My girlfriend and I were on our way up to a funeral in Sheffield through Chatsworth Park in Derbyshire. I don't know if anyone knows it, but its where the Duke of Devonshire lives, and because royalty have an obsession with wildlife, the park is full of sheep, deer, and game birds, with an unfenced public road winding through the middle of it.
Anyway, we entered the park at about 9.40, and because it was quite early I was taking it slowly because of the amount of wildlife, there's always sheep and birds that run out onto the road unexpectedly. We were almost through the park when a group of pheasants started to run towards the road about 100 yards in front of us. I began to slow down, breaking gently as I wasn't sure if they were going to veer off somewhere else.
They didn't veer off, they kept running towards the road, so I slowed down a little bit more, eventually coming to a stop just in front of the birds. I'd been watching the bloke in his Jaguar XJS behind me in the mirror through the park, and as I came to a stop I heard a massive screech of tyres and then BANG! we were pushed forwards about 30 feet
I managed to de-clutch and let go of the brakes before the impact so it wasn't as bad as it could have been, but its still made a mess of the Polo:
Anyway, the first thing that my girlfriend said was that her neck hurt, so I got out and went to see the driver of the Jag. He got out and said "well thats all I need!" and I agreed with him. He wanted to exchange insurance details and go, but I made him wait while I phoned the police and an ambulance, as by now I was beginning to hurt a bit.
The police attended, breathalysed us etc, all clear. Got his statement and mine, and after about half an hour or so we were able to go. The ambulance came and checked both Jen and me over, but said we're ok on the scene and to get to hospital if things get worse later.
The police have said it was all his fault, he wasn't paying attention to the road or the surroundings (animals etc), and they think he may have been going too fast, based on the 30 feet long skid marks before the point of impact. He even said that its dangerous with animals round there! Have contacted insurance etc, but its definitely going to be a write-off
Here's a few more pics for those morbid people who always want pics!:
Creased N/S and O/S quarters:
The Jag - doesn't look bad but the Polo fought back well! It has creased the bonnet and scuttle, pushed the bumper back into the rad and pushed the rad back:
The scene. Where we ended up:
The skid marks:
I removed the rear bumper and O/S wheel arch and was able to drive the car home! The shell is twisted as it crabs a little bit, but nothing else has been affected, and I'm going to be breaking it, and putting all the parts onto another Mk3
Anyway, will be keeping my eye out over the next couple of weeks for a decent Mk3, and waiting for results on the insurance etc.
I'm just glad I wasn't in the Mini! Its still a bugger though as I'd put so much work into the car to get it right, but I really hope I can get salvage on it and GT another Mk3.
An unhappy Tom.
