To the best of my recollection I'm rarely tailgated by a Fiesta whilst ambling about in my pensionerwagen. So I'm surprised to hear this, although as alluded to above, there's clearly a link between the numbers of Fiestas on the road, and the number of accidents.

From my experience I'd have thought Audis were more likely to be the ones to give a wide berth, and there seem to be plenty of them on the road. Many drivers of Audis, particularly big ones, do that thing where they grip the wheel with one hand on the top, and sit slightly to one side as if anticipating that at any moment they'll be required to negotiate an Alpine pass at breakneck speed.

They even do this in B and Q car parks, so their names are more than likely Lewis.

I would say that Audi drivers do have a 'reputation', even if it is generalising, for more agressive driving and posing. Beemers do also, and I've seen on many occasions them having to literally force their way onto roads (especially from motorway slip-ons and roundabouts) because other drivers think - I'm not letting that smug Audi driver on (especially if the barrelled up to the junction thinking they could just pull into the traffic without being let in or enough (safe) space to do so.

As such, I've seen lots of bumps and scrapes involving these 'premium' performance types of car, including older ones, owned by people who can't afford to maintain them. Not helped as well by many owners buying the cars for the image and not having the skills to handle the extra power, even in supermarket car parks.

Whilst I agree that the 30yo John driving a Fiesta is just as likely because of the popularity of the car and the name, the age range certainly fits. An ex-colleague, admitedly somewhat younger (early) 20s driving that very car had a 'wonderful' (we all laughed at the time) accident leaving our work car park - he obviously wasn't concentrating and drove straight into the back of a van waiting at the slip-on to the main road, writing his car off as it was 10+ years old and not economic to fix.

He was lucky not to be involved in accidents beforehand, thinking that 90mph on the local dual carriageway was perfectly acceptable, even in the rush hour. At that age, people often don't think of 'leaving 5 minutes earlier' and driving at/below the speed limit as the conditions allow. They eventually learn (most do anyway), though sometimes the hard way. Two of my fellow sixth-formers at school sadly found out that way after their actions killed their passengers. Both in the St. Albans area too.