Had a near miss today and i was fast asleep

[cruise_control]

no…i wasnt driving at the time before anyone asks

i was in the passenger seat, fast asleep dreaming about…well wouldnt you like to know when all of a sudden i jolted awake after hearing my co-driver shout something along the lines of

“whoooooooo, ducking idiot”

me half asleep and startled, began looking around wondering what had happened…

turned out a car had come down the on ramp and tried to join the motorway as if our truck was not even there, driver said he couldn’t move over as vehicles in other lane but this car had just contiuned to try and join the motorway at speed clipped side of truck then backed off behind us.

I woke up and looked in the mirror to just catch climpse of car pulling back in behind us. the car made no attempt to pull onto the hard shoulder or try to attract out attention. the car stayed behind us and i then noticed it indicating for next junction, we assumed may be they wanted to pull over off the motorway so we came off as well. we went into lane 1 and this car came up the off ramp and continued in lane 2 to the traffic lights at the top and went on its merry way. as it turned we could se scratch marks down the side of it and at the traffic lights the drivers side wing mirros was folded in.

i took a photo of the car and the wing mirror at the traffic lights we then pulled over to check damage to our truck and all we could see was 2 seperate paint blotches about 5 cm wide and 2 cm tall on the middle off the truck, consitant with the height of the car and a scratch mark on a bit of plastic and that was it.

reported it when we got back to yard and took some photos of side of truck incase of any come back but the car never stopped or even slowed down when it got parrallel with us at the traffic lights so we can only assume they didnt want to stop

and then on the a14 futher up a peugot in lane 2 indicated then suddnely pulled into our lane and drover up the last bit of the off ramp as she had obvisously not seen the junctiuon, i really dont know how we didnt clip her back end as she swung across 2 lanes - i never got back to sleep.

[steadymabo]

The car that hit you probably had no insurance, or the driver had no licence, or was over the limit, all the usual reason’s ! but if they had done more damage to your vehicle they probably would of still carried on, leaving you with some explaining to do when back in yard, and you loosing your accident bonus, people like that should have there cars taken off them and never allowed to drive again ! at least your all ok

[trucker_beads]

steadymabo:
The car that hit you probably had no insurance, or the driver had no licence, or was over the limit, all the usual reason’s ! but if they had done more damage to your vehicle they probably would of still carried on, leaving you with some explaining to do when back in yard, and you loosing your accident bonus, people like that should have there cars taken off them and never allowed to drive again ! at least your all ok

Whats one of these? wish we had bonuses at our place, mind u wish we got paid right…

Glad ya ok though.

[vwgpmk2]

Make sure you report it to the police, incase the other driver decides to try it on, otherwise you may face a charge of failing to report the accident and failing to stop.

[newmercman]

I had an accident whilst not driving too, only I wasn’t double manned, the Police were involved & the outcome was highly amusing.

I was parked (legally in the pre Red Route days) just south of Highbury Corner eating a chicken kebab & reading the Sun, a few hundred yards down the road were a set of traffic lights with a filter to the left, the straight ahead lights were causing a fair sized queue & an impatient driver in a Volvo estate tried to squeeze between the front of my F12 & the last car in the line so that he could either go left or more likely go to the front of the queue & cut in, anyway he never made it & hit my bumper putting a scrape along his nearside from the front wing to the back bumper, it was a decent scrape too, enough to need new panels rather than a bit of P38, so the bloke jumps out screaming that I hit him, I wound down the window (I couldn’t open the door because the car was still touching my lorry) & asked the bloke what he was talking about, he was going off alarming & phoned the law, they turned up soon enough & asked us what had happened, the Volvo driver was saying to the Old Bill that he was sitting in the traffic & I had pulled out on him, the law seemed to be buying his story despite my protestations of innocence, so I asked the copper to ask the bloke where I was when the accident took place, which he did, the bloke was adamant that I was behind the wheel & a passer by confirmed his story, I then opened up the door of my lorry to show them all that I would’ve had a hard job as at the time of the accident I was actually in the passenger seat as the lorry was a left ■■■■■■, that was the end of that little song & dance & the Volvo driver was giving a talking to & the Police were my witness to the bloke saying I was in the passenger seat when the accident happened as the 3rd party had told them that I was, ding dong.