Cattle truck smash causes chaos

Oct 9 2009 by Edwin Lawrence

IT WAS carnage on board a cattle truck that came off an Ayrshire road.

And 35 of the 48 cattle on board had to be destroyed.

The poor beasts had toendure a hellish ordeal following the accident.

And a firearms unit was brought to the scene by helicopter to work alongside a vet and SSPCA officers.

The lorry came off a twisting section of the A77 between Ballantrae and Glenapp, just after noon on Monday .

The driver was taken to hospital in Stranraer and treated for minor injuries. He was later discharged.

Emergency services then had to turn their attention to the unfortunate 48 cattle.

Fire and rescue crews from Colmonell and Girvan were quickly at the scene.

And the incident led to the road being closed for more than 20 hours.

This resulted in marathon 60-mile diversions for drivers – many trying to catch ferries.

Southbound traffic was diverted from Girvan, down the A714 to Newton Stewart.

And northbound traffic had the same headache in reverse.

A spokesperson for A77 managers Amey said: “In order to keep the A77 trunk road traffic flowing we implemented the appropriate emergency diversion route.”

The spokesperson said the long diversion was required because of limited options.

She added: “It had to be a route which is a safe and suitable alternative for all types of vehicles, including HGVs.”

But ironically, the diversion was hampered by an HGV coming off the A714 and ending up in a ditch.

Meanwhile, the cattle lorry wasn’t removed until around 6.30am on Tuesday.

And the A77 south of Girvan finally reopened around 8.50am.

However, traffic lights were in operation at the accident scene, as there is significant damage to the crash barrier.