Anyone had a narrow escape ??

Wile E Coyote · Post by **Wile E Coyote** » Sat May 19, 2018 3:57 pm

We must all have at some time or other, either on the road or parachuting mishap.
What were yours ?
Not talking about being splashed with hot bacon fat, more the kind of incident when you look back and think "f***** a*****es, that was close "

PaintYorkClaretnBlue · Post by **PaintYorkClaretnBlue** » Sat May 19, 2018 4:02 pm

Doing some electrical work and touched the live wire having forgotten to turn the electric off!

Wile E Coyote · Post by **Wile E Coyote** » Sat May 19, 2018 4:09 pm

PaintYorkClaretnBlue wrote:Doing some electrical work and touched the live wire having forgotten to turn the electric off!

that could have used up one life , I grabbed an old tape recorder once and touched the live connector, agonising pain from electrocution.

ClaretDiver · Post by **ClaretDiver** » Sat May 19, 2018 4:13 pm

A number of years ago I was diving off the coast of Perth and we were at about 17m and a 5m great white came out of the blue, there were 7 of us in the water.

It circled us for about 22 minutes whilst we made our way slowly back to the boat....once we were safely back on we straight away opened a beer.....it could have gone very differently....

WadingInDeeper · Post by **WadingInDeeper** » Sat May 19, 2018 4:14 pm

PaintYorkClaretnBlue wrote:Doing some electrical work and touched the live wire having forgotten to turn the electric off!

Been there done that, old wiring with no trip swith, I will never make that mistake again.

Breathed in water in a swimming pool and couldn't breathe.

Couple of times in the car which have shaken me up, the worst being an ambulance on the wrong side of the road, around a bend, on a country road.

Devils_Advocate · Post by **Devils_Advocate** » Sat May 19, 2018 4:16 pm

Wile E Coyote wrote:that could have used up one life , I grabbed an old tape recorder once and touched the live connector, agonising pain from electrocution.

I'd bet you got dropped on your head a few times as a baby judging by your inane ramblings on here

Caballo · Post by **Caballo** » Sat May 19, 2018 4:25 pm

Was on a 747 on the way back from Aus in the early 80s, it altered course to go around an ash cloud from an erupting volcano (might have been Java?). Anyway it didn't go far enough, resulting in the engines stalling and it plummeting several thousand feet, masks out of the ceiling, praying passengers the full hit! The pilot put it into a dive and cleared the engines of dust and restarted them. It was quite exciting!!

Cajun · Post by **Cajun** » Sat May 19, 2018 4:29 pm

Started sliding off a wet rock doing a mountain rescue course in Snowdonia - Had that split-second thought of "I'm going" -- not sure how I found a saving toe hold.

Tribesmen · Post by **Tribesmen** » Sat May 19, 2018 4:32 pm

Camping in Northern Italy , storm that night was bad then heard a cracking noise and a huge branch of the tree went through the tent i shot up put my hands on my head and the branch made crap of of my tent just missing me , now if i didn't wake up i was gone for sure . Hey dragged my sleeping bag and stayed in the concrete toilets for the rest of the night .

IanMcL · Post by **IanMcL** » Sat May 19, 2018 4:42 pm

Stuck in snow near the top of St Gotthard mountain in the Alps. I was a boy. Dad decides to turn back. Got stuck in turning. Decides to push car out of snow. Mum front passenger seat, me in back. Dad pushes. Car slides forward towards unbarriered edge of mountain. Just stops. All I can see is the drop, no road.

Iceland crossing through the mountains. Crossed one of many rivers. Dead end. Turned back. Could not remember the safe point. Drove through and whole of Ford camper front disappears down a ridge and under water.Miles from anywhere. Kept revving, hoping engine would not stall. Inside flooded. In a sudden change from down to up, the vehicle front reappeared into the air. Phew!

JarrowClaret · Post by **JarrowClaret** » Sat May 19, 2018 4:44 pm

Fell off the top of a 3 stories building and landed on some iron railings. It would seem the iron railings saved my life as they buckled and sort of acted like a mattress to break my fall. If I had hit the concrete first I doubt I would be here today as they wouldn’t have buckled.

I guess I was lucky on 2 fronts 1 that I landed on the iron railings and 2 that they didn’t break up and stake me.

gawthorpe_view · Post by **gawthorpe_view** » Sat May 19, 2018 5:03 pm

I could have been born in Blackburn.

bfcjg · Post by **bfcjg** » Sat May 19, 2018 5:11 pm

Looking at some specialist remedial work on a building site a number of years ago where a new building connected to an existing building something just didn't feelright so cleared part of site and got scaffold emptied just then building collapsed.

JarrowClaret · Post by **JarrowClaret** » Sat May 19, 2018 5:35 pm

Not really about me but i was there and it was a massive near miss.

During the Iraq invasion I was with the main British headquarters and we set up the HQ a few miles inside the Iraq border. I noticed a few clips around the place but thought nothing of it anyway later that night we were eating some food when we heard an almighty explosion. We obviously reacted as if we were under attack. It turns out one of the Engineer diggers that was building the earth berms around us for protection had had its bucket blown off by something it. After a bit it was realised that the whole area was littered with unexploded cluster bombs left behind by US/UK jets it would seem the clips noticed were the ones that kept the bombs in place. We had to move rapidly after that, it could’ve Been a huge own goal if anyone had kicked one. We were all very lucky that day. I’m sure there are many more exciting war stories of near shaves that the other Ex/Soldiers on here could tell.

happyclaret17 · Post by **happyclaret17** » Sat May 19, 2018 5:36 pm

stopped to turn right at a roundabout on my cycle....old lady in car behind me didnt see me ( unbelieavably ) and came past me at 30 miles an hour.....her car hit my chain block and it broke off and fell to floor....to this day I dont know how she missed my leg at least.

GodIsADeeJay81 · Post by **GodIsADeeJay81** » Sat May 19, 2018 5:43 pm

2003 ish, out in my Pug 205 GTI, on a twisty country road, about 9pm at night..

Audi appears in front of me, right in the middle of the road.
I swore, pulled my steering wheel to the left and went up the embankment.
At some point I apparently also unbuckled my seat belt and was half out of my seat and half on my mates lap in the passenger seat...

We've never understood why we weren't hit by the Audi, because he was almost certainly going fast enough to kill either me or both of us if he'd hit my car.

Had a few other near misses whilst driving but that's the one where I honestly expected to die.

Rick_Muller · Post by **Rick_Muller** » Sat May 19, 2018 6:08 pm

Caballo wrote:Was on a 747 on the way back from Aus in the early 80s, it altered course to go around an ash cloud from an erupting volcano (might have been Java?). Anyway it didn't go far enough, resulting in the engines stalling and it plummeting several thousand feet, masks out of the ceiling, praying passengers the full hit! The pilot put it into a dive and cleared the engines of dust and restarted them. It was quite exciting!!

F#CK THAT...!!!

Rick_Muller · Post by **Rick_Muller** » Sat May 19, 2018 6:14 pm

I declined the invite on Christmas Eve 1988 to go drinking with some mates in Marlborough (we were in Swindon). I didn’t feel too well and decided not to go. All but one died after hitting a tree and the car bursting into a fireball. The one who survived only did so by being thrown through the passenger window because he didn’t have a seatbelt on.

I raise a glass to them every Christmas Eve

BennyD · Post by **BennyD** » Sat May 19, 2018 6:23 pm

Whilst an RAF instructor on Bulldogs I was on a low level navex on the way down south. As we approached Birdlip hill to the east of Gloucester I gave the student the option of staying at low level, pulling up at the ridge and accepting a timing error or climbing at full power to maintain ground speed. He couldn’t decide so I told him to climb at full power to make life easier for him. As we started to climb, a Tornado GR1 (fighter bomber) passed directly under us and to this day I don’t know how we even missed his tail fin. He came from our 7 O’clock and he was most probably ‘heads down’, but it’s the only time I’ve heard another aircraft so loud it made me jump while I’ve had a flying helmet on. Happy days!

wilks_bfc · Post by **wilks_bfc** » Sat May 19, 2018 6:26 pm

When I was aged 8/9 (maybe younger) we had a holiday in Weston Super Mare

Went to a water park and went down the wrong slide and ended in the big pool.
Lifeguard had to dive in and rescue me. Ever since I’ve been nervous in pools, even though I can swim

Croydon Claret · Post by **Croydon Claret** » Sat May 19, 2018 6:39 pm

BennyD wrote:Whilst an RAF instructor on Bulldogs I was on a low level navex on the way down south. As we approached Birdlip hill to the east of Gloucester I gave the student the option of staying at low level, pulling up at the ridge and accepting a timing error or climbing at full power to maintain ground speed. He couldn’t decide so I told him to climb at full power to make life easier for him. As we started to climb, a Tornado GR1 (fighter bomber) passed directly under us and to this day I don’t know how we even missed his tail fin. He came from our 7 O’clock and he was most probably ‘heads down’, but it’s the only time I’ve heard another aircraft so loud it made me jump while I’ve had a flying helmet on. Happy days!

Is it deemed as 50/50 in those circumstances i.e. both pilots should share responsibility for checking the coast is clear? Or, as the much faster plane, should the Tornado take more responsibility for avoiding others?

Wish I'd done my aviation exams now

Croydon Claret · Post by **Croydon Claret** » Sat May 19, 2018 6:41 pm

When rovers got knocked out of Europe by Trelleborg I set out to hang an "Official language Swedish" sign from a road sign between Read and the lights at the junction with the Padiham by pass, sometime in the evening when it was dark.

As I was attaching it a huge amount of cars came past and I started to feel a little conspicuous so thought it would be a good idea to jump over the 2 foot wall next to the pavement and hide until the traffic had passed.

Little did I know that it was actually a bridge. I soon found out this fact as instead of landing on the other side of the wall I found myself flying through the air in total darkness, not knowing how far I had to fall before I hit the bottom

Fortunately the ground that I hit was sloping, which cushioned the fall. Had it been flat then I have no doubt that I would have been killed. Unfortunately it was sloping to such an extent that I slid down the bank for a while and then dropped about 4 feet into a river at the bottom.

Managed to scrabble my way back to the road with my back cut to shreds, my pockets filled with soil, and soaking shoes

All in all, a grand day out. Never again

BennyD · Post by **BennyD** » Sat May 19, 2018 6:47 pm

Croydon Claret wrote:Is it deemed as 50/50 in those circumstances i.e. both pilots should share responsibility for checking the coast is clear? Or, as the much faster plane, should the Tornado take more responsibility for avoiding others?

Wish I'd done my aviation exams now

In the Low Flying Areas all aircraft are responsible for their own lookout so I guess it would have been a 50/50, but it wouldn’t really have mattered if he had hit us. It was just “one of those things”.

Croydon Claret · Post by **Croydon Claret** » Sat May 19, 2018 6:53 pm

BennyD wrote:In the Low Flying Areas all aircraft are responsible for their own lookout so I guess it would have been a 50/50, but it wouldn’t really have mattered if he had hit us. It was just “one of those things”.

Thanks

Great story. The only regret of my life, having had diabetes since I was 2, is that I couldn't join the RAF

BennyD · Post by **BennyD** » Sat May 19, 2018 6:56 pm

I have to say I had a great time and did my 16 years. It’s a pity you couldn’t have experienced the ‘good old days’ of the RAF, it was a great organisation to be a part of.

Wile E Coyote · Post by **Wile E Coyote** » Sat May 19, 2018 7:38 pm

Devils_Advocate wrote:I'd bet you got dropped on your head a few times as a baby judging by your inane ramblings on here

shut up you vaccuous ponce, at least I post views and opinions rather than jumping aboard like an irritant flea . You unoriginal clown.

Burnley1989 · Post by **Burnley1989** » Sat May 19, 2018 8:07 pm

As an Engineer I got pulled into a machine & probably would have had my arm pulled off, shoulder & elbow came out but thankfully the E-stop was hit before I was swollowed up

Been hit my cars, had car crashes, fallen off roofs, fallen in canals drunk, it’s a miracle I’m still here! Now I’ve children I’ve thankfully rained myself in

Hipper · Post by **Hipper** » Sat May 19, 2018 8:07 pm

I was emptying garden waste from an open back van at a recycling centre. Amongst the material were some tree stakes with pointed ends. I had put the three sides of the van down and as I steeped back the van floor was not there and I fell backwards onto the garden waste. Fortunately I didn't land on the pointed end of one of the tree stakes!

I was refereeing a football match on a large open space when the sky came over very cloudy and that strange colour and feel that indicates a thunderstorm. Sure enough that's what we got and at one point I felt a 'fzzzz' in my long hair and thought 'f..k this', told the players I was going back to the changing rooms and advised they to do so as well. They didn't and carried on playing. Nothing happened to them and when the lightning had stopped I came back out and continued refereeing! I didn't care what they thought of me - my safety is my priority in those circumstances and if they don't care for themselves that's their problem.

Hipper · Post by **Hipper** » Sat May 19, 2018 8:13 pm

Caballo wrote:Was on a 747 on the way back from Aus in the early 80s, it altered course to go around an ash cloud from an erupting volcano (might have been Java?). Anyway it didn't go far enough, resulting in the engines stalling and it plummeting several thousand feet, masks out of the ceiling, praying passengers the full hit! The pilot put it into a dive and cleared the engines of dust and restarted them. It was quite exciting!!

Is this it?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_A ... r_incident" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I remember reading about it but didn't think it was so long ago.

dpinsussex · Post by **dpinsussex** » Sat May 19, 2018 8:16 pm

Was on a train commuting back from Euston to Preston. Then changing to accy. Got off at Preston. Train crashed north of Preston killing loads. Didn't know till mate from London messaged to see if I was alright.

Vintage Claret · Post by **Vintage Claret** » Sat May 19, 2018 9:09 pm

In Berlin just before Xmas last year with Mrs Vintage Claret.

We'd had a few drinks at an Xmas market, were a bit merry but not drunk, walking back to hotel, crossed a road, completely forgot they drive on the right in Germany, looked the wrong way and missed stepping out in front of a coach doing 40-50 mph by about 2 seconds, pretty sure if I had have done I wouldn't be typing this.

MACCA · Post by **MACCA** » Sat May 19, 2018 9:39 pm

Yeah....
Natural Landscapes of Todmorden could have caused serious injury to several children due to their incompetence.

Help Lancashire avoid becoming victims, and avoid this fraudster!

ClaretEngineer · Post by **ClaretEngineer** » Sat May 19, 2018 10:17 pm

Croydon Claret wrote:Thanks

Great story. The only regret of my life, having had diabetes since I was 2, is that I couldn't join the RAF

Folk always say you shouldn’t have regrets.

My one regret when I come to the end will be that I didn’t join the RAF.

I once looked down the barrel of an air rifle and for whatever reason decided to pull the trigger. Luckily if readjusted my head to see the trigger and I’m doing so lit a hole in the ceiling rather than my face.

Less interesting but had a profound effect on me, was decling the chance of a job offer to work for a friend. For me that was a proper near miss. He’s a right ******.

piston broke · Post by **piston broke** » Sat May 19, 2018 10:25 pm

One of the reasons I left the UK was the number of near misses I had whilst out cycling. Including being pushed off, deliberately, by a pillion passenger when climbing Manchester Rd. There really are some arseholes out there.
My scariest was in training for the Fire Service. I volunteered to crawl through a 5m concrete pipe filled with foam. No BA set on I set off confidently but in the middle I started flagging and was trying to pop bubbles to get some air. Hopeless. Finally I got my head down and powered on. I’ve never been so relieved as when I emerged.

SammyBoy · Post by **SammyBoy** » Sat May 19, 2018 11:15 pm

In my younger days (4 years ago

) me and my friends were on a road trip up the east coast of the US (Miami to Virginia Beach) and I was doing 130mph in a Mustang on the Florida Turnpike. After dangerously undertaking somebody the offside rear wheel skidded off the highway into the dirt embankment and I temporarily lost control of the car, it was pure luck that I didn't total the vehicle and kill us all. A few hundred miles later I was pulled over near a one horse town in South Carolina for speeding and was given a $185 fine and a bollocking, he officially clocked me doing 79mph in a 60mph zone, although I'm convinced massaged the numbers to avoid arresting me. Looking back with a more mature outlook it makes me feel a bit sick how reckless I was, partly due to nearly killing myself and my mates and partly because I don't think I'd have fared very well in a US jail.

Oshkoshclaret · Post by **Oshkoshclaret** » Sun May 20, 2018 6:11 am

Has it crossed your mind that, in fact, you died and everything since then has happened in an alternate reality?

ClaretDiver · Post by **ClaretDiver** » Sun May 20, 2018 6:52 am

The only other time that I had a very big near miss was with the Tsunami in Phi Phi in 2004. Me and 3 mates had been going there every Christmas for the previous 3 years.

We were about to book tickets for 2004 but my mum guilt tripped me into going home for the first Christmas in 4 years...I lost all 3 mates in the Tsuami....to think I should have been their. I felt guilt for a long time after that...

LeadBelly · Post by **LeadBelly** » Sun May 20, 2018 7:58 am

I've had a couple of very near things + a few other dangerous scrapes that I won't recount but the post above by Oshcosh rings a bell with me: "Has it crossed your mind that, in fact, you died and everything since then has happened in an alternate reality?
Couple of times immediately after the near things, I've thought just that because I couldnt quite believe I'd managed to survive.

Lord Beamish · Post by **Lord Beamish** » Sun May 20, 2018 8:16 am

I was sat in a pub in rural Wiltshire, having a quiet drink with Lady Beamish when, who should walk through the door but Ablueclaret. As he looked around I casually zipped up my jacket to hide my Burnley shirt. That was a close shave. As it happens, the Landlord came over and kicked him out. He’d been barred the week before for some infraction of the pub’s rules about annoying other patrons.

Lowbankclaret · Post by **Lowbankclaret** » Sun May 20, 2018 9:13 am

Think it was winter of 1991. Travelling took from waterfoot to Burnley.
You go up through Lumb etc. Turn down pass what now a tip dut was Ford Quarries. There’s a long left hand with the lay-by, it winter and 3:30 in the afternoon and dry. Wet mud from the quarry wagons had frozen. I was in my pride and joy MGBGT, back immediately steps out and I do a controlled slide nearly all the way round corner until the rear wheels go onto the other side of road, my left front had been on the grass until then. The other side of the road is dry and rears grip immediately spinning me about 180 degrees. I looked over my shoulder and thought, “this is how it ends”. I knew it went down about 200 ft. The car bounced a few times and end on it roof sliding down the hill, I still remember the sound of the roof buckling with head touching it. I was just hoping it would stop which it did. I opened drivers door, benefit of no door top as the roof was caved in.
I walked to the top of the hill and sat and contemplated my life so far and how I got out with out a scratch. The car had gone down about 50 feet before it stopped. The day after my ribs were sore , I realised the radio had shot out and hit me.

That evening my long term fiancée of 7 years decided to dump me.

That led to some dark days over the next year, but eventually I saw them both as lucky eascapes

Amex · Post by **Amex** » Sun May 20, 2018 9:56 am

Two...... first while working in a GRP pipe 1.2 m dia 50 m from access point some bright spark decided to open a valve, the rush of air hits you first at that point we ran, managed to get to ladder hung on and climbed out...

Second was in New Z while white water rafting a Dutch lad had only a moment ago splashed water at a Maori resting place taking the Pi$$ then the boat tipped up on ( what the boat man said has never happened before at that rapid) ended up like being in a washing machine it was all going very very calm when I felt a hand drag me back in the boat! Very very spooky.

If I was a cat I would be down to 7

claretabroad · Post by **claretabroad** » Sun May 20, 2018 10:07 am

I was half way up a grain silo when both my hands decided to come out of the work gloves supplied by the company. I fell backwards off the ladder and landed flat on my back. It was quite a fall and I was lying there a bit winded but generally ok when I looked around. 3 inches to either side of me were several huge metal spikes sticking out of the ground. I should have been impaled.

1fatclaret · Post by **1fatclaret** » Sun May 20, 2018 10:27 am

Coming to the end of some roadworks on the M6, I was alongside a HGV. The sun was quite low and in front of us. The lane markings had been taken off and temporary ones put in their place, but they hadn't done a great job of it so the HGV, instead of bending round to the left, went straight on, wedging me against the central reservation. I couldn't brake because there was a car right behind me, so I hammered on my horn and tried to accelerate past him.

Fortunately the solid central reservation had a gap with just cones, so I wiped out about 50 of them, got the car back under control and then myself and the HGV driver pulled over.

We were both physically shaking. It wasn't anyone's fault but we both knew that I'd just been quite close to pegging out. Never wore those undies again.

bfcjg · Post by **bfcjg** » Sun May 20, 2018 10:37 am

Nobody dated Sarah Ferguson ?

jdrobbo · Post by **jdrobbo** » Sun May 20, 2018 10:43 am

My Grandad was a painter and decorator, who was called up to serve in WW2. In short, one evening, he was instructed that he would be one of twelve soldiers to ‘go over the top’ and make advances on the opposition the following morning. Overnight my grandad became chronically ill (he was ill for several days) and being unable to walk, another man was drafted in to the operation. None of the twelve returned!

box_of_frogs · Post by **box_of_frogs** » Sun May 20, 2018 12:26 pm

1. Iraq, 2003. US Vehicle, no lights, travelling about 60 MPH swerved and managed to avoid me, sat in the front of an unarmoured landrover WMIK, going about 40 MPH the other direction. I was 'raised' in the Commanders seat, and would've been thrown for miles never mind whatever would've happened to the 2 x loaded and made ready guns in mine / the top cover's hands.

2. Afghanistan 2006. US Predator wrongly thought me and my team were an insurgent rocket team. Through our night vision goggles we could see his targeting laser pinging us. Not amusing..........

bfcmartin · Post by **bfcmartin** » Sun May 20, 2018 1:26 pm

I was at Ewood Park in 1983 when the roof fell in

MG70 · Post by **MG70** » Sun May 20, 2018 1:51 pm

My mate was giving me a lift home in his British racing green Morris marina coupe. He was going a bit too fast when he turned up queen Victoria road, he hit the island where the bus stop is and bounced across the road. We hit the concrete light pole on my side of the car, it tetered for what seemed like an age before it fell the other way. I didn't think too much of it at the time as I was only 17, but I would have been a goner if it had fell on the car.

NRC · Post by **NRC** » Sun May 20, 2018 5:26 pm

Some good stories here. I’ve got three - and I don’t move out of my seat anymore as I think I’ve used them all up.

I flew on the British Airtours flight 28M exactly that flight, one week earlier. Hotel room next to us was reserved for some poor people on that flight. Was it around 50-60 that dies of smoke inhalation?

Second one I was driving in Derbyshire on the A6. Very straight section. I was doing 70. In front of me, half a mile up the road a tractor pulling a trailer full of straw. I pulled out to overtake him, and just as I got to his tail he turned right into a gated entrance on his farm. I pushed his tractor and trailer down the road. I wasn’t wearing a seat belt and I hit a tractor while doing 70 mph. Next car on the scene remarkable had a medic driving. I got away with a couple of stitches above my eye.

Third one was it was a tradition of me and ex-MrsNRC to go diving in Thailand at Xmas and specifically Boxing Day. She was pregnant with my daughter the year of the tsunami, and we didn’t go, otherwise we would have been in the water when it hit. I lost about 6 friends in that event.

Paul Waine · Post by **Paul Waine** » Sun May 20, 2018 6:13 pm

Was going to post something on this thread, then thought better of it.

Phew! That was a "narrow escape."