Personal injury news

Stolen fire engine narrowly avoids causing road traffic accident

A Worcestershire man was lucky not to cause a deadly road traffic accident after stealing a fire engine and speeding along quiet country lanes whilst being pursued by police.

21-year-old Adrian Palmer stole the machine from Tenbury Fire Station, smashed it through the closed doors of the depot and tore off through the roads of south Shropshire. Weaving erratically into the path of oncoming traffic with blue lights flashing, a vehicle accident was somehow avoided before the fire engine eventually crashed through a gate, into a farmer's field and became bogged down in the mud with the wheels still spinning.

Palmer was promptly arrested but a judge at Shrewsbury Crown Court decided that the Asperger's Syndrome sufferer was not fit to plead, instead making him the subject of a two-year supervision order to be carried out by Worcestershire Social Services. Charges of drink-driving and driving without a licence or car insurance were dropped and Judge Robin Onions deemed that Palmer should be allowed to stay at home in Tenbury where relatives can look after him.

Prior to stealing the fire engine, Mr Palmer had been kicked out of a pub after being found behind the bar claiming he was a barman from EastEnders and that he was doing his job. Concerned locals called the police who discovered the young man inside the fire station revving up one of the appliances. They were, however, unable to prevent him driving through the doors and off into the night, coming dangerously close to causing a costly road traffic accident as approaching traffic swerved off the road in panic.

It is believed that Palmer knew how to operate the fire engine after attending numerous station open days during which he was given tours of the depot and shown how the machines operated. Judge Onions warned Palmer to stay away from Tenbury fire station in the future.