.............equipment failure caused by ignorance during recovery operations.A true account I once heard involved a Land Cruiser, a Suzuki SJ40 and a snatch strap. I imagine that the insurance claim read something like this: "The Land Cruiser was stuck in the mud. My Suzuki SJ40 was mobile. I thought I would use the brand new snatch strap I bought just that morning. I didn't know how to use it but thought, "How difficult can it be?" I attached the one end to the Cruiser and the other to the back of my SJ. I could see that the Land Cruiser was bigger than my SJ and it was obvious to me that the faster I go the harder will be the pull. As the strap tightened to my surprise my little Jeep stopped at the end of the strap and then started reversing at high speed. I now have severe whiplash, my Jeep is bent and the Land Cruiser owner wants to lengthen my stay in hospital."

Snatch straps are brilliant devices but highly dangerous, I think you will agree. The first snatch straps were designed for military use. When one was used for a non-military application the results were interesting. Some tourists in Northern Namibia in the bad old days, when the SADF were running the place, became severely bogged in a mud hole. Along came some troops in a Ratel, a large and very heavy armoured personnel carrier. The troops attached the military snatch strap to the Land Rover and then to the Ratel. The strap stretched and stretched and stretched. The Ratel didn't even slow, but the Land Rover didnt move. Something had to give. Finally something did, and the land Rover leapt from its snare, leaving two axles and a set of leaf springs firmly embedded in the mud.

Using a tow ball with a snatch strap or winch is another potentially lethal mistake that many off-road drivers make during recovery operations. I heard a story of a Range Rover winching out a badly bogged vehicle by simply hooking the winch cable over the tow ball of the stuck vehicle. The driver correctly insisted that his passenger leave the vehicle and stand well back, and it is a good thing that he did. At maximum stress the tow ball snapped and the cable with the round steel ball attached tore through the Range Rover, cutting through the roof and splitting the front passenger seat in two. The Range Rover was declared a write-off but, thanks to other precautions taken, nobody was hurt.