Swearing and people pointing fingers are everyday for the snow plows who maintain the winter roads, says Anders Bergström.
But on Thursday last week it went even further, which Gefle Daily was the first to report on.
“Picked up the remains of my glasses”
At 11 p.m., Anders Bergström jumped into the plow machine and cleared the roads in his plowing district in Gävle municipality. He had not had time to plow far when he saw one of the residents of the street coming towards him at full speed.
– I looked at him straight away that he was really angry. That there was no point in talking to him, says Anders Bergström to TV4 Nyheterna.
According to the municipality’s policy, you should only move on when something like this happens, he says. But suddenly the man throws an object into the cab and Anders has had enough and stops the plow truck.
– When I get down to the ground, I see another man from the villa who runs up behind the machine and pats me on the side of the face. It was a real blow to the temple, he says.
In connection with the battle, Anders’ glasses were destroyed. Both he and the man fall to the ground and after that the others in the household manage to calm the man down.
– I picked up the remains of my glasses and said that I will report this to the police, he says.
Uncertain about the future: “It’s getting worse and worse”
Anders contacted his employer after a while, who immediately called the police. Shortly afterwards, both the police and the employer came out to the area where the assault took place.
– The police questioned me and photographed both my injuries on my face and my glasses. My employer had to go to my wife’s house and pick up my spare glasses, he says.
The matter is now under investigation by the police.
Anders Bergström did his first work shift as a snowplow in 1979. But now he is unsure if he wants to continue.
– It just gets worse and worse. In one plow round, you can get three to four jumps. People can point the finger, show that you are stupid in the head and just scold you. I think it’s too damned, it’s so damn wrong, he says and continues.
– We are not there to fight. We are out doing a community service, making sure people can get around. Jumping into the machine in the middle of the night isn’t always great fun, but we do it because it’s an important profession.