SHOCKING footage appears to show a HGV overtaking on a bend, however operators claim the driver was forced to take evasive action after a driver pulled out in front of him – viewers are divided over who is to blame.
The incident happened last month on the A49 at Ludlow in Shropshire on Saturday June 26.
Van Den Bosch, operator of the tanker advised that they will resolve the matter internally best as they can so that publication is hopefully no longer useful.
They claimed that unedited footage would show the events their driver described, however they also said the car was driving towards their tanker.
Simon Kay was driving the dash cam vehicle when he spotted the HGV on the wrong side of the road heading towards him, with a black Citroen on the correct side of the road.
He shared the footage online which attracted comments both backing and condemning the actions of the professional driver.
Nick Hill commented: “Difficult to say for certain, but given the mentality of some car drivers who simply cannot bear the thought of being stuck behind a truck and have to get in front at all costs, the Truck Operators response is perfectly plausible.
“About time car drivers realise a 44 tonne truck doesn’t stop on a sixpence.”
Robert Askin said: “I’m not defending the truck driver but we don’t just over take for the sake of it, the car was probably speeding up and slowing down and so on, and the driver got frustrated and attempted an over take and the car sped up – poorly judged by the HGV driver though.”
Wull Mcmath concluded: “If you actually watch the footage closely, as soon as the HGV appears you can see the cab diving forward because he is braking hard, car driver clearly pulled out in front of him – sorry to all the lorry haters.”
Nic Gee wrote: “Evasive action usually involves braking. I don’t see that truck slowing down until cam car is an obstacle.”
Jay Sinclair added: “I would definitely say HGV trying to overtake, no way even fully loaded at 50 mph would it take so long to slow down.
“Considering where the junction is and to where the driver clearly slammed on the brakes to pull in behind the car.”
Speaking today Simon, 48 said: “The lorry was already by the side of him at the food centre junction, there is a turn off point in the middle of the road which he was overtaking on.
“This part of the road is a traffic calming area due to too many accidents there in the past.”
Despite repeated requests the operator did not confirm if the vehicle was carrying any chemicals at the time.
A spokesman for Van Den Bosch said: “Thank you for bringing reckless driving to our attention. However, we have already been informed of this by the driver in question. We take this very seriously and have taken immediate action to investigate further.
“The driver indicated that the black car in the video came from the Ludlow Food Factory right in front of the door and he had to swerve to avoid a collision. We are currently looking for some CCTV which will hopefully prove the drivers claim.
“We will resolve this internally as best we can, so that publication is hopefully no longer useful.”
He later added: “The CCTV footage was not found. However, contact has been made with the driver again.
“As stated earlier, he indicates that a car was heading towards him coming from the direction of the Ludlow Food Factory and that he was doing his best not to hit the rear of the car, which meant that he had to turn into the other lane in that direction that was empty at that moment.”
In a separate incident also last month, the A49 was partially blocked after a car towing a caravan was involved in a crash with a lorry.
The crash happened on Monday June 7, between Ludlow and Church Stretton.
