AN aid lorry from East Lancashire delivering supplies to victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, has been stranded at a border for five days - because of BSE fears over British milk powder!

Cartons of dried milk are on the back of the 40ft articulated wagon following a specific request from an orphanage, but the border patrol classified the milk as dairy products and refused to let it through because of the beef crisis.

Valerie Riley, of Dean Lane, Water, whose husband Bill is waiting in Kiev to distribute the goods said: "The Ukraine is a law unto itself at the best of times but this is ridiculous."

Rossendale Aid for the the Ukraine's mercy mission, left on Sunday April 21 and was expected to arrive in Kiev last Thursday, where Bill and Gail Todd, of Lumb, parishioners of Lumb Baptist Church are waiting to greet it.

When the lorry got to the Polish border it was sealed by customs and passed through the country without a hitch, but when it came to the the Ukraine border the customs men checked the inventory then refused to let them pass.

Driver Ken Craven and his wife Betty, from Barnsley, have been stuck in the wagon for five days while their own food supplies run out.

Valerie has been manning the phones back home and contacting the authorities to try to get the wagon across the border.

She said: "We asked if we could take to baby milk off the lorry, but we have to have permission to break the customs' seal and they would not take responsibility for disposing of it in Poland.

Valerie, is due to fly out to the Ukraine herself on Thursday.mon

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