Heart-stopping moment lorry driver smashes straight into broken-down horsebox on the M1 before overturning
Published: 12:17, 14 May 2024 | Updated: 12:30, 14 May 2024
This is the heart-stopping moment a lorry driver smashed into a broken-down horsebox – killing the horse in a horror motorway crash.
Shocking dash-cam footage taken in July last year shows lorry driver Nicholas Cole attempting to swerve to avoid a stationary National Highway vehicle before he smashes into the back of it.
The lorry then overturns and collides with the horse box a few yards up the motorway. The driver and passengers were waiting on the bank and were unharmed but their horse was tragically killed.
Cole failed to see that the lane was closed or that the vehicles ahead weren’t moving. The 47-year-old said he had been listening to the radio before the collision and the next thing he knew, he saw the Highways vehicle and swerved to avoid it.
Cole’s lorry overturns and collides with the horse box a few yards up the motorway. The driver and passengers were waiting on the bank and were unharmed but their horse was tragically killed
Cole failed to see that the lane was closed or that the vehicles ahead weren’t moving.
The 47-year-old said he had been listening to the radio before the collision and the next thing he knew, he saw the Highways vehicle and swerved to avoid it
After the accident, which took place in Northamptonshire, Cole was subsequently charged with dangerous driving which he pleaded guilty to at Northampton Magistrates Court in February.
On Thursday last week, Cole, from Stourbridge in the West Midlands, was jailed for 42 weeks and banned from driving for 21 months at Northampton Crown Court.
PS Richard Hill, from Northamptonshire Police’s Roads Policing Team, said: ‘As people will be able to see from the footage, this was a shocking collision that sadly resulted in a horse being killed.
‘It’s a stark example of how important it is to keep your focus on the road when you’re driving and to ensure you read the gantry signs displayed on the motorway.
Shocking dash-cam footage taken in July last year shows lorry driver Nicholas Cole attempting to swerve to avoid a stationary National Highway vehicle before he smashes into the back of it
‘Cole would have had plenty of time to see the red X and yet still caused this collision.
‘I hope this sentence is a lesson to him and to other road users.
‘Driving a vehicle is a big responsibility and it is paramount that you are always aware of your surroundings.’