• It was after midnight when Stockport-based owner-driver Stewart Warrender
Page 28
Page 29
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
drove his Scania 112 into a layby near Como, north of Milan.
He needed to rest before embarking on the final leg of his journey to his freight agent's office in Como, and had just put his feet up on the dashboard when an iron bar shot through the passenger window.
Warrender made the trip to Como regularly and was aware that a remote motorway layby in Italy was not the safest place in the world. He had heard of UK truckers being mugged, but he had just driven for four hours through thick fog and he needed a break. Besides, the doors were locked and he did not plan to sleep.
The crowbar hit Warrender's head. He moved towards the ignition, but his assailants struck again. "They seemed to be coming in from all directions, like Francis Drake boarding a ship," he recalls. "I tried to get the ignition a second time, but was smacked again. I punched one on the nose and got hold of this blade that appeared, cutting my thumb. I was about to bury my fist in his face when a knife appeared at my throat. At this point it did cross my mind that I was going to be murdered."
Two more blows with the bar followed, and Warrender thought the safest bet was to pretend he was unconscious. Two of the attackers came into his cab and tied him up, bundling him on to the bunk. Then, in what Warrender thinks was a bid to blind him, they pulled back his eyelids and sprinkled shattered glass into his eyes.
One of the thugs was an experienced driver; "As the truck drove off, you could tell by the engine noises and the gear changes that he knew how to handle it." The other one ran a knife up and down Warrender's body. "It was difficult not to shiver. I was terrified," he says. "My head was up against the night heater, which I'd had on, and I was almost choking. I had dried blood on my face making me itchy, but I dared not move." His ordeal lasted 2! hours.
The villains finally detached the trailer, which had Category eight corrosives on board, took Warrender's food and water and £1,000 in cash. They also ripped out his CB radio.
After hearing the thugs leave in a car, Warrender tried to raise the alarm, but he could not see properly. He stumbled out of the cab, climbed a fence and walked towards what he thought was a house, but a barking dog forced him to make a run for it.
Warrender stood by the road and tried to flag down a car, but several people passed without stopping.
He saw a light on the other side of the road. It turned out to be the gatehouse of a gravel works, where a security guard bathed his eyes and called the police. Two officers secured his tractive unit and took him to a cafe for breakfast. "They were great; they paid for everything," he says. Finally he was taken to hospital where, through an interpreter, he made a statement.
Warrender returned to Italy to collect his D-reg unit and trailer, which was found intact with its load on board. Although his vehicle insurance will be paid, he is worried about the extent of his goods-in-transit cover. Warrender reckons he has lost up to £8,000 in revenue after being without a truck for more than a week.
But the biggest blow has been psychological. Although doctors gave Warrender the all-clear, he says he has been absent-minded and depressed.
Warrender had some unwelcome support from some hot-headed drivers who heard of his plight. They wrote anonymously to CM and several national newspapers, vowing that there would be revenge attacks on Italian truck drivers in the UK. They said that unless Warrender received 10-fold compensation for his losses from the Italian haulage industry or
the government "a state of war will be declared on any vehicle bearing Italian licence plates" (CM 21-27 Nov). The writers set a payment deadline of 14 December. A copy of the letter was passed on to Warrender by the police.
Warrender, a driver for 14 years and running his company for about eight, is flattered that others should consider him, but feels that their threat is misguided: "They thought they were doing good, but what would happen is that three Italians would get attacked here and then six of ours over there. It wouldn't achieve anything. Besides, I don't want any Italian
driver to go through what I did, even though I do feel bitter about the ones that did it to me."
He has written to his Euro MP Glyn Ford and, although he has received sympathy, he does not expect compensation from Italy or the EC.
Warrender has been doing regular Continental work — mostly to Italy and France — for two years and now almost all his business is outside the UK. Many of his British customers went out of business owing him money, but he now works directly for Gonrand, which pays him promptly. Keen to get back to work, Warrender is not afraid of returning to Italy, but says he has learnt lessons from the attack. "I'll never park alone now. I'll drive on even if I'm sleepy rather than stop in a layby. take extra precautions, but locking your doors won't slop them," says Warrender.
"You're not even safe in a service station. Other truck drivers drive past your curtainsider and rip it open while you're asleep. You can tell it's a truck driver because the knife rip is the height of the cab window."
by Murdo Morrison