[Closed] What are the chances - car coincidence

Less than the odds of surviving a direct attack on an Imperial Star Destroyer?

My son has an ANPR brain and recognises cars he knows even when they pass on the other side of the motorway. He says he just sees a pattern of make, model, colour and plate and it triggers a recognition. He would make an excellent witness in a robbery or accident.

The same as the chances of anything coming from mars ?

Same as the odds of surviving jumping off a roof into a duck pond while being attacked by a dragon.

I had my old car pull out on me at a junction, it was all immensely confusing- first, I thought I'd actually glanced it (I think the ABS chatter fooled my brain into thinking there'd been a bump). Then halfway through looking (which confused the other dude, who knew I'd not hit him) I confused him even more by going MY CAR! I never saw the number plate, I recognised the key mark on the wing. Thought it was best to jump back in the car- the new car that is- and run off. I sold it locally so it wasn't <that>weird but still

i sat om a ferry between Spain and Morocco once on a seat and thought it felt familiar, few of the bolts missing so it rocked, same view of lifeboat etc and got deja-vu, all the signs above deck were new but when we went down to the car deck a few of the signs were for the Isle of Wight Ferry, and i realised i'd sat in that same seat before from my home town of Pompey over to the IOW.

I once sold a car (Mini 1275GT) then, a few months later, I was at a scrap yard and saw it rotting in the corner.

However, that wasn't a surprise as it was a shitbox held together by the will of god*, Holts spray paint along with bits of newspaper and rag shoved into rotting holes and cleverly smoothed over with deep gap filler.

*Not a real entity, used for comedic effect.

We sold a car in Bristol, which later turned up with an owner just one street away from my parents' home in south Wales.

Another car we sold to a dealer was later bought by a colleague's daughter - and it unfortunately had a terminal mechanical issue within 3 weeks!!

May years ago I pulled up at the lights behind one of my old cars. It was a shiny white XR3i, which is odd because when I scrapped it it was a dull white 1.3 Escort Popular… and it had been utterly written off when a truck drove over the back of it.

I was amazed that somebody had managed to buff it out and turn it into such a desirable car. So amazed in fact that I notified the DVLA. They were amazed too.

----

A few years later I pulled up behind my then current car at the traffic lights. After a moment’s panic I realised that:

a) Whilst the car was absolutely identical the number plate was one digit out, so I guess that it had come from the same dealership on the same day.

b) I was sat in my car.

There's a car in the next village to me thats same model and colour and only one digit different on the reg. Both sold new the other side of the country 13 years ago. I keep meaning to park outside his house.

Thing about coincidences is, so many things happen on a daily basis that the odds of a coincidence happening at some point is actually quite high. It's a bit like winning the lottery, the odds of you winning are terrifically low, but someone somewhere does win it sometimes.

I once bumped into a mate completely by chance in a service station at the other end of the country. Highly unlikely, but then I've been to service stations hundreds of times and not met anyone I know, and the number of 'places' I've been to and not seen any of my friends is astronomically high.

"Thing about coincidences is, so many things happen on a daily basis that the odds of a coincidence happening at some point is actually quite high. It's a bit like winning the lottery, the odds of you winning are terrifically low, but someone somewhere does win it sometimes.
I once bumped into a mate completely by chance in a service station at the other end of the country. Highly unlikely, but then I've been to service stations hundreds of times and not met anyone I know, and the number of 'places' I've been to and not seen any of my friends is astronomically high."

True, but spoiling the fun.

Probably more chance of being terminated with out of date madozopan than there is of that happening again.

I salvaged the number plate from my Series IIA Land Rover. It was an ex civil defence vehicle from Orkney. When it was demobbed it was issued with some of the remaining two prefix letters and four digit numbers that had been unalocated when the newer numbers were first issued. The number is BS 7838, at the supermarket recently I returned to my car to find parked next to it was BS 7030. Both cars were 300 miles from where the numbers were issued. Orcadians are perhaps unique in that they'd sooner have a number which relates to their island heritage than their own initials.

As an aside, my 1932 Morris Major Six's registration number is FG 7839, it was originally registered in Brighton but somehow was resold in my home town of Kirkcaldy, it has a Bakelite dealer plate screwed to the dashboard. It's remarkable that in the south east they had sold more cars in 1932 than they had in the sixties in the 1960s. There were at one time more motorcycles and tractors in Orkney than cars.

When in Malawi about ten years ago, I saw a 52 seat coach that I used to get to secondary school each day in rural Yorkshire about ten years previously. Still had the name of the coach company written all over it.

Also, in North East Afghanistan in 2010 I saw a used car dealer selling dozens of old UK plated mid 90s Nissan Micros, Toyota Starlets and Suzuki Swifts.

Would love to know the convoluted journies that these cars had made. I looked for my mum's old micra, wasn't there though.

Sold a Kaffenback to a chap taking it to Canada. 2 years later I bought it back from 25 miles away. No idea it was the same bike until I looked at the scratches which made me check the number.

I once pulled into the recycling centre behind a car that was identical to mine. Just an A4 estate so nothing unusual but it had all the same options on it so it was noticeably odd.
The guy that got out was about my age, shaved head like mine, similar clothes.
We both got our empty flat screen telly boxes out of the boots of our respective cars, dropped them in the skip - looked at each other awkwardly and drove off without a word. It's was very very odd. Glitch in the matrix for sure.

Same as the possibility of successfully navigating an asteroid field, 3,720 to 1.Though R2 says that the chances of survival are 725 to 1. Actually R2 has been known to make mistakes... from time to time...

I once bumped into a mate completely by chance in a service station at the other end of the country.

I used to have a colleague who had grown up on a scottish island and went to a school with only 8 other pupils. We worked together on projects in the north of scotland, glasgow and london and on each occasion we bumped into someone she'd been to school with.

Also, in North East Afghanistan in 2010 I saw a used car dealer selling dozens of old UK plated mid 90s Nissan Micros, Toyota Starlets and Suzuki Swifts.

Would love to know the convoluted journies that these cars had made.

I think in some parts of Afghanistan its not unusual for cars to be cut up - carried over the mountains into afgansistan - and welded together again on the other side.

Harry_the_Spider - Member

b) I was sat in my car.

This stuff used to be more fun before transponders and infinite keys and that- my dad once accidentally got into someone else's vauxhall cavalier and started it, he was just about to drive it away when he realised that the reason the radio and seat were adjusted wrong was that his car was parked in the row in front.

not quite the same but I've stood next to 'my' car pressing the unlock on the fob repeatedly and growing ever more annoyed that it wouldn't work while in the next row my car is staging it's own mobile disco light show.

Have seen quite a few of my old cars knocking around, most recently a couple of months ago while riding along one of Cannock's many fireroads the car was parked up c/w family getting out

I stopped and chatted but their narrowed eyes confirmed what a bizarre coincidence it was

Have also pulled in behind another one for fuel and seen a couple of others going in the opposite direction. Another one was on the back of a transporter having been involved in some sort of head-on

Reminds me of the motorbike I crashed and sold on because it didn't seem to handle very well after the crash. Next time I saw it it was in the back of a pick up having crashed again

This stuff used to be more fun before transponders and infinite keys and that- my dad once accidentally got into someone else's vauxhall cavalier and started it, he was just about to drive it away when he realised that the reason the radio and seat were adjusted wrong was that his car was parked in the row in front.

My granddad once did this in an Austin Allegro, only it belonged to his boss at work and he was halfway home when he realised. He only noticed when he went to put on his sunglasses and they weren't there.
Both the same colour, one digit out in the reg, though his was a hatch and the boss had an estate.

Allegro Estate?

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The 1970s were awesome.

Russet Brown if anyone is interested ^^^^

I thought it was Vegan Stool.

Every day is a school day and all that...

The same as the chances of anything coming from mars ?

Russet Brown if anyone is interested

It is indeed Russet Brown, I remember him buying it. YFV 61R. (I really wanted him to get a red one, his argument was that brown would hide the dirt / rust better.)

Someone in the Glasgow area has a car the same my wife's and only one letter difference on the reg. That letter is a C with a black headed screw near it making it look like a G to the anpr. Just got a "parking charge" in the post

Someone in the Glasgow area has a car the same my wife's and only one letter difference on the reg. That letter is a C with a black headed screw near it making it look like a G to the anpr. Just got a "parking charge" in the post

Tippex out a bit of your 'G' and go and get a few for him in retaliation.