Christ Church fresher abandoned on motorway

Christ Church’s annual sporting exchange with sister college Trinity Cambridge ended in farcical scenes as a fresher was accidentally abandoned at a motorway service station  – at three o’clock on a Sunday morning.

Some 85 people had made the journey to take part in and support the college’s football, rugby, netball and mixed lacrosse teams on March 3.

They then went on to enjoy formal hall in Trinity and the delights of what Cambridge students boast is the “world’s biggest Wetherspoon’s”.

E & M student Ben Thorpe told The Tab he had “very much enjoyed” his day in the Other Place.

Thorpe (far right facing camera) and friends drink in Wren’s library before the incident

It was only on the way home things took a turn for the worse. The coach had left Cambridge at midnight and a number of passengers were far from compos mentis – including Thorpe, who got off to use the loo when the bus stopped at the M40’s Beaconsfield pit stop.

But when he returned it was to see the vehicle pulling away into the cold Buckinghamshire night. To his dismay the battery on his mobile had gone dead.

“I sobered up pretty quickly when I realised my position. Beaconsfield services are not the sort of place to spend the night without a phone or a wallet”.

Beaconsfield Services

This was proved correct when he was shown little sympathy by the employees doing the late shift.

“Eventually I was saved by two massive European blokes in McDonald’s. They were tucking in to what I reckon was £40 worth of food.

“But amazingly it turned out that one of them owned a local taxi company and agreed to get me home. I called my dad on this guy’s phone who agreed to pay for it”

While Thorpe was stranded, the bus he had missed continued its journey home because, according to passengers, its driver refused to return – in case he went over his allocated hours.

The solution devised may not have occurred had it been taken in the cold light of day. It was to leave two more passengers behind on the side of the motorway so that they could then get a taxi back, collect Thorpe and return to Oxford.

Chris Hutchinson and George Green were chosen for the task. After 20 minutes on the carriageway verge they were collected in a taxi and returned to the services.

But they had already missed Thorpe, by as little as five minutes by his calculation. After some time spent in a futile search they returned to Oxford – where they faced a whopping £125 fare from their driver. Thorpe’s was £55, making the adventure an expensive one.