Wrong turn leaves driver with tight problem

Well here's another fine mess

A semi driver who took a wrong turning in Parkdale last night (13/10/2010) found himself in a very tight situation and Chelsea SES was called in to assist.

Just before 5.30pm, Chelsea received a request for assistance to Taylor Street Parkdale and Rescue 2 was dispatched with 4 members on board. 

First we need to move the truck

On arrival at the scene, members found the huge 22 wheeler semi filling the small street having struck a nature strip tree bringing down a large branch in the process. 

Although damage to the truck was confined to a few scratches and a bent exhaust stack, the tree fared much worse with substantial damage to the entire trunk.

Left hand down a bit and watch out for that tree!

The first task was to try to extract the semi from Taylor Street and after much consultation it was decided that the only option was for the truck to leave the same way it arrived however, it was pointing in the wrong direction so some tricky manoeuvring was needed to attempt to turn the truck around.

This is not as easy as it sounded

After the temporary removal of a couple of street signs, the truck had to simply reverse into Even Street and then drive back out of Taylor Street. Easier said than done; because of the narrowness of the streets, this simple task turned into a major operation and only after a number of attempts was the truck extricated.

All traffic had to be stopped while the truck went back and forward, back and forward etc. etc. etc.

First one curb and then the other

This is why semi's aren't allowed into Taylor Street

Our semi driver didn't seem to be getting to grips with the situation very well

Almost there

One more curb, watch the tree and road sign;  and away he goes! Easy???

Now we can start to clean up the mess left by the semi

Once the roadway was clear and road signs were reinstated, the task of making the tree as safe as possible and removing the branch that had been brought down could begin.

A number of other branches had to be removed following the impact

Due to the heavy impact from the truck, the tree sustained major damage and some limbs had to removed for safety.

City of Kingston Duty Officer Inspects the damage

Council was called in to examine the damaged tree and it was decided that the Council contractors would inspect the tree, assess the damage and then do whatever work was needed.

All hands on deck to clear Taylor Street

Sometimes a thank you would be nice, but in this instance, the driver simply left the scene. Maybe the trucks owners would like to offer Chelsea SES a nice donation for all their help? So after almost 2 hours the crew returned to the Chelsea LHQ and were stood down at around 7.45pm.