Car transporter driver on the A1 this afternoon

[sawman]

Hats off to the driver of the fully loaded car transporter on the A1 north of Morpeth this lunchtime. I was the next vehicle back about 100 yards behind

His tractor unit's front tyre went blew out with quite a bang in a section of contraflow, fortunately nothing was immediately heading in the opposite direction, but the skilled trucker managed to get things back in shape after the truck lurched to the right into the oncoming traffic flow, narrowly avoiding the central reservation.

He managed to limp the next couple of miles to the end of the contraflow before the main part of the tyre finally left the wheel.

Just before the roadworks someone in a small hatchback had been driving very close to the transporter, but did a last minute dash to overtake the truck, which in retrospect probably saved a nasty incident

[StuntmanMike]

Nice one, good to hear something positive about the trade for once.

[TheAngryDog]

Why didn't he just stop?

[anonymous-user]

TheAngryDog said:

Why didn't he just stop?

Because:

sawman said:

His tractor unit's front tyre went blew out with quite a bang in a section of contraflow

Driving onward to a suitable refuge area with a damaged tyre is preferable to bringing a contra flow to a standstill. Good drills I'd say.

[sawman]

Crossflow Kid said:

Driving onward to a suitable refuge area with a damaged tyre is preferable to bringing a contra flow to a standstill. Good drills I'd say.

Absolutely, there were a couple of side roads onto the main carriage way, but none were big enough to accommodate his trailer, without blocking the road (which, being the A1 is very busy) there was no verge to speak of either.