Explosion fear sparks gridlock

Thieves who tried to break into a lorry trailer using a gas-fuelled cutting device put lives at risk and caused traffic chaos.

Fears that the oxy-acetylene cylinder could explode led to the closure of the A1 near Cromwell for more than 24 hours.

The road re-opened early yesterday, although the northbound exit sliproad was still shut for a time after.

The thieves used a home-made gas torch to cut the lock off the trailer of the lorry in a bid to steal its load just after midnight on Tuesday. Unknown to the thieves the load was fibre glass.

The driver parked on the Old Great North Road, just off the A1 at Cromwell, and intended to spend the night there.

Inspector Steve Cartwright, of Newark Police, said as the thieves were cutting there was a flashback that set fire to their device. The noise woke the driver who saw the torch was on fire and rang 999.

Firefighters set up a 25-metre exclusion zone due to the risk of a gas explosion.

The zone was later extended to 200 metres and prompted the closure of the A1 from North Muskham to Markham Moor.

Fire crews put out the fire and then used water to cool the tank over the next 24 hours, monitoring its temperature with a thermal imaging camera.

Watch manager Paul Riley, of Newark Fire Station, said: “Oxy-acetylene cylinders are potentially explosive for 24 hours, so for 24 hours we’ve got to cool them and that’s the reason we had to close both lanes of the A1.”

He said unlike other gases, the temperature of highly-volatile oxy-acetylene could not be judged from testing the temperature of the cylinder that held it.

Inspector Cartwright described the thieves as irresponsible and reckless and said they were lucky not to have caused a major fire.

“It is likely that had they got into the trailer they wouldn’t have taken anything anyway,” he said.

He said as well as theft, those responsible could face charges related to nuisance and disturbance.

“This is what we term freight crime,” Inspector Cartwright said.

“I head a working group tackling freight crime on this division. We get a number of thieves travelling to the area specifically to break into lorries but this is a new modus operandi on me.

“This hasn’t just put at risk the life of the lorry driver, who was asleep in his cab, but road users and the lives of the thieves themselves.

“It inconvenienced thousands of motorists and a large number of communities.”

He reminded lorry drivers of the risks of staying overnight in lay-bys and urged them to use lorry parks.

Significant traffic jams were reported on the A46 between Cotgrave and Newark, A614 from Blyth, A6097 at Lowdham and Gunthorpe, A616 from Ollerton to Newark and A617 from Kirklington to Newark.

l The operations manager for the fuel stations at Cromwell and North Muskham, Mr James Kemp, said business was badly hit because of the lack of A1 traffic.

“We lost a fortune in sales and there is no way that we can be compensated for that loss,” he said.

“We thought it was a bit over the top to close the A1 for so long, but that’s health and safety for you.”