News
Tanker crash was ‘potential explosion’
A COLLISION between a crane and a tanker carrying diesel caused travel delays and road closures affecting workers, shoppers and tourists on Friday 16th August.
The accident took place near the roundabout used by the majority of traffic to and through Haverfordwest from the south of Pembrokeshire. The impact of the two vehicles ruptured the fuel tanker and caused an estimated 4,000 litres of diesel to spill on to the carriage way.
Disruption also took place to morning rail services between Milford Haven and Haverfordwest.
Travelling to Haverfordwest at the time of the accident was hospital car volunteer Christopher Shields, ‘It was about 6.35 in the morning and I was bringing patients to Withybush. I was behind a black car and a Calor gas pick-up.
‘I was just behind the stationary tanker when the crane came out of the joining road and poked it with his jib. The jib burst the tank open. Fuel gushed out all over Merlin’s Bridge. I did not know whether it was petrol or diesel.
‘The black car in front of me, steered round the collision and shot off through the lights. The Calor gas driver got out and signalled everyone to get clear. I made a pretty quick U-turn and headed down the Old Hakin Road.
Joked Chris, ‘If it had exploded, the burgers in MacDonald’s would have been well done. And so would I.’
Speaking to the Herald, one local resident told us that the road layout of the junction where the accident happened was far from ideal. ‘It looked as though both vehicles were on their own right sides of the road, but there simply wasn’t enough room for both of them.’
Heavy goods vehicles heading for Milford Haven from the east were diverted to the A477 and the Cleddau Bridge crossing.
Specialist equipment was used to remove the damaged vehicles and to mop up the spill. A portion of the road was subject to resurfacing works.
Jamie Powell, one of the sales team at the Herald, was on the scene. ‘The stink of the diesel was unbelievable. By the time I got there, preparations were already underway to shut the road and the fire service was at the scene.’
The closure of the main road in to Pembrokeshire’s commercial and administrative centre resulted in long traffic delays and the diversion of vehicles down side roads.
Jane Potter, a Johnston resident, told us ‘It took almost half an hour minutes to travel the length of the Bulford Road to Tier’s Cross. The road is very narrow and it was a tight squeeze for buses and lorries to get by. One lorry driver told me it had taken him an hour to get from a nearby quarry. The amount of traffic meant it took me over fifty minutes to get from Johnston into work.’
With the Old Hakin Road closed, travellers heading to Haverfordwest were diverted to take the B4327 through Dreen Hill. Those attempting to take a short cut along the Ratford Bridge road were soon nose to tail and meeting traffic coming the other way.
The B4341 was closed for a period following a separate road traffic accident, adding to the weight of traffic on the usually quiet Dreen Hill road.
The efforts of Council workers in managing the dive
rted traffic and resurfacing the road so quickly received praise on the Council’s Facebook page. Local resident Lou Pooley commented, ‘Well done to all involved clearing it up and sorting the road.’ David Swan echoed her words writing, ‘Well done on turning round a difficult job in such a tight time frame whilst protecting the environment.’
Community
Haverfordwest Youth Club hosts successful open evening

HAVERFORDWEST Youth Club posted to their Facebook page to thank those who attended their open evening last night (June 30).
They celebrated Youth Work Week by sharing their amazing new facility in Haverfordwest with the local community.

The open evening was located at the new venue at The Picton Centre. They had a range of activities including VR goggles, face painting and jewellery making.
Haverfordwest Youth Club wrote: “A special thank you to Haverfordwest Town Council, Sian – Haverfordwest Morrison’s Community Champion and Martin Jones from Ogi for supporting the evening. Also, to our members Sara, Amelia, Sureya, Pippa and Lily for volunteering their time to help on the evening”.
Community
Milford Haven’s “To The Sea” carnival returns this weekend

THE CARNIVAL returns to Milford Haven this Saturday (July 2), after a two year break. With a variety of events, rides and food, it is expected to be fun for all the family.
This year’s theme is “To The Sea”. Milford Haven Round Table have organised an Under The Sea Parade which will form part of the procession.
This year’s procession will take on an exciting new route, ending at the new and exciting Carnival Arena on Milford Waterfront.
It will leave Waterloo Square at 1pm, and travel across Hakin Bridge and up Hamilton Terrace. The carnival will then proceed down Charles Street and Dartmouth Street before arriving at the Carnival Arena.

Acrobats, an animal club, live music, street food stalls, and an amazing “fly board” act on the water are among the fun activities and events planned for the Carnival Arena.
Entry to the arena is £1 for adults and 50p for children. The festivities are expected to begin at 1:30pm.
Andrew Holmes Fun Fairs will be providing a range of rides and stalls at the Arena, such as the Sizzler, the Can Can, the Terminator and a Circus Funhouse. A superslide and games stalls will also be available.
Rides and stalls will not accept cash on Carnival Day, but will instead be accepting tokens which are available from the grey token box at the entrance of the arena.
Each token costs £1. It is advised to pay for tokens with cash. Although card is accepted to purchase tokens, due to the location of the Carnival Arena the signal may be a problem so the card readers may not work as planned.
News
Deputy chief whip made ‘massive misjudgements’, says cabinet minister

A PEMBROKESHIRE MP has said that Tory deputy chief whip Chris Pincher appears to have made “massive misjudgements”.
Simon Hart, Secretary of State for Wales, told GB News: “…my first reaction with all of this is always one of sadness rather than anger because so many people are affected by this.
“Clearly massive misjudgements appear on the face of it to have been made and and I think our first priority, rather than turning this into a sort of part of political discussion, with which it sounded almost dangerously like it was about to be, that we look after the interests of people who have been adversely affected by this.
“They must be and will remain our absolute first priority so that anybody in Parliament for any party who feels that they have ended up in one of the very unfortunate positions has an independent grievance procedure they can go to.
“They can expect to be heard, as I say, anonymously, and independently and I, that for me seems to be the priority that we should be addressing, rather than so try to use this as an opportunity to say notch up a couple of political goals that seems sort of sounds and feels to me a bit unedifying, in a very difficult situation.”
Speaking during an interview on Breakfast with Stephen Dixon and Anne Diamond, he was asked what he could say that will restore people’s faith in MPs.
Mr Hart said: “Me standing here alone, I probably, there isn’t a sentence or a word that I can use which is instantly going to change all of this and suddenly make everybody feel better about it.”
He added: “There isn’t a workplace in the land, which could say with absolute certainty that these sorts of things never happened.
“We want to minimise the risk and above all, we want to make people, we will make people proud to work here, people love working in this place, it is fantastic that most MPs do a really good job and take their standards incredibly seriously as do most of the staff who work here too.
“So yes, there are some really sad and unfortunate, very stark examples of where this goes wrong.
“Nine times out of 10 it doesn’t go wrong but when it does, I hope that there are measures in place…it’s still in its infancy. I hope it protects people’s interests as well, best we can.
“Nobody likes hearing these things. I mean, I’d much rather come on here and talk about other stuff but we have to confront these things when they come off.”
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