Heart-victim trucker gets parking ticket as he lies in his cab
By John Ferguson
A TRUCKER was given a £60 parking ticket while he lay dead in his cab.
Harry McLaughlin, 55, is believed to have suffered a heart attack after pulling into a service station just off the M74 near Bothwell, Lanarkshire.
An attendant then slapped the fine on his window because the lorry had been lying longer than the free parking limit.
Harry's body was recovered from his lorry yesterday morning when bosses realised he had not made his delivery.
A source at the RoadChef service station said: "It's a real shame for the guy.
"He must have pulled over and had a heart attack in the back of the wagon
"Someone has then come over and given him a parking ticket because he overstayed the maximum two-hour parking time.
"His employers arrived at the service station at around 10am after tracking his cab on their GPS system.
"They said he should have been going down to England and that they realised that morning that he had only moved as far as Bothwell.
"They found his body in the back of the cab with the curtain drawn and immediately called for an ambulance.
"It was then they discovered that he had been given a parking ticket. I think it had been issued at around 4.50pm the day before.
"Who knows whether he was actually dead at that point or just in trouble in the back of the cab."
Harry, of Cambuslang, near Glasgow, had been on his way to Selby, in Yorkshire, with a cargo of frozen food.
His bosses at Turners found him in the cab with the parking ticket pinned under his window wiper.
The source added: "The paramedics seemed to think he had been dead for about 12 hours.
"The rules are that if someone is there for more than two hours, they get a ticket, so the person was probably just doing their job.
"I feel sorry for whoever issued the ticket as they will be asking themselves whether they could have done anything to help.
"Fines are given out to stop truckers using the parking facilities as an overnight sleeping point.
"Maybe the managers should consider checking up on lorries that are parked for hours on end instead of fining the driver.
"I presume that in this case the charge will be overlooked given the circumstances."
A spokesman for RoadChef said: "We did not realise the man had regrettably died as the curtains had been pulled closed around the windows."
By John Ferguson
A TRUCKER was given a £60 parking ticket while he lay dead in his cab.
Harry McLaughlin, 55, is believed to have suffered a heart attack after pulling into a service station just off the M74 near Bothwell, Lanarkshire.
An attendant then slapped the fine on his window because the lorry had been lying longer than the free parking limit.
Harry's body was recovered from his lorry yesterday morning when bosses realised he had not made his delivery.
A source at the RoadChef service station said: "It's a real shame for the guy.
"He must have pulled over and had a heart attack in the back of the wagon
"Someone has then come over and given him a parking ticket because he overstayed the maximum two-hour parking time.
"His employers arrived at the service station at around 10am after tracking his cab on their GPS system.
"They said he should have been going down to England and that they realised that morning that he had only moved as far as Bothwell.
"They found his body in the back of the cab with the curtain drawn and immediately called for an ambulance.
"It was then they discovered that he had been given a parking ticket. I think it had been issued at around 4.50pm the day before.
"Who knows whether he was actually dead at that point or just in trouble in the back of the cab."
Harry, of Cambuslang, near Glasgow, had been on his way to Selby, in Yorkshire, with a cargo of frozen food.
His bosses at Turners found him in the cab with the parking ticket pinned under his window wiper.
The source added: "The paramedics seemed to think he had been dead for about 12 hours.
"The rules are that if someone is there for more than two hours, they get a ticket, so the person was probably just doing their job.
"I feel sorry for whoever issued the ticket as they will be asking themselves whether they could have done anything to help.
"Fines are given out to stop truckers using the parking facilities as an overnight sleeping point.
"Maybe the managers should consider checking up on lorries that are parked for hours on end instead of fining the driver.
"I presume that in this case the charge will be overlooked given the circumstances."
A spokesman for RoadChef said: "We did not realise the man had regrettably died as the curtains had been pulled closed around the windows."