A LORRY driver from Holland was left stranded for hours in Glasgow’s East End with no money or food after he was forced to evacuate his vehicle due to the Blochairn Fruit Market fire.

Marco Molenaar had travelled from Holland to the city with his lorry full of white cabbage.

He left Holland on Tuesday evening to arrive in Glasgow on Wednesday at 4pm.

The lorry driver, who has been on the roads for 25 years, went for a sleep in his vehicle and was woken up in the early hours of Thursday morning just as the fire started to develop.

He said: “I heard a banging on my lorry door, get out, get out.

“They woke me up and told me about the fire. I had to leave everything behind.”

Marco, who is from Alkmaar, explained he has been sitting on the pavement on Royston Road for hours after a cordon was set up to prevent anyone accessing the site while firefighters tackled the blaze.

He said: “I have been sitting on the pavement, waiting to get back to the truck to eat and drink.

“We don’t have anything here. I want my truck back to go home”.

Marco was with other lorry drivers who visit the city’s Fruit Market weekly with their deliveries.

They usually park up at the site to sleep before the return leg of their journey.

Yesterday, The Evening Times spoke to drivers who had travelled from as far as Shetland with deliveries only to be turned away while the fire was still ongoing.