Great Samaritan

In the hope that you will publish this letter I wish to thank the Good Samaritan who came to my aid on Saturday 20th Oct. At the tender age of 65 and having moved into retirement I decided it was time to, “Get On My Bike” so on the 1st August 2007 never having ridden before in my life, together with a colleague, I took my CBT and purchased an old Honda 125 SL [1975 vintage] to get me started. As I wanted to get some serious and safe biking underway I put in for my theory test, booked on to a Direct Access course through York Rider Training Scheme and at the same time placed an order for a brand new Triumph Bonneville for delivery 1st September 2007 – No pressure then!.

Having successfully passed both tests I have been riding the wheels of the Bonny covering some 1,850 miles since 12th Sept – Fantastic!! Coming to the main point of this story, since getting on the road as a fully fledged rider and feeling now part of a strong biking fraternity with on-road nods and hand acknowledgements from other riders etc, I have felt very proud to be one of a select group of road users and really appreciating once again the freedom and thrill of motoring.

Being so wrapped up in my desire to be on the road I went out last Saturday completely forgetting to include by wallet when I changed into my leathers. The inevitable happened; I pulled into the Morrisons petrol station at Harrogate and filled up before realising my plight and embarrassment at the till. It was then a matter of trying to explain to the attendant that I had made a genuine mistake and trying desperately to get myself out of a fix. Fortunately I was within a reasonable distance from home so, call the wife to get rescued. No luck, phone constantly engaged [no change there then] – phone my colleague – not at home [Shit].

At this point, being outside on the forecourt, supposedly to get an adequate phone signal, thinking about doing a flit or throwing myself under the next car, my Samaritan turned up. Exiting the station a driver of a Japanese 4×4 pulled over, he had obviously overheard my sad tale and offered me a crisp tenner to settle my dues. He was a biker himself and would not see another biker in trouble; he would not even give me his name or telephone number in order for me to repay him. With a smile, a wave and best wishes biker to biker he was off !! What a tremendous act of goodwill and fellowship to a fellow biker and what a glowing example of the biker fraternity. I could not see the car petrol-head brigade ever getting close to this.

Through your good offices may I say “MANY THANKS” to my samaritan whoever he is? PS. Not all Chelsea Tractor drivers are bad.