When it came to tight turns this was one too far for a Co-op delivery driver.
For he ended up stuck at crossroads at Scapegoat Hill, blocking the road for four hours from just after 6am to 10am today until a breakdown truck could drag him backwards.
John Turner, who lives at the spot at the hairpin junction of Pike Law Road and Slaithwaite Gate at Scapegoat Hill, helped the stranded driver until he was rescued.
He said: “I’d just had the wall repaired after it was damaged three weeks ago but luckily this driver didn’t hit the wall. He was delivering to the Co-op store at Town End in Golcar and was new to the route. He asked a local who said ‘take the next left’ and he did. But he then realised it was far too tight to make the turn.
“Every time he tried to reverse back his tyres were skidding on the steep road camber which made him slip forward towards the wall and a 15ft drop the other side.”
John put a railway sleeper beneath the wheels to try to support the lorry.
Pike Law Road is used as a shortcut to the M62 for people from the Colne Valley and traffic had to then turn round when they came across the lorry.
John went down the road and diverted traffic up narrow Pike Law Lane. Traffic using Slaithwaite Gate could get past the lorry in just one direction at a time with the lorry driver directing the vehicles there.
And last Monday John – a member of Colne Valley Lions – was out gritting at the junction after it became sheet ice early in the morning.
“Our Lions motto is We Serve,” said John. “So I’ve been doing that community spirit right outside my front door.”
The usual route for lorries is to follow the bus route to Scape which goes through Bolster Moor.
