'˜I could have been killed': Hydraulic rock breaker smashes through hedge and wrecks garden shed

A Co Down man was lucky to escape injury when a huge piece of plant machinery crashed into his garden and destroyed his shed.
By The Newsroom
Published 13th Oct 2016, 11:57 BST
Updated 25th Oct 2016, 19:38 BST
The hydraulic rock breaker demolished the rear of Mr Barclay's garden shed.The hydraulic rock breaker demolished the rear of Mr Barclay's garden shed.
The hydraulic rock breaker demolished the rear of Mr Barclay's garden shed.

David Barclay explained how he heard a loud crash at around 7am on Thursday morning (Oct 13) and went outside to find that a hydraulic rock breaker had smashed through the hedge at the back of his Anahilt home.

He believes the equipment fell off the back of a passing lorry.

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“The rock breaker seems to be off a large digger of some sort,” he explained. “It’s about seven feet long and probably weighs close to a ton.

The Krupp rock breaker is lying at the bottom of the hedge at the rear of Mr Barclay's Anahilt home.The Krupp rock breaker is lying at the bottom of the hedge at the rear of Mr Barclay's Anahilt home.
The Krupp rock breaker is lying at the bottom of the hedge at the rear of Mr Barclay's Anahilt home.

“If I had been in the shed at the time I could have been killed. The whole shed is off its base and the inside of it is totally wrecked. There’s nothing left of the back wall of the shed at all.

“The lorry seems to have been going quite quickly and didn’t stop. So far no-one has come back to claim it (the rock breaker).”

Mr Barclay, who contacted the police about the incident, is hoping that whoever owns the yellow and black Krupp rock breaker comes back to recover it.

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“It’s probably worth quite a bit of money, but now it’s just lying at the bottom of my hedge. Hopefully whoever owns it will come back and claim it, otherwise I don’t know how I’m going to get it out of the garden,” he said.

The Krupp rock breaker is lying at the bottom of the hedge at the rear of Mr Barclay's Anahilt home.The Krupp rock breaker is lying at the bottom of the hedge at the rear of Mr Barclay's Anahilt home.
The Krupp rock breaker is lying at the bottom of the hedge at the rear of Mr Barclay's Anahilt home.

This is the second time that machinery has crashed into Mr Barclay’s property. Twelve years ago a trailer left the Ballynahinch Road, smashed through his hedge and came to rest upside down in his garden. His children were at home at the time and were lucky to escape injury.

He is now calling for TransportNI to install speed humps and improved safety measures on the route, saying that “something has to be done before someone is killed.”