Skip to main content

Holiday surprise

A German couple arriving back in the city of Düsseldorf after a vacation had an unwelcome surprise with the car service they had arranged to pick them up from the airport. The vehicle that arrived to ferry them back to the car park where they had left their car was in fact their own, and they were understandably less than pleased. The car owners immediately looked at the odometer, which revealed an unwelcome truth. During their holiday break the car had been used to shuttle numerous passengers between the,
December 13, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
A German couple arriving back in the city of Düsseldorf after a vacation had an unwelcome surprise with the car service they had arranged to pick them up from the airport. The vehicle that arrived to ferry them back to the car park where they had left their car was in fact their own, and they were understandably less than pleased. The car owners immediately looked at the odometer, which revealed an unwelcome truth. During their holiday break the car had been used to shuttle numerous passengers between the, supposedly, secure car park and the airport terminal. So often had the car been used on this comparatively short journey, it had clocked up over 400km. It has not been reported how the parking company compensated the couple for the unauthorised (and illegal) use of the car. But it seems likely that the next time the couple fly away on a vacation break they will use other transport means to travel to and from Düsseldorf airport.

Related Content

  • The Lessons of the Genoa bridge collapse
    April 23, 2019
    The partial collapse of the Polcevera viaduct, better known as the Morandi Bridge, has prompted debate regarding the technical and administrative aspects of maintaining road infrastructures. We discussed it with the engineer Gabriele Camomilla, former Director of Research and Maintenance of the Società Autostrade, who coordinated the only major structural intervention performed on the bridge, carried out in the early 1990s
  • Paid in full
    November 20, 2014
    An American man living in Phoenix, Arizona has finally paid an overdue parking fine, which he was first given in 1964. The man had parked his Vespa scooter illegally while on holiday in Italy. His fine had been set at 1,000 Lire, roughly US$13, for parking the scooter incorrectly while visiting the town of Lerici as a student.
  • Easing temporary highway danger
    February 22, 2013
    Some of the latest speedometer technology has been successfully trialled in French highway work zones, while tireless work continues across Europe and the United States to reduce the number of work zone deaths and serious injuries involving road workers and motorists. Guy Woodford reports The number of roadworkers being killed and seriously injured on England’s motorways and major trunk roads more than doubled between 2007 and 2010 – from no deaths and 14 serious injuries. This rise has led to to major camp
  • Testing: new tech, old problems and business moves
    August 21, 2020
    In this issue’s materials testing news, there’s a glimpse of how artificial intelligence could improve quality and efficiency in concrete construction, we look at what works best for fixing cracks and two established equipment manufacturers change hands.