Darth Vader tested on his Green Cross Code

Dave Prowse, who played Darth Vader in the original Star Wars films managed to pull onto the hard shoulder of the M1 when “everything went kaput on the car” during his journey to Burton on Trent where he was filming.

Dave rang through to the Highways Agency using an emergency response telephone and a patrol was dispatched to help. Whilst waiting behind the barrier for the Traffic Officers to arrive Dave was surprised by the speed and the sound of the cars whizzing by.

While assisting Dave, the Traffic Officers realised who he was, and also the unusual history of his Mercedes car.

“It has a great provenance as the car was previously owned by my good friend Kenny Baker who was R2D2,” said David. “Of course, because of Kenny’s size he used to keep a little ladder inside the boot so he could climb up and put his suitcases in the back. When he had finished, he’d put the ladder back into the car but then he couldn’t reach to close the boot, so he had tied a cord to the boot handle. I decided to leave the cord there as a reminder of the car’s previous owner.”

Traffic officer Craig Chapman, attending the scene said: “We meet all kinds of people on the hard shoulder but, since I started work for the Highways Agency, meeting Darth Vader is definitely one of the strangest situations I’ve been in.”

It looks like he escaped from the dark side once more!