07.09.2012

It fell off the back of a truck

A number of people had a lucky escape this morning when a small spider crane fell off of a trailer in Tunbridge Wells, UK.

We have almost no details of what happened apart from the location and what we can see with our own eyes. It seems that the crane, a small Maeda spider crane, was on the back of a trailer behind a four wheel drive truck or a van, when the web tie-down straps broke as the driver went around a roundabout.
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Someone has left their crane in the road!

The usual causes for such events are a) going too fast around the roundabout and b) Using old and worn straps that are simply not up to the job.
We assume that the owner realised that he had lost his load? And didn’t just leave it lying there in the road?
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A closer look reveals that this is a nice crane in good condition...

The most important thing is that no one was hurt, although it could so easily have been different.