TORONTO -- A scrap metal company in the United Kingdom has created a "rage yard" where visitors can shoot, blow up and bulldoze cars to release some steam.
Some people may choose to exercise or drink a glass of wine to cope with stress, but for Dan Gick, the director of Scrap Car Comparison, his preferred coping method involves safety gear and military-style tanks.
"It's no secret that 2020 has been a tough year for pretty much everyone over the globe. It’s been a lot of stress, a lot of aggravation, and we wanted to come up with a sort of fairly unique and unusual idea where people could let off some steam," Gick told CTV News Channel on Saturday.
The rage yard experience allows participants to take out their anger or pent up frustrations by destroying tangible items. This could involve shooting guns at a vehicle or even using a tank to destroy cars destined for scrap.
"We’ve seen some other concepts in the past where people might do something like a rage room where they perhaps wear some safety gear, go into a room and smash up a computer."
He added, "We really wanted to step it up a gear and do something a bit more exciting, and we thought what's more exciting than shooting a car, blowing it up and driving over it with a tank?"
Gick says the response he’s received so far has been overwhelming. The first event is scheduled to take place in January with other rage yard experiences set to follow.
Pandemic restrictions have largely kept people inside and away from the regular festivities that usually take place around the holiday season. But Gick says the rage yard is a fun excuse to get outside for an unmatched adventure.
Studies on mental health and the COVID-19 pandemic have indicated that these past months have raised feelings of fear, anxiety and loneliness for many.
"I experienced it first hand and what I can say is we had a team of about six of us that turned up and it was about six hour experience from start to finish [...] and we were all smiling ear to ear all the way through," Gick said.
