ABC Wednesday: Queue

Today's post for ABC Wednesday is Q for "Queue". The photos are a couple of years old, but today's theme of "Q" seemed to be the right moment to dust them off and share them.

I was out for a walk early one afternoon when I was rather surprised to see a queue of buses and lorries on the main road between Ashton and Mossley, stationary and with their engines switched off.

It soon became apparent that something ahead was blocking the road. Most of the car and van drivers caught up had turned their vehicles around and found another route. However, the buses and lorries were too long to turn in the narrow road, so their drivers just had to sit it out. Most of the bus passengers had continued to Mossley on foot although a few were also staying put. A similar queue had built up on the other side with vehicles coming up the hill in the opposite direction.

The obstruction blocking the road turned out to be a lorry which had presumably been delivering sofas to a house in an outlying lane. Turning a very sharp left from the steep lane onto the main road, the back end of the lorry had grounded and the lorry was stuck fast, with the driver being unable to move forwards or backwards.



The problem was resolved when a local farmer came to the rescue by with his tractor. This was attached to the lorry and using a low gear was able to drag the lorry backwards so that its wheels could get a grip. The vehicles caught up in the queues were able to continue their journey, and the lorry continued on its way, this time turning right and avoiding a repetition of its earlier predicament!

See Google Street View seen from Under Lane.

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"Queue" is a contribution to ABC Wednesday. For more "Q" posts from around the world please follow this link.