It Must Have Been Wheelie Windy: Storm Blows Lorry Onto Two Wheels On Motorway
This is the dramatic moment an HGV driver almost toppled over on a motorway in high winds.
The footage shows the lorry being buffeted around before it teeters at more than 45 degrees and pulls off a wheelie, before righting itself with the help of the central barrier.
A passenger in nearby car Harrison Smith, 17, was able to film the situation as it unfolded on the A1(M) near Durham on Friday at around 7.30am.
Just before the incident, he and his colleagues had been flashing the lorry to pull off the motorway – and Harrison believes the driver was lucky his ‘recklessness’ did not cost lives.
Harrison, from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, said: ‘The moment we saw the way the lorry was moving about in the wind we knew it was very dangerous so we started flashing him and putting on our hazards to try to alert him.
'However he completely ignored us and other drivers doing this and continued on past multiple junctions for a good few miles.
'Eventually it got so severe I got my phone out to record it, when suddenly all the wheels on the lorry’s left hand side came up off the road completely so he was doing a wheelie. It was unbelievable.
'It went so far over that it’s shocking it was able to right itself. I am surprised it didn’t fall over and cause a huge accident.
'It was very reckless of the driver to carry on in wind like that when it was clear he didn’t have control of the lorry. He could have killed himself or someone else on the road and it’s a miracle no one was hurt.’
After the accidental ‘wheelie’, the lorry pulled over on the side of the road. Harrison says his colleague and another driver used their cars to block traffic while emergency services were called.
But the wind continued to batter the HGV, blowing the roof into the motorway and causing it to tilt again prompting the driver to try to hold it up – with his bare hands.
Harrison said: 'Even after the lorry stopped the wind kept lifting it up and eventually blew the roof off, which came crashing into the road.
'If traffic had continued going past, it could have hit them or the lorry could have fell right into their path so it’s a good job we stopped.
'When the man began trying to hold the lorry up with one hand I couldn’t believe what I was seeing – he didn’t even use two hands as he was on the phone. If it had blown over, he could have been crushed.
'Thankfully it didn’t and eventually the fire service arrived and they strapped up the back end of the lorry to make it safer and drove it off the road themselves.’
North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service confirmed that a fire engine was scrambled to the scene around 8am on Friday morning.
A spokesman said: 'We were alerted to reports that the roof of an HGV had blown off in the wind and it was stranded on the A1(M).
'A unit was sent to ensure the lorry was stabilised and ensure it was moved off the motorway in a way that maintained the safety of the driver and other road users.’
Harrison’s mum Sharon Brooks, 38, said: 'I’m very proud of Harrison and his colleague’s actions as it sounds like they acted sensibly in a situation that could have been dangerous for other road users.
'I have watched the footage and think it is just crazy that he tried to carry on driving in those conditions. He could have killed someone and should have his licence taken off him.’
