It’s been 23 years of roadside rescues for Whanganui’s Evan Forsyth.
Never one to stay put in a workshop, a roving mechanic sounded like the ideal trade for him. Enter AA Roadservice.
He’s an expert on the common call outs – over two decades in the job will deal you thousands of flat batteries, but sometimes it requires a bit more classic Kiwi ingenuity.
“A Member and mate of mine, George, dropped his keys down a drain. The grate was stuck solid, and he had no spare set. Thankfully, his keys were on a ring, so I attached a magnet to a line of string and went fishing. Not too long after, I felt the click of the magnet hitting his key ring and hoisted it up,” Evan says.
“Someone driving by pulled over – they thought I was having a medical episode, because I was lying on the footpath! That’s just us Whanganui locals looking out for each other.”
AA Roadservice Officer Evan Forsyth has been assisting AA Members for 23 years. Photo by Alanah Brown.
Evan gets called out roughly 13 times a day, but he’ll sometimes help more than 20 Members in one shift. He’s also provided support to the AA Wellington, New Plymouth and Palmerston North Roadservice teams when needed.
But it’s not just people. Quite the array of animals has been rescued from sticky situations thanks to Evan – one even coming home with him.
Once he attended a call for a woman who had a kitten hiding in her car, refusing to budge after multiple days.
Along with his son Steven’s assistance, they were able to reach under the car’s suspension and pull out the tiny hitchhiker.
Though relieved to get the kitten out of her car, the Member didn’t know where she came from, nor who she belonged to. Following a vet check-up and with no sign of any owner, the aptly named Kacy, after the ‘KCE’ number plate of the car where she was found, became Evan’s newest family member.
“Kacy turned two not long ago. No more hiding in car engines thank goodness, but she always makes her presence known while sprawling across my morning newspaper,” he says.
On another occasion, making the news at the time, Evan was called to 10 Pomeranian dogs locked with the keys in the car after a day out at Whanganui’s South Beach.
"It’s a real pleasure to be a helping hand within my community," Evan says. Photo by Alanah Brown.
Perhaps his most peculiar rescue was to save a mouse and its babies. Another accidental car key mishap. But no, Evan didn’t adopt the mice – four cats at home doesn’t make for the safest living arrangements.
“23 years later and no day has ever been the same,” he says. “Some of the Members I’ve met during my career are getting Christmas cards from my wife and I now.
“It’s a real pleasure to be a helping hand within my community. The relief on the Members’ faces when they see the AA wagon pull up, it’s why we do what we do.
“The people keep me going.”
Story by Hayley Twort for the Summer 2024 issue of AA Directions Magazine. Hayley Twort is a Communications Specialist at the AA who contributes to AA Directions magazine.
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