EXPRESS IN COLLISION

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20887, 19 August 1939, Page 8

EXPRESS IN COLLISION

TRUCK WRECKED CLAIM AGAINST THE CROWN COURT SESSION RESUMES After being adjourned for two days on account of the illness of Mr Justice Blair, the quarterly session of the Supreme Court in Hamilton was resumed today when further evidence , in the case which was opened on Wednesday afternoon was heard. The action was the outcome of a collision between the north-bound limited express and a contractor s motor-truck near llopuhopu on February 21, 1938, when the truck was totally wrecked. The claim, which was made by Francis MacQuibban, a contractor, of Gordonton ,Mr J. F. Strang) against the Crown (Mr 11. T. Gillies and Mr J. R. Fitz-Gerald; was for £350. Of the amount £330 was I for the value of the truck and the remaining £2O was for general damages for inconvenience to the suppliant. A visit to the scene of the accident was paid by the jury of four yesterday. Truck Across Line On the day of the accident suppliant’s truck was driven by an eni- ! ployee who was working for the ! Public Works Department on the , duplication of the line. The truck had been driven down a narrow path beside the railway track to the face of ’ a hank which was being removed. To turn the truck it was necessary to drive over the railway track. In do inis . this the truck became jammed broadside across the line. A gang of men further up the line warned the driver of the limited, but the express crashed into the truck and completely wrecked it. The driver was not in the cab. The suppliant alleged negligence on the part of the driver of the engine. Giving evidence this morning, the driver of the lorry, Thomas Hunt | Stanley, said that formerly the prac- ’ tice was to hack the lorry down the ! ramp from the working face of the hank, hut as it was a slow process ' he changed to running down forwards. When he hacked down he did not have to go on the line. He had carried out the backing operation about 15 times a day for six weeks prior to the accident and had never previously been stuck. When the lorry became stuck across the railway line on the day of the collision he made every effort to free it. Another driver working on the removal of spoil at the scene of the accident, Walter William O’Hearne, I said that he assisted in the effort to i shift Stanley’s vehicle from the line, t A piece of wire was used to tow the truck off the line but the effort was 1 unsuccessful. In the process of going ; across the railway track witness had t never become stuck and he had never heard any protest against the operation. [ (Proceeding)