I have just returned from a multi-day trip in the Aviemore area. The car (LR Defender) was left by the river near the Rothiemurchus road bridge with other cars in quite a busy place.
On my return the car seemed to be driving strangely and after 500 yards I stopped to get fuel anyway. To my horror I noticed that three of the five wheel bolts in the front near-side wheel had fallen out completely and the two remaining were finger-loose (no locking wheel nut on that wheel for some reason, one on all the others) Another 200 yards and I reckon the wheel would have come off and, if I had got as far as the A9 by that time, it could have caused a major accident.
I reported the incident to the police, who seemed convinced that the wheel had just come loose by itself, which I find a bit bizarre, since the other three wheels were as tight as a nut and in thirty years of driving I have never had a wheel come loose (always re-tighten after a tyre change etc). There was nothing in the car's recent history to provoke a wheel coming off by itself.
So that leaves me with two theories :
1) Someone tried to steal the wheel while I was away, got as far as loosening the bolts, was disturbed and ran off leaving the wheel loose (thereby potentially causing a potentially fatal accident). The problem with this theory is that the spare on the back had no locking wheel nuts either, would have been far easier to steal, but was ignored.
2) Someone in the area thinks it's a fun prank to loosen wheel nuts on random parked cars (thereby potentially causing a potentially fatal accident)
I think it means walkers and canoeists returning to their cars at Aviemore, or anywhere in the area, need to check that all their wheels are tight before driving off, and always have locking wheel nuts.
It seems there are scumbags everywhere these days unfortunately.
On my return the car seemed to be driving strangely and after 500 yards I stopped to get fuel anyway. To my horror I noticed that three of the five wheel bolts in the front near-side wheel had fallen out completely and the two remaining were finger-loose (no locking wheel nut on that wheel for some reason, one on all the others) Another 200 yards and I reckon the wheel would have come off and, if I had got as far as the A9 by that time, it could have caused a major accident.
I reported the incident to the police, who seemed convinced that the wheel had just come loose by itself, which I find a bit bizarre, since the other three wheels were as tight as a nut and in thirty years of driving I have never had a wheel come loose (always re-tighten after a tyre change etc). There was nothing in the car's recent history to provoke a wheel coming off by itself.
So that leaves me with two theories :
1) Someone tried to steal the wheel while I was away, got as far as loosening the bolts, was disturbed and ran off leaving the wheel loose (thereby potentially causing a potentially fatal accident). The problem with this theory is that the spare on the back had no locking wheel nuts either, would have been far easier to steal, but was ignored.
2) Someone in the area thinks it's a fun prank to loosen wheel nuts on random parked cars (thereby potentially causing a potentially fatal accident)
I think it means walkers and canoeists returning to their cars at Aviemore, or anywhere in the area, need to check that all their wheels are tight before driving off, and always have locking wheel nuts.
It seems there are scumbags everywhere these days unfortunately.
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