Walthamstow: A security guard was shocked when he found a Turkish lorry driver bound and gagged in his vehicle on Friday morning.

Ted Carrington was doing his rounds at 5.20am on the Leyton Village Industrial Estate, Argall Avenue, Walthamstow.

He spotted a yellow juggernaut parked in an awkward position, then discovered the driver with his hands tied behind his back and a gag over his mouth.

Mr Carrington said: "The way the lorry was parked is what caught my attention. When I shone my torch into the cab of the lorry, I was shocked to see a man tied up, and his face covered in a clear plastic.

"He was trying to speak through the gag, but he appeared unharmed. The lorry had no one else in it and its cargo was missing."

Mr Carrington, from Chingford, said that he had never come across such an incident in the 14 years he has been a security guard.

The Turkish driver, 39, had travelled from Sicily with 18,500 bottles of red and white Sicilian wine, worth thousand of pounds, destined for Britain.

He became lost on Thursday at approximately 11pm between the Rotherhithe and Blackwall Tunnels.

He stopped pointing westbound on the A13 to ask directions from a driver in a white van. A man described as black with a goatee beard got out of the van and pointed a gun at him.

A second man, also black, with a knife also got out of the van. The lorry driver told police that a third man was in the driver's seat of the white van, and he appeared to be Asian.

He was tied up and bundled in the sleeping compartment of his lorry and taken to an unknown location. His cargo was then removed from the Scania lorry, which was driven to Argall Avenue.

The lorry driver was not harmed by his hijackers, but was left tied up until Mr Carrington found him. The lorry had white curtain sides and the company name of Ehrlich on it.

The Robbery Squad is now investigating the incident. If you can offer information, call 8217 3819.

November 15, 2001 14:00