:Jerry: wrote:

First rule taught to all in the motor trade, ALWAYS depress the clutch
(or put the left foot on the brake if the vehicle is an automatic)
BEFORE operating the starter, a sloppy / mal-adjusted gear leaver can
give the 'appearance' of being in neutral (or park) but not actually
being so.

In the case of an Auto, you can't even start the engine if it's in
anything other than Park or Neutral [1]. I drove a hire car Honda once
that would not accept the ignition key unless the selector was in 'Park'
That was a case of RTFM to figure out what on earth was going on.
My Peugeot 406 will not come out of Park, until the engine is running,
which could be a PITA if it breaks down in that mode.

[1] That's not to say if the interlock has a fault, that it wouldn't
start 'in gear', but hey, **** happens.