A RUNAWAY lorry caused havoc yesterday, Monday, when it rolled from a plant-hire yard into another moving HGV and then careered into vehicles on display at a car dealership.

The lorry was being used to pick up heavy machinery from Hydrex Equipment UK Ltd on Athlone Road.

The driver was not in the cabin when the lorry, with its heavy load, rolled across Athlone Road and then into the forecourt of Rix Motor Company, ripping up a curbside barrier on its way.

Roy Barry, sales manager at Rix Motor Company, said: "I saw it coming from the office and I thought: why hasn't he stopped it? And then I realised that there was nobody in it!

"So I ran out, got in and put the handbrake on. I was like Batman! It damaged four cars but it was lucky because we usually have more parked here."

A spokesman for Hydrex said the lorry was contracted out to a different firm and that the driver had come to pick a machine up off them.

Andy Fox, the driver of the other lorry, said the runaway had hit the back of his vehicle while he was on his way up the road to his place of work, Burdens.

The driver of the lorry was unavailable for comment when Guardian Midweek went to press but a source said he was 'shaken up' by the incident.