Sir, – Last Thursday our son and daughter–in-law from the Netherlands could finally visit us. Having surmounted the Covid checks, they set off joyfully from Cork Airport in their rental car. On a roundabout near Youghal, the car stopped dead. The electronics had failed. Nothing worked except the flashing lights.
Immediately, a fellow motorist stopped to help. When he couldn’t get the car going, he offered to drive Francesco to a nearby garage. This garage contacted another one that had a tow-truck and a contract with the car rental firm. The rescue team picked up Francesco and returned to the scene of the breakdown to find Fréderique surrounded by eight helpers, three of whom had managed to push the car onto the hard shoulder.
Fréderique, on her first visit to Ireland, couldn’t believe the kindness of the passing motorists. “At home, they would have honked at you for causing a nuisance and driven by.” – Yours, etc,
MARY MARGGRAF,
Kilmore Quay,
Co Wexford.