LORRY WRECKED.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 221, 18 September 1929, Page 7

LORRY WRECKED.

STEERING GEAR BREAKS.

CRASH AT MOUNT EDEN.-

DRIVER'S CLOSE CALL,,

PEDESTRIAN;;JtJMPS CLEAE. ■

Two men, a motor, lorry driver, and a pedestrian; were threatened■ this morning, by a lorry,7that' got out. of contrpl near the corner of /St. Leonard's and Mount Eden Roads., It careered across the street and piled tip against a power pole,,capsized and was wrecked. ■

':; "It all happened so Suddenly I could, do nothing," r said Mi-. T.'Eyan, the driver, employed by Winstone and Co., Ltd."'""'

xi All he knew was that the steering gear. suddenly failed.' He was driving ttijb lorry • on a slight, down grade and a safe speed and turned towards the-centre of the road to pass : a stationary'.'vetiicle. Just as he tried to ; swing. his lorry back to the proper side of the road the steering wheel gave way iii his hand and he was powerless.. Before he .could apply the "brakes' of jump clear the'-lorry had crossed the road and .capsized--on thekerb. The next moment he was pinned between it and a power pole on. the' corner. ... . . .■ '• . : ■■■ ■:

Eye-witnesses rushed to his assistance,, but. found him' pinned fast.•' Promptly another lorry was linked up and moved the wreck by a matter of inches, while others broke in the overhead framework and endeavoured to'pull Mr."Ryan clear. His legs were pinned under the wreckage and the benzine was escaping from the petrol, tank. The rescue was successful and the driver .came out <with nothing worse than a severe shaking and a slight abrasion to the nose.

, '.'No'" less ' fortunate was. Mr. Hugh Glover, a service car driver, employed by White' and Sons,' who was walking across the' street, when he noticed the lorry coming directly at Trim. '. He ran to get outof its way and his hat fell off. The lorry just grazed'his band and ran over his hat.

All who saw the .accident considered that both men had lucky escapes.

''Broken fragments', of'., the windscreen were scattered about;' the footpath, and oil from the engine streamed all over the pavement. Only, a'■ slight mark on the power- pole had been made I 'by the lorry's collision,,- showing that the main force of the impact had been taken by the kerb ,althoiigh when the" lorry came to rest 'it was'resting against the pole. The driver was in a'horizontal position,' and feared that the escaping petrol would cause "a'fire, which' would make rescue exceedingly difficult. This was realised also.by those who were attempting to move the -wreckage > sufficiently to extricate him, and one man said that he managed to check the flow of petrol by keeping his leg against the leak in the tank. Afterwards the tank was drained clear without further mishap: