General Information
During the year 2000 D J Clark built a visual record of the Lancaster &
Morecambe district using photographs and information submitted by those that
feature in the pictures. The project was conducted in association with Lancaster
Museum and has been archived for future generations to look back at the district
at the turn of the new Millennium. For more information on the project visit
the information page. If you find a caption is
wrong or there is a fault with the page please e-mail D
J Clark.
Date:
September 15th, 2000
Location: Various Locations
Photographer's Diary
15th September - Friday - Fuel Crisis & Bridge
After 11 days in the USA on holiday we arrived home to find the country in Chaos.
I had read something of the Fuel blockades in the American papers but never
dreamt the garages would actually run out of fuel. I madly the read the paper
on the train from Gatwick to my father's house in the knowledge that my car
sat in his drive in Kent with an empty tank.
Maggie to the rescue this time, with her nurses card we showed a policeman guarding
a station with fuel her ID and pleaded for a tank to get us home. He obliged
and by Thursday evening we were home, still with a fuel tank, thanks to a tip
off on the radio about one service station on the M6 still serving.
At first light I grabbed my cameras and went out to photograph the chaos. The
blockade had been lifted by Friday but Petrol was still scarce. I found the
stations empty or with long queues and got my pictures.
Moving on to the bridge I returned to find little had been done. The final sections
were due to be moved while I was away, but no such luck. I met a man who had
been waiting for the past few weeks with his video camera as he witnessed one
delay after another. I hung about and then returned after lunch for the final
section being lifted into place. Just as it landed, one workman with a sense
of humour peddled a child's bike across the bridge only to be met with a hurl
of abuse from his boss. He never made it across, but the picture made the front
of the Lancaster Guardian.
I returned on Saturday and then on Sunday to get the masts being lifted into
place. It was raining and cold so I didn't stay long.