Townie`s

CHAPTER 33

TOWNIE’S

1980`s

It was a Saturday.

Just an ordinary Saturday in Bridgend town.

Myself and Wobble had just been down into the town having a couple of pints in the Victoria pub in Adare street and then in the York tavern in Wyndham street.

This was something we did on a regular basis, when we had nothing planed or were not working the weekend.

Wobble was now living in Brackla which was a large brand-new private housing estate, a couple of miles on the outskirts of Bridgend town.

Normally we would walk into town and on the way down we would pop into the bike shops as we passed them just for a chat, and see what was new in the biking world, and then maybe we would grab a bag of chips from the ranch on Nolton street or the Windsor chippy in Queen street before heading for a couple of beers in one of the many pubs that are dotted around town.

We would spend a couple of hours not really drinking much just chatting, and enjoying the company and chilling with a weekend off from work.

When we were ready we would slowly make our way back to wobble's house, and get sorted for whatever we intended doing in the evening

( Photo 1 ) . Brackla street, where the accident happened, myself and wobble were standing on the pavement on the right side of the photo near to the green electrical box, this photo was taken in 2018, nothing much has changed, another grey day in Wales again from the look of it.

Accident

On this particular Saturday, around 13:00 – 14:00 we were walking up the hill on Brackla street with the kings head pub behind us, we were walking up towards Drones nightclub, from there we would turn right down Tremains road then head towards wobbles house in Brackla.

We were just about to cross over at the junction right outside the large Bridgend police station, and then we heard this very loud scrapping noise coming up the road behind us.

We looked around to see what the noise was, and there approaching us was a light blue Austin Allegro with the front driver side wheel rim creating a shower of sparks as it grinned its way up the road tearing a deep grove into the tarmac surface as it went.

This was the noise that we had heard.

As we watched this car carving a long grove in the road, we could see that there was a gauge all the way down the road behind the vehicle, this car had been drive some distance before it came to us with only three wheels.

It approached the junction that we were about to cross over, we stopped where we were and watch it slowly tear up the road.

The car was close enough for me to see two women sitting in the front seats of the car, and from the look of them they were around 50 plus years of age.

We could also hear a bike coming down the hill behind us and the car started to turn right in front of the on-coming biker.

The car driver kept coming, the car turned half cross the road blocking the path of the on-coming bike, the driver was ignoring the biker who was almost on top of her, the driver crossed over the white line on the wrong side of the road, right in front of the path of the youngster riding the off-road bike.

The biker had no hope of avoiding the car, he was to close and the car blocked his way completely.

So the inevitable happened.

The biker and the bike bounced off the passenger side wing of the car and carried on down the wrong side of the road on its side with the rider following close by behind the bike.

The car diver stopped the car after the impact, she didn’t seem to care that the car was in the middle of the road straddling the white lines or aware of what she had just done.

We watched the bike, and the young biker slid to a stop, all this happened in seconds.

The curb of the pavement helped to kill the momentum of the bike, and the bike hit the curb wheels first, and lurched up slightly and then dropped down with a crunch and stayed there stopping dead, the biker then slid into the tank and seat as the bike lay on its side, which must have saved him some injuries, better hitting the bike then the curb, I know that from experience.

I and wobble rushed across the road to see how the biker fared after his crash.

As we approached him, he instantly got up onto his feet, and limped to the curbside and kind of fell over onto the pavement, very slowly.

I went straight to the downed biker, and wobble headed straight for the bike, wobble picked the bike up off the road in one motion, in attempt to stop it leaking petrol over the road, the bike was still running, so he pulled the clutch in and quickly flicked the side stand out and switched the ignition off.

I knelt down by the biker and said “ Don’t move, just stay there, don’t try and get up “.

I could see he was very confused by what just happened and said “ what the fuck was that, what happened “ .

I replied “ that stupid woman pulled right across in front of you, blind bitch “.

I said “ never mind how it happened show me where it hurts “.

I was looking to see if he had any broken bones, I could see no blood welling up anywhere on his blue jeans, he had motocross type gloves on, which saved him a little, he seemed to moving his arms and legs without to much trouble.

I said “ did you hit your head when you hit the road “.

He was wearing a white full face trail type helmet with a peak which was hanging off, it was being held on by only one metal popper.

I looked the helmet over to see if it had any recent scratches on it from the accident, I was trying asses if he had hit his head when he fell off.

I put both my hands on his helmet, with his face facing me, one hand on each side to prevent him from turning his head, I said “ turn you head slowly to the right ”.

He said “ what are you doing “.

I replied “ I'm checking to see if you have a neck injury, just do what your told “.

He followed the instructions, and moved his head slowly to the right, I still had my hands on the helmet, trying to prevent him making a sudden turn.

I said “ok, do you feel any stiffness “.

He said “ no “.

I then said “ ok then, if you are happy and feeling no pain turn your head slowly to the left this time “.

I continued “ no pain or stiffness at all “.

He said “ no, its fine, I can move my neck “.

I said “ ok , leave your helmet on and just sit there, you have hurt your ankle “.

He said “ it's ok, it doesn’t feel so bad now, how is my bike “.

He didn’t have any bike boots on just Daps ( Trainers ), I took a quick look at his ankle, he had hit it on the side of the car wing when he made contact with the car, there was no blood and it didn’t look broken, but he would have a nasty bruise there over the next few day

(Photo 2 ) . A rough drawing plan I made of the accident scene.

Wobble and I have been in the same position numerous times in the past, just like this young biker, sitting on the side of the road nursing some superficial injuries after falling off, so we had a good idea what to check for.

It was important to check if the boy had any serious injuries before he tried to move around.

He rotated his ankle around a little.

The boy said “ it's not that bad now “ and then lifted himself up and basically stood on one leg.

I said “ if you have to stand go sit on your bike and take the weight off the foot and put no pressure onto it “.

This is what he did, he hobbled over to the bike, after all who am I to tell him what to do, I did tell him to stay sitting and not move.

I could only give advice.

He was a little shook up by what had just happened, and without question, he would have some gravel rash to take home with him to show his mates.

At lest he walked away from the accident.

I was happy that he had no head or neck injuries, well not from what I could see, I could do no more, I’m not a paramedic just using common sense.

While we were dealing with the young biker the woman on the passenger side of the car shouted down to us from her seating position, they were both still sitting in the car, she rolled her window down and shouted over to us “ we have a puncture, can you change the wheel for us”.

My reply was swift and direct “ are you fucking kidding me, you just knocked this kid of his bike, you could have killed him “, I half turned and pointed at the boy leaning against his bike.

Then I could see the women driver leaning over in her seat, and she shouted out of the window “ can you change the wheel “.

I have to admit I was dumbfounded at the response of these two women after hitting the boy off the bike, so I walked around to the front of the car onto the driver side.

I could see there was no tire left on the wheel, it was in shreds, she must have been driving for miles to get it in that state.

Both the old biddies stayed in the car and had no intention of getting out.

I spoke to the woman driver in a loud voice “ are you stupid, don't you realise what you just did “.

She replied “ can you change the wheel “.

I was astonished by this reply from the driver, my answer made her sit back in the seat a little, maybe mainly because I shouted it at her “ you are fucking kidding me, you could have killed that boy, by what you just did, you don't seem to give a fuck about it “.

I had no intention of changing her wheel, and I think she was beginning to get the idea it was not going to happen.

I tried to talk to the driver who was to busy to listen to me, and talking to her friend in the car with her head turned away from me.

I lent through the drivers window, and shouted at her to get her attention back to me “ how far have you driven with your car to get your tire in that state.

She answered immediately “ the tire blew out as we hit a curb when we were passing Glanrhyd hospital “.

I said “ for fuck’s sake, you must have passed at lest three garages before you got here, you passed one opposite the road to pen-y-fai and the one below the castle near the abattoir and Boards garage at the bottom of this road, next time you pass Glanrhyd hospital go in and book a room, you shouldn’t be driving a fucking car or on the road at all “.

I continued “ pull over there next to the curb, you need to park up and clear the road and wait for the police to turn up, you can't drive with the tire ripped to shred’s like that and you have just caused an accident “.

Her answer was “ where’s the closest garage “.

I thought “ for fuck’s sake this woman is not listening to a word I'm saying”.

At this point, I wanted to drag her out of the drivers window, I could see she did not give a shit about what I had just said to her.

I said “ are you listening to me, park over there “, I pointed to the side of the road.

She totally ignored me.

I said “ have you been drinking “.

The passenger sitting next to the driver, said to the ignorant driver “ he’s not going to help us, come on, lets go “.

The driver nodded and said “ horrible boy “ without looking at me and put the car into gear and the drove off, nearly taking me with them, I had to jump out of the way as she headed off up the hill.

I shouted after her “ oi stop, you can't leave, what the fuck “.

The two old biddies left the scene of the accident, and carried on carving a new grove in the road.

I watched the car weave up the hill just narrowly missing an on-coming car, I said to myself “ crazy fuckers “.

( Photo 3 ) . Nolton street, looking down towards the kings head pub and boards garage at the far end of the road with the Old Castle on the left of the photo.

I walked over to the biker who was now feeling more active, and started looking over his bike.

The bike had a broken mirror, his clutch lever was curled up, pointing outwards and his plastic front mudguard was bent up at a funny angle, otherwise the bike was a little scratched up by sliding up the road, but still in ride-able condition, everything was basically cosmetic and easily fixed with spending a few quid on new parts.

The boy sat astride the bike and switched the ignition into the on position.

Wobble said to the boy “ you have to wait for the police to turn up, so you can report the accident “.

The boy replied “ no thanks, I’m off, I want nothing to do with the pigs “.

With the bike still on the side stand, he kicked the bike over, it fired up with the first kick, he clicked the bike into first gear and just rode off down the road with not even a thank you or a goodbye.

The boy rider had recovered quite quickly after the accident, but it was obvious that he had some issue with the police for not wanting to talk to any of the boys in blue.

I didn’t see any road tax holder on the bike and he had no chain guard on the bike, so maybe the he was not legally on the road.

So after all this excitement, wobble and me were left standing on the pavement looking at a long white scare that ran up the hill in the middle of the road.

The accident made a hell of a noise right outside the police station, there must have been hundreds of coppers in there, and not one copper came out to see what all the noise was about, myself and wobble noticed some heads pop up in the window of the police station, so they were aware of the accident right on their doorstep, but there was no sign of them.

We just looked at each other and wobble said “ well, there’s fuck all we can do “.

So we just walked up the hill, following the white gouge, we turned right at Drones nightclub and then headed down Tremains road, so did the car with the two old biddies a little earlier, we could see the white gouge in the tarmac.

Further down the hill, there was another garage on the right side, near to where Dai moberlly`s bike shop Thunder road is now, the white gouge continued passed there and turned right at the junction towards Bridgend collage and on its journey, the car must have flattened a yellow keep right bollard, as there was one laying in the middle of the road, we picked the bollard up to clear the road and laid it to one side, out of the way of any passing traffic, these two old biddies passed at lest four garages and still didn’t find one to stop at, hopefully the police stopped them at some point, who knows?.

We carried on towards brackla in the opposite direction to where the old biddies went, and put the whole bizarre incident down to experience.

A very strange place Bridgend, with some very strange and weird people in it.

Magic Doors

This was not the only strange thing that I witnessed happening on the roads of Bridgend.

I was on my way up to wobble’s flat after having a wander around Bridgend, after finishing my work shift off, early mornings at 12:00 on a Saturday.

I was walking passed boards garage on Nolton street, the garage is directly opposite Nolton house.

Nolton house is a large store that sells all manor of goods, a bit of everything can be found on the shelves from a hammer, cat litter to bed spreads amongst other everyday stuff.

There is nothing really special about this shop from any other of its type except for the fact that it was the first shop in Bridgend town to have automatic doors.

Ok you think, so what they are everywhere, nothing special about automatic doors.

This was the early 80s and doors that opened by themselves were basically Hi Tech ( STAR TREK ) level technology.

The doors became a huge talking point in all the pubs, clubs, schools and homes and became a focal point in Bridgend for most visitors of this town, once the news spread outside this small Glamorgan market town.

People from the surrounding villages and valleys would make a special visit to the top part of town, just to walk through the doors and marvel at the technology, nowa days they would term this in a ( what to see in Bridgend Town ) leaflet as a place of interest.

Visitors to the town would wait outside and watch people use the door.

The doors stayed a curiosity for sometime, people were still talking about how marvel-less these magic doors were for many months after they were first installed.

They were used so often just by people walking back and forth to see the doors open without being touched by human hand that the doors failed by over use.

You have to remember these were the times when there were only three television channels and the broadcasting of programs finished at 23:00 and children’s hour was just that, one hour between 17:00 and 18:00 and after 23:00 all you had to watch from that time on, was a small white dot disappearing in the middle distance of the screen, also the only remote for the TV was a small child, which was told to get up off the floor and switch the channel over by pressing a button on the TV itself.

So any new tech which included automatic doors was always something to check out.

Far simpler times.

Taxi

Well, as I was saying, I was walking past boards garage.

When a RADIO CABS taxi slowly drove passed me, what was odd and somewhat unusual about this taxi, was that it had only three wheels instead of the normal four.

There was no wheel on the front passenger side of the car, it was completely missing, oddly enough the taxi was still up right on its three remaining wheels.

The taxi driver was dressed in the uniform of the radio cabs taxis of black trousers, a white shirt and a red tie, he was leaning nearly half out of the drivers side window, which helped the car to stay level has the body weight of the taxi driver who must have been close to 20 stone by the look of him.

The diver as he leaned out of the window was shouting at people who were walking on the pavement, “ anyone for a taxi, half price, half a taxi, half the fair “.

The taxi driver was laughing and smiling at everyone as he drove past them, I don’t know where he was heading, but he went up Nolton Street weaving all the way up.

Like I say, some very strange people in Bridgend town.

( Photo 4 ) A couple of miserable looking C5 Sinclair owners in the rain .

C5

I remember watching a 50-year-old plus guy riding around in a SINCLAIR C5.

These bizarre little machines were new on the roads of Britain, they didn’t really fit into any motorized scene, they were not a car or a motorcycle, even thou you sat in it and on not on it, it was a single seat-er, so no passengers which ruled it out of family use, it didn’t have a steering wheel or handle bars so god knows what category it was placed in.

Allegedly they were fun for what they were, efficient and cheap compared to a motorcycle or a car and, so the salesman tells you, they are environmentally friendly transport.

The Sinclair C5 was one of the most likely things you could use on the road to have accident with.

Even more dangerous than driving a plastic pig ( Reliant Robin ) around corners.

This particular C5 that I watched was making its very slow way through the traffic in the middle of Bridgend town.

It looked so vulnerable when it was alongside a car and even more so when a bus passed by.

A large bus drove passed on the opposite side of the road, the tail wind drag from the bus rocked the little C5 back and forth on the narrow roads of Bridgend.

These plastic three wheeled cars were so low to the ground there would be no way for a normal four wheeled car having any chance of seeing it on the road if the Sinclair was following behind it in traffic.

I watched this guy drive/ride up passed Caroline street, it struggled on the slight gradient that leads onto Nolton street and in a short space of time and distance, he must have had at lest five near misses with cars.

He pulled alone side a red western welsh bus.

Has he waited for the pelican crossing to change to green the bus pulled off and a huge amount of black engine fumes came belching out of the buses exhaust completely covering the guy in the Sinclair in a black oily cloud.

He must have had a huge dose of carbon dioxide pushed into his lungs, he had no way to avoid it.

Apart from being gassed to death by exhaust fumes from every other vehicle on the road he also had the ever present danger of being crushed to death by another road user.

Oddly enough this was the only time I ever saw a Sinclair C5 being driven around Bridgend or anywhere else for that matter.

Hopefully the owner of the C5 left his suicide machine in the garage when, and if he managed to get home with it and did not become a new addition to the road kill list.

( Photo 5 ) . Electric road kill.

C 5 SPEC’S

The maximum speed of an unmodified C5 is 15 miles per hour (24 km/h). At the rear of the vehicle is a small luggage compartment with a capacity of 28 liters (1 cu ft).

Class: Battery electric vehicle

Electric motor: 250 W (0.34 hp)

Range: 20 miles (32 km)

Curb weight: 30 kg (66 lb) without battery

The C 5 was initially sold at a cost of £399, but to keep the cost under the £400 mark a number of components were sold as optional accessories.

These included :-

Indicator lights.

Mirrors.

Mud flaps.

A horn.

A “High-Vis Mast” consisting of a reflective strip on a pole, designed to make the C5 more visible in traffic.

Sinclair’s C5 accessories brochure noted that “ the British climate isn’t always ideal for wind-in-the-hair driving” and offered a range of waterproofs to keep C5 drivers dry in the vehicle’s open cockpit.

Other accessories included seat cushions and spare batteries.

Out of 14,000 C5s made, only 5,000 were sold before its manufacturer, Sinclair Vehicles, went into receivership.

The C5 became known as “ one of the great marketing bombs of post-war British industry and a notorious example of failure ”.

In September 2018, a functional C5`s asking price on the open market would be anywhere between £500 to £2,000.

( Photo 6 ) The inventor of the C5 Sinclair, demonstrating his new creation. ( Clive Sinclair ).