1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156 
Hero haulier goes for hellish journey
Page 10
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
by Pete Swingler A haulier was slammed into trees during a fivemile terror ride as he clung to the wing mirror of his stolen truck.
Alan Randall, who runs his fleet out of Alrewas. Staffs, sprang into action when he saw a thief driving out of his yard in his ERF 32-tonner last week. He grabbed the wing mirror with the intention of getting into the cab but the truck was driven at dangerous speeds through country lanes for five miles with Randall trying to smash the window.
He finally leapt into a ditch when the vehicle slowed at a bend, suffering cuts and bruises to his head, face, ribs and shoulders. His ear was badly torn during the thief's attempts to brush him off. The vehicle was found burnt out in Solihull, more than 50 miles away.
Randall says: "I was hanging on and trying to break the cab window but the thief just kept on driving up grass banks and into trees to get me off. If the lorry hadn't been fully loaded I think it would have rolled over.
"I thought he was going to kill me. I was screaming because I thought my ear had been ripped off, I knew I had to get off after about five miles because there was a canal bridge coming up and he would have ripped my legs off. I know if I had jumped into the road he would have tried to run me over. Fortunately I managed to jump into the ditch."
Staffordshire Police are hunting the thief who is described as slim, white and in his early twenties.