Two-time PDC major darts champion, Nathan Aspinall has disclosed the extraordinary sequence of events which culminated in the Premier League star requiring a specialist recovery crane to extract his stranded vehicle from a rural country lane following a late-night domestic disagreement.
The former UK Open champion revealed that the incident occurred prior to the birth of his children and stemmed from an argument with his partner, prompting him to remain out driving rather than immediately returning home. What initially began as an attempt to clear his head ultimately descended into an expensive and deeply chaotic logistical predicament involving emergency recovery services and a substantial repair bill.
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Speaking candidly on the Happy Hour Podcast, Aspinall recounted what he described as one of the most surreal experiences of his life.
He said: “This was before we had kids.
“I was driving home, but I was in the dog house, so I didn’t want to go home. I went for a bit of a whizz in the car and ended up going up these country lanes. Then I tried to turn around, but my car kind of fell off this drive. The back-end kind of fell off this drive.
“It’s like one o’clock in the morning, and I’m panicking. I’m like, ‘Oh my God, what am I going to do?’ So, I’m revving the car, trying to move forward and back, because it’s not going anywhere.
“So, me — no idea what made me think to do this — I got out the car and I tried to pick it up and turn it around.
“Then they had to phone the AA and get, like, a crane to lift it round. Honestly, true story.
“But at this point, I was panicking, so I ended up having to phone the AA up and I’m like, ‘I’m stuck up… it’s called something like Chadkirk Chapel.’
“I’m like, ‘My car’s stuck. Can you come and help me?’ They had to get, like, a specialist crane.
“All because I had a row and didn’t want to go home. Then I got back, and I got b****** because I left the car! *
“Cost me £800 to get it out.”
Nathan’s Pet Peeve
The world number fourteen additionally reflected upon another unusual episode from his personal life involving a family pet tortoise named Tiny Tim, whose brief residence within the Aspinall household ended after the reptile developed serious health complications within only a matter of months.
Aspinall explained: “I used to have a tortoise.
“So, a tortoise can live in the Sahara desert, in the coldest conditions anywhere. We had it for three months, and it got ill. Three months in the Aspinall house, and the tortoise was f****.
“So, we had to sell it, we had to give it back to the place we got it from. Honest to God, it had this big lump on its back.
“So, I had to try and inject his leg to make it better, but obviously every time I’m trying to do it, he’s doing this.
“I’m doing it, and then the second it’s like this, so I was like, ‘You know what, I can’t be arsed, you can have it back.’
“And that was it.”
While Aspinall’s reputation within professional darts has largely been constructed upon resilience, competitive tenacity and his rise to major championship success, the 33-year-old has also cultivated a reputation for his candour and self-deprecating openness away from the oche.
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His willingness to divulge such unconventional personal anecdotes has contributed significantly to his popularity amongst supporters, offering a more humanised glimpse into the life of one of the sport’s most recognisable contemporary figures.
Images: PDC
