Car and cement lorry collide along town’s seafront
A 14-TONNE fully-laden cement lorry had to be lifted off the bonnet of a car on the seafront, after a collision caused an hour of traffic disruption yesterday.
The incident occurred by the traffic lights in front of the Crown Pier just before noon, with police first on the scene followed by fire crews and paramedics.
One person was treated by paramedics at the scene, but their injuries were not believed to be serious.
Although one lane of the road initially remained open, both carriageways were shut at 12.15pm – from the Weighbridge Roundabout to Albert Pier – while attempts were made to separate the two vehicles.
A grey BMW was wedged under the rear of the cement lorry to such an extent that firefighters employed air jacks to lift the heavy goods vehicle far enough off the bonnet of the stricken car so that it could be dragged out.
Watch commander Divon Crouse said the pneumatic air jack – a large rubber cushion that could be inflated under great pressure – was a useful piece of equipment.
While firefighters train with it regularly, it would only used at real incidents a few times a year, he said.
‘Operationally it is a very valuable piece of kit,’ he said.
‘We have two airjacks that can lift up to 70 tonnes.
'In this case it has lifted a fully-laden cement lorry, with a combined weight of 14 and a half tonnes.’
Police said they would be speaking to both drivers involved in the incident and asked witnesses to contact PC117 on 222222
The road reopened just before 1pm. However, the build-up of traffic continued for some while, with some cars unable to leave North Beach car park for half an hour.
