A wrong turning led to damage to two road signs, a broken gate, shattered garden wall and crushed war memorial railings in a Moray coastal village on Monday.
Garmouth’s narrow alleys were never intended to be used by 15-tonne trucks with extended trailers – but for one Lithuanian driver unaware of the local area the village proved to be a place of nightmares.
A sign warning that the area was unsuitable for HGV’s went unheeded by the hapless trucker who blindly followed a colleague driving a much smaller vehicle into the village. The result was the truck became impossibly wedged between the wall of a house, a flat and the war memorial.
A police spokesman said that the incident, which happened around 4pm on Monday, was not being regarded as a criminal act with the driver’s employers, Mclivanna International, accepting full responsibility for damages caused.
An embarrassed Audrius Svegzda, who was driving the truck, said that he had negotiated the bend successfully once before – but things went wrong on his return.
He said: “It’s normal, it just happened – the first drop I take the corner the same way, and it is normal, but coming back this way is not so good.”
A resident whose garden wall was damaged, Julie Stewart, said: “Nobody was hurt but there is quite a lot of damage in the area.
“It is so good to have those bollards at the side of the road to protect our houses though – there have been quite a few squeaks. The police have given us all the insurance details – they need to take it seriously but I’m sure they will.”
The truck was finally removed when rescue came in the form of the Sherriffmill Motor Company who lifted the truck around the bend – the truck then carried on to its destination at Newton Farm – under a police escort.