A few nights ago a Parisian, aged 25 and identified only as Olivier, was having a good time in a night club in St Germaine de Près.
At closing time, Olivier realised he was blotto, so he decided not to drive his £90,000 Porsche. He left it behind and took a cab. Good for him - one less drunk on the roads.
Except … he left his Porsche illegally parked in a no-parking taxi zone with the flashers on, apparently so it wouldn’t get hit by someone who didn’t appreciate its Porschiness.
And then … the taxi company who have the parking zone alerted the gendarmes, who in turn were suspicious about the flashing lights. Were they perhaps a sign that the Porsche was rigged as a car bomb? So, only one thing to do: attach a controlled explosive device to the hood of the Porsche and boom.
When Olivier arrived, his Porsche was a wreck and the police apparently gave a Gallic shrug. Œufs, omlettes etc. Que voulez-vous?
Oh, and they told Olivier it was his responsibility to have the remains of the Porsche removed, at his expense.
Better article in the Daily Telegraph has at least bothered to include a photo of the actual car rather than a stock photo of some arbitrary Porsche. It has also added 44% to the car’s value, increasing the schadenfreude.
Dunno, about France, but I believe in the US, the insurance company would also be off the hook, calling it “an act of war, declared or undeclared”.
Furthermore, whether or not the vehicle was “legally parked” would be irrelevant to the thing. Even if legally parked, if some authority suspects it is a weapon of mass destruction for any whimsical reason, tough merde. Considering the situation, you know…
Perhaps an overreaction by the authorities, but I have no sympathy at all for jerks who think they can supersede all traffic laws merely by turning on their hazard lights. :mad:
