The passenger in question was a seven-foot-long female boa constrictor that decided to slip out of the pillow case in which she was being transported to take advantage of her new-found freedom.

When the roaming reptile slithered behind the dashboard and wouldn’t come out, the children’s entertainer called the AA for assistance.

Patrol Darren Foster of Chelmsford was assigned the job which came through as: ‘7ft boa constrictor snake stuck behind dashboard; member will handle the snake, just need dashboard removed.’

Darren says: “I’m fairly new to the AA and did a double take when the job details came through. My manager called to check that I wasn’t afraid of snakes, which I wasn’t, although in hindsight, it was a little unnerving being face-to-face with a boa constrictor.

“She was quite happy in the warmth of the dashboard, so wasn’t going anywhere in a hurry – you can’t just shoo out a seven-foot snake!

“I ended up removing most of the dashboard and heater matrix, as she was wrapped around components. But even then, given her size and strength, I had to help prise her out.

“By the time I put the dashboard back together, I had been there a good couple of hours. However, she wasn’t all that appreciative of my efforts and got the hump, trying to bite me when I went to hold her.

“It’s a call-out I certainly won’t forget in a hurry.”

Ford’s Southampton plant has handed over 56 Ford Transit 300 short-wheelbase vans, all destined for the AA AutoWindshields fleet.

The vans were inspected at Southampton by AA chief engineer Steve Ives, who said: “We were keen to inspect the Transits off the line and we were delighted to find them in top condition and ready to be signed off.  They are all on their way to be fitted with the necessary equipment and livery and will soon be an integral part of the AA AutoWindshields fleet.”

Thomas Fischer, Ford’s Southampton plant manager, said: “Southampton plant puts a lot of effort into the quality of the Ford Transit vehicles we build here and we are pleased that this, together Transit’s proven dependability and low whole life cost, has resulted in the AA placing further orders with Ford.”

The AA bought AutoWindshields last year and is undertaking a rapid expansion of the company and its fleet.

The vans are part of an order for 247 Ford Transit vans placed by the AA this year. Most of the vans will be used on roadside repair and recovery duties.

Steve Clary, director commercial vehicles, Ford of Britain, said: “The AA has chosen Ford both to meet existing customer needs and to expand their business, which endorses the reputation of the Ford Transit – a van that reliably gets the job done.”[/private]

The Assistant Matron was deeply concerned that residents would not be able to receive visitors or leave to attend hospital appointments unless the ramp and steps were gritted. The local council and businesses were unable to help due to a shortage so BEN’s Regional Manager contacted the AA for advice.

AA Patrols’ Chris McGunigle and Graham Lamb received the call for help on Wednesday evening and, at 6am the following morning (Chris’s day off), they set off grit to the entrances to the building.

Jenny Brown, BEN’s Director of Care Services said: “It is not unusual for the AA to go above and beyond the call of duty and in this case they have really saved the day for residents, staff and visitors of Alexandra House. It is a huge relief for everybody that we now have a safe path in and out of the building. Our sincere gratitude to Chris and Graham for this exceptional support.”

The habit of driving too close to the vehicle in front was voted as the most irritating behaviour of other drivers by 36 per cent of road users in an AA/Populus survey of over 14,500 AA members, conducted to launch the Autocar/AA Drive Better Campaign.

And not only is tailgating extremely annoying, it’s also very dangerous.

Edmund King, AA president reveals that: “Survey respondents were spot on to highlight their irritation with tailgaters. Data reveals that leaving pure human error aside tailgaters fall just behind ‘loss of control’ as the major cause of crashes.  It’s a problem not only on motorways but also on dual carriageways, country lanes and in road works. Some tailgate to bully drivers out of the way, others because they just don’t think of the potentially tragic consequences of their actions.”

However, the dangers of tailgating have been lost in the war on speed, which has seen a much greater emphasis placed on catching speeding drivers than teaching better, safer driving techniques. And with more Brits taking a staycation this summer, the roads are going to be busier than ever with more accidents, many of which will be caused by the dreaded tailgater.

The AA says that ‘detailed analysis of police accident causation figures has shown that close following is a particular problem, contributing to 16 per cent of motorway accidents.’ However, the AA says that it’s difficult to judge the scale of close following accidents on lesser roads, ‘mainly because many more of the collisions will not involve injury and therefore not be recorded in studies.’

It’s clear, then, that tailgating is one of the most serious aspects of the poor driving evident on the UK’s roads. The problem lies in trying to educate drivers – some with decades of experience – to not only take tailgating seriously, but also to be able to judge safe braking distances at various speeds.

Heavyweight motoring brands Autocar and the AA have joined forces to make motoring a better experience for road users frustrated by the lack of ability or care of many drivers.  The Autocar/AA Drive Better Campaign believes the route to better, safer roads is education.  Autocar and the AA will be lobbying the government for a re-think of the driving test process.

“For more than a decade the road safety message has been speed kills,” said Chas Hallett, editor of Autocar. “But the truth is a little different – just five per cent of all accidents (and 12 per cent of fatalities) were wholly or partly caused by a driver breaking the speed limit.  Poor driving causes the vast majority of accidents and tailgating is the cause of many collisions.  Tailgaters need to remember the danger they put other road users in.”