McVEIGH & HUMBER McVEIGH

Ref the Newport arch Lincoln accident i know a little bit about that incident,
About 7pm on the day before Good Friday 1964 i was finishing a job off in the workshop and looking forward to a few pints in the Honest Lawyer pub across the road when my plans were scuppered,into the workshop screeched a Ford Anglia and out leapt Dave Marsh the transport manager who was not in a good mood.
Ffing drivers ,who started that bloody idiot, he was unhappy. Get in Griff and poor old ■■■■ Roper who was a local driver well into his 60s happened to be walking across the yard was enlisted also, like me he had no choice in the matter.Where are we going Dave but we got no answers because he hadn’t finished cursing.
David Marsh was a brilliant transport manager who did not suffer fools gladly but when he lost it you should get out of his way,i couldn’t because i was sat next to him but gradually we deduced that a temporary driver Russ Tucker who was on his way to SPD Cardiff with a load of Birds Eye frozen had hit a bridge.
We reached Market Rasen very quickly because of the tremendous speeds we were doing and then the mood changed to even worse because a herd of cows had got out onto the A46 and traffic was tailed back for a couple of miles,that wasnt Russ Tuckers fault but he got the blame anyway.
We reached Lincoln and you can see the scene that met us except you can’t see the two dozen policemen including sergeants, inspectors chief constables and because its near the cathedral vicars, abbots, monks, bishops and all the learned historian’s that the counties only city seem to house.
They all wanted a piece of Mr Marsh and the poor sod was swamped with questions, I even felt sorry for him until he told them he wanted to drag it out backwards and then he was told in no uncertain terms that if he even touched the vehicle they would lock us all up,now bugger that i had already missed my pint i didnt fancy a dungeon as well.
Anyway as the night progressed they allowed us to tranship the load into another Humber vehicle sent from Grimsby 602 FFU driven by Pete Blow who carried on with it to Cardiff, 8 tons of peas and not a carton damaged.
The transhipping wasn’t easy either because the load was kept cold with dry ice and its bloody dangerous working with no protection in an enclosed space with that stuff.
By now it’s about 7am Good Friday and up rolls the television (not too quick in those days) and tries to interview Marshy but he wasn’t interested, it did not stop them trying to talk to me and ■■■■ “was you the driver because you have a Humber badge on your overalls”
No i certainly wasn’t and it’s one time i wish i had worn them inside out.
For some reason which i cant remember we had to stay there till about 11am but i do remember a group of pretty eminent people surveying the carnage and i was stood nearby listening and it was something like this, “that arch has survived two world wars and many other troubled times the Duke of Wellington,Sir Francis Drake, kings and queens have been and gone, Henry the 8th changed the religion but our arch remained until Humber Warehousing from Grimsby destroyed it, today is the Christian day for crucifixtions and if i could get my hands on the owner of that company that would be his fate”.
I moved out of reach because i had missed my pint, being hijacked and sworn at threatened with the dungeons, worked all night with no food in freezing temperatures accused of driving the bloody thing and there was no way i was going to be nailed to a cross for wearing a pair of overalls.
Mr Hallam had been during the night but didnt stay too long, i dont blame him he didnt want crucifying either.
The vehicle remained under the arch for about 4 or5 days whilst they numbered the stones as they demolished it to be rebuilt later.
I went home and slept for the rest of Good Friday.