Tristan’s Rover collides head-on with an oncoming car

Tristan’s Rover collides head-on with an oncoming car after an urgent veterinary call forces Siegfried Farnon to entrust his new Rover to his younger brother. The crash turns a necessary trip to treat a cow with milk fever into a test of Tristan’s luck and Siegfried’s trust: the cow receives treatment, but the car is left badly damaged, and Siegfried responds by dismissing Tristan.

The urgent call and reluctant permission

Siegfried is already seriously ill in bed when he receives an urgent call from Armitage of Sorton. The farmer’s cow has milk fever, and Siegfried warns that the animal could die within an hour. He orders Tristan to take James Herriot to the farm immediately, making the trip a matter of pressing veterinary care rather than an ordinary drive.

The plan meets a practical obstacle: James’s car is at Hammond’s garage for repairs, and no replacement car is available. Tristan quietly points out that Siegfried’s new Rover remains at Skeldale House. Siegfried’s response makes clear how reluctant he is to let Tristan drive it. He nevertheless gives permission because the cow’s condition leaves little time to find another solution, and warns Tristan against damaging the car.

The collision on the Sorton road

Five minutes later, Tristan backs the Rover out of the yard and sets off with James. The road initially offers a clear stretch, and Tristan begins to enjoy driving the powerful car. Their speed reaches eighty miles per hour as a milk lorry approaches from the opposite direction.

An old, high-built car attempts to overtake the lorry. The two vehicles remain side by side as they approach the Rover, leaving no apparent space for the oncoming traffic to pass safely. Tristan brakes, but the narrator sees that neither vehicle is going to clear a path in time. Just before the impact, James glimpses the other driver’s alarmed face; the old car then strikes the Rover’s left side.

The Rover comes to a stop. The lorry continues down the road, while Tristan and James remain in the car before taking stock of what has happened. The damage is substantial: one door lies beside the road, and the other falls from its broken hinge as James looks around. The left side of the Rover has been badly crushed where the old car, swerving toward the verge at the last moment, ploughed into it.

The veterinary work continues

The collision does not cancel the call. After considering what to do, Tristan and James lift the shattered doors from the road, put them inside the Rover, and continue to Sorton. They treat the cow with milk fever and then return to Darrowby. The sequence preserves the practical purpose of the journey even as the damaged car makes the consequences of Siegfried’s reluctant permission impossible to ignore.

Tristan initially appears stunned by the scale of the damage. The narrator contrasts the wrecked car with the minor harm that might have provoked panic: a scratch to the paintwork would have mattered to Tristan, but the much greater destruction seems at first to leave him numb. Once he recovers enough to consider his position, returning to Siegfried becomes the most difficult of the options before him; leaving Darrowby or going to Brawton are also imagined as ways to avoid the confrontation.

Siegfried’s verdict

Tristan and James return to Skeldale House and go directly to Siegfried’s room. Siegfried is worse, but asks how the trip went and then how much damage there was. Tristan reports that the front and rear wings are badly mangled and both doors have been torn off the Rover’s left side.

Siegfried reacts by sitting bolt upright and shouting that Tristan is a fool and is dismissed, then falls back onto the pillow. The episode ends with Tristan outside the room, smoking and remarking that things usually turn out better than expected. The irony is pointed: the veterinary call was completed, but Tristan’s chance to drive Siegfried’s new Rover has resulted in its severe damage and his immediate dismissal. The scene brings the brothers’ conflict over trust and responsibility into sharp focus without resolving what Siegfried’s decision will mean beyond the moment.