North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue reported having to remove the spoiler from the cab roof yesterday evening, in order to free the lorry from the city’s medieval Micklegate Bar.
The entrance – which has a height restriction of 8ft 6in (2.59m) – is one of four medieval gateways into the city.
A spokesman for M&S told FoodManufacture.co.uk: “We would like to thank North Yorkshire Police and Fire Service for their support and help in ensuring the incident was resolved as quickly as possible with minimal disruption.”
Asked whether the retailer offered special training to its drivers in order to help them negotiate tight spaces, the spokesman said: “All our drivers are very highly trained. Obviously the driver concerned simply lost his way.”
Meanwhile, the accident has sparked a rash of comments, reflecting M&S’s recent TV advertising, on the social network site Twitter.
The comments followed a photograph of the lorry wedged under the gate, posted by Trevor Moorby.
Enjoy our selection of the best Twitter posts listed below.
Micklegate facts
• Micklegate comes from the old Norse meaning 'Great Street'.
• Traditional monarch’s entrance to the city of York.
• Used in 1460 to display the severed heads of Richard Plantagenet, third duke of York, and Edmund Earl of Rutland after the Battle of Wakefield.
Micklegate tweets
Steve Dunn: “There's stupid drivers and there's M&S stupid drivers.”
Chris Wilkie: "This is not just any lorry getting stuck...but an M&S lorry."
Steve Roe: “That's not just a Micklegate, that's an M&Sicklegate.”
Andrew Little: “No ordinary accident. A Marks & Spencer accident.”
Andyuk: “Obviously a new driver and presumably now an ex-driver.”
78ajs: “This isn't just any lorry..... This is a Marks & Spencer lorry.”
OneAndOtherYork: “York's famous gateway is now clear but has suffered a few M&S-shaped scars.”
Julielovestu: “Oh my god ...satnav terrors!”
Yorkie127: “That's one way to stop people doing the Micklegate Run.”
NMeth: “Once freed, wonder if it managed to turn round there, or had to back all way to Rougier St.”
Vivalesvegas: “He was delivering that building, and ran out of diesel.”
