Haulier injured in firebomb attack
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• A haulier was hurt when thugs torched two of his trucks in an apparently motiveless attack at his Woolston Bank yard near Oswestry.
Greyroads director David Yarwood suffered bruising and back damage when a fireball erupted inside the cab of a Scania as he went to open its door on 20 July. He was about to move the vehicle after a neighbour spotted a fire in the cab of a nearby Foden at 22:00hrs.
The blast blew him back 10 feet and burned out the interior of the truck. The Foden tractor was almost completely destroyed, forcing Yarwood to hire two vehicles just days before he was due to start on a new contract for Shanks & McEwan.
"It was a carefully planned operation," Yarwood says. "I live on the premises and they waited until I was out."
Although the new contract offers the most likely motive for the attack, Yarwood says he is nonplussed because Shanks & McEwan only re-offered it because the existing haulier planned to retire.
We haven't undercut anyone," he says.
The contract is worth around £250,000 enough to keep three trucks running continuously— but the attack has cost Yarwood an estimated £30,000 in damage to his fleet of seven trucks.
Now he is offering a £5,000 reward to anyone who supplies information that leads to a prosecution. Yarwood is also paying a local security firm to guard the site with dogs when he is not there.
Anyone with information should contact DC Harris on 01743 232888 ext 5246.