The Dog that Caught the Car

Usually if you hear the phrase "the dog that caught the car", it's about someone who worked really hard for something and then didn't know what to do with it. Well, there's a bulldog named Harvey who not only caught the car, he crashed it.

In 2002, Johnny Vaughan, host of the BBC talk show Johnny Vaughan Tonight, picked up Harvey from the veterinarian in his Maserati 3200GT. Mr. Vaughan describes: "I stopped because Harvey, who was in the front and had a sore tummy, looked like he needed the toilet.

"I got out of the car and went over to the passenger side. But when Harvey saw me, he leapt over to the driver’s seat, pushing the gearstick up to "drive". Then the little critter jumped into the footwell beneath the steering wheel and pressed the accelerator down.

"I couldn’t believe it, but the car shot forward, with me chasing behind—and went straight into the back of a van with a huge crunch." I was too shocked to be angry. I couldn’t believe my dog had crashed my car."

The damage was around £11,000, which the TV star had to pay himself. When he contacted the insurance company, said Vaughan, "They just fell about laughing and refused to pay out." After all, Harvey was not listed as a driver.