Opal Fruits — made to stop your car leaking

WhILe I enjoyed reading the ‘pliers in the tyre’ story (Peterborough), I think I can improve on it a little. Many years ago in South Wales, one of my neighbours was a petrolhead, always fiddling with his car. One day, I was standing chatting to him when he closed the bonnet and said that a test run was in order. But he returned very quickly, along with a strong smell of petrol. There was clearly a leak from under the car. We both lay down to see underneath, and there, hanging from the main fuel pipe, were his pointed-nose pliers. he had left them under the bonnet, and obviously they had fallen off and bounced off the road. But what were the odds against one prong sticking into the fuel pipe? It was leaking quite considerably, so how to effect a repair? And this was Wales and it was a a Sunday. Being an experienced motorcyclist, I had a brainwave. ‘have you any chewing gum?’ I asked, but he had none then. Then another brainwave. In my pocket I had a few Opal Fruits (now being sold as Starburst), one of which I proceeded to chew. This gooey mess was then smeared into and around the hole and secured with insulating tape. It worked! And when the car was sold many months later, the crafty bodge was still doing its job.

Juris Trede, Towcester, Northants.