JACK BLOCKER CREATOR RESPONDS
► I must respond to Mr. Magill’s negative and erroneous critique of my article describing an alternative to an axle stand as a backup when using a hydraulic trolley jack (CM, Feb22, Letters).
He presents figures showing large numbers of accidents when using jacks. I would guess that a significant number of them were the result of not using an axle stand or some other secondary safety device. Axle stands have existed for decades and so has the advice to use one in conjunction with a hydraulic jack. So why did the poor folk in his statistics apparently not use an axle stand or similar safety measure? Three possible reasons come to mind. Either the victim did not have any axle stands, or they could not find a suitable place to fit one, or they were doing just a very short job and could not be bothered with the extra hassle. It is self-evident that no matter how good a safety device is, it is useless if it is not used. Also, the easier a safety measure is to use, the more likely it will be used.
That is where my jack blocker scores; it adds only seconds to the job of jacking up a car and there is only one place it goes, so the barrier to using it is negligible. The next question raised is whether it is up to the job.
Mr Magill states that as using a jack has safety implications – it would be
