KEY POINTS:
Motorists locked out of their vehicles by pets and a man who deactivated his car computer while doing the "wild thing" are among incidents attended by Auckland breakdown services over the past 12 months.
The Automobile Association attends about 485,000 callouts a year and road service manager John Healy said officers saw "all manner and shape of" situations.
One was called by a "very stressed" man late for a meeting. He had his keys in his hand within seconds - the officer reached through the open passenger window to retrieve them.
Another officer encountered a man who reported a breakdown due to water in his carburettor. "On arriving, the officer discovered that he had accidentally driven his car into the swimming pool," said Healy.
Calls about pets locking themselves in cars by putting their foot on the door lock or chewing the remote were common and children were notorious for doing the same sort of thing.
"Mothers give children the car keys to play with while they are loading groceries into the boot. The wee urchin pushes the buttons or chews on the remote, locking the car.
"Mothers panic and we do take it very seriously, however so far we haven't had to break any windows to gain access.
"We've also had a few callouts where the member runs out of fuel. We duly arrive to find that they are parked on a service station forecourt," said Healy.
Other breakdown specialists in Auckland had similar tales to tell.
Aidan Reid, owner of Mechanics to You, said the most memorable call of the year involved the owner of a two-door Nissan.
"I got called out repeatedly to a guy who kept having problems with the computer," he said.
"He would take his girlfriend out in the evenings and it happened every time. They were doing the wild thing in the front of the car and bumping the computer - which is under the passenger seat.
"It took us three attempts to find out what was actually wrong."
Stephen Polley, who works for TJ's Recovery, said children were one of the main causes for the callouts that he attended.
"Kids get in and either knock [the vehicle] out of gear or release the handbrake. One time a car rolled down a bank and was balancing on the edge."
Things falling from the back of vehicles was an everyday occurrence on the city's motorways, according to Constable Tony Smith.
"On Tuesday we were called out after someone lost a trampoline. And ladders seem to be a favourite," Smith said.
A spokesman for the motorways unit said empty petrol tanks were the biggest cause of breakdowns.
"And we get a lot of calls for portable toilets falling off the back of trucks. They are quite big and make a big mess."
