It took three hours for a mechanic from Co Wicklow to remove US president Barack Obama's limousine off the ramp outside the American embassy in Dublin yesterday.
It took Keith Kelly of Kelly’s Towing Service in Kilmacanogue Co. Wicklow three hours to lift the vehicle, popularly referred to as “The Beast”, off the ramp after it got stuck on a ramp exiting the underground car park of the US embassy.
During an interview on today's Liveline with Joe Duffy, Eamonn Kelly, owner of Kelly's Towing Service, revealed the inside story of how his son, Keith, managed to release the US president's heavily armoured limousine from the Pembroke Street entrance of the US Embassy.
“We had a tow truck on standby for Obama’s visit and for the Queen’s visit, it was based in Phoenix Park,” said Eamonn Kelly. “The driver was brought down to embassy by garda escort and there was a police man in the cab of the lorry with him too,” he said.
Landing at the US Embassy, Mr. Kelly described the challenge Keith and his team faced in trying to move the president's car. “It was a big problem because the vehicle is not designed to be towed,” said Keith’s father. “It’s an armour plated vehicle so there’s a lot of weight involved in it and there was notable damage beneath the car,” he said.
Ordinarily the protocol for towing in this situation would be to suspend lift the vehicle by the wheels, however, because Kelly’s Towing Service usually deal with European models, extra intricacies were involved.
“We had to adapt our vehicle,” said Mr. Kelly. “There was no problem with the weight, but the lifting points on an American car are slightly different than those on a European car. The suspensions collapsed with the smack and the wheel had gone right up into the car.”
With the approval of secret security and their official mechanics who were also working on the scene, Keith Kelly decided the only way forward was to move “The Beast” backwards. “We brought the car back down the ramp because to bring it forward would have caused too much damage, “ said Eamonn “We brought in another tow truck from Baldoyle, it took 3 hours in total but we got it moved,” he said.
Keith Kelly and security officials brought "The Beast" to a secure location overnight and then moved it to the Airport this morning where it was airlifted back to the States.