GROUND BAIT.

Western Star, 16 June 1933, Page 4

GROUND BAIT.

HOW TO STOP CARS AT NIGHT. DANGER OP MOTOR BANDITS. One very unexpected and unpleasant result of the activities of motor bandits in England has been that no motorist wil.l stop, at any rate afte;. dark, to help a broken-down fellownw?torist, writes Mr F, M. Lea, in the 'Auto-car.' But the other night I succeeded, in stopping about 500 cars

I had run out of petrol about five miles from nowhere, but on a wellknown main road. As soon as the car oame to rest I got out and waved violently to several passing cars. The drivers merely accelerated and roared past me . I then wrapped a white handkerchief over half of my face, and again signalled, but screams from women passengers were the only result. I then jay down-'on'my back in the middle of the road, first with one leg in the air. then two. Fortunately there was just room each side of me for the passing traffic, and they didn't half pass. After this I s.at down tc think.

My next effort was to push the car from the back in a zig-zag fashion, waving my handkerchief one moment and flashing a torchlight the next ; I but still no luck I found I was i close to a cross-road, so I sta-tioued { myself, point-policemanlike, and stopped, or signalled to stop, traffic in al! directions. Never have I seen such wonderful driving. Oars whizzed pas; and round me with brakes screaminp and horns bellowing, missing each other and me by inches. I felt like the orange one sees expert skaters encircling My next effort wa s to reverse miy waistcoat and coat, thinking that an approaching motorist would feel safe with a man who had twisted life necl< so severely, but ft was of no avail. Then I had a brain wave. "With the help of a hammer, tyre levers, an' 1 screwdriver I knocked both ends out of a barrel and rolled it along the road for about 200yd s , so a s to bo : well away from the car. I placed th" barrel in the middle of the road, and ; with a piece of white chalk which J always carry for writing rude remarks ■on the back of other folks' cars, 1 . Printed in large letters on each side of the barrel the word "beer- " J curled myself inside the barrel anc 1 waited.

Within three minutes the" road to : "blocked," for the first few motorists thought they were in for a free drink, land they heeded little where the-, parked thein cars. By the time I mar aged to unstick myself from the bane there must have been at least 500 car* hung up. I found that the drivers whe first saw the barrel would not give m' petrol, though they wished m e bor voyage to all sorts of nasty places However, after going dow„ the queu. for some distance I found a man who sold me a two-gallon tin, and Iw .. away with it before l, e had timr to heai abou t the beer. I though rafterwards that th e barrel might have been just as effective without me getting inside it, bu t one cannot think of everything man emergency. Besides, there would not have been so much honour and glory about it