A fella who attempted a de-icing hack on a cold morning ended up with some serious regret after his car reversed and smashed into his neighbour’s garage. You can see how it unfolded here:
Daniel Johnston, 19, had turned his engine on so the heated windscreen would make short work of the frost but he was left in a ‘blind panic’ after it lurched backwards and crunched right into his neighbour’s garage door, causing £750 worth of damage.
CCTV footage caught the moment poor Daniel desperately attempted to grab the wheel to prevent the car from hitting neighbour Nick Langstaff’s garage - but his actions were in vain, as the car finally came to a stop after hitting the door.
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Fortuentaly for Daniel, Nick wasn’t too upset with him and admitted he’d actually done the same thing himself a few years back.
Daniel, from Bingham, Nottingham, said: "I got in late the night before, so I must have put the car in reverse and turned the car off straight after. It's usually always in neutral.
"The car was iced up so I was going to turn my engine on and then go to the boot to get the de-icer and obviously as soon as I turned the key it just reversed.
"My handbrake was up but not fully locked up. Usually if something happens you can push it out of gear, but I was too shocked to react and my hand stayed on my key.
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"I grabbed my steering wheel but I didn't know what I was trying to do. It was just blind panic and it was early in the morning so I was tired.
"The car was two metres inside the garage and I just thought 'what have I done?'. The bang sounded like an explosion.
"I had to go and knock [on Nick's door] straight away, but when they answered they said 'don't worry we already know'.
"They were very understanding and calm about it, I was grateful for that, they're nice people.
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"I knew I'd have to pay up. You have savings for a reason, I guess. I'm going to park on the roads because I don't need to be on the driveway.
"I never start my car [when I'm] outside and make sure it's in neutral. I keep moving the gear stick left to right, left to right."
Daniel's bumper was ripped off in the incident and he was left with a dent in the side of the car, but luckily he had the £400 worth of damage fixed at his work for £120.
Claire Reid