Crash driver was sitting on plastic box

Police officers called to a car crash in Vienna, Austria, found the driver behind the wheel - sitting on a plastic box.

Harold Stein, 58, had taken out the driver's seat for cleaning and replaced it with a 12 inch high carton that left him unable to reach the brake pedal.

But he was left with cuts and bruises after hitting another driver at a junction.

Stein said: "I was only going on a short trip and thought the box would be an ideal replacement for the seat.

"Everything was fine, I felt comfortable sitting on it, even though I admit it didn't feel quite as secure as a normal seat, but then when I got to the traffic lights I realised I wasn't in an ideal position to be using the pedals."

A spokesman for police said: "It is the kind of thing you would not believe unless you saw it with your own eyes. No one can remember anything like it."

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Brewer cuts crash toll

Brewer Greene King has become a Driving for Better Business champion after it cut its road crash costs by more than £150,000 in 2006/07.

The Bury St Edmunds-based company has developed an in-house safe driving initiative which saw the number of crashes involving company vehicles fall by 24% in 2006/07, resulting in huge financial savings despite fleet expansion.

Initiatives introduced include a half-day one-to-one workshop and on-road training course, regular driving licence checks, additional training for staff involved in a crash and monthly safe driving campaigns.

Over the past four years more than 500 employees – HGV, LGV and company car drivers, as well as occasional pool car drivers and grey fleet drivers – have completed individual three-hour driving assessments with the company’s driving safety adviser, Paul Blackman.

“Highlighting the dangers of work-related road risk and recognising the financial costs of crashes has enabled Greene King to improve profitability and contribute to the safety of staff by making them more risk aware,” said Mr Blackman.

Driving for Better Business is a government-backed campaign which encourages companies to implement best practice occupational road risk management programmes.

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Fans crash supercar

A £250,000 supercar crashed on its first public test drive after two fans persuaded a garage manager to let them take it for a spin.

The 420bhp Veritas RS III - built as a prototype by the Vemot AG company - had been on display at a car dealership in Moenchengladbach, Germany.

Fans Martin Holtz, 44, and Friedrich Voller, 53, persuaded the manager to let them take it for a spin.

But they lost control of the V8-engined motor - which does 0-62mph in just 3.2 seconds - within minutes and ploughed into a lamppost.

Police arrested them as they tried to flee the mangled wreck, now being salvaged by mechanics.

"The car is immensely powerful and they grossly overestimated their driving skills," said a police spokesman.

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Back-seat baby born at 70mph

A baby was born at 70mph on the back seat of a car as her mother was being driven to hospital in Bristol.

Iris Hurst's arrival was a shock to her mother Joanne as her first two children, Stanley, five, and Sonny, two, had arrived after long and painful labours.

Luckily, her own mother Patricia, 58, was in the front passenger seat and could jump over into the back and help out.

Joanne, 31, had started her labour normally and asked her partner Simon Noble to drive her to hospital, after picking up Mrs Hurst on the way.

They had only just set off in their Audi A4 when Joanne told her mother that she needed to push, reports the Daily Mail.

Mrs Hurst added: "I told her not to panic and to hold on as we were only a 15-minute drive from the hospital. But she told me that she could feel the baby coming.

"Simon put his foot on the accelerator, shooting red lights and swerving past other motorists, as he was desperate to get her there before the baby was born."

As the needle hit 70mph, Mrs Hurst looked over the back seat at her daughter and saw the baby's head.

She said: "I jumped into the back seat with her. I supported the head as it came out, followed by her shoulders.

"It was purely instinctive. I couldn't believe that I'd delivered my first baby - at 70mph. It just seemed surreal."

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