Some time ago I arranged for someone to come and fit a towbar to my car.
The towbar fitter duly arrived at the appointed hour on the appointed day.
While I made him a cup of tea, he ferreted (it’s a technical towbar-fitting term, trust me) about beneath the rear of the car for a few minutes.
Then he came to see me.
TBF: “You’ve already got one”
Me: (eyeing the towbar hitch-less rear of the car) “Erm”
TBF: “No, really. You’ve got the frame. And all of the electrics are fitted, for a removable towbar”
Me: “Erm”
TBF: “It’s made by a company called Bosal. If you google them, you should be able to get them to supply a replacement detachable neck for the frame”
Wow.
So the next day I followed the TBFs suggestion.
Bosal relieved me of a fair lump of money, but it was still cheaper than having to get a new towbar fitted.
Today I came to use it.
I picked up the box that the towbar neck had been delivered in, strode purposefully out to the car and ripped the packaging open:
- Removable towbar neck
- Dust cover
- Cotton gloves (that’s a nice touch, I thought), and
- An instruction book printed in half a dozen languages
This being me, I read the English section of the instruction book. Then I read the Spanish section, and corrected the grammar.
Then I looked for the locking key.
You know.
The locking key that the instructions say I need to lock the assembly in place with, once I’ve fitted it to the car?
That locking key.
Yes.
The locking key that wasn’t included in the things that Bosal had sent down.
Uh-huh.
So next week I’ll be back on the blower to Bosal.
I suppose I should have checked everything when it arrived.
But you don’t, do you?
Or at least I didn’t.
Cotton gloves are a poor substitute for a locking key.