Our car mechanics were in a panic but two-year-old's jigsaw solved the puzzle of the missing piece – Hayley Matthews

I'd been putting off getting the car fixed for quite a while, but then the MOT was due so I just had to go for it and get it done.
A problem with the car saw Hayley blame car mechanics, but the solution to the mystery of the missing piece lay much closer to home (Picture: Andrew Matthews/PA)A problem with the car saw Hayley blame car mechanics, but the solution to the mystery of the missing piece lay much closer to home (Picture: Andrew Matthews/PA)
A problem with the car saw Hayley blame car mechanics, but the solution to the mystery of the missing piece lay much closer to home (Picture: Andrew Matthews/PA)

A few days in at the garage and things weren't looking to good for our car. She needed a lot of TLC and some new parts. I won't tell you her age because it's rude to discuss a woman's age, especially when she's in the double digits, but let's just say she's starting to get a bit stiff.

Needing the tires off, I received a panicked call asking where the wheel locking nut was. It's been in the same place for years – the bright pink bag in the glove box.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Nope, it was not there, in fact it was not anywhere in the car. Running out of time the mechanic had to melt the wheel nuts off and I put the suspected blame on Farmer Autocare for not putting it back the last time we got a new tyre on – but that wasn’t the case.

A few days later, when our car-obsessed two-year-old was doing a jigsaw, we spotted the missing wheel locking nut in the puzzle.

When we asked if he had put it there, he said "yes, for engine and exhaust mummy".

So I apologised to the mechanic and Farmer’s for giving them the run-around. The next time we need anything done on the car, we're just going to give it to our two-year-old. He's fairly reasonable, he just likes to keep the spare parts.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.

Related topics:

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.