Darwinism in action.

My car knowledge was passed on by my father, and his rule was never, never, never go under a car on a jack alone - use an axle stand, block of wood, spare wheel, etc. Still applies today.

Perhaps even more so, as today's cars are about 50% heavier. On the other hand, so much less is possible to DiY that the need to go under is much rarer ?

I've been there in my younger, more foolish days, when I saw the jack starting to slip while I was under my A35. I managed to get both hands under the car with my elbows on the ground, but I was stuck. Fortunately a couple of blokes passing heard my pleas, managed to take the strain and lift the car just enough for me to crawl out.

Lesson learned!

Along the same Darwinism lines.

I once broke down around mIdnight with a fully loaded car transporter, mechanic came out, car over the cab meant it could only be tilted about a foot, mechanic did this then stuffed his body under the tilted cab to fix the problem, cab probably weighed 3/4ton supported only by the single hydraulic ram used to tilt the cab.

I begged him not to do so and let me nip up top and drop a couple of car securing straps down to hold the cab up, or we'd find a gate post, anything, to prop the cab, but he just poo pooed my objections and i must have aged 10 years whilst he had his body in the guillotine, mainly i was wondering what i was going to say to his widow at the inquest just before they led me away in chains, but short of physically restraining him what could i do, had a smple hydraulic pipe on a million km lorry burst he would have been crushed without a doubt.

I spent several years prior to that in a lorry that had killed a mechanic before it was issued to me, there was always something about that motor, it was also the one i had an eerie bordering on supernatural experience in one night...a regular poster here will recall the vehicle as i believe he investigated the fatal event, some 30 years ago now.

Obviously too young to remember Harry Hewitt getting dedded in similar circumstances in Corrie in 1967.

... I put my jack beside hers to add a second line of support and got my two teenage sons to unbolt the spare wheel from the bonnet, this entailed climbing on the bonnet.

At the very least, it would make better sense to unbolt the wheel before lifting the car ?