A father who taught his 17-year-old son a lesson by posting a Gumtree advert for the car he crashed said he has been overwhelmed by the reaction it has received.
Steve Clark, of Monikie, had intended to embarrass his son after he lost control of his 1.4 Honda Civic, rolling it on to its roof and giving his parents quite a scare.
He said: “His mum took the phone call and just burst into tears. She handed the phone to me and said: ‘He’s on his roof, he’s on his roof’ and I knew it was him.”
Nathaniel crashed on the Bonnyton Road between Forfar and Monikie, just five minutes from the family home, and his dad went out to get him.
Steve said: “It is every parent’s nightmare to see their son’s car lying upside down.”
However his advert, showing the flipped car, caused quite an internet sensation and prompted replies from other concerned parents all over the country.
As well as calls and messages on Gumtree Steve even received a letter from a father in England who had lost his son, praising him for his tough love parenting.
The ad stated: “Due to son thinking he’s Colin McRae I now have a 2000 Honda Civic 1.4 breaking for spares.
“It seems a 1.4 was too much for him to handle. He talked the talk, but certainly didn’t walk the walk.
“If only all roads were straight, we as parents wouldn’t have to worry about our over-enthusiastic sons.
“It seems his ambition outweighed his talent on this occasion.”
Steve told The Courier afterwards: “It looks a lot worse than it was. He said he wasn’t going fast but just lost control on a corner going uphill.
“The reason I decided to put the ad on is because if you don’t suffer financially, or physically, which thankfully he didn’t, I don’t think you learn the lesson.
“Kids are resilient so I wanted to embarrass him to make it hurt for a wee bit.”
After a few days in his room,Nathaniel emerged feeling very sheepish, until he heard his father telling the story on the radio.
Steve said: “If looks could kill. He’s mortified and thinks I’ve overreacted, but you see it every day accidents involving 17-year-olds.”
He has since had offers for the car for scrap and is now in the market for something with a smaller engine.
He added: “I’m going to have to get him another car because we live in the country and now it is back to mum and dad driving him about. I paid £1,650 for the Honda, which is now no more.
“Now I’m looking for a 1.1 pink Micra to embarrass him some more.”