M1 traffic chaos as hundreds of cars are left with flat tyres
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By FARID FARID FOR AAP and MATT JONES FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA[1]
Published: 02:36, 2 May 2025 | Updated: 02:41, 2 May 2025
The truck driver at the centre of the metal shard spill that scattered debris for kilometres along the motorway that resulted in hundreds of cars suffering flat tyres has apologised.
Some 25 kilometres of the M1 Motorway north of Sydney[2] was closed on Friday after a truck carrying metal debris spilled its contents about 5am, bringing traffic to a screeching halt.
Daniel Falconer, general manager of the NJ Ashton Group, the company that owns the tipper truck involved, told 2GB the driver was devestated.
'It seems to be an accident and we're very sorry and thank God no-one's had a major accident,' he said.
'The pins on the back of the truck were locked, confirmed by the police, so it's just a mechanical error of some sort.
'We don't know exactly how it's come out the back of the truck, it's just been seeping out by the looks of it over a couple of kilometres.'
Mr Falconer said the company had been 'doing this for about three or four years and we've never had a problem with it'.
The driver involved, 46, who has more than 20 years' experience, is helping police with their inquiries.
Nearly 380 vehicles got flat tyres when a truck spilled metal shards on Sydney's M1 freeway
Dozens of tow trucks have been dispatched (Pictured: the metal shards on the road)
'He's devastated. He can't understand how it's happened,' Mr Falconer said.
'The same truck driver has been doing the same run for three or four weeks and we haven't had a problem.'
The shards were scattered along more than 20km of the southbound lanes, slashing the tyres of hundreds of vehicles driven by unsuspecting motorists.
Multiple tyres on some cars were affected, the NSW transport department said.
One tow truck driver said she had had a busy morning transporting cars back and forth to tyre repair shops.
'It's been non-stop,' Nicole of Central Coast Auto Recovery told AAP from the highway.
'I've towed six cars by myself so far and we're taking them all to Gosford tyre shops - just lots of flat tyres.'
GPS mapping shows just how major the delays (in red) are on the M1 on Friday morning
Drivers of B-double trucks were advised to park up until the motorway reopens.
Other drivers are advised to use the old Pacific Highway instead
A 20km stretch of the major arterial road connecting the Central Coast to Sydney was closed while traffic was backed up another five kilometres further north.
A clean-up operation comprised of emergency crews and sweepers was underway on Friday morning.
'It's a very intricate clean-up operation of the road at the moment to make sure future vehicles aren't affected with any debris,' a Transport Management Centre spokesperson said.
'It's a bit of a slow effort before reopening the motorway from Ourimbah to Mount White'
Dozens of tow trucks have been dispatched to more than 200 drivers, NRMA spokesman Katrina Usman told AAP.
'Our patrols are able to fix (single punctures) on the side of the road,' she said.
'But for cars with multiple wheels damaged, we've provided tows ... as of this morning, it was nearly two hours (to wait) for roadside assistance or a tow truck.'
References
- ^ MATT JONES FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Sydney (www.dailymail.co.uk)