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Luke Littler wasn't allowed to compete in his latest tournament on Wednesday - because he got stuck in traffic due to a man losing his life.
The world darts champion was looking to bounce back from a disappointing performance in the European Championship at the weekend, where he lost against James Wade in the second round.
Instead, hotshot Gian van Veen, 23, won his first major title, sending a message to Littler that he may have some fierce competition when it comes to the battle of the most promising youngster on the planet.
Still, there is plenty more darts to be played before the biggest tournament of the year kicks off in the World Darts Championship in mid-December, and Wednesday saw the latest edition of the Players Championship take place in Wigan.
The likes of Nathan Aspinall, Chris Dobey and Gerwyn Price enjoyed good runs in what is the penultimate edition of the event for the year, but fans have been left wondering how Littler would have got on, considering he was due to take part before not making it.
The 18-year-old took to Instagram to share to his 1.9million followers that he had got stuck in traffic and therefore missed the event. He latest shared a news story of a man losing his life on the M6, which was seemingly the reason for the hold up.
Luke Littler was denied entry to the Players Championship on Wednesday due to a traffic accident
He posted in the morning that he had missed the 11am deadline to register for the tournament
Littler can still take part in the next edition of the tournament on Thursday in Wigan if he registers on time
The news story headline read: 'A man has sadly died in a tragic incident on the M6 in Wigan as part of the motorway remains closed causing lengthy delays.' Littler accompanied the post with: 'Missed registration today for the pro tour, but someone sadly lost their life thinking of everyone,' accompanied by a praying emoji.'
He had originally posted at 11:06am: 'Back to bed it is, wonder who they are gonna call up,' accompanied by a laughing face and a picture of a busy road. The cut-off to take part was 11am.
Three hours later, he shared an image of what appeared to be four people settling down to eat a Chinese alongside the caption: 'Chinese it is then.'
Littler was in serious danger of not qualifying for next month's Players Championship finals, with the line-up decided by the top 64 players on the circuit in terms of order of merit from the floor events throughout the year.
He did, though, all but secure his spot when he won Players Championship 32 earlier on this month.
The star is also able to enter Thursday's evening, provided he can get to the venue ahead of the 11am cut-off.
Should he win the finals in November, he will pocket £120,000 and boost his chances of overtaking rival Luke Humphries in the world rankings to finally become world No 1.
He has already won the World Championship, UK Open, World Matchplay and the Grand Slam of Darts this year, and could have become World No 1 at the European Championship, but for his early exit. Humphries reached the final before a dramatic defeat by Van Veen.
