Latest news with #heavyvehicle
Daily Mail
17-05-2025
- Automotive
- Daily Mail
Major update after truckie brought chaos to a busy highway and left 300 vehicles with punctured tyres
A driver has been charged after an estimated 840kg of metal shards came loose from his truck, damaging hundreds of vehicles on a busy highway. About 25km of the M1 Motorway, in NSW, was closed on May 2 after a truck carrying metal debris spilled its contents between Wyong Road and Mount White on the Central Coast. NSW Police said the tyres of more than 300 vehicles had been damaged following the early-morning spill. Commuters experienced major delays, with the arterial roadway only being re-opened to traffic about 10 hours later. Officers spoke with the 46-year-old driver of the heavy vehicle tipper about the matter at the time. On Saturday, he was served with a future court attendance notice for 'drive heavy vehicle not comply loading requirements-severe'. Police allege the secondary locking handles on the trailer were not properly engaged, allowing the debris to spill along the busy stretch of road. NJ Ashton, a trucking company based in Marulan, NSW, operated the vehicle. On the day of the incident, general manager Daniel Falconer said the driver was 'devastated and profoundly apologetic - as are we'. 'We'd like to thank all motorists, and anyone else impacted in some way, for their patience today,' Mr Falconer said. Earlier this month, Mr Falconer told Daily Mail Australia the driver, who had not yet been back on the road, was left in disbelief following the incident. He said the driver was only made aware of the spillage after another road user waved him down, claiming the truck had left a trail of sparks behind it. 'He pulled in a little bit off the road, went and checked his back tailgate and noticed that it was a little bit open and that shards could come out,' Mr Falconer said. 'This guy has been doing the exact same run for three-and-a-half months. The exact same run... and this one day it just turned into a nightmare.' Despite the massive scale of the incident, Mr Falconer said it could have gone 'a lot worse' if more of the truck's 24-tonne load had spilled free. No one was reported injured following the incident. The truck driver is due to appear at Hornsby Local Court on Thursday July 10.
ABC News
17-05-2025
- ABC News
Driver charged over '840kg of metal' shards allegedly spilled onto M1 motorway north of Sydney
A driver has been charged after an estimated 840 kilograms of metal allegedly spilled from his truck on a busy highway north of Sydney earlier this month. Hundreds of motorists were left stranded on the M1 Pacific Motorway between Wyong Road and Mount White on the Central Coast, after their tyres were damaged by the metal debris. NSW Police said more than 300 vehicles were impacted. The incident, which occurred at about 5:10am on Friday, May 2, prompted the closure of about a 30-kilometre section of the motorway and brought traffic to a standstill. At the time, officers spoke to the 46-year-old male driver of a "heavy vehicle tipper towing a trailer". In a statement on Saturday, NSW Police said he had been served with a Future Court Attendance Notice for drive heavy vehicle not comply loading requirements-severe. "… [It resulted] in an estimated 840kg of metal spilling onto the roadway over a distance of about 30km." It was hours before the road was reopened after a major clean-up operation, and NSW Roads Minister Jenny Aitchison described it at the time as "an unprecedented situation". "It is very challenging because small pieces of metal are very difficult to pick up," she said. "If you can imagine, it's like trying to hoover up the highway." ABC Radio Central Coast was inundated with callers sharing their experiences. "It's just a disaster at the moment," a driver, whose tyres were busted by the debris, said. Another said he had driven slowly in case he had a flat tyre, but had managed to avoid any damage. "I got out when I got to Wahroonga [Sydney's north] and just checked my poor tyres," he said. "They were still round, still black and still up, so thank goodness they survived." The charged driver is due to appear in court in July.
