Moving car when steering wheel lock still on

[ben22]

Hi folks, stupid thing: I went out to move my car (Citroen C1 flair 2018) down a (sloping) driveway and had the fan full on to clear the windscreen. Tried to drive but steering wheel felt stiff as I tried to move out from a bag of something builders had left. Thought the wheel had just stiffened up in the cold so tried to steer, only to realise I hadn't turned the ignition on . Would this have caused any damage?

[mickthemaverick]

Hello Ben,
I'm not quite sure I understand your situation. You said the fan was running but the ignition was not on. Is that correct?

[ben22]

Yeah, fan was on full for about 30s-1 min to clear the windscreen. I'd thought I'd also turned on the ignition to get the engine running a little, but didn't. When I went to move down the drive the noise of the fan hid the fact the I hadn't started the engine. Hope that makes sense. Basically, if the fan hadn't been so loud, it would have been obvious the engine wasn't running and I wouldn't have tried turning the steering wheel with the lock still on.

[mickthemaverick]

OK, I wouldn't have thought that you have done any damage, does the steering feel ok now and does the steering lock work when you switch off?

[Paul-R]

I also doubt you have damaged anything. Modern cars have such responsive power steering going back to an unassisted car can feel like there's something wrong.

[ben22]

Thank you both for your help with this. Much appreciated!

Steering's fine. Forty miles there and back from work with no problems, and the steering lock seems okay when engine switched off. Phew!

[ben22]

Still feel like an idiot, mind.

[mickthemaverick]

Where are you going to find an idiot at this time of day?