Truck in the mud halts Metro service
A LORRY driver was left redfaced after blocking city centre tram lines during rush hour while looking for the motorway.
The driver was hauling a load of concrete barriers through Birmingham on his way to the M6 but ended up driving down the tram line, despite warning signs.
The articulated lorry got stuck in the grassed-over surface at about 6.20am on Tuesday on a section of the Midland Metro at St Chad’s in the heart of the city’s busy business district.
Recovery workers brought in by the Nottinghamshire-based firm Hardstaff Barriers, which owns the lorry, eventually freed its wheels at 10.20am.
The lorry’s driver, sitting in the cab, shielded his face with his hand as bemused office workers stared and took photos of the unusual scene, between Birmingham Snow Hill station and the plush One Snow Hill office block.
After winching the lorry back off the tram line, a recovery worker asked the driver “do you know where you’re going?” to laughs from engineers inspecting the tracks.
The driver replied “the M6”, and was soon back on the road and on his way.
The disruption followed two similar incidents in which drivers took wrong turns on to a tram-only section of the network near Snow Hill railway station.
In November a motorist who blundered on to the line – causing £6,000 of damage to his week-old Mercedes and five hours of disruption – was handed a 17-month driving ban.
Tram services were also disrupted for three hours last May when a Peugeot 207 was left straddling a raised section of the line near the St Chad’s stop.