My dad Richard’s a bit of a fuel
GRANDTOUR star Richard Hammond’s daughterwillow remembers the first time she asked to be collected early from school – it was also the last, writes Liz Perkins.
The television presenter’s wife, Mindy, tells the tale in today’s S Magazine.
She says that Richard likes to make the most of his time between filming by spending as much of it as possible knocking about with the family.
Earlier this month, he set off to collect teenage daughterwillow from school.
She had asked to be picked up earlier than usual in order to spend time with him, as he was due to be away filming for a number of weeks. But the bid for “quality time” ended up with him running out of petrol and having to borrow £20 from her to keep the classic Morgan car going.
And when they did make it home she was bitten by the family dog and the cat peed on her bed.
Mindy explains that the story emerged over supper recently, when Richard was singing the praises of his new car.
Mindy writes: “As Richard was telling us about his marvellous new Morgan sports car, Willow rolled her eyes and said, ‘You haven’t told them, have you?’
“He looked very sheepish, ‘Ah, well no.’ “Willow took a deep breath. ‘So daddy rocks up in the Morgan, which was a bit of a surprise, particularly when you have a ton of folders to carry home, but that’s fine…
“‘Then I squeeze myself and all my books into the front seat and we just get out of the school gates when he tells me he’s running out of fuel.
“‘And guess what? He doesn’t have his wallet on him.’”
Mindy continued: “Richard was turning slightly pink by this point.
“Willow went on, ‘So I had to give him £20 to put petrol in it, then I get home, Sparrow [the dog] bites me and the cat wees on my bed.
“‘I’m never coming home early again.’”