LOCAL FARMERS were certainly making hay while the sun was shining in recent weeks. However, not everyone was happy about it, with some impatient motorists even hurling abuse at agricultural drivers on our rural roads.
The rain may have made a return this week, but during the recent prolonged dry spell farmers up and down the county were rushing to get as much hay baled as possible, meaning an influx of tractors and farm vehicles on local roads. While this can be frustrating for car drivers in a hurry to get where they’re going, one local farmer has appealed for patience and respect towards all road users, including tractor drivers.
Cllr John Coyle is a small farmer, and during the heatwave was keen to get some work done. However, despite pulling into the side of the road to allow traffic to pass while he was transporting his hay, he still got abuse for it.
“We got our bales made and we were coming along the road, which was very busy,” said the Belleek man, adding he had been transporting the hay bales on a trailer attached to a Jeep. “That’s when was verbally abused, I was shouted out at the side of the road by a group of young fellas in a white Jeep.
“We’d pulled in, to allow the traffic to go past, because we were just going at about 40mph. When they were passing then they just hurled abuse at us.”