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Photo: Manecke, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (image cropped and used for illustrative purposes only)

Lorry driver stranded at Hungary rest area for 10 days after crash

A Turkish lorry driver ended up stranded at a Hungarian motorway rest area because he couldn't figure out what to do with his load after a crash, and couldn't speak Hungarian.

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Hungarian TV channel RTL reported on the incident on 29 May.

The Turkish driver, who was transporting fruit to Slovakia, had an accident on the M30 motorway in Hungary on 17 May when the lorry went off the road and overturned.

After the accident, the police organised a crane to lift the vehicle out of the ditch, and told the driver to drive to the nearest rest area and wait for the case to be closed.

As the lorry was carrying perishable goods that had been damaged in the accident, the law required that the load be destroyed. But the driver didn’t speak Hungarian and had no idea what to do.

When a friend of his heard about the accident, he took the first flight from Turkey to Hungary to help – but he didn’t know any more about the procedures to be followed.

Eventually, through an NGO, a Turkish-Hungarian couple helped them with the customs procedures and goods destruction.

Local people also brought them food, water and coffee to help them.

After 10 days stranded, the truck was repaired to the point where it could be driven home with a special permit.


Photo: Manecke, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (image cropped and used for illustrative purposes only)

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