A Melbourne tradie has hailed his “lucky” birthday brew as the reason he’s still alive after a pole speared through his windscreen in a near-fatal miss.
Underwater plumber Paul Weiser was on his morning commute in the city’s southeast when he decided to grab a Vietnamese coffee to celebrate his 47th birthday.
He was back on the road sipping the takeaway treat when suddenly his windscreen “just exploded.”
Little did he know, a fencing post had fallen off a truck in front, flicked up and flown through the front of his Toyota HiAce, impaling the backboard just 5cm from his head.
Temporarily blinded by shattered glass, Mr Weiser told Build-it he had no idea he’d just dodged death until he pulled over and got out his van.
“I left home, grabbed my fuel, went to the coffee shop, and am driving along in the pitch black…It was raining like anything, so you could hardly see,” he said.
“Out of nowhere, I heard an almighty bang. I didn’t realise at first, but something had come through the window.”
The Australian Leak Detection serviceman says he presumed he had collided with another vehicle before a witness pulled up and pointed out the 7ft pole hanging from his windshield.
“It wasn’t until after I pulled over that I turned to my left and thought, oh my god!”
A whole Latte-luck
Despite the shower of shattered glass, Mr Weiser was completely fine but quickly realised how the caffeine fix from his friend Kim had helped him cheat certain death.
“I normally lean to the left onto the centre console because I’m lazy, and that day, I didn’t because I had a bloody hot coffee in my hand,” he explained to Build-it.
“If I didn’t have that coffee, I would have been gone – I’ve measured it out, and the pole would have gone right through my head.”
Unsurprisingly, friends and colleagues are now calling Paul the “luckiest tradie alive,” urging him to buy scratchies and lottery tickets to further cash in on his fortune.
But for him, it was business as usual, immediately getting the windscreen fixed and attempting to get back on the road just hours later in a show of typical tradie work ethic.
Australian Leak Detection managing director Daryl Whitehead stopped that, ordering him to take the rest of the day off to enjoy his birthday and maybe count his lucky stars over a few beers.
“Paul has so many great reviews about how he goes about his work,” Mr Whitehead told Build-it.
“When he sent me the photo, I thought that’s more than luck. Something else has happened there. I am so glad he is ok.”
Caffeine fix a load safety wake up call
Mr Weiser says the near miss has made him more cautious on the roads, and he hopes the incident will serve as a wake-up for other tradies to pay attention to how they tie down their tools.
“I would ask other tradies to keep an eye on their loads and ensure it’s tied down properly with proper tie downs and restraints,” he told Build-it.
“And if you want to be extra safe, grab a f*cking coffee in the morning.”
