Completely out of the blue, my ex boss who is also a good friend, rang me and asked if he could borrow our caravan as his wife isn't too well and could do with a break. No problem I said, he's been driving hgv's for over 30 years so I know it's in good hands. I went to collect the van from storage and the morons from the county council had been spraying tar on the road and covering it in chippings. Not only did the van get covered in tar ( even at 15mph ) , the clowns coming the other way managed to throw chippings up and cracked the car windsreen.
It gets worse........child from hell who insists on asking my kids to go out and play came down the drive, parks bike against caravan and puts a dent about the size of a golf ball on sidewall. So, have spent an entire day with bug and tar remover cleaning the whole van, then, removed reflectors and rearranged them to cover the ding.
Was well happy with my days work so rang ex boss to come and collect the van.
The worst bit now...... Whilst taking the van off the drive, my ex boss and now ex friend caught the gate post with the van .
Who says doing a good turn reaps rewards. Anyone know of a good panel repairer in the north of the country ???
Oh my goodness, what a terrible day!
I'm sure your friend didn't do it on purpose though, maybe if he payed to fix it then you could save your friendship?
So gutted for you - doesn't seem fair! Some of our family take a big interest in our caravan and Im just hoping they won't ask to use it as Im rubbish at saying no. I will lend my friends most things and always go out of my to help anyone but my gut instinct with my caravan is no.
Do tell , what did your ex boss have to say ? If he was genuinely sorry and offered to cover the cost of repair , surely you can put the feeling of the moment aside and be friends still . I can relate to your feelings , I bought a brand new Hillman Imp in 1970 in partnership with my younger brother so he could have a nice motor .However , he had an accident and pushed the front end in and did not want to make a claim because he wanted to build a NCD . I had a Vauxhall Cresta myself , being flash , with a very high rear bumper bar . Bob and Dad , unbeknown to me , spent hours repairing , painting and polishing the Imp back to new condition while I was on a long shift at work . After dark I reversed into the parking space in front of it and stopped after feeling a slight impact . On getting out I checked the Imp and the thing was exactly as it was when I had left home , pushed in front panel . No worries and went to bed . Next day I was confronted by Bro`and Dad , absolutely gutted that all their hard work had been in vain , I was gutted for doing it to them . An awkward few days ensued while the work was done again but all realised it was not deliberate and we soon became friends again and before long the incident became a black comedy legend between us . I hope your incident will be resolved as well , friends are more valuable than possessions .
I'm not sure a good friend should ask to borrow something which is usually very precious to people. I know I wouldn't, I sincerely hope no one ever asks me because it would be a no!
the morons from the county council had been spraying tar on the road and covering it in chippings.
Pretty awful tale of woe but is it really necessary to describe employees of the Local Authority, undertaking their statutory duty of maintaining the highways, as "morons" ?
Phil
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I would be annoyed too, but look it you could have done it yourself and I think that is worse, at least this way you can moan about him to every one as your hardly going to moan about yourself-best of luck on the repair side of things.
I am surprised your friend/ex boss asked to borrow your van, none of my friends or any of their friends would ever have such a cheek.
Did you previously offered maybe?
Hope he offers payment or he could be....ex boss/ex friend.
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