Driver had bees in his bonnet

A family of bees almost destroyed a man’s car after deciding it was a suitable place to make their honeycomb. When Alf James, 81, took his 11-year-old Peugeot 106 into his local garage in Haslingden, Lancashire, he was shocked at what he was told. When mechanics looked at Mr. James’s car they discovered that two of the vehicle’s cylinder head ports were completely blocked with honeycomb.

“I thought the garage was playing a trick on me, I thought it was a joke”, said Mr. James. “My garden is a haven for bees, it’s a real hassle for us in the summer months. Never in my years did I think that the bees would make my car their home!”



Neil Wright, manager of G & N Auto Co Ltd, said: “In nearly 25 years of working in this business, I have never seen anything like this. The car was misfiring and running badly. When we started to investigate, there were no bees present in the car so we certainly weren’t expecting to find a honeycomb. It was amazing that the car was still running, as the rock solid honeycomb was completely blocking two of the four cylinder head inlet ports.

“Upon further investigation it was found that the bees must have flown into the garage, then under the car’s bonnet, through a gap in the air filter housing, along the air inlet pipe, past the throttle valve, into the inlet manifold and then started to build their nest in the cylinder head inlet port. It’s quite extraordinary.”