CBD SHOCK: Police thought it was a prank

‘I was working across the road from it and watched it roll and spill.’

Do remember when a truck full of pig carcasses rolled and spilled in the Coffs CBD?

WHEN police first learnt a truck full of pig carcasses had rolled on the Pacific Highway in the Coffs Harbour CBD, they thought it was a prank.

That's how Anthony Hayden remembers the day, documented in the Coffs Coast Advocate in 2002.

He was working across the road at Tandy on the corner of the Pacific Highway and Little Street.

"I watched it roll and spill. The phone call to the police was interesting and they thought it was a prank call."

It happened just south of the old police station.

"And it started to stink after about half an hour."

Photographer Bruce Thomas got there not long after it happened.

"I think the car was a BMW 2002 - not a lucky number.

"Luckily the car was parked in what is actually Grafton St now (the motel strip) and not being driven. Imagine what the driver's view would have been."

Also in the news in 2002:

- The region was officially declared in drought, along with 83 per cent of NSW, and the long dry spell was blamed for ruts appearing in the Brelsford Park cycle track.

- The cinema centre in Coffs CBD closed its doors for the last time, while rock band INXS entertained more than 2500 people at a special outdoor concert to help injured rugby player Allan McCabe.

- Five people: two men and a woman from Coffs Harbour; another man from Woolgoolga; and a former Coffs Harbour woman, were charged with the murder of a homeless man found half-submerged in Coffs Creek in October 2001.