MIRACULOUS ESCAPE
NO INJURIES AS RUNAWAY LORRY CAUSES CHAOS IN FERNS
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Wednesday November 04 2009
THOUSANDS of euro of damage was caused but, miraculously, nobody was hurt as a runaway lorry took off through Ferns on Monday. No-one was at the wheel of the giant artic as it careered downhill along the road from the roundabout at the middle of the village in the early afternoon.
The driver watched helplessly as his vehicle veered across the carriageway and the air was filled with the sound of metal on metal, followed by the crash of his truck crunching into the railings in front of buildings beside O'Loughlin's pub. It finally came to a halt just inches away shy of demolishing a house.
It is believed that the driver, who was a foreign national not long in the job, had pulled up with a brake problem after negotiating the roundabout. He dismounted from the cab and was trying to locate the source of the difficulty when his rig took off without him.
One motorist emerging from a nearby yard on to the street was left shocked but uninjured as the heavy goods monster swept through her 2004 Toyota Yaris. The driverless juggernaut also battered against a parked 2005 Land Rover Freelander and a 2008 Volkswagen Toureg, inflicting substantial damage.
It missed O'Loughlin's but was eventually slowed as made it crunched into the wall and railings outside Ferns Computer Supplies and the adjoining house. The area was sealed off by Gardaí who arrived to sort out the traffic chaos that ensued and the lorry was removed late in the afternoon.
- David MEDCALF
