This one may take a while to read, but bear with me. Many many years ago I owned a mk2 xr2, which had a sticky starter motor. Being a resourceful little boy scout I knew to put the car in gear and rock it back and forwards to loosen things off. I tried this a few times without success - then ureka - i'll hook up the tow rope from my father's car and give it a gentle tug down the drive. All was well as i trundled down the driveway until i realised that the fiesta wasn't stopping!? In a panic, I drove into the road with the fiesta following. As I turned right the fiesta shot straight across the road and hammered into the side of my neighbour's car, writing it off!
It doesn't end there though - the neighbour was a cop, who didn't like my loud exhaust etc. Well, he went mental - understandably of course. After my dad calmed down the irate copper we discovered my fatal mistake - I'd left the key in the ignition to prevent the steering lock coming on. However, I'd clicked it to the next stage. This meant that the car jump started and with the automatic choke kicking in, the fiesta was now a ghost car.
After much tinkling of broken glass etc I sat down in the house to nurse the bruises I now had from kicking myself. I was almost coming to terms with my stupidity when the doorbell rang. Here were two uniformed cops who came in to charge me with dangerous driving, even though I wasn't technically driving the vehicle that crashed. They were actually really decent about it and had trouble keeping straight faces when I gave my statement. They left saying that they would be taking the charge under advisement from the traffic division.
Later that evening, they called back to say that the traffic boys had also had a good laugh and that they would not be pursuing the charge - hurrah! It gets better though, I had to fill in the insurance forms and agreed with my dad that we'd claim on his insurance (company car). In the end his company insurance coughed up for both cars and I didn't lose my no claims!!!!
Needless to say I will never ever be repeating this stunt and was reluctant to share, but I guess we all make mistakes and there have been some good ones for comparison in this thread - well done all - glad i'm not the only numpty out there, even if this is near the top of the charts!
Looking forward to hearing if anyone can improve on this for dumbness.