The Mechanic made a quick inspection of Steve McDonald's motorbike when Steve and Joanne Khan wheeled the bike into his garage in Patterdale, in the Lake District, after it had broken down.
The mechanic diagnosed a blockage in the carburetor, but as they had run away from home on Jim McDonald's bike, Steve and Joanne couldn't afford to pay for repairs. Desperate not to lose their transportation, Steve offered the mechanic a few days labour in exchange for being allowed to work on the bike himself using the mechanic's tools. The men refused the offer, Steve's youth counting against him as the mechanic told him that the work would have to be done by someone who knew bikes. Unwilling to keep wheeling the bike around, Steve abandoned it in silage site, forcing the runaways to remain in Patterdale.