At about 5.00 a.m. on Thursday, a nuclear warhead convoy using a new route up the M1 en route from AWE Burghfield to RNAD Coulport in Scotland, took the Junction 25 Exit for Nottingham in search of Chetwynd Barracks. The convoy had already stopped once at MOD Bicester for a ‘comfort break’ – but that was more than 2 hours previously at 2a.m. At this point, possibly through tiredness or confusion, the lead driver turned left towards Derby by mistake and everyone followed – warheads and all.
Nukewatcher Tony Gillings was monitoring the convoy and his report speaks for itself:
“Now the bizarre part:- the convoy left the M1 at J25 which signs on the motorway indicated was closed, but it wasn’t. Then they drove up and down the A52 (Derby to Nottingham Road) several times, initially turning left to the west, instead of right to the barracks, which were about 3 miles east of the M1. There were road works at the junction, which may have confused matters, but the drivers gave the appearance of being lost because, as I followed the support convoy on the duel carriageway, we met the load carriers coming the other way!
At the final westerly A52 roundabout the support convoy of a breakdown truck, coach and large mobile emergency unit with its trailer, took an obviously wrong turn into a residential area and stopped for a few minutes, presumably realising their mistake and wondering what to do. They then took about 10 minutes to execute turns with great difficulty, using side streets, so that they could return to the roundabout. They were very flustered with personnel running about – and pretty embarrassed too.”
Eventually the whole convoy made it into Chetwynd Barracks for a well-earned rest before setting off again on the 21hour journey to Scotland amid political controversy north of the border.
