| Central Garage Photo Gallery |
The Workhorse of the Central Garage's heavy recovery fleet is this Scammel Explorer; This truck was originally used by the military for pulling tanks out
of places that tanks shouldn't go!
It's winch is powerful enough to pull a hundred ton barge up a shore, a feat which it performed once when the crane coming to Kyle to lift the barge, was too big to go over the Dornie bridge. (The old Dornie Bridge)
What happened then was the crane drove down to Kintail, and the Scammel went as well. The Scammel was anchored to the crane, and an old beech tree, and the barge was winched up the shore so that it was near enough the crane to
be lifted onto the waiting lorry.
The Accidents:Well, where to start? I suppose right here in Kyle is as good a place as any. And with the 
Spanish Lorry that was picking up shellfish when it's trailer slipped of the pier. This is one of those "It could have been a lot worse" situations.
It did get a lot worse for the 
Snowplough which came into the Kyle pier area to turn, and forgot that their was no grit on the ground in front to stop him sliding.
All the passengers were off this 
bus when the driver left it to go to the papershop. The handbrake slipped and it didn't stop until it hit the sea. After getting some local divers to secure a rope, we pulled it out. 
Finally, at the ferry pier, here's a picture of the 
Scammel coming of one of the old ferryboats, towing an RAF Mountain Rescue lorry behind it.
The A.A. claim that they're the 4th emergency service. But what happens when the emergency services get into bother?
Well, here's us pulling an 
Ambulance from off the road at Druim nan Cleochd on Skye. (For non Skye people that's between Broadford and Portree, in the Cuillin Mountains). We also had to pick up this 
Fire Engine up in Breakish, which is near Broadford. (I must than my Uncle Duncan for that one).
Most of the incidents we attend involve lorries and buses in ditches. A local man, who will remain nameless (Twiggy), stuck the lorry he was driving of the road at Breakish. 
Here's another ditched one in Skye. 
Another local man (emails!!) didn't just put his lorry in a ditch, he nearly put it in a loch, and on it's roof! 
This driver was taking these winches to the oil rig fabrication yard at Kishorn when he took the wrong turning and headed up the 2000ft road to Applecross. Realising his mistake, and that there was nowhere to turn, he started to reverse down. This is when he went into the ditch. 
Notice how most of these lorries and trucks are off on single track roads. 
On some of these roads their is barely enough room for a car let alone an HGV or delivery van. 
There was hardly enough room on this road when we took the Scammel out to get this one 
between Lochcarron and Achnasheen.
A lot of the places we work are very picturesque, like where the
BP Tanker went off on the way to Plockton, and the 
German Bus at the Morvich Outdoor Centre.
Other areas are pretty bleak, especially in winter. This 
Kildonan MacBraynes Lorry went off the road trying to let a car past somewhere on the Lochcarron to Shieldaig road.
Sometimes when the weather gets windy lorries get blown over, like this 
Haylorry up near Cluanie, in Glenshiel. As you can see the damage to the cab was pretty bad 
, but the driver was OK.
Bad errors of judgement can put you on your side as well, as this 
Crane driver found out to his cost.
He's not the only other 
Crane we've ever been called to. This one's in a ditch up in Glenshiel.
In that last picture there was a fair bit of snow about, just like when this 
Lorry went off at Duirinish, on the way to Plockton.
Weather conditions had a good bit to play when this
We do a fair bit of work for the army, which is nice, seeing as the Scammels and the Bedford are all ex-military.
And after this
Here's another
Did I also mention that we have a green Landrover, that's it in front of this
We use the Landrover for a variety of reasons, mostly car accidents, when it's winch is sufficient. I think the boys from Miller Dyvidaig thought their
I think I'll finish of this part with 3 examples of how not to take a corner. First is this In Conclusion...
Milklorry landed on the Inverness to Kyle railway line, but I'm not sure what was to blame when the milk van 
went off at Conchra. Ask Big Dougie, he'll tell you. 
This Army Bedford is in a ditch on the road down to Glen Brittle in Skye. The Cuillin mountains are in the background.
Armoured Personnel Carrier hit the dirt about 5 miles south of Portree, the local company in Portree was called to attend. They struggled and we were called out, and it was a simple matter of hooking the crane onto the helicopter hooks these vehicles all have, and Lifting the truck back onto the road Bus in a ditch, this time just outside Broadford, on Skye. And I suppose you could call this Cheap Publicity! Tour Bus over in Skye. Landrover was a plane when they gave it flying lessons. Miller Dyvidaig were involved in building the Skye Bridge, but I hope they weren't involved in the construction of the bridge this Landrover was crossing. JCB which wasn't travelling too fast when it happened, but was a bit heavy for the track.
Next is this Truck up between Sligichan and Dunvegan which went too fast round the corner.
And last, but not least, the Prawn Lorry up at Glenshiel, which came up on a tight corner and couldn't stop in time. Because of the drop on the other side of the crash barrier and the angle he was at, it took 8 hours for the firemen to cut him free. You can see the
Mess his vehicle was in once we got it clear. The man who was driving was back to work not long after and He still sends the firemen a Christmas card every year.
To see the pictures of things around Kyle and the New Garage Photos Click Here
Well, that's all folks, I hope you have enjoyed taking a look, but before you go, remember to sign the guestbook, and
if you want to know more don't hesitate in asking.
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