The vultures don’t appear to have picked up on this one yet – probably because it doesn’t involve a national school (remember this one? Or this?) Even the news source reporting this latest event is eager to embellish the wording to make it sound like something it’s not.
In a nutshell, a learner driver in Huddersfield was on their driving test when they were involved in an accident at a roundabout. The story clearly points out that:
The other car failed to stop after the collision.
And yet it can’t resist saying:
A learner driver taking their driving test crashed into a roundabout on Bradford Road this morning.
You don’t need to be a genius to work out that the car which left the scene might – just might – have been in the wrong. You also don’t need to be a genius to see that the learner didn’t “crash into” the roundabout – that was where she came to rest (and only one wheel is on the roundabout anyway). The Huddersfield Daily Examiner clearly doesn’t run to employing journalists who are even partly capable of reporting or investigating a story properly. It also doesn’t seem to run to having higher primates among its readership. The one comment on the story reads:
Martin Steer
I assume her instructions were “straight across at the roundabout”.
I bet he is an absolute riot at the bottom of the pond, where he clearly lives most of the time. Frighteningly, he also appears to be a bus driver in the area. I wonder if his employers are aware of his flippant attitude?
Edit 10/10/2013: Actually, the vultures HAVE picked up on it now. There is an updated story in the Daily Mail, and it dates from 7th October – this blog article was written on 4th October, and drew on information suggesting the incident in question had occurred several days before that. Obviously, it took a while for the story to drain down into the sewers.
The particular branch of the sewer the story has reached seems to think it is funny, and so far two out of three respondents have made childish and highly questionable comments about the injuries sustained by the examiner involved. It never ceases to amaze me what passes as “fit and proper” in this industry.