I know its spooky....taxitalk August issue;
Spontaneous Vehicle Combustion.....taxitalk exclusive
Spontaneous Human Combustion (SHC) is a phenomenon that we believed was always associated with human beings; however the past twelve months has seen the magazine inundated with reports of strange occurrences of smoke emanating from taxi and private hire car front windows.
We at the magazine were slightly sceptical, prior to the smoking ban coming in we would have believed it was a driver having a quiet, smooth and relaxing cigarette. However, as smoking is now illegal (except in your own home with a blanket over your head), and bearing in mind how law abiding taxi and private hire drivers are, we cannot believe that is a plausible answer.
We therefore decided to do a quick search on Wikipedia to bring forth a more probable solution, the following story was found on there concerning SHC.
In winter 1980, Cheshire, England resident Susan Motteshead was standing in her kitchen, wearing flame-resistant pyjamas, when she was suddenly engulfed in a short-lived fire that seemed to have ignited the fluff on her clothing but burned out before it could set anything properly alight.
Quote:
‘I was stood in the kitchen and my daughter just screamed out that my back was on fire. As I looked down it sort of whooshed all over me. It was like yellow and blue flames all over me. I was not burned at all. Not even my hair was burned.’
The daughter, Joanne Motteshead, confirms this account and adds that the fire brigade arrived and tried (unsuccessfully) to set fire to Susan's pyjamas.
In view of the obvious facts, after watching a number of episodes of the X files and after drinking a large quantity of San Miguel, it is our considered opinion that vehicles can suffer from a vehicular form of SHC hereby known as Spontaneous Vehicle Combustion (SVC). If you spot a taxi or PHV with smoke emanating from the drivers front window on no accounts should you report it or approach the vehicle, in our experience that only makes things worse and could lead to a driver being brought before a disciplinary hearing for allowing his car to contract SVC.
Wikipedia led us to the following quote;
Quote:
“ There's one mystery I'm asked about more than any other: spontaneous human combustion. Some cases seem to defy explanation, and leave me with a creepy and very unscientific feeling. If there's anything more to SHC, I simply don't want to know. ”
—Arthur C. Clarke (1994)
Now if that doesn’t sway your view, I don’t know what will.
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