"I fixed a van right next to some lions"

"As an AA motorcycle patrol, most of my call outs are for breakdowns in town centres. (Although naturally I’ll go wherever I’m needed.) So the only animals that I usually come across are dogs and cats. But one lovely summer’s morning that changed.

"I got a call to go to a utilities company where one of their vans had a flat battery – which is a fairly routine job. Anyway, as I rode my motorcycle to the water works where the van had broken down, I thought I saw a zebra in a field! 'No,' I said to myself. 'I must be seeing things. You don’t get zebras in Doncaster!'

"After I got the van going again, I was chatting with the driver when suddenly there was this spine-tingling roar virtually right next to us. When I looked over the fence I saw a pride of lions just a few yards away, hungrily eyeing up some antelope. It turned out that the water works was next to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park. Luckily for the antelope (and us), the lions were fenced in. But it was still the most awe-inspiring sight ever for a Monday morning at work."

Ben Westney, AA Patrol