Second 'runaway' claim
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by David Craik • A Middlesex haulier has re-ignited the controversy over the runaway Scania which hit the national headlines in May by claiming that the same thing happened to one of its drivers.
John Holmes of airfreight transport specialist Holmes of Heathrow claims the throttle on his father John's three-month-old Scania R1241./360 jammed open while driving on the M25 on 18 June.
"He took his foot off the accelerator but the truck kept going," Holmes reports. "My father had to dip the clutch to make the truck stop."
John Holmes senior drove slowly back to the company's base in Ashford and had the situation "under control".
Six weeks ago agency driver Michael Rayner weaved a Scania R124 around traffic for 20 miles on the M1 at speeds of more than 70mph, saying its accelerator had become stuck (CM 21-27 May).
An escort of five police cars and a helicopter followed the unladen artic; Rayner finally turned off the engine and came to a halt on the hard shoulder at Scratchwood Services.
Engineers later agreed that the throttle linkage had become fouled when the vehicle's non-Scania engine rev limiter clicked into "involuntary operation".
A spokeswoman for Scania says: "As far as we are concerned the vehicle and its factory-fitted equipment have been exonerated from blame in the May incident." Scania now plans to investigate the incident described by Holmes.