Maths ruins movie ending

In October last year the Royal Society of Chemistry (WAKE UP. It’s not as boring as it sounds) asked for submissions of ideas to solve the cliffhanger ending of The Italian Job without using a helicopter. With a bus teetering over the edge of an Alpine cliff and 3.2 tons of gold balanced against the gang’s lives, Charlie Croker declares that he’s got an idea, brilliantly leaving the audience’s imagination wandering.

The winning submission has been announced, and the prize of three nights in Turin has gone to an IT manager in Godalming called John Godwin. His idea was to deflate the tires of the truck and empty the fuel tank, allowing one man to get off the bus and gather rocks to weight down the bus further. Once balance had been achieved, the gold could be retrieved and the gang could hijack another bus or van and escape to Switzerland with their loot.

The runner up was a little more Hollywood. Aidan Farrell suggested bleeding the fuel line onto the road and setting it alight, thereby melting the asphalt and gluing the bus to the road.

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