MANY TRAFFIC MISHAPS DURING ENGLAND’S ARCTIC SPELL

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6885, 15 April 1929, Page 3

MANY TRAFFIC MISHAPS DURING ENGLAND’S ARCTIC SPELL

Motor Omnibus Overturned LONDON, March 3. Miss Gladys Cooper (Lady Pearson) and the Danish Minister and his wife were among the many motorists who had narrow escapes on icy and fogbound roads yesterday. Miss Gladys Cooper was driving with her two children at Quoru, Leicestershire, when her car came into collision with a motor lorry which had pulled up suddenly to avoid running into another vehicle. The car was much damaged, but Lady Pearson and her children were unhurt. The accident prevented Lady Pearson from reaching London in time for the first rchoarsal of her new play. “After putting on chains/' she said last night, “we were able to continue the journey to London ,but it took us five and a half hours instead of two and a half hours., “Altogether there were seven motor smashes near the place where we met with our accident. Three happened ber fore we arrived and four before we left, but I do not think anyone was seriously injured.” A motor car containing the Danish Minister, Count Pre-ben AhlefeldtLaurvig and Countess Ahlefeldt-Laur-vig came into collision with another at the cross roads in the Twyford bypass near Beading. The Minister's motor car was turned completely round and severely damaged. The occupants escaped with a severe shaking. Mr W. H. Turner, representative o fa London publishing house, who was driving the other motor car ,was injured in the chest by tho steering wheel. John Wright, of Leeds, while driving a motor cycle near Aldwoodley, skidded and fell under a motor van. He died from a fractured skull.

Omnibus Skids A motor omnibus containing twentylive people on their way from Gillingham to London skidded on the new arterial road between Hartford Heath and Welling, and overturned. Most of the glass in the omnibus was shattered. The driver, WilYiam Thomas Stickles, and two passengers, Albert Paine and Frederick Elvy, had to be treated in hospital at Dartford. 'A baby escaped unhurt. A railwayman on fog duty at Enfield Lock station fouu 1 a lorry that had broken down at a crossing, and was fouling both lines. He hurriedly placed detonators on the lines and stopped two trains in time. One pulled up 25 yards from the lorry. Htffl and Grimsby were overwhelmed by a dense fog which reduced all traffic to a crawl. Tho ferry service. between Hull and Lincolnshire was temporarily suspended, so that many people could not go to work. A number of visitors to Hull were stranded. They were in a ferry boat last night, waiting for the fog to lift. Grimsby police guided pedestrians across the streets in batches, and conductors walked ahead of omnibuses calling out instructions to the drivers. Meet of One Only one rider, apart from huntsmen and whippers-in, attended yesterday’s meat of the Quorn at Hoby. Prost and fog made hunting impossible and hounds went back to kennels without drawing a single covert. The Prince of Wales and the Duke of Gloucester had arranged to hunt. Police Constable Higgins, of Loughton ,called off Ms beat to the body of a man found in Epping Forest, discovered that it was that of his father. It was at first thought ho had been frozen to death, but it is now believed that he died from heart disease accelerated by the cold. 1 The emergency committee of the National Skating Association has decided to hold tfto one mile Duddleston Cup race, open to members of the National Skating Association, at Welney, near Littleport, to-day. Racing will start at noon, and entries will be received on the ice. Car Flung 20 Feet Terrible conditions were experienced by drivers on the iirst portion of the Monte Carlo Rallya race from John o’ Groats to the Sporting Club at Monte Carlo —which began on Sunday night. Rain, fog and bad roads made the going tremendously difficult, and only seven of the II competitors had passed through Loudon by 4 p.m. yesterday. One car which came suddenly on a bridge in the fog was precipitated to a distance of 20 feet, but no one was injured. Two other cars overturned at Nowark-on-Trent, and had to remain there overnight, while one retired from the race at Doncaster. Mrs Bruce and Mr Healey, who had to give up at Deutsehkrouo (West Prussia), owing to snowdrifts, both started from Berlin yesterday morning, says Reuter, for Monte Carlo. Mrs Bruce’s car, which was damaged, having been repaired. Twelve out of thirteen cars which left Riga have been held up near Schlochlau (West Prussia), owing to the shocking state of the roads and tnu immense snowdrifts.