A True Story that Hurt Like Hell

As you may have already guessed I am Mechanic, so what goes hand in hand with being a Mechanic are the day to day hazards of the job, and believe me when I say there are lots.

This true story began many years ago when I was in my early 20’s, I had already completed what seemed to be a lifetime of an apprenticeship and passed all my exams and all the other crap that goes with it to become a “qualified mechanic”.

During my training and carrying on into the job properly learning as you go along, you find good and bad ways to work but safety is without a doubt one thing you really can’t cut corners on.

So when I went to work on this cold and frosty morning I had my normal work clothes and Safety Boots (steel toe caps), and there lays the clue to my injury or does it!.

I ended up that day working on a Rover 3.5, this was parked on a lift at a nice working height and all was fine and safe, wheel chocks in place and hand brake on etc etc no problem there.

The car had been in for a full respray and looked like new, resprays were not our normal thing but it all paid the wages, anyway the final job I had to do was simply re fit the front number plate, sounds simple and it really was.

However on this particular vehicle the front number plate was of the metal type not like these days when they are all made of plastic, so this number plate was fixed to a piece of angle iron about 60 cm long that bolted to the front of the car, great I thought 2 bolts and job done.

2 Bolts only, even a monkey could fit it each bolt went through the very ends of the angle iron, so first I slotted one bolt through its fixing and then located the angle iron with number plate attached.

So far so good, all I have to do is now fit 1 nut while holding the thing in position, no problem but wait where have I put the nut ?, ohhh there it is just out of reach, easy I thought I can just slot the second bolt through the other end and leave it sitting there while I retrieve the Nuts.

I had in my mind this simple job, fit 2 bolts and get on with my day, and yes I did slot the second bolt into the bracket and angle iron and yes it did sit there without falling off until I moved to pick up the nuts.

As I turned my back for a few seconds the Angle iron fell off one bolt and swung down like a pendulum, within a second or 2 it came off the other bolt and plummeted to the ground, a bit like a javelin but at a much slower pace.

All must be ok!! because even if it hit my foot I have my “safety boots on, steel toe caps and all, well when the thing hit my foot I felt a pain like being shot (and yes I have been shot but that’s another story).

The sharpest corner of the bloody angle iron had pierced my boot and gone straight through just missing the back of the steel toe cap, not only had it punctured my foot but it had also broken my toe.

I didn’t realise how bad this was until I tried walking about while swearing profanities at the car, the number plate, the angle iron, the bolts and nuts and my stupid self.

The moral of the story is “SAFETY FIRST” but still doesn’t always work specially when your a monkey like me.