72-year-old tractor rescues stranded oil tanker
A 1949 Field Marshall has been called out of retirement after a Goff oil tanker became stuck in Aldborough. - Credit: Guy Fiske
A 72-year-old tractor showed that age is just a number as it came out of retirement to rescue a snow-bound oil tanker.
The tanker became stuck in the snow while delivering central heating oil to Aldborough Community Centre, before it was eventually pulled to safety by the 1949 Field Marshall tractor.
Local resident Guy Fiske was woken from his lay-in to find the Goff tanker wheel-spinning on the village's icy roads.
And, when he left his house later on, he could not believe his eyes when he saw the vintage tractor rescuing the tanker.
He said: "I got woken up from a nice snowy lay-in to find a Goff oil delivery lorry wheel-spinning outside the house trying to turn around so that it could deliver central heating oil to the community centre.
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"He managed to turn it around, but when I went out 40 minutes later I saw the vintage tractor with a long steel cable on the back and a group of guys from the village trying to help dig him out and pull him out with the tractor.
"He'd pulled over on to a grass verge probably not thinking that a couple of weeks of rain had made it pretty soggy and muddy underneath and it had sunk through the snow and through the mud, with two wheels stuck in the mud and two wheels spinning on an icy road, so that didn't go so well.
A 1949 Field Marshall has been called out of retirement after a Goff oil tanker became stuck in Aldborough. - Credit: Guy Fiske
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"They got him out in the end - the guys were digging away."
Mr Fiske was not certain where the tractor came from but he said it featured the name of a farm in Cawston on the back, which was where he believed it came from before falling into the hands of a collector.
A 1949 Field Marshall has been called out of retirement after a Goff oil tanker became stuck in Aldborough. - Credit: Guy Fiske
It comes after further snow was forecast for north Norfolk with around two inches expected to fall overnight tonight.
The weather has already seen disruption to bin collections, with councils taking the decision to postpone services as a result of the conditions.
It has also seen hundreds of schools completely close and train services cancelled.
