Truck makes house call

James Best looking at the damage to his home at Waverley Cot, St George.

Vehicle examiner Hewitson Chase taking a look at the damaged truck. (Pictures by Ricardo Leacock.)

Mon, May 07, 2012 - 12:08 AM

A St George man was fortunate to be away Friday morning when a truck accidentally ran into his home.

James Best, 75, and a resident of Waverley Cot, St George, was in Bridgetown when he received a call that a truck had hit the house where he had lived for the past 20 years.

Returning home, he said he noticed that his house was pushed off its foundation and that there was extensive damaged.

Neighbour Lavinia Best said: “At first I thought it was thunder because of the rainfall that we were experiencing . . . .

“When I ran outside, I saw that a truck had run into James’ house and in the process also struck a utility pole and broke it in half.”

As a result of the accident, which occurred around 11 a.m., the telephone and electricity services were disrupted. The front and back of the truck, owned by Erskine Small of 91 Cave Hill, St Michael, were damaged.

Small, a freighter, said while he was in the area making deliveries, he parked the truck on a hill and got out to ask some truck drivers to move their vehicles so that he could pass.

All of a sudden, his truck ran back down the hill and ended up hitting the house.

He was relieved to know that no one was injured in the accident.

Share your thoughts

Please sign in or register to post your comments.

Page 1 of 1 pages

Posted by Mr Psychotic 1 year ago: This is happening a bit too often these days. So what is the procedure when things like this happen; do you call the police, do you call a lawyer, do you call the driver's insurance company? Suppose the driver has no insurance...suppose the driver flees the scene? Does the houseowner's insurance repair the house (assuming that the house is insured)?

I Like
I Dislike

Comment Link

Posted by Bim Bum 1 year ago: Man can't even park his own truck properly, den??
LOL at Bajan drivers generally!

For God's sake guys,
try to at least *pretend* that Driving is something to be taken seriously, OK?

I Like
I Dislike

Comment Link

Posted by D. Stoute 1 year ago: He "parked" the truck on a hill? Maybe next time he should apply the handbrake. There are way too many careless drivers in Barbados if you ask me, and then we want to make mock sport of their road shenanigans.

I Like
I Dislike

Comment Link

Posted by Pan Wallie 1 year ago: Oh Bim Bum, you are funny! are you sure the error was the man's or was it mechanical? Were the hand brakes holding properly? And don't forget it was wet. Parking on a hill, I suppose he should have used the old method of placing big rocks behind the wheels. Oldness is goldness.
We are grateful Mr Best wasn't hurt. Hope they fix him back soon.

I Like
I Dislike

Comment Link

Posted by Marva Chase 1 year ago: Anyone who has been driving for a number of years should know that one cannot leave a truck parked on a hill and expect it to stay-put unless one applies the hand-brake. Accidents do happen, but if people weren't so 'hasty' and acted in the interest of safety,
many of these accidents would not occur.

The question now is... was Mr. Best house insured?
If it wasn't, I feel that the truck driver should be held responsible for all repairs to the house, since he was at fault.