Work for love driver dies
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A YOUNG driver who took an unpaid job with a haulier because he wanted to drive a truck, died after a brake component failed and he steered his lorry into a Yorkshire river.
Mr Terence O'Neill had one ambition—to drive a truck. To fulfil it, he searched for three weeks before being offered a job with W. E. Massey Haulage of Knutsford, Cheshire, who accepted his offer of working two weeks unpaid.
But his life as a driver was to be short because, as he drove through Elland, Yorkshire, a union in the air brakes of his Leyland 6-ton truck failed and he careered down the main street at speeds up to 70mph.
As the lorry, loaded with 10 tons of copper, headed for a crowded bus, he steered it into the River Elland. And an inquest into his death heard, last week, that the brake fault should have been found in the course of normal servicing.
This week, Transport and General Workers' Union district secretary, Mr Bob Robinson, hit out at the whole idea of employing a driver without paying him. "An employer has a liability for wages and conditions and a liability for the safety of the public.
But RHA area chairman, Mr E. C. O'Farrell said: "I am reluctant to accept that this is true. It was damned unfortunate what happened to him— there are very few like that around." Attempts to contact Mr William Massey, proprietor of W. E. Mas6ey this week failed,