Very sad day yesterday... My family and I were heading to a hockey game and we were getting in the car, as we were, she said she needed to run back in the house to grab her jacket. So with car running, I decided to leave it in neutral, pull the emergency brake and get out to go check the mailbox at the end of our driveway... this is where it gets tragic... as I'm at my mail box, I see my Mini rolling backwards down the driveway, then onto the street (where I foolishly tried to slow it down) and continued until my neighbors brick mailbox helped it come to a full stop... I could have cried, actually I may have cried a bit... Just thought Id share my story and see if anyone could tell me everything is going to be okay...lol

 

At least noone was hurt; could have been much worse.

 

You're right, could had been a lot worse, thankfully we live in a quiet neighborhood without much activity... It was weird, I've done it before and never had a problem... I'm taking it into the shop to get them to check the brake, still don't understand why it happened... I would have thought that if i hadn't had it pulled hard enough, it would have started rolling before I got out, or as I was walking behind it... a little scary...

 

That is a very good idea. If you can prove to the insurance company that the accident was caused by a mechanical failure instead of operator error then your insurance may not ding you with an increase in premiums. Worth talking to your insurance company about also.

 

Ouch, glad no one was hurt. Take it to a reputable shop that deals with European vehicles and it will be like new.
Checking the parking brake is easy. Set the brake at a level that seems reasonable for holding the car on a grade and try to drive off. The car should be really hard to get moving and may stall out, meaning the brake is functioning. If you find the parking brake is not doing as good a job as it should, it will be easier and faster to just go through your insurance and have them deal with recovering their costs from MINI via subrogation. If they get 100% back you will get your deductible back.

 

For what it is worth, the parking brake on my MINI has never been worth much; on any grade at all it really doesn't hold, particularly if the direction of slope is for it to roll backwards.

 

Well, for what it's worth, Fenton was parked on some pretty steep slopes this weekend and the parking brake worked well (as expected) both up and down slopes. No problems.