The trams of Southampton provided a vital service during the Second World War, in spite of Lufwaffe bombing flattening large areas of the town.
But it was because of their importance to the local transport network that they were considered a high priority target for sabotage by undercover German agents or Nazi sympathisers.
They were looking to inflict serious damage, hurt passengers and undermine public morale, and tampering with the trams seemed the way to go about it.
The drama had begun during an early morning workmen service.
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Winifred Hopper and her tram driver, George Kendall, departed from their terminus at the top of the Avenue, where the trams were safely parked overnight.
The journey was completely normal until a car containing three French army officers drew level with her tram.
They were making excited hand signals and pointing back up the road.
Looking back she could see two empty trams, without drivers aboard, which were completely out of control, heading directly for her tram.
Shortly after came a third runaway tram.
The empty trams had raced down the length of the tracks for a mile-and-a-half, reaching perilous speeds of forty miles an hour.
Disaster was averted through the bravery and skill of gravel-laden lorry driver Jesse Clark, of Chalk Hill, West End, after he saw the catastrophe unfolding and pursued the speeding trams from Bassett crossroads.
He swung his lorry onto the tracks in front of Winifred’s tram and the runaway vehicles and waited for them to crash into him and stop their momentum.
The first two runaway trams stopped dead on the tracks where they curved onto London Road, but the third crashed into a third tram that was travelling in the opposite direction.
After their ordeal, an inspector turned up and enquired whether Winifred and George had been hurt and when they replied they were only shaken, he merely told them to get on with their route down to the Holly Rood and complete their journey back again, showing a disregard for health and safety.
Southampton Corporation Transport Department manager, Mr PJ Baker made an official announcement on the event, stating it was ‘an act of wanton vandalism’ and that it was ‘nothing short of amazing that no one was injured’.
Mr Baker revealed that an ‘experienced knowledge of the tram car must have been essential for whoever moved it’, as tools must have been used to manipulate the gear.
‘All keys were accounted for and locked away.’
At the time of the incident the tram company had been heavily reliant on female workers, with many men called up for active service, employing around thirty women as conductorettes and six as driver.
Clark was later presented with an award for his act of extraordinary bravery that day.