Disabled army veteran forced to sleep rough in Inverness after car developed a fault
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An army veteran and curling champion slept in his car after travelling to Inverness for a sports event.
Mike Girdwood (53) was in Inverness last week to share skills with other competitors as part of a championship event, but hit a “brick wall” when he tried to get someone to help him with his car steering.
The former Royal Engineer said he panicked when the fault happened in a city where he didn’t know anyone.
Mr Girdwood, who is confined to a wheelchair and suffers from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), said: “I drove all the way from East Lothian to Inverness and when I got here there was a fault in the steering of the car.
“I contacted Ford UK on social media to find out if it could get me any help, and I was told someone would get back in touch with me.
“I panicked and couldn’t think what I could do. The hosts of the curling event were very kind – but I just couldn’t think through what I was going to do. I didn’t want to be a burden on them.
“So I slept rough in my car because I kept thinking that someone from Ford would get back in touch with me and tell me what to do. But they didn’t.
“When you suffer from PTSD you sometimes can’t think things through. Eventually a friend drove all the way to Inverness to help me. I put the car into the garage when I got home and they fixed the problem in two minutes.”
A spokesman for Ford UK said: “Once in contact with us, we offered to contact the Ford dealership but were not able to call the customer as he would not provide his V5 log book. Given he does not show as the car’s owner on our system, we must have the V5 first.
“After seeing the V5 we contacted a local Ford dealership and requested it call the customer as soon as possible to discuss his vehicle.”
