Wheelie Awful

Today

I heard a story today about a young man who thought that it was a great idea to practice doing handbrake turns and wheelies in the local Tesco carpark during business hours. The local police and magistrates let him feel the full weight of the law including imposing a driving ban and the destruction of his car.

"That's a bit draconian", commented Paul. "Well, he was warned three times and the carpark was in use. He might have injured a child..." I countered.

In my Day

I am ever grateful to Paul for teaching me how to drive. He allowed me to take the wheel on almost all our journeys and was methodical and calm.

There are some maneuvers which are best not practised too often on the public highway. Back in 1985 supermarkets closed on Sundays so Paul did, indeed, take me to the local Tesco carpark for some practice.

Not, I hasten to add, to do handbrake turns and wheelies, but to get on top of clutch control, reversing around corners, parking and steering. Paul would take a few two litre lemonade bottles with us. These he artistically placed in chicanes across the carpark and I had to drive between them and reverse around them without knocking any over.

I had to reverse around the kerbstones in the car park and do three-point turns between lemonade bottles. Week after week Paul would take me and I became better and better at these skills and still do a mean hill start.

We were often entirely alone in the carpark and no-one ever came to tell us off.

So what do learner drivers do today, now that shops are open seven days a week?