Stupid! Locked keys in car.....not a good thing to do.
Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2019 11:19 pm
I was away racing at Croft (near Darlington) this weekend, which is about 250 miles from home. I normally leave my keys with a trusted person whilst I'm on circuit but in an effort to be away more quickly, I put all the stuff in the car and went to lock the car as usual. Because the door was open the car beeped, but I put the key in my jacket pocket, placed it in the car and closed the door. I checked the door and it was locked - great, I thought, the car still locks even if you have door open. I walked away and then realised........
I now had no phone or car keys and so borrowed a phone to call my wife and ask her to ring Porsche Assist. In the meantime, I had a race to get on with and whilst we were waiting to grid up they came and told me that Porsche would be there in 30 minutes and they would get someone to meet them because I would still be on circuit.
I finished the race (I didn't win, but it was a good race ) and drove back to the AA guy near my car. Unfortunately the options boiled down to....
- recover to the nearest Porsche dealer. Not a lot of good on a Sunday evening in Darlington, especially because I am flying to Tenerife at 7am tomorrow morning and need to leave for Gatwick around 4.30am. Not Porsche's fault, but not ideal.
- recover me home.....but not covered under Porsche policy so will cost me in the region of £1,000 and they are not sure when the low loader will be available. If the low loader was there waiting, I would have paid the £1,000 and debated later. But it wasn't.
- get a locksmith out who reckoned he could pick the door lock.....but not certain when he would be able to come.
- I asked the AA guy to call Porsche technical a second time just to double double check you couldn't get in any other way. You can't they said.
- get my wife to drive the 5 hours to Darlington with our 10 year old twins and the spare, and then drive back. She wasn't keen and it wasn't really practical given our flight.
- smash the window.
I chose the final option. We agreed that the offside rear quarterlight was the best (smallest, no wiring, glass can't drop down into the door). Then he told me that I'd have to smash it! So we put film over the window, he handed me a hammer and punch and with a firm tap it started to crack. A couple more knocks and we pulled the film away and I could get my hand in to the key. We then cleared some of the glass and taped up the window and I drove the 250 miles home, which actually was fine, just a little more noisy than usual.
So I still leave the house in 5 hours for our flight, and have sent an email to the OPC asking them how much and when they could replace my rear quarterlight!!
I now had no phone or car keys and so borrowed a phone to call my wife and ask her to ring Porsche Assist. In the meantime, I had a race to get on with and whilst we were waiting to grid up they came and told me that Porsche would be there in 30 minutes and they would get someone to meet them because I would still be on circuit.
I finished the race (I didn't win, but it was a good race ) and drove back to the AA guy near my car. Unfortunately the options boiled down to....
- recover to the nearest Porsche dealer. Not a lot of good on a Sunday evening in Darlington, especially because I am flying to Tenerife at 7am tomorrow morning and need to leave for Gatwick around 4.30am. Not Porsche's fault, but not ideal.
- recover me home.....but not covered under Porsche policy so will cost me in the region of £1,000 and they are not sure when the low loader will be available. If the low loader was there waiting, I would have paid the £1,000 and debated later. But it wasn't.
- get a locksmith out who reckoned he could pick the door lock.....but not certain when he would be able to come.
- I asked the AA guy to call Porsche technical a second time just to double double check you couldn't get in any other way. You can't they said.
- get my wife to drive the 5 hours to Darlington with our 10 year old twins and the spare, and then drive back. She wasn't keen and it wasn't really practical given our flight.
- smash the window.
I chose the final option. We agreed that the offside rear quarterlight was the best (smallest, no wiring, glass can't drop down into the door). Then he told me that I'd have to smash it! So we put film over the window, he handed me a hammer and punch and with a firm tap it started to crack. A couple more knocks and we pulled the film away and I could get my hand in to the key. We then cleared some of the glass and taped up the window and I drove the 250 miles home, which actually was fine, just a little more noisy than usual.
So I still leave the house in 5 hours for our flight, and have sent an email to the OPC asking them how much and when they could replace my rear quarterlight!!