Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Anyone who remembers a Jasper Carrot routine in the 70's in which he read out insurance claims, will appreciate the following:

Road risks: falling frozen squirrels, colliding zebra and flying kebabs
Rupert JonesTuesday February 7, 2006The Guardian

A walk on the wild side is one thing, but now motorists are discovering it's a jungle out there. Frozen squirrels, amorous cows and rowdy zebra are among the hazards drivers face on Britain's roads, according to the UK's biggest insurer, Norwich Union, which yesterday revealed that freak incidents involving animals top the list of bizarre motor claims.

The company has compiled a list of the "ten weirdest claims" it received last year, and at the top of the list was: "A frozen squirrel fell out of a tree and crashed through the windscreen on to the passenger seat."
In second place was: "The car was parked, when a reindeer fell on the bonnet." The others were:
"As I was driving round a bend, one of the doors opened and a frozen kebab flew out, hitting and damaging a passing car."
"A herd of cows licked my car and caused damage to the paintwork."
"A zebra collided with my car when I was at a safari park."
"While I was waiting at traffic lights, a wasp went down my trouser leg, which made me hit the accelerator and prang the car in front."
"I couldn't brake because a potato was lodged behind the brake."
"My parked car was hit by a bull which had escaped from an agricultural show."
"A cow jumped on my quad bike."
"As I came over a hill, I hit a cow in the middle of the road, which then hit the bonnet and shattered the windscreen with its rear end" (the cow survived).

Many moons ago, I nearly had a car accident; I jumped into my car after forgetting to do up the laces of my trainers. Unknown to me they were caught in the door, I only discovered this when I tried to move my foot to brake, luckily I looked down, saw what had happened, so I opened the door, freed my foot and broke. I would have hated to send in an insurance claim with that on it.

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