How not to drive.....

A couple of quirky news stories have caught my eye the last couple of days, both concerning cars and examples of bizarre driving behaviour. First today I saw this on the Orange home page:-

• 15 June 2011, 12:34

Woman drove car down staircase

A Chinese woman drove her car down a shopping mall staircase after following signs to the car park.

Xiang Zhen said she saw a parking sign with a direction arrow in the mall in Liuzhou, southern China's Guangxi Province.

But when she followed it, she found herself stuck halfway down a staircase that was clearly not designed for cars.

"I saw a sign overhead saying 'car park' so I drove under it, but the road instantly plummeted and became so bumpy," said Xiang.

Local trader, Xie Xiangrong, who has a stand under the stairs, said: "I heard a loud noise, and when I looked up, a car was driving down towards me.

"I ran for my life down the stairs with several other shoppers."

Xiang left her car on the stairs and called a local breakdown company to winch her car back onto solid ground.

The mall has admitted the sign should not have been there and is in talks with Xiang over compensation.

Then, yesterday, I saw this:-

• 14 June 2011, 11:56

Car packed inside van - sideways

Police in Germany were stunned when they pulled over a white van - and found a car packed on its side in the back.

Two men from Kazakhstan had decided to save on a trailer cost after snapping up the silver Mazda 626 to ship back home.

When the car didn't fit in the van the proper way up - the two men called a few pals and loaded it in on its side - putting a mattress underneath to stop the doors getting scratched.

The trip back home for Konstanty Krol, 38, and Cezar Chmielewski, 28, came to an end when police stopped the heavily laden vehicle after seeing it lurching from side to side in Bargthheide, Germany.

Konstanty told the German Herald newspaper: "I don't know why we were stopped - we had taken great care to get the car into the van. It was safe - we hadn't noticed any problems.

"It is a long way back to Kazakhstan with petrol prices as they are it would have been too expensive to drive the Mazda back. We didn't have a trailer, but it fitted perfectly into Cezar's white van."

A police spokesman said the van and the car were confiscated and the men ordered to return with a proper transporter for the car before they would be allowed to continue the journey.

The spokesman added: "It was bizarre. I have no idea how they got the car into the van as it would have been very heavy. Amazingly the car didn't have a scratch on it - even though it had been rocking from side to side in the van.

"Nevertheless we cannot allow dangerous loads on our motorway. It was a danger to other road users as well as themselves. The van could have toppled over at any time."

And who says the news can't be fun?