Miracle escape as trailer smashes house
Published: March 3, 2006
A TRAILER loaded with bags of animal feed crashed into a Grindleton house, smashing through its front wall, on Tuesday morning.
No one was hurt in the incident, which caused rush-hour disruption to traffic travelling through the Valley village.
Substantial damage was caused to the terraced house in East View - known locally as Brow Bottom shop – but the occupants, Mr and Mrs John Wilkinson, escaped injury.
PC Ted Ross, of Clitheroe police, said the accident happened around 9-15 a.m. on Tuesday, luckily just after the school run.
He said that a tractor driven by Trevor Dobson was making its way up Grindleton Brow when the trailer it was pulling came loose and slid downhill, smashing through the front wall and window of the East View terraced property.
PC Ross added that the householders had a lucky escape. “If someone had been inside the front room the incident could have been a lot worse.
“It is very lucky that this didn’t happen further up the hill because the trailer would have picked up a lot more speed and the results could have been catastrophic.”
The trailer was pulled away from the property just before 11 a.m.by another farmer’s tractor under the supervision of a building inspector and the damaged area of the front of the house was fitted with security fencing.
Mr John Dobson, Trevor’s father, said his son was quite shaken by the incident. Said Mr Dobson: “The main thing is that no one was hurt. There was a safety chain on the hitch, but the chain broke. It could have happened anywhere.”
Officers think there may have been a car travelling behind the tractor just before the trailer, which is believed to have been carrying around four tonnes of bagged animal feed, came loose. This vehicle managed to manoeuvre out of the way.
Said PC Ross: “This driver had a narrow escape. If they want to make themselves known to us we would be grateful to hear more details.”
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