Traffic jams as lorry gets stuck

From the archive, first published Sunday 15th Apr 2007.

TRAFFIC ground to a halt in Rochford when a lorry carrying a crane got stuck in the road.

Badly parked cars on both sides meant the lorry could not pass through Weir Pond Road on Friday afternoon.

The resulting jam trailed all the way back to Ashingdon Road.

The lorry was carrying a crane from the new Square housing development in Rochford town centre.

Resident George Paul said he was not surprised the lorry had problems, as the road is plagued with bad parking.

He said neighbours had been campaigning for something to be done since the road was made one-way in the late 1960s.

Mr Paul said: "There is parking both sides of the road, and there is no pedestrian crossing. Someone is going to get killed.

"We have warned them, and warned them, and got nothing."

However, there is now a light at the end of the tunnel. Mr Paul and his neighbours have been speaking with Rochford councillor James Cottis, and the issue will probably be brought up at a council meeting in September.

Mr Cottis said: "We are looking into helping improve the lives of people along Weir Pond Road."