Terrifying moment driver of 10-tonne HGV sparks seven-car M25 smash while high on cocaine – as he is given suspended sentence despite fleeing the scene
- Alan Smith switched lanes in his HGV without looking during rush hour on M25
This is the shocking moment a man caused a seven-car pile up on the M25 while driving his 10-tonne HGV high on cocaine.
Alan Smith has been banned from driving for three-and-a-half years following the horror crash during rush hour in February last year.
Smith, 37, dangerously switched lanes in his blue MAN heavy goods vehicle on the anti-clockwise carriageway of the motorway shortly before 6.27am on Friday February 24, 2023.
He is shown weaving between moving vehicles including a mobile crane and a white car in lane two before the collision, before changing lanes abruptly without checking whether it was safe to move over.
The HGV is then seen to collide with a grey Toyota Corolla on the near side, which spins out of control across the carriageway.
Dashcam footage shows Alan Smith abruptly changing lane without checking whether it was safe to move out, causing a grey Toyota Corolla to spin out of control and collide into other vehicles
PIctured: The out-of-control Toyota knocked over a van onto its side and crashed into a yellow mobile crane
A further five vehicles were involved in the serious collision as the Toyota was forced in front of Smith's lorry and spun around, hitting other vehicles on the busy orbital motorway.
The dashcam footage shows the Toyota out of control, knocking a van onto its side and ending up facing the yellow crane truck.
A man in his 60s sustained life-threatening injuries, but fortunately pulled through after being taken to hospital.
Brazenly, Smith did not stop at the scene and was tracked down by officers over 100 miles from the collision.
Tests later revealed he was over the driving limit for cocaine.
Smith's dangerous driving on cocaine caused a grey vehicle to spin out of control on the anticlockwise carriageway
A grab from footage of Smith executing his dangerous maneuver without checking whether it was safe to move out
Smith, of Poynton in Stockport, Cheshire, initially pleaded not guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving and drug driving in October but changed his plea to guilty before his trial.
He appeared at St Albans Crown Court on Wednesday July 10 where he was banned from driving for three-and-a-half years, handed a 24-month suspended sentence, ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work, eight days of rehabilitation activity and ordered to pay £1500 prosecution costs.
Detective Constable Peter Hoddy, from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: 'While the pain and suffering for those involved in the collision will be hard to forget, I hope that this result from the court has sent out a strong warning to anyone who believes they are above the law.
'Driving dangerously and driving under the influence of drugs will not be tolerated in Hertfordshire and those who commit such offences will be dealt with.'
References
- ^ Ryan Prosser (www.dailymail.co.uk)