I wouldn’t have a clue what the number for highways agency was. But if it was very bad I might call 999. In reality, 9 times out of 10 I’d just crack on and let someone else sort it. That sounds awful when I write it down - but I’m fairly sure if everyone else is being honest they’d do the same.
There must be loads of those drivers that passed that lorry in lane 1 that night that must now be thinking, ■■■■ why didn’t I stop, why didn’t I call someone, HA 999!!
Nobody new the Pole, no the driver, was drunk, nobody new that he hadn’t broken down, nobody new that he hadn’t fallen ill. He was stopped in a live lane for whatever reason yet , no one stopped. Shame on all those drivers and if you’re a member on here and reading this… Shame on you !! That’s how the job is now, who gives a crap!!
edit to add… read Sammys post above !!!
pierrot 14:
Right, here’s a question for all you drivers. Because of what I’ve just seen in that clip ( 12 minutes of passing traffic, not even 1 stopping to see what was happening) !!You’re on a motorway and see a broken down car in a live lane, or an object in a live lane that could cause an accident.
Seriously, hand on heart, how many of you will…
Either stop at the next phone to contact HA
or…
Call it in straight away on your mobile to HA ( and please don’t give it large of you can’t drive and phone it’s illegal, this is an emergency)Dig Deep, hand on heart! How Many ■■?
Driving at night on a ‘smart’ motorway in my car, outside lane. A tyre went bang on the car in front, and it wobbled into the nearside lane. I got my passenger to dial 999 on her mobile, having told her how to read the motorway marker boards to give a location.
Police took the call, and a few minutes later called back to say they had closed the nearside lane and to say thank you.
sammym:
I wouldn’t have a clue what the number for highways agency was. But if it was very bad I might call 999. In reality, 9 times out of 10 I’d just crack on and let someone else sort it. That sounds awful when I write it down - but I’m fairly sure if everyone else is being honest they’d do the same.
I have before and I would again call 999 when I see stranded vehicles, in the past I would even stop and use my motor to sheild cars but that was a long time ago before all the " lets claim for everything culture" started
I wouldn’t have stopped, I would have assumed he was broken down and had presumably notified the authorities as any normal trucker would have done, and why would I think otherwise? It wouldn’t have entered my head that he was drunk and asleep, but life on the road appears to have changed in the 15 years since I last drove a truck. 
Having said that, in the early nineties I had to pull up behind a foreign artic that stopped suddenly in the slow lane of the M42 as I couldn’t get across into the next lane and the driver walked up to my cab with a map and asked me where Kidderminster was so perhaps things aren’t so different after all?
Pete.
pierrot 14:
Right, here’s a question for all you drivers. Because of what I’ve just seen in that clip ( 12 minutes of passing traffic, not even 1 stopping to see what was happening) !!You’re on a motorway and see a broken down car in a live lane, or an object in a live lane that could cause an accident.
Seriously, hand on heart, how many of you will…
Either stop at the next phone to contact HA
or…
Call it in straight away on your mobile to HA ( and please don’t give it large of you can’t drive and phone it’s illegal, this is an emergency)Dig Deep, hand on heart! How Many ■■?
Not that many then, totally shameful !!! Just a couple of comments above to say that they would or have called.
THIS is what is wrong with our industry? the WHO GIVES A FLOCK NOT MY PROBLEM attitude.
Again look at Windrushes comments above I wouldn’t have stopped, I would have assumed he was broken down and had presumably notified the authorities as any normal trucker would have done, and why would I think otherwise?
As I said, all those , so called “PROFESSIONAL” drivers that went past that stationary artic in lane 1, on that fateful day, to include those that were going the opposite direction, that has really Boiled my P!!!
Shame on you all, in those 12 minutes, 1,2,3 or however many calls from any driver, could have averted that disaster !!!
pierrot 14:
Right, here’s a question for all you drivers. Because of what I’ve just seen in that clip ( 12 minutes of passing traffic, not even 1 stopping to see what was happening) !!You’re on a motorway and see a broken down car in a live lane, or an object in a live lane that could cause an accident.
Seriously, hand on heart, how many of you will…
Either stop at the next phone to contact HA
or…
Call it in straight away on your mobile to HA ( and please don’t give it large of you can’t drive and phone it’s illegal, this is an emergency)Dig Deep, hand on heart! How Many ■■?
I’ve seen it several times and called 999. Vehicles or debris in a live lane constitutes an emergency. Plod have never told me not too, so I’ll continue to do so.
I did post a thread some time ago about an incident on the M1 where I’d called 999 to report a vehicle in the live lane (no hard shoulder) in a section with no lights. My colleague was ten minutess behind and he was still there with the matrix signs blank and no one in attendance.
Personally I reckon someone called it in but there was no response. Impossible to prove of course.
I’ve rung in countable looking vehicles stopped usualy they know but you never know especially with smart motorways
kr79:
I’ve rung in countable looking vehicles stopped usualy they know but you never know especially with smart motorways
kr, don’t presume, call it in whatever. If they say " yes thank you sir, we are aware" so what ? If 20 people call in an incident, surely it’s better than nobody calling it in ?
pierrot 14:
kr79:
I’ve rung in countable looking vehicles stopped usualy they know but you never know especially with smart motorwayskr, don’t presume, call it in whatever. If they say " yes thank you sir, we are aware" so what ? If 20 people call in an incident, surely it’s better than nobody calling it in ?
If everyone called it in then it wouldn’t be 20 calls. And in reality, you’d end up jamming up the lines. Think about the number of breakdowns each day. Then think about the number of trucks (this is presuming that car drivers don’t do the same). You’d have 10’s thousands of calls to emergency services a day. If each one took just 30 seconds that would outstrip the emergency services capacity hugely.
I’m not saying you are wrong. Perhaps we should all care about each other a bit more. I’m just pointing out the practical reality if we did.
pierrot 14:
Interesting stuff there GasGas, I’ve only looked at Clip1. Noticed at about 3.03 there are some hazards flashing on the other carriageway, is that someone pulled up to call it in?
My question, maybe BossHogg can reply, are there actually any people that monitor these CCTV’s, especially as this one was at junction exit?
One comment I have to say, lots of people there going both ways, wonder how many actually called it in, or was it just a case of “not my problem!!!” ? Especially those going up the off-slip !!!
Check out the rest of the vids.It’s looks like they were all on bleedin auto pilot and not reading the road well ahead.
As for me in 15 years of night trunking I don’t ever remember anything actually being stopped like that in a live lane other than in traffic.But I can guarantee that I would have been crawling along in lane 3 let alone 2 in this case with hazards on long before I reached the muppet.Then I’d have stopped on the hard shoulder at the first emergency phone I reached after passing him and made the call.It’s absolutely unbelievable standards what I saw there by all concerned. 
Let’s be honest.If you break down Any normal driver puts hazards on.
Let’s say he was on the hard shoulder I would assume he is sorting whatever the problem is.
But the fact he was in a Live lane with no hazards says to me I have to stop and just see.
That last clip some one added above shows at least 35 plus wagons go by.Some flashed as you can see but 35
Respect to the TRUCKER who stopped on the slip and ran down…What a scene that would of been.
pierrot 14:
Again look at Windrushes comments above I wouldn’t have stopped, I would have assumed he was broken down and had presumably notified the authorities as any normal trucker would have done, and why would I think otherwise?As I said, all those , so called “PROFESSIONAL” drivers that went past that stationary artic in lane 1, on that fateful day, to include those that were going the opposite direction, that has really Boiled my P!!!
Shame on you all, in those 12 minutes, 1,2,3 or however many calls from any driver, could have averted that disaster !!!
I thought that all the motorway network was covered by CCTV anyway? Blimey, thirty+ years ago one of our drivers stopped for a pee on the hard shoulder of the M1 in that area and was picked up on a camera during ‘the act’ and recieved a warning about urinating in public, and on these tv programmes everyones errors are shown to the viewing public so why wasn’t a truck parked in the granny lane for 12 minutes with lights and hazzards showing noticed? Passing drivers would have no idea how long it had been there.
However if for some reason there were no hazzard lights showing on the Poles parked vehicle then in that situation that would be different and most folk (including me!) would assume that something other than a breakdown had occoured and called in about it.
Pete.
Windrush, the AIM driver hasn’t got his hazards going.
pierrot 14:
Windrush, the AIM driver hasn’t got his hazards going.
The whole lot is a comedy of errors.Seperation distances reduced to the point of no forward visibility and ‘drivers’ who don’t know the meaning of forward observation and planning and who obviously aren’t capable of dealing with anything more than the slightest speed differential let alone anything stopped in a live lane.
pierrot 14:
Windrush, the AIM driver hasn’t got his hazards going.
Ah, hadn’t realised that as I can’t view the images clearly.
Pete.
windrush:
pierrot 14:
Windrush, the AIM driver hasn’t got his hazards going.Ah, hadn’t realised that as I can’t view the images clearly.
Pete.
The CCTV footage isn’t great as the lens is splattered with rain, so if your looking at it on a small screen, it’s understandable.
im still of the view the Pole was waiting for the opportunity to reverse and rejoin the sliproad.more so having watched the cctv /bashcam of the busy traffic there was no let up .
he just made up the cockeyed story that hed had a mini-coma , had a short time to make up an alibi ,cos he knew if hed admitted hed intended reversing knew thatd be double bubble ,drunk AND reversing. he should have said his truck cut out,daftie didnt think of that one
But no matter,whether im right or wrong in my theory , his mini- coma story didnt work !!! i let out a mini cheer when i read on this thread hed been found guilty on all the charges. lets hope he dont appeal it and will he serve his sentence back home in Poland? ,long as its a brutal prison thatd be ok
What are you talking about man■■? Did you see the way he slowly came to a stop ? He didn’t just slam on the anchors!! thinking oh crap I’ve missed my exit ! Have another look of Clip1 at around 2m57, if what you say is correct and he was exiting there, looks to me that he could have just run it across the chevrons. And if as you say he was trying to reverse there were opportunities, might have taken a while ! In addition to this if he was, why didn’t he have his hazards on to warn others that he was being a p§§ck?
pierrot 14:
Right, here’s a question for all you drivers. Because of what I’ve just seen in that clip ( 12 minutes of passing traffic, not even 1 stopping to see what was happening) !!You’re on a motorway and see a broken down car in a live lane, or an object in a live lane that could cause an accident.
Seriously, hand on heart, how many of you will…
Either stop at the next phone to contact HA
or…
Call it in straight away on your mobile to HA ( and please don’t give it large of you can’t drive and phone it’s illegal, this is an emergency)Dig Deep, hand on heart! How Many ■■?
I was coming down Shap in January when as I passed Tebay services there was an almighty hailstorm and before I reached J39 there was two inches of hail all over the lanes.
Of course, cars didn’t slow up and by the time I had reached the off ramp at J38 cars were sliding all over the place.
One car did a pirouette and finished up stationary in lane 2 and still cars were steaming past.
I moved over to lane 2 and pulled up 10 metres behind the car with hazards on thinking, well if someone runs into the back of me, better that than hitting this car broadside on.
It was a young lady sat behind the wheel, frozen in panic, didn’t register what had happened.
My co driver got out and calmed her, got her to start her car and guided her onto the hard shoulder.
I was lucky I was in a position to help, we are never always that lucky.