What’s the closest escape you’ve ever had from a dangerous situation?

[securespark]

 

[Ihavenojob]

I cut through what I thought was 15mm copper pipe with a hacksaw. Turned out it was pyro cable going from the street to the main fuse board. That was eventful.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I would be around five, we were on holiday in Wales staying on a farm, in a static caravan. My father back then had a motorbike and sidecar, which was parked outside and in gear - they don't have handbrakes. The field had a gentle slope down to the river, me playing on the bike, pretending to ride/drive it and I must have managed to knock it out of gear. It took off at speed down that field me on it, with my father in hot pursuit. I don't remember quite how it ended, but all turned out OK - no injuries and no damage. I think the trees along the riverbank brought things to a stop. I remember there used to be a B&W photo of me sat on the bike, just before the incident.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I cut through what I thought was 15mm copper pipe with a hacksaw. Turned out it was pyro cable going from the street to the main fuse board. That was eventful.

Back in the days when bare earth wire was common, I was busy looping earth wire around the back of a working and live control panel of a baking process. All there was at the back where I was working, was rows of studs or bolts poking out through the back of a paxolin panel, no indication that any of it was exposed and 3ph live. The earth caught on one bolt head and pulled itself onto the rest, taking out lots of 150amp cartridge fuses. I was very lucky, I was only blinded for a few hours. Staff were much more concerned about the production stoppage than me.

 

[jeds]

About 25 years ago I was climbing in Pembrokshire, my partner was belayed over the top and I was following. About two thirds up the route - a very famous climb at Mother Carey's - I was half way up a section called the flake. I had just unclipped a carabiner when I felt the Earth move. The flake had parted and was now hanging at a weird angle. Suddenly it went - while I was still on it. I remember seeing it fall between my legs. It looked like slow motion. And then boom, as it hit the ground. This thing was about the size of a small bus - bigger than a mini bus but smaller than full size. But massive. When it hit the ground it was like a bomb going off. By now I was hanging on the rope so my partner knew something was up, but obviously not sure what. My wife was also at the top. I got back on and finished the route. When I appeared over the top there must have been fifty people waiting to find out what had happened.

The main thing, as any climber will have spotted, is that I had unclipped less than ten seconds before the event. Had I not, myself and my partner wouldn't be here now. The thing would have taken us both over. It also changed a very famous climbing route and I was the talk of the climbing fraternity for quite a while afterwards.

 

[securespark]

You fat B'stard!!

 

[ReganAndCarter]

I had a ONS with a gorgeous girl, who, as far as I knew, was single. Woke up at 0345 with the door slamming.
Asked her what was going on, she said, "It's only the other half, don't worry, he'll pass out on the sofa.....

Guessing that kind of situation is a regular risk for Herts P&D.

 

[ReganAndCarter]

Anyone else read that ONS as 'Office of National Statistics'?

Yes, but it didn't add up.

 

[conny]

As a young 12 year old with a fascination for electrics I wired up a single 13A socket using 1.5mm singles with a plug on the other end. Just live & neutral, no earth. I trailed the wires round my bedroom, across the carpet by the door and then along the edge of the carpet on the landing and into my elder brothers room. Here I plugged it in to one of his sockets. All this so I could plug in my small radiogram to listen to Radio Caroline and Luxembourg when I went to bed at night.
Mum got fed up of tripping over the leads or catching them with the vacuum and told to get it out. Instead of unplugging it I simply cut through the two single cables and was thrown backwards as I shorted them out. Slammed my back against the wall and got a lump on my head as well.
Mums reaction? A slap round my head and a telling off along the lines of, "Maybe that will teach you to mess with something you know nothing about!"
About 5 years later I'm working in the electric motor repair industry and get told to change the carbon brushes on a 415v winding motot. I switched off the isolator behind the machine and began to dismantle the motor covers. Crouched down behind the machine I put my hand inside the motor to lift one of the brush arms. A big bang and flash and, once again, I'm thrown against the wall behind me and almost fractured my skull. Turns out the isolator for the machine I was working on was behind the next machine and the isolator I had turned off was the one for that machine. At some time in the past someone had swapped the machines around to create enough space to wind a large set of coils on one of the machines.
That lesson taught me to test for dead every time! I still have a little bone protrusion at the base of my skull because of that and can't put that part of my head against a hard surface without discomfort.
Had a few other 'near misse' through lifes journey but always been lucky to survive. (so far! )

 

[JP_]

Anyone else read that ONS as 'Office of National Statistics'?

Yep.

 

[Notch7]

I almost forgot the wife’s birthday once…….

 

[Bargain Bucket]

I met Jimmy Saville when I was a kid.

 

[Deleted member 18243]

I cut through what I thought was 15mm copper pipe with a hacksaw. Turned out it was pyro cable going from the street to the main fuse board. That was eventful.

It was just a phase you were going through.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I met Jimmy Saville when I was a kid.

Not as a kid, but as an adult I came across him several times such that I was on nodding terms with him - all before it all blew up. Last time was in the little cafe at Otley by the river, where he had gone on a push-bike.

 

[mitch66]

At a mates party I put a Magnum .357 LAR rifle in my mouth one new year, loaded, safety off, thumb on the trigger then jigged around to Madness BnB man. My Mrs went nuts. She preferred the Specials.