Well, it is like this…..After driving the whole length of Route 66 in late 2008, Phil and Bev Holgate went to France to visit Moet and Chandon in Epernay and the Champagne Trail as it was on Bev's bucket list.
At this stage, let me tell you that Phil is the only person we have ever heard of who has borrowed a caravan and lost it on a road! Some years back on the dusty dirt road between Wentworth and Menindie, Bev kept looking in the rear vision mirror at the lurching van, through the dust. Phil assured Bev that everything was in control and to stop being silly and forget about the van. A few moments later Bev said, "Phil, I think the caravan has gone." "Don't be stupid" retorted an indignant Phil. Then Phil looked through the dust storm behind the car and said "Shit. Yes, the caravan has disappeared!". Well, that is another story for another time but Bev says that Michael Crawford of "Some Mothers Do Have 'Em" has nothing on Phil. Bev says there's another story about a wall Phil built and the dog leant against it and it fell down (the wall, not the dog) …. and then there was the septic tank episode …...

But back to France and the champagne winery tour. Phil parked the little rental GM car in the elevated parking lot of a champagne winery and walked down the 13 steep stairs to check it out.

It was siesta time, just after midday, and the roller doors were down. "Oh well, we will come back later", so back to the car, Phil gets into the car and starts it up. At this stage it is necessary to state that Phil had parked close to the steep steps and yes, the situation unfolds…..

Phil thought the little manual car was in neutral but it was actually probably in 3rd gear. The car lurched forward a little. "F*@#, we're going down the steps" said a very concerned Phil and we won't mention Bev's response. Phil panicked a little and forgot the handbrake as the car careered down the steep steps. Down on the clutch and brake and nothing happened! Down the steps - banging and clanking as bits were falling off from the impact of the steep steps. A big thud as the car hit the level area in front of the cellar door - still no brakes so Phil could do nothing more than swerve to miss a fountain and a large rock display and career into the roller door (which had been shut for siesta) in front of the fancy showroom cellar.

As luck would have it, the roller door was about one metre in front of the large plate glass windows of the posh champagne cellar door with its rack of bottles on display and no, Phil did not go through the plate glass and clean up a few hundred bottles of champagne in the process.
The rental car was a write off! The steps were strewn with CV joints, brake fluid and other bits and pieces that only a mechanic would recognise.

The only damage to Bev and Phil was that Bev cracked a fingernail!
Needless to say, Phil had to make it up to Bev by paying dearly with champagne to ease the anguish of the broken nail. "I'll never pay this off-the champagne has cost more than the excess on the insurance!" said Phil.