A motorist has narrowly avoided serious injury after the drying unit at a car wash dislodged and fell to the ground.
Ben Rowe, 27, was washing his Vauxhall at an Esso filling station in South Oxhey when the incident occurred. He noticed that the heavy metal dryer was about to fall and, quickly shifting his car into reverse, managed to move out of the way before it came down.
Although he prevented injury to himself, he did badly scratch his vehicle in his haste to escape.
Mr Rowe, when speaking to the Watford Observer, had this to say: "As I went to drive in there was a little light that said 'car wash not ready please wait'.
"A member of staff came out, went to the control box, did something and the light switched to 'car wash ready'.
"The dryer went over my car twice and as I saw it slip I slammed the car into reverse.
"I reckon it only missed me by five to six inches.
"If it wasn't for the fact it was at the end of the cycle and I had the engine on so I could reverse out of there it could have killed me."
Esso has offered to pay for the damage caused to his car and has also offered him £50 as a gesture of good will. However, Mr Rowe feels that this was simply an effort to keep him quiet after he threatened to highlight the safety issue to the media, and says the company has not been forthcoming in acting upon their offers.
He added: "They're trying to shut me up but it hasn't worked. In my opinion, health and safety checks were not made despite their area manager's assurances that they have been.
"If a car wash is falling down around your ears, clearly the appropriate checks have not been made.
"They originally said they would cover damage done to my car, but they've been completely silent in the week since the accident."
Mr Rowe was also unhappy with the nonchalant reaction from the staff at Esso, given what could potentially have been a fatal accident.
A spokesperson for the oil giant said: "We are working with the manufacturer to investigate the cause of an incident involving the car wash at our Sandy Lodge service station in Watford last week.
"Equipment failures of this kind are extremely rare, and the car wash will remain closed until this work is complete and the car wash system is passed fit to return to operation."
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