A few days short of his 91st birthday former president Mário Soares has made front page news today for ignoring a woman driver whose car his chauffeur drove into in Lisbon on Thursday afternoon.
The accident happened at the busy roundabout at Entrecampos.
According to national tabloid Correio da Manhã, Soares’ Mercedes S350 “was changing lanes” when it hit the side of Carla Gonçalves’ Toyota Yaris.
But instead of stopping to exchange details and await the arrival of police, the driver “tossed” Ms Gonçalves what she described as a “torn piece of paper with a telephone number” on it, and drove off.
Two witnesses to the incident claim Mário Soares “made a gesture to the driver to hurry up, and they drove away”.
A lawyer with Lisbon borough council, Gonçalves told CM: “I saw Mário Soares was inside the car, but he did not even look at me.
“I would have understood if they didn’t have time, but they should have given the details of the car and driver to resolve things with the insurance company,” she said.
Instead, they “must have seen” the young woman visibly shaken and holding back tears, CM adds.
Gonçalves actually told the paper she started to cry as she had “become nervous”.
“Tossing me a piece of paper and driving on is what they should not have done!” she stressed.
Particularly as the phone number provided appears to be disconnected.
Thus Gonçalves has filed a complaint with PSP police and the story is being shared and copied on both national and social media.
CM explains in its print edition this morning that it has tried to get a comment from Soares’ spokesperson to no avail.
As to the telephone number on the piece of paper, it remains “disconnected”, says the paper.
