speeds? if he was lying down behind my car perhaps, but he wasn’t there when I got into the car.
yes my observation let me down, and had I hit him I would have been in the wrong, but seriously, walk behind a reversing car?