What a tool!

Today's picture is of Marty, my mx-5, stranded on the M1...

I had to rush to Barnsley and back - and I knew that I was low on fuel - but thought that I must be OK as the light hadn't yet come on...

So there I was, overtaking in the fast lane when I lost all power... After the initial panic, I moved over to the slow lane (which was a feat in itself as people would seemingly undertake than let you over) and stopped on the hard shoulder...

I phoned for recovery and was promised that I'd be sent a recovery truck and some petrol. A fella from 'Roy's Autos' rocked up with an impressive HGV tow truck - but no petrol as, in our heath and safety gone mad world, they're not allowed to carry any...

The solution was to hoist Marty up onto the back and drive me to a petrol station... We drove onto the forecourt and my rescuer climbed onto the recovery truck, I passed him the pump and we put in a bit of fuel... He then tested the engine, which fired remarkably quickly, to prove it was just fuel, and then filled the car to the brim for me... I paid for the fuel and then he drove me round the block to somewhere safe to deposit me and Marty...

Overall, a bit of a pain - and I felt like a complete tool for running out of fuel - but no harm done and I did get to ride in an HGV which was seriously exciting...

On getting home, I spent a while on Google and discovered why the light never came on to tell me I was low on fuel... I don't have one - mazda only fitted them to the mx-5 from September 2002 - and my car was earlier than that...

A mistake not to repeat!