Leicestershire Police officer’s traffic cone hack to help driver

A police officer came up with a clever hack using a traffic cone to help a stricken motorist who had run out of petrol.

PC Chris McBride of Leicestershire Police was heading back to the force’s headquarters on Tuesday when he spotted the car stopped on the dual carriageway at Narborough Road South in Braunstone.

He discovered the driver had no fuel when he stopped to help and gave the driver a lift to a petrol station to fill a jerry can before returning to the car.

PC McBride then discovered the jerry can had no funnel to help fill the tank and after looking for alternatives, he used a traffic cone from the back of his squad car to fill the tank before sending the driver on their way.

“I’ve been trained to handle all sorts of situations—car chases, suspect interviews, even a mildly aggressive pigeon once,” PC McBride wrote on the Leicester City Police Facebook page.

“But I definitely wasn’t ready for this: the jerry can didn’t have a nozzle. A quick scan of the police car’s boot gave me two options: a traffic cone or a knife tube.

“After a bit of internal debate and weighing up which item would make the best superhero accessory, I decided to go with the traffic cone. ‘It’s not just for guiding traffic,’ I thought. ‘It might just help me refuel this car!’

“In a moment of pure creativity, I used the cone as a makeshift funnel. And to my surprise, it actually worked! The driver was soon back on the road, and I could stand there feeling proud of my quick thinking.

“After all, saving the day doesn’t always involve sirens—it’s about teamwork, a little improvisation, and, in this case, a traffic cone.”