Petrol, petrol everywhere, but not a drop in my car

There was a recall of some Nissan and Porsche cars this week, which sent me into a spin. As the owner of a beloved 2012 Nissan Juke, the idea that my car may have a fault with its fuel rail was both worrying and a bit of a relief. It was worrying because I have no idea what a fuel rail is - and for all I know it may mean my trusty vehicle is about to blow up - and a relief because I hoped the fault might explain why I keep running out of petrol.

Driving has become a major issue for me since I began writing the Your Money blog almost a year ago. First, there were the Dh5000 in speeding fines I wrote about in November. Then there was running out of petrol in Abu Dhabi on the way into work in December and being rescued for free by a member of the capital's road service patrol. Now, once more, I have become victim to my own motoring stupidity.

As I pegged it down Al Khail Road earlier this week to a meeting at Dubai International Financial Centre, I felt that horribly familiar motion of the car pulling to a halt all by itself. But this time I was not conveniently located on the inside lane of the highway, but right in the middle it and about 300 metres from a roundabout.

With my stationary car quickly turning into a road block, I phoned the Dubai Police, wrongly assuming they offered the same rescue service as their Abu Dhabi neighbours. "The police don't carry petrol," the operator politely informed me, "but they will get you off the road."

Just as I hung up, an RTA vehicle pulled up behind me, hazard lights blazing. Out stepped an engineer from Jordan who had been inspecting roadworks along the carriageway.

He asked what the problem was, called over some workers toiling on the nearby bridge development and helped them to push me to the side of the road.

He then sent a foreman to find some petrol, who came back minutes later with a jerry can filled with fuel. At this point, the police turned up.

So there I was, like a damsel in distress, with 11 men (I know, because I counted them) gathered around my fuel tank as it was filled up. Within 10 minutes, I was back on the road, albeit a little red-faced, with a free quarter of a tank of petrol because I could only repay my rescuers in thanks rather than money because I didn't have a dirham on me.

As it turns out, I can't blame my failure to refuel the car on a fault. Nissan checked my chassis number and my model is not due for a recall, confirming that I am simply a scatterbrain.

So what have I learnt, apart from the absolute necessity of filling up your tank no matter what? Well, I've realised that we may live in a cynical, materialistic world where everyone only seems to care about themselves, but when you are in real trouble, even total strangers will go out of their way to help you and expect nothing in return.

I like that.