By Lyall Cresswell
Whether it's down to lack of sleep, a comical attitude or a desire for distractions on a long journey, for some reason lorries and lorry drivers have been the focus of many of the craziest news stories over the last few years. Here is a countdown of the top 10!
# 10 Fast food attack on ‘go slow' doctor (Czech Republic)
An Austrian doctor lodged a complaint after a lorry driver threw a cheeseburger at him for driving too slowly. But police told Hannes Kohl, from Vienna, that burger throwing was not an offence. He was hit on the head by the cheeseburger thrown by an overtaking lorry driver through his open car window. Dr Kohl, who was on his way to a medical congress in the Czech Republic, said: ‘I was going slowly but that was no excuse for this outrageous attack.'
# 9 Lorry driver's sausage mistake (Germany)
A German lorry driver set fire to his cab after deciding to cook himself some sausages while driving. Walter Reckling, 46, was cooking two sausages while travelling in Saxony, Germany, when the cooker toppled over. It set fire to the seat, which in turn set fire to the cab of the haulage vehicle. Reckling was treated for smoke inhalation at a local hospital, where he was also found to have been three times over the legal alcohol limit.
# 8 Smashing grand piano (UK)
A crew of delivery men were red-faced after dropping a £45,000 grand piano off a lorry whilst being filmed. Music lovers spent two years raising cash for the Bösendorfer. Proud organiser Penny Adie, 54, was ready with her camera as specialist removers arrived at an arts centre in Devon. But she watched in horror as it fell 14ft off the tail-lift.
Penny said: ‘We are numb.' Her husband John, 61, added: ‘We'll have to start fund-raising again.' The removal firm refused to comment.
# 7 Dodgy lorry accessories (US)
A controversial Virginia lawmaker is trying to introduce new legislation to ban rubber testicles from being fitted to the back of trucks. Truck drivers who sport fake testicles on the back of their haulage vehicles would risk a $250 fine under his proposal. Lionel Spruill, known for his failed attempt in 2005 to ban baggy pants, said he became concerned when he learned that the truck accessories had got larger as their popularity had increased amongst truck drivers. ‘How big are they going to go?' he said. ‘When will it stop?'
# 6 End of the road for unfortunate camel (Sweden)
Police in Sweden believe a dead camel found on a motorway probably fell off the back of a lorry. Drivers called police after seeing the body on the motorway in southern Sweden and initially police presumed it was a moose that had been hit by a car. Officers were surprised to discover the animal was a camel and believe it must have fallen off the back of a lorry and died as it hit the ground. A police spokesman said: ‘We often come across moose bodies but a camel is a first.'
# 5 Unconventional truck driver (US)
A 50-year-old Californian man pulled a truck with his penis for a British film crew. Martial arts grandmaster Tu Jin-Sheng attached himself to the haulage vehicle and pulled it several yards across a car park in Fremont. Jin-Sheng, originally from Taiwan, is the grandmaster of Iron Crotch, a branch of Qigong said to have 60,000 followers worldwide. Its practitioners are known to lift hundreds of pounds with their genitals to increase energy and sexual performance.
# 4 Excellent mobile phone excuse (Germany)
A German lorry driver escaped a rap for driving while using a mobile phone - after claiming he was using it as an ear warmer. Klein, 43, told the court: ‘I had an earache and it was being made worse because the cab had not heated up yet. So I grabbed the phone that had been on charge and put it to my ear, and that was when I was stopped by police.' The court accepted his claim after he produced an itemised telephone bill proving he had not been using the phone at the time he was stopped.
# 3 Lorry driver shunts man in a Smart car down the motorway (Germany)
A lorry driver shunted a tiny Smart car two miles down a busy German motorway because he didn't know it was wedged to his lorry. The lorry driver, 53, pushed the tiny car driven by Andreas Bolga, 48, along the busy road and said ‘I couldn't believe it when I got out of the lorry and saw there was a car stuck on the front of it,' he said. Mr Bolga said: ‘I tried to drive away but couldn't. I looked up through my sun roof and could see the lorry driver, but he didn't notice me.'
# 2 Truck driver shunts man in a wheelchair down the motorway (US)
A disabled man was taken for a 50mph ride along a US highway after his wheelchair got jammed in the grille of a truck. The back of the 21-year-old man's wheelchair was scooped up as he passed in front of a truck leaving a petrol station, Michigan State Police said. After four miles, the truck driver pulled over at a truck stop where police caught up and told him about the man on his front end. The man was unhurt - but still attached to the front of the truck. Police said he told them ‘it was quite a ride', and complained only that he had spilled his soda.
# 1 Prisoner postage (Austria)
A plucky prisoner wrapped himself in a large parcel and posted himself to freedom from a jail on a lorry. Bosnian Muradif Hasanbegovic, 36, was serving a seven-year sentence for robbery in the Karlau prison near Graz, Austria. He packed himself up in a parcel and other convicts loaded him onto a lorry. Once clear of the prison he broke out of the parcel, jumped off the back of the lorry and fled. The lorry driver told police: ‘I noticed the tarpaulin had a hole in it just as the prison called me and asked 'Have you noticed anything funny? We are kind of missing a prisoner'. Hasanbegovic has not been seen since.
Lyall Cresswell is the Managing Director for the Transport Exchange Group. Haulage Exchange, their freight exchange for the 7.5 tonne and above market, offers an independent environment for its members to swap haulage loads.
Source:www.isnare.com |
