Lorry in a jam causes rush-hour delays

GOING nowhere . . . the lorry blocks Oldham Road, in Greenfield, after the rear of the trailer (right) struck the railway bridge

Quick-thinking builders kept trains running during morning rush hour when a large lorry collided with the bridge over Greenfield station.

The accident happened minutes before rush hour yesterday morning. Passengers and motorists saw the articulated lorry cross the bridge but fail to negotiate the sharp right hand bend into Shaw Hall Bank Road.

The rear of the lorry dislodged three big coping stones on the bridge, nudging them towards the tracks and sending rubble tumbling between the rails on the main Manchester to Leeds line.

Building boss Keith Lines and colleague Steve Davies, who were working nearby with a mini three tonne excavator, were asked to help by the driver.

As traffic piled up, they used the digger’s shovel to hold the damaged stones in place, allowing the driver to move the lorry away.

Police diverted traffic out of Uppermill along Chapel Road, while on the Grasscroft side only cars and small vans were allowed down Shaw Hall Bank Road into Greenfield, leaving buses stranded.

Mr Lines, boss of Greenfield-based Springfield Design and Development, said: “Luckily, we were on hand to help.”

One person who watched the drama said: “The digger saved the day. If the stones had fallen on the railway it could have been chaotic.”

Another said: “Another six inches and the lorry would have been fine. But it’s not the first time something like this has happened.”

A spokesman for the North Wales haulage company which owns the lorry said it was testing a new Government-approved extension trailer.

“No one was hurt but we are talking to the driver to study what happened,” he said.