I won’t budge! Mercedes drivers in 40-minute stand-off under bridge
TWO stubborn Mercedes drivers caused tailbacks for 40 minutes in an extraordinary stand-off under a narrow bridge.
As both drivers sat locked in their cars refusing to reverse to give way to the other, a throng of frustrated motorists who were trapped behind them on both sides of the bridge stood at their doors pleading with them to move.
Among the drivers trapped in gridlock were parents on their way to collect their children from school.
Exasperated motorists told the pair to “grow up”, with one delivering an expletive-ridden rant at one of the drivers – a middle-aged woman in a convertible Mercedes. She had entered the tunnel in Maidenhead, Berks, heading north. A sign at the side of the road stated that she had right of way.
Meanwhile, an elderly man, also driving a Mercedes, was passing through the tunnel, heading south towards Bray. He told bystanders he was unable to reverse his car back out again as he was worried he might crash.
The blonde woman sat in silence in her car as an exasperated male driver said: “There are mums around here trying to get their kids from school. Let’s just f------back up and let’s go home and get the kids from school. Just back up, will you? What is wrong with you?”
Another female driver said to the woman in the Mercedes: “My teenage daughter and her friend are walking home, if anything happens to them it will be your fault.”
The incident, which took place last week, was captured on camera by Brad Haverly, a 30-year-old financial analyst from Windsor. He said that his video, which has been viewed thousands of times online, has “divided opinion” as to who was in the right.
The Daily Telegraph visited the tunnel, which has a slight bend in the middle, meaning that anyone travelling towards Bray – such as the elderly man – would have difficulty seeing what was coming from the other side.
Mr Haverly said the male driver appeared “quite shaken up” while the woman had been “obnoxious”.
“The woman was being unsympathetic – it was her right of way but it looked like the elderly guy was already two thirds of the way through the tunnel.” The stand-off ended when Mr Haverly’s father helped the elderly man reverse out of the tunnel.