100% Locally Owned, Independent and Free

100% Locally Owned, Independent and Free

Ashley's day goes from bad to better as he crashes his car and gets a lift home in a chopper

Do you have a news tip? Click here to send to our news team.

Council officers push for continued checks on regulated dogs

Sunshine Coast Council is expected to continue its annual compliance checks on regulated dogs across the region. The proposal will go before councillors at the More

Quick air links open up island getaways

Families can now fly return direct to a holiday island approximately 50-70km offshore from the southern Sunshine Coast. Helitec, a Coast-based helicopter company, has just More

Uni retains top student experience ranking

Students have again rated the University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC) among the best in the country, with the institution retaining its top Queensland More

Motorway reopens after multi-vehicle crash

The Sunshine Motorway was closed for a number of hours in both directions at Marcoola following a serious crash involving five vehicles. Emergency services were More

Resort expansion ramps up ahead of summer

Work is progressing on a holiday park expansion, with new accommodation and facilities taking shape and a popular restaurant reopening ahead of the summer More

Octogenarian takes on Ironman 70.3

A retired neurosurgeon will mark his 80th birthday by tackling Ironman 70.3 Sunshine Coast in honour of a late colleague and to raise money More

A car crash, a tow truck and a ride in a chopper … that’s what happened to me before Christmas.

Now, I have changed the names of all involved to spare me any type of litigation so I can share this bizarre chain of events.

I was down the coast at a sporting event and had a bingle.

I got a hell of a fright but at first I thought the damage wasn’t that bad.

It turned out I needed a tow truck.

So I rang roadside assistance and was on hold for about 30 minutes.

I eventually got through and explained my situation, which took about another 20 minutes while they found everything on the system.

They then told me they had to put it through to another department.

I was put on hold again and eventually got through.

Then I heard: “This queue is unattended… beep beep.”

I called the main line back and after another 30 minutes, I got through to another operator where I explained myself again and she told me there was no record of me in the system.

In fact, I hadn’t called them for two weeks? What the?

That was my initial reaction, as before this particular day, I had never called them and actually hadn’t had a car accident since I rolled my VW five times through a cane field at Bli Bli in 1977, when my insurer was my dad.

Help keep independent and fair Sunshine Coast news coming by subscribing to our free daily news feed. All it requires is your name and email. See SUBSCRIBE at the top of this article.

Eventually I got it sorted and had a date with a tow truck, which was a couple of hours later, so then I started thinking about how I was going to get home.

I arrived at the event I was initially heading to and ran into two mates.

I asked them for a lift back.

Ashley ended up in a helicopter. Picture: Shutterstock.

“Sure,” they said. “We are in the chopper.”

Now, I don’t normally mix in these circles and these two blokes are best described as Dennis and Jeffery; the former named after the bumbling lawyer Dennis Denuto in the famous Australian movie The Castle, and Jeffery, a wealthy fruiterer.

It was a bright spot on a rotten day and the flight home was outstanding over Moreton Bay.

We did have a bit of a laugh, as we were flying along and I said the way my day was going, we would probably crash.

The headline would read: “Tragic chopper crash, a massive loss to the community of Dennis, Jeffery and one other.”

Ashley Robinson is a columnist with Sunshine Coast News and My Weekly Preview. His views are his own.

Subscribe to SCN’s free daily news email

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
This field is hidden when viewing the form
[scn_go_back_button] Return Home
Share