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Had my first potentially serious wfp accident today.

Nudel

Well-known member
Messages
1,064
Location
Faroe Islands
So I was cleaning a larger office this morning (needs the Gardiner 47 almost fully extended), when my pole suddenly starts slipping, I try to hold I back but it got dragged out of my hands and slammed in the ground. I stand there for a split second realising the pole is sprinting across the parking lot and my reel unwind at an alarming pace.  :1f632:

Turns out the hose got hooked on a car and it's driving off with it. I recently bolted the reel to the van floor so it would do a lot of damage if it got ripped out. That is in addition to the damage that would happen to the pole if I don't stop the car.

I start running, slips on the ice, smacks on the ground, got up again and run, shout and wave.

At the exit of the parking lot the car stops due to some pedestrians and I shout "stop that car!!" but they just look at me like I'm a weirdo with my belay glasses dangling from my neck.

Luckily at that very moment the hose came to the realisation that it probably wouldn't get a much better life if it left me anyway, and lets go of the car.

I see the car pulling into a parking lot across the road with a blocked rear tire, but I focus on reeling the hose in, and access the damage. It was cold so didn't want to stop the flow and freeze everything up, (it already froze on the windows, but that's another story), and didn't want the hose to get any more bright ideas while I was looking away.

After I reeled in I went over to the car, where the driver was on the phone with a mechanic since the wheel was obviously blocked and thus made the driving comfort less optimal one could say.

I gave my card in case of any liability issues would arise, but the driver wasn't mad at all, just a bit stressed since she was on her way to work across town. I offered to drive her and we had a nice little chat on the way over.

Results?

One broken lever, as far as I know. Easily replaced from my box with spare Gardiner parts.

A bit of a kink in the hose.

A bit beaten up due to the fall.

Pretty shaken up due to everything, happy anything worse didn't happen.

I've had people drive across the hose for years, never any issues. So it must be a combination of the ice and cold making the hose slippery and stiff, as well as a good part of bad luck. I will be much more vigilant in the future.

Any kind or funny words to cheer me up a bit?  :1f910:

 
Nothing in life is without risk mate...just bloody unlucky. Dont let it bring you down


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It happened to me last year when cleaning a block of flats a car went over the hose and got caught.It ripped all the spindle out of an ionics reel and trashed it.Pulled the pole  out my hand but other than the reel no damage.

Driver just untangled hose from her wheel and dumped it on the floor and drove off.

 
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I can’t even imagine how the hose would get caught on the car! The stuff of nightmares. The worst I’ve done is broken a customers plant pot. Scary stuff.


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Sorry to here that mate but how did it get caught in the person's wheel? Did you have a pile of hose in the car park or road you was working on?

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Nothing in life is without risk mate...just unlucky. Dont let it bring you down


Thanks, yeah I shan't let it get to me. 

It happened to me last year when cleaning a block of flats a car went over the hose and got caught.It ripped all the spindle out of an ionics reel and trashed it.Pulled the pole  out my hand but other than the reel no damage.

Driver just untangled hose from her wheel and dumped it on the floor and drove off.


Ouch, that's no good. Was it bolted to the floor of the van?

I can’t even imagine how the hose would get caught on the car! The stuff of nightmares. The worst I’ve done is broken a customers plant pot. Scary stuff.


A nightmare all right, caught me off guard as well.

What a nightmare, you could find out about cctv, maybe get £250 from u been framed. Knock to the confidence tho. Take care


Thanks, but I don't get it?

put the lotto on right away there must of been millions of hoseing getting run over today and you were the one that got caught lol 


Haha, yeah, what are the chances..

Sorry to here that mate but how did it get caught in the person's wheel? Did you have a pile of hose in the car park or road you was working on?


I'm honestly not sure how it happened. Here is an image of the building, I have the upper floor only.

fsf.jpg

I parked closes to the camera, reeled out and started cleaning on the far end of the building, but the water froze so I backpedalled to the car since there were people in those offices so maybe they would have more heat on.

So the hose did loop back on itself, and there was a lot of ice. I guess the hose could have lifted up from the ground since it's not very flexible in the cold, or there could be a chunk of ice where the car went over it. Or the driver turned at the wrong place, or the hose slipped on the ground and didn't stay put.

Anyway, the worst that can happen now is my insurance have to pay for repairing her car. But honestly I don't think anything will come of it.

 
I just meant, what happened to you, sounds like something you would see on the programme, 'youve been framed', n if you got the footage of your scenario n sent it in to program you might be awarded £250, i mean no unthoughtful malice. I feel your pain.

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I just meant, what happened to you, sounds like something you would see on the programme, 'youve been framed', n if you got the footage of your scenario n sent it in to program you might be awarded £250, i mean no unthoughtful malice. I feel your pain.


Ah, that explains it, never heard of that. 

I kind of run my own thing called "you've been cleaned", where I clean a window and send an invoice.  :1f602:

 
Some experience man ! Best to you from here  :2_thumbs_up_-_animated:


Sounds like a nightmare @Nudel. One in a million chance of that happening! Glad you are ok and equipment not too badly damaged though!


Thank you both!

Went back up on the horse and did the customer yesterday. It was still cold, but waited a few hours so the sun hit the glass and had no issues with freezing.

Put a cone in the middle of the main entrance, and wore my hi-vis vest.

Started in the front end and pulled the hose out of the car as I went, that was cumbersome and took some extra time, but glad I did it as the hose did kink in some awkward positions and lifted from the ground when bending back on itself.

I paid close attention to the hose every time someone crossed it, and in some cases it moved 10cm just from a car passing straight over it. So hose on ice is something to look out for in the future.

Apart from having to pack everything together to make space for a delivery truck, it went smoothly.

Take care out there in the cold!

 
Scary stuff mate, I try and avoid crossing roads, car parks, pavements as much as physically possible but accidents happen.

On occasion I'll run my hose across roads etc but always make sure that it's flush and flat to the road, without any kinks and wound tight to the reel.  Every time a car rolls over it it stands its ground so not sure why yours felt the need to hop into a wheel arch!

Glad to hear the driver was understanding and you got away relatively lightly.  Just always be aware of your surroundings :)

 

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