| Taxi Driver Online http://www.taxi-driver.co.uk/phpBB2/ |
|
| Minicab goes from 0 to 100. http://www.taxi-driver.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4290 |
Page 1 of 1 |
| Author: | JD [ Wed Aug 30, 2006 10:49 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Minicab goes from 0 to 100. |
Here's a tale that might bring a smile to your face? ................................................ Evening Standard (London) October 10, 1996 HEADLINE: Minicab goes from 0 to 100 (stone, that is on spare tyres) BYLINE: Joel Wolchover A 23-STONE taxi driver has been counting the cost after his tyres and suspension gave way under the strain of carrying four equally bulky "gut-bargers" to their chat show debut in London. Driver Gary Castle suffered a burst tyre during the 140-mile journey from the bargers' Wiltshire home, and later had to replace his shock absorbers, irreparably damaged by the 100-stone human cargo. The four portly gentlemen were due to appear on ITV's This Morning with Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan, to demonstrate their 200-year-old sport. Similar to Sumo wrestling, gut-barging involves two bare-chested fat men using their guts to barge opponents out of a ring. Mr Castle, 36, from Welling in Kent, was booked to pick up four bargers from Bradford-on-Avon in Wiltshire. His bulky cargo included Belgian world champion Mad Maurice and challenger Les Philpott, known to friends and enemies alike as Organ Donor. Binkie Braithwaite, secretary of the World Gut-barging Association, and a referee known only as Balou also hitched a ride. Unfortunately, Mr Castle's eight-year-old Ford Granada found the combined weight too much. He said: "I was sent to pick up a father and two sons, so I expected to see two little boys and their dad. "When I got there, three Hell's Angels types came out, tattooed from head to foot. One barger was 24 stone, and the other was 22 stone. The referee was only 15 stone, he was a thinny. "I started driving towards the motorway and they said I had to pick up the other barger at a service station on the M4. As we drove round the corner, all I could see was a belly hanging out from under a coat. "We worked out that the combined weight of the people in the car was 100 stone - and we had all their props in the back. "The car was up like a speedboat, the front wheels were hardly touching the road. I wasn't going faster than 50mph because if we had hit a pothole, that would have been it." Disaster struck about 100 miles into the journey when one of the rear tyres came off its metal rim. An inspection showed the other rear tyre had suffered the equivalent of six month's wear since leaving Wiltshire. A later check also showed that a shock absorber on the driver's side needed replacing, though Mr Castle graciously said the heavyweight journey may only have been "the last straw". While the AA struggled to fix the car and other drivers hooted the burly sportsmen stuck on the hard shoulder, Mr Castle faced the prospect of breaking up an impromptu competition. "I thought they were going to start gut-barging on the M4," he said. "They were nice fellas but they were wild. You wouldn't want to meet them in a dark alley." In an example of professionalism beyond the call of duty, Mr Castle squeezed everyone back into his newly fixed cab, and drove them on to London in time for their interview. The return journey, however, was undertaken in a people carrier designed for seven normal frames. A spokeswoman for This Morning said: "It's a good job we didn't send the company Reliant Robin." A spokesman for Ford said: "The recommended maximum payload for this car is 555kg but 100 stone is overloading by more than 80kg, which is not advisable." ...................................... |
|
| Page 1 of 1 | All times are UTC [ DST ] |
| Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group http://www.phpbb.com/ |
|