I don't know what it is about my son. He's a very good driver but he manages to attract accidents.

There was the time in Belgium when he went into the back of a car driven by a Japanese man who swerved in front of him to avoid another car which had skidded on the icey roads. Not Jay's fault but it caused a few paperwork problems with the insurance.

Then the old car was vandalised - not once but twice - in Amsterdam and the present car was broken into in London.

Today he was driving down our road when a car was backed out of its garage and hit him. The damage is not that bad. At least the car is drivable but it will probably need a new rear door and maybe wing as well.

Anyway, Jay came home to get me to go along as translator to fill in the accident report. The chap smelled a bit of alcohol but he was quite calm and kind of apologised. We filled in the details and ticked the boxes but had to cross one out - thanks to the chap's mistake.

Once home I realised that he had not filled in the complete registration number so we jumped in our car and went to see if he was still there - but he had gone.

He had also written down his wife's name as the driver.

Jay had to go into town so I walked to the local garage and had a word with Sylvain to warn him what was coming and pay for last week's service. We joked about one person's misfortune being lucky for others.

He said I'd have to get the full car number before sending in the form so I walked round to the house and found the man's wife in the garden. She was very pleasant and we chatted for quite a long time. Apparently she was very cross with him because it was her car and she should have been taking her daughter to a class this afternoon. However, he wanted to get the insurance and garage business dealt with immediately and had gone into town.

She said she would send him round to see us as soon as he got back. That would make it too late for us to catch the post so I rang in to report the accident.

I'm getting the hang of insurance claims (having had plenty of practice) and so was prepared for her to say our local garage was not 'agrée'. I insisted instead of giving in meekly this time and she backed down. She has arranged an appointment with the assessor on Wednesday morning.

We took the car to show Sylvain the damage and he rubbed his hands gleefully. Could be an expensive job then - but at least it's the other insurance that must pay so we should keep our No Claims Bonus. Fingers crossed.