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.

Humanitarian’s new mission and record attempts

After surviving a double brain aneurysm, Oz Bayldon inspired supporters to raise more than $50,000 and is now turning that generosity into new ways More

Holiday season violence spike: SunnyKids steps in to help kids

The holiday season is one of the most dangerous times of the year for children living in homes affected by domestic and family violence. To More

Champion for volunteers earns major accolade

A woman who has played a leading role in supporting volunteers on the Sunshine Coast has been acknowledged with a coveted award. Cheryl Harris was More

Photo of the day: distant rain

Daniel Ben-Sefer took this photo at Happy Valley of beach-goers packing up to leave and beat the approaching rain.  If you have a photo of More

Hotel renovation ‘brings life to true local icon’ 

A historic hotel has been revitalised with an extensive renovation, including a new bistro, expansive beer garden and refreshed boutique accommodation. The Royal Mail Hotel More

Ashley Robinson: my marriage is full of surprises

My ‘yearly’ column sometimes surprises me. What am I on about? Early this week was my wedding anniversary: 41 years. As my dad used 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