Imagine you’re a young student in your first year with your whole future ahead of you and today you are getting your very first car back from the spray painters. Flashy red exterior, red and black imitation leather seats and last but not least, sparkling mag wheels! Sure it’s not a brand new car, but exciting nevertheless.
That excitement got messed up for a young man and his two friends today as they were making their way home from the spray painters for the first time.
Only about 5 minutes away from the spray painters in La Rochelle, south of Johannesburg, the driver of the little red Mazda was waved to stop by a man arriving at his home in the residential area of Rosettenville.
At first the young man was perturbed being stopped by a stranger, after all Rosettenville is not a safe area.
He stopped only when he realised what the man was shouting, jumping out of the car - "Get out! Your car is smoking underneath!".
The young man and two student friends jumped out of the car just as a huge flame emerged from the bonnet.
The man who stopped them was a mechanic who, by then came running into the street with large buckets of water and washing powder - the best cure for burning petrol and oil, he says. The car was pushed across the road onto a pavement by bystanders.
The cause of the blaze was the fact that the spray painters did not connect the battery properly and it came loose, and petrol leaked onto it somehow. A lethal combination, says a panel beater (from a different company!) who was a bystander.
The panel beaters denied these claims and were not available for comment.
The owner of the car went to a nearby police station to lay charges of negligence, after all if he was not stopped and there was an explosion, three young lives would’ve been in danger
Witnesses claim to have seen the smoke two blocks away.
It’s good to know that there are still people out there who care, like the mechanic in this case.
The car was towed away shortly after the incident.
If you have your car overhauled, be sure to check everything afterwards or if you don’t know about cars, take someone with who does.
No comments:
Post a Comment