This happened just about an hour ago.
I'd driven out of town to do some remedial work for a customer, so I was driving my battered old Ford Sierra.
Coming back into WSM, I was a few hundred yards from a large roundabout and was positioned in the correct lane, ie, the centre one, and slowing to a stop.
I looked in the mirror to see a Ford Escort bearing down on me from behind. He couldn't stop and ran right into the rear of my Sierra, pushing me forwards a few feet, almost into the car in front of me that had stopped at the roundabout traffic signals.
I got out of the car despite being in the middle lane and looked at what turned out to be only minimal damage. The guy who had just driven into me simply sat there in his Escort, apparently unconcerned and looking vaguely about him. I asked him if he was OK and he said that he was.
Meanwhile the chap in front of me had also got out of his car and came bustling over, saying that the driver who had collided with me had almost collided with him a few seconds earlier. He was a driving instructor and had a learner with him, who was all a twitter.
The instructor now got on his mobile and contacted the police saying that there had been a collision between 2 cars, and the man behind me who had caused it appeared to be drunk. The police said that they would be there in a few minutes. Meanwhile we attempted to divert the heavy traffic around either side of the line of our 3 vehicles.
Time dragged by, and suddenly all the flow of traffic stopped. Just nothing. There had been another accident a half mile behind us which had completely blocked the road. We could see that the police cars that had been on their way to us were now diverted to this other accident. Great. Oh boy.
Meanwhile, Instructor grabbed Drunk Man's keys to stop him driving off. We're still in the centre lane of the highway. Then Instructor hands me the keys and says for me to take care of it, he's off! Aaagh!
I persuade Instructor to help me push Drunk Man's car onto the grass verge. Traffic is now flowing again, and this is very difficult, pushing a car across a busy 3 lane highway, almost on a roundabout junction. He's still just sat there looking almost comatose. I am now starting to wonder if he's had a heart attack, but then he's lit a fag and is puffing away quite contentedly.
So now I'm on my own, just me and the Drunk Guy, me with Drunk Guy's car keys, waiting for the police to arrive.
After about 20 minutes, a police car pulled up, blue lights twinkling, and the 2 police women aboard come over, whereupon I tell them the whole story. I wait expectantly for them to ask him to blow in the little bag for a breath test.
Not a bit of it. The guy slurs out that his wife died a few months ago and that he's on anti-depressants. That's why he was driving so badly. Now this chap can't even stand up!
So, the 2 police women called the recovery vehicle for him and his car and then informed his relatives, and did everything possible to assist him in any way that they could.
They thanked me sweetly, said I'd done the right thing, and I was on my way.
Tell you what, I think he was lying through his teeth. He was drunk as a skunk, he even had an open golf bag next to him, I reckon he'd spent too much time at the 19th hole.
So there you go. I think we did the right thing in stopping him from driving anyway.
Englishman.