An articulated lorry and trailer blocked Vandyke Road, Leighton, when the driver ignored width restrictions put in place to stop HGVs travelling past Vandyke Upper School.
Bemused members of Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway’s ‘permanent way team’ were busy cutting back the summer’s growth on their Wild Flower Meadow at Vandyke Curve when the lorry tried to get through the two-metre road narrowing posts outside the school.
Neil Cairns, from the railway, said of the October 27 incident: “It was travelling out of the town and completely ignored the huge signs warning of the road narrowing, put there years ago to stop large goods vehicles using the road, due to its very narrow end in the town.
“The tractor unit tried to get passed the big steel RSJs but became wedged with one RSJ stuck between its diesel fuel tank and its front nearside wheel.
“That was about 10am. It was there until 3pm with police and J&K Recovery doing their best to remove the large obstruction.
“By 3.15pm the road was open again, but the HGV was towed away in shame.”
A Central Beds Council spokesman said: “Thankfully this is a very rare occurrence which shows that the message, that this is not the route into Leighton Buzzard for HGVs, has been getting through since the preventative measures were put in place.
“There is a large school adjacent and very narrow streets ahead so the restriction is there for a reason, but the council would still urge drivers of large goods vehicles to be aware of the signs put in place so this does not happen again.”