It seems that on Monday the 25th of November, 2 days before they were due to fly out, Ian crashed his car... into the back of another car. No one was hurt but the woman driving the other car wasn't too impressed and neither was her husband - "he was a bit grumpy", in the words of the Crash Meister. Apparently, she was in front of him and didn't exit the junction when she should have done. Ian went for a gap she had decided to leave.
Then the poor sod limped his bent motor into town to do a bit of last minute shopping. When he came back to the car he found a traffic warden writing in her little pad! She told him to wait till she'd finished so he went back to do some more shopping. When he returned to the car he wished the traffic warden a very pleasant day (as you can imagine).
He says he'll pick up the £20 for his car from the breakers on the way to Heathrow...