Clutching

Another in my list of “interesting” occurrences this morning…

Driving along, coming up to a roundabout just off the dual-carriageway, and I’m planning to turn right so I’m in the outside lane. I put the clutch in as I come to a stop, and can’t change gear. Come to that, I can’t find the clutch pedal either.

Yep – no clutch. The car’s (fortunately) in neutral, but won’t select a new gear at all. In short, it’s fucked. On the outside lane of a (very fast) sliproad.

In short, it quickly involved calling the police – on 999 no less, not something I make a habit of! – followed by the breakdown people, and then my local garage to let them know the car was going to be coming in on a flatbed recovery truck.

Amazingly, in the half-hour it took to get sorted, no-one ran into the back of the car. Not for want of trying – there were at least four bell-ends who came right up to the back of it, ignoring the flashing hazard lights (and the – perhaps slightly more subtle – bloke stood on the verge by the car) and two even honked their horns before realising I wasn’t going anywhere.

I don’t yet know what the damage is, either. It’s at the garage, and I’ve got a courtesy car for the time being. But quite what’s wrong with it isn’t yet clear. Apparently it’s not just a clutch cable – it might be something hydraulic-y, or something called a master cylinder – which certainly doesn’t sound cheap…

Ah well, we’ll see.