Moment lorry driver high on cannabis lost control of his 44-tonne HGV and crashed into oncoming Mercedes on opposite carriageway – as he’s jailed for two years
- Anthony Campbell, 55, was almost double the drug drive limit when his Scania HGV swerved into the path of a Mercedes
- A passenger of the Mercedes he struck on the A47 at Guyhirn, Cambridgeshire, was left seriously injured
- Police say 'It is nothing short of a miracle that the driver and the passenger in the Mercedes are still here today'
A driver 'high on cannabis' crashed his 44-tonne lorry into oncoming car, seriously injuring a passenger as police say it was 'a miracle' the two survived.
Terrifying dashcam footage shows the moment a driver high on cannabis lost control of his HGV lorry and crashed into an oncoming car - leaving a passenger trapped and fearing for his life[2].
Anthony Campbell, 55, was almost double the drug drive limit when his Scania HGV swerved into the path of a Mercedes on the A47 at Guyhirn, Cambridgeshire, on 3 January.
A passenger in the car, a 38-year-old man, was left trapped in the wreckage and suffered serious injuries.
Dashcam footage shows the moment Anthony Campbell, 55, was almost double the drug drive limit when he drove his Scania HGV into the path of a Mercedes on the A47 at Guyhirn, Cambridgeshire
A passenger in the oncoming Mercedes, a 38-year-old man, was left trapped in the mangled wreckage and suffered serious injuries
Campbell, from Glasgow, Scotland, returned a cannabis level of 3.7mcg per litre of blood. The legal limit is two. He was sentenced to two years in jail
He had to be airlifted to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge[3] where he underwent surgery and admitted that he thought he was going to die.
Police said it was a 'miracle' that both he and the driver of the Mercedes - a 33-year-old man who suffered minor injuries - survived the incident.
Campbell, from Glasgow, Scotland, was uninjured after his lorry ended up on a grass verge.
Police tested Campbell for drugs on the scene and he was arrested.
Five hours later, a blood sample was taken which showed his cannabis level was at 3..7mcg per litre of blood. The legal limit is two.
The driver of the struck Mercedes was airlifted to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge where he underwent life-saving surgery
This is the herat-stopping moment the Scania HGV swerved into the path of an oncoming Mercedes on the A47 at Guyhirn, Cambridgeshire, on 3 January
Campbell swerved into the lane of a Mercedes, hitting it at a force that left the passenger trapped and fighting for his life
Campbell, from Glasgow, Scotland, was uninjured after his lorry careered onto a grass verge
At Peterborough Crown Court on Friday (July 12), Campbell was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to dangerous driving.
He was also disqualified from driving for four years.
In a victim impact statement, the passenger told the court: 'When I was trapped in the car at the scene of the crash, I thought I was going to die.
'After my release from hospital I remember seeing lorries diving on the roads and I was shouting 'slow down' and grabbing hold of the handles in the car. This was the first time it hit me how scared I was following the accident.
The passenger in the Mercedes had to be airlifted to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge where he underwent emergency surgery
'It is nothing short of a miracle that the driver and the passenger in the Mercedes are still here today,' said PC Boris Kahn'I can't believe that someone would be so stupid as to drive a 44-tonne lorry with drugs in their system. The whole incident has left me sad, upset, and angry.
'What he did that day could have easily killed us.'
Meanwhile, police slammed Campbell for 'displaying unbelievable recklessness'.
PC Boris Kahn, from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire's Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: 'Campbell displayed unbelievable recklessness and ignorance in getting behind the wheel after smoking cannabis.
'It is nothing short of a miracle that the driver and the passenger in the Mercedes are still here today.
'While they continue to recover from their injuries, I hope the victims feel a sense of justice and closure following this sentence.
'Anyone who drives after taking illegal drugs is putting people's lives at risk and it is completely unacceptable.'
Emergency services raced to the scene to extricate a passenger from the mangled Mercedes that was struck by a HGV lorry
In February this year, a London Stock Exchange IT manager driving a Tesla caused a 100mph motorway crash with a new mother while high on cannabis.
Dashcam footage showed Josselin Herjean, 51, of Hamble, Hampshire, smashing his £50,000 electric motor into the back of a BMW containing Kirsty Skinner as she returned from hospital following the birth of her daughter.
The clip revealed Herjean swerving at high speed from the middle lane into the outside lane before ploughing into the rear of the white car, sending it into the central reservation and then into the air on the M27 in Southampton in October 2022.
The risk manager specialist was handed a suspended jail sentence and disqualified from driving for 18 months after a judge said it was a 'minor miracle' that no one got injured in the collision.
CambridgeGlasgow[4][5]References
- ^ MailOnline Reporter (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ crashed into an oncoming car - leaving a passenger trapped and fearing for his life (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Cambridge (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Cambridge (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Glasgow (www.dailymail.co.uk)