The Ghost of the Arterial Road
A wee bit creepy
By Sid Barker
During the late 50's and early 60's, the time when the "Ton up boys" were the speed kings of the Arterial Road (A127) a story was circulating about "The Ghost of the Arterial Road", and referred to solo motorcyclists travelling down the Rayleigh Cutting at night, towards the Blinking Owl Café, which was then a renowned bikers café, when they stopped to give a lift to a young girl who was thumbing a lift at the side of the road. She would give an address in Basildon, get on the pillion and off they would go. (Crash hats weren't compulsory in those days). A few minutes later the motorcyclist would look round only to find his passenger was no longer there! Proceeding straight to the Basildon address given, he would be told that the daughter of the house had been killed some weeks previously in a motor cycle accident in the cutting.
I always think of this story whenever I travel along this part of the A127.