I've always preferred the sleek lines of coupés to wind-in-the-hair convertibles, so I've been impatient to have a go in the Jaguar F-type coupé that's joined our long-term test fleet.

I got my chance yesterday, and enjoyed my drive, even though it was a gnarly motorway slog up to the Midlands.

However, an unusual thing occurred during the return leg.

When I got back in the car to drive home, I placed my iPhone into the cubby hole in the centre console behind the gearshift – the one which contains rubber mouldings to hold your takeaway coffee cups.

The cubby was already filled with the detritus that can accumulate during a long journey (usually empty Haribo bags in my case) so I had to lay the phone flat on top of the junk I'd shoved in there.

When I stopped for fuel, I closed the cubby's flip-top lid to hide my phone from prying eyes.

Later, when I reached my final destination, I opened the cubby hole lid to retrieve my phone… which had disappeared.

After a few baffling moments, I realised what had happened. The cubby hole lid, which flips upwards and then neatly slides down out of sight, features a prominent lip on its underside.

When I opened it, the lip had scooped up my iPhone and pulled it downwards into the recess. My not-so-smartphone was now trapped within the underside of the lid.

I could close the cubby hole lid to bring the phone within reach, but as I did so, the gap available to withdraw it from the lid's clutches became too narrow for my fingers.

Eventually I realised the rubber cup holders could be manipulated out of the way, giving me enough room to grip the phone and release it from the lid in one movement.

But it was a delicate operation; with the phone caught in the underside of the lid, I was worried it might fall into the vacant space underneath the cubby hole.

That could have necessitated a rather embarrassing phone call to Jaguar and a lengthy – and potentially expensive – visit to a dealer to dismantle the cubby hole surround.

I escaped my red-faced moment, but it made me wonder if anyone else has experienced such bizarre car-related failings. 

For example, has your wedding ring ever slipped into the radiator? Or have you ever had to dismantle a door card to find a lost ten-pound note? Let me know.