Tears as garden destroyed by skidding lorry

A Shropshire woman was left in tears after her garden was destroyed when a lorry left the road and collided with a stone wall.

Tracey Austin Pugh, from Rednal, near Oswestry, described the damage to her property as "horrendous".

The carnage was caused after a lorry from Anglo Beef Processors, at Hordley, near Ellesmere, came off the road in icy conditions on Tuesday afternoon. The incident happened at about 4pm and the 30ft sand stone wall was demolished, while a tree also came down and the lawn was damaged.

Anglo Beef Processors today spoke of its "regret" that the incident had happened.

Mrs Austin Pugh said: "No one was hurt but the garden looks like a minefield. I have got no garden now and I have no wall. My lovely garden and lilac tree have gone. It looks horrendous. Luckily there was no one at home at the time."

She said that some of the contents of the vehicle had spilled out into her garden.

"We got a call to come back home and there was the tanker. It was a shock," she said.

The police were called out and it took until 10pm for the lorry was removed from the scene.

"I couldn't sleep thinking about what happened," she said. Alistair MacDougall, a spokesman for Anglo Beef Processors, said: "The conditions were very difficult that evening and there was ice. The vehicle was travelling on the approved route from the plant to the A5.

"There were no injuries. We regret the fact that the accident happened and that the incident went into someone's garden."

Richard Ewels, spokesman for West Mercia Police, said officers arrived at 3.45pm.