Motorists and business people were just inches from disaster
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DAVID POHLUDE of Ferns Computer Supplies was going about his normal business on Monday while a lorry across the street was being examined by the driver: 'Suddenly it took off,' recalled David afterwards. 'There was a big bang and you could see the big truck. It was very surprising. The driver could not speak English. He was very shocked.'
The runaway vehicle took away the wall and the railings that used to be in front of the premises. The alarm system on the building was damaged and a couple of computers were showered with glass. The lorry struck the corner of the building but there were no injuries and no-one was at home in the apartments next door, so there were no casualties there either.
'Business as usual,' was the motto adopted at Ferns Computer Supplies and David Pohlude was full of praise for the way the Gardaí and breakdown personnel had the main street of the village back to normal within a few hours of the incident.
Johnny Gethings was at work as usual in the Centra supermarket, looking out from the window of his shop. He noticed the lorry parked outside the former Bank of Ireland, now a restaurant. There was no-one in it when, to his amazement, it took off without any driver, ploughing through one car and two jeeps before coming to rest outside Jimmy Kavanagh's recruitment office.
'The driver must have got out to check something,' said John. 'It was unbelievable. Fortunately there were no cars coming up the hill. Usually it's a very busy street. It could have been very serious.' the ambulance that attended the scene but escaped without physical injury. She returned to work at Dunnes Stores in Enniscorthy next day.
'I sprang back to the wall,' recalled Jimmy Kavanagh of the moment of impact. 'It was like a scene from the movies. The lorry came within a hair's breadth of me.
'No-one knew who the driver was until he went up into the cab to check his belongings. You would feel sorry for him.'
Local architect Philip Ennis usually parks near the bus stop but shifted his Volkswagen up the street when there was no space there. The consequences of the change of routine became apparent when a local man called into his office to announce the jeep had been broken up. The VW took the impact at the rear.
'I have never seen anything like it,' Philip Ennis confessed. 'The good thing was that noone was injured.' Across the street Rodelle Cowman was at home when she heard the sound of the collision and came out to find that it was her Landrover in its usual spot that had been extensively damaged, at the driver's side at the front.
'It really was crazy. I am annoyed but in fairness someone could have been killed,' was her reaction.
