Dan Shillito told Hull Live he believes fate meant he was ‘in the right place at the right time’
Dan Shillito told Hull Live he believes fate meant he was 'in the right place at the right time'
05:00, 13 Sep 2025
Dan Shillito with his wife, Rikki, and also pictured on top of his container wagon supporting a man on an M1 motorway bridge(Image: Dan Shillito/Jonathan Stoner-Facebook)A lorry driver from Hull[1] has told how a routine trip on the motorway turned into a major incident with him at the centre of it. Dan Shillito was the hero of the hour when he pulled his container truck beneath a bridge[2] across the M1 after seeing a man's legs "dangling".
Dan, a father-of-two from Anlaby[3], was driving for Samskip last Saturday when he saw the motorway signboards flashing up "incident" and a speed restriction, near Chesterfield. On his first day back at work after 13 days off, and heading for Donington Park Services, Dan told Hull Live: "I presumed there had been a car accident.
"I noticed there was no traffic on the other side of the motorway and an officer was getting the approaching traffic on our side to stop.
I couldn't see an incident and thought, why have we stopped?
"It was then I saw two legs dangling at the other side of the bridge in front of us." Quick-witted Dan shouted to the traffic officer.
"I said, did he want me to pull my truck under so that if the man fell, he would fall onto my container? He moved the car and trailer in front and I pulled forward."
Dan Shillito with his wife, Rikki, and children, Amelia and George(Image: Dan Shillito)Dan jumped out of his cab to see what was going on. "The man had his arms through the railings and there were three police officers on the bridge holding onto him.
"The police shouted down, 'is there any way you can get on your container and support him?' I thought, I've never been on top of my container before, and I was thinking of ways to get up."
Dan used the bars between the truck and trailer to climb up. "I put the man's feet onto my shoulders to support him.
"I don't know how long it was for, when you are in the moment you don't really know. He was really heavy - there's a fully-grown man standing on your shoulders - and I was shaking a bit.
"I was holding on to him for maybe five or eight minutes?" More police arrived and they ran across the bridge and down the embankment to join Dan on top of the container.
With the aid of some rope, the man was lowered down onto the container.
After resting there for a few moments, he was assisted to an awaiting ambulance and the care of paramedics.
A hero's welcome awaited Dan Shillito at home in Anlaby(Image: Dan Shillito)Dan said: "What are the chances, that you are there with a vehicle like mine just at that moment. I think it was meant to be. I'd had a short stop at services for a toilet break just before and it was all down to me leaving there at the time I did.
"When anything happens I'm not really one of those who panics.
My mind is more, how do I sort this problem out?
"When I got back in my truck, that's when I felt the adrenaline and I messaged my wife, Rikki, who's a nurse and she was just starting a night shift at Castle Hill. I told her what happened and she said, 'I think you have just saved someone's life', and I thought, I suppose I have."
Dan's heroic actions were captured by another driver caught up in the tailback who uploaded the video to Facebook[4] with the message: "Well done, lorry driver, hope you see this. Big appreciation."
The video has since been viewed by over five-million times and prompted thousands of goodwill comments about Dan.
One posted that Dan should be nominated for a Pride of Britain award, saying he was what a "true superhero looks like".
They said: "I want him to receive some sort of reward for what he did. Watch out Pride of Britain! Dan Shillito is coming to collect."
Dan's proud wife and family had posted banners at their home in time for his return with "Dan the Man" on and there were balloons and cards of congratulations to greet him.
Dan said: "I absolutely love my job container driving, but this isn't something I have come across before.
Article continues below"I go all over the UK, from the top of Scotland down to Portsmouth, all over the place.
I've had hundreds of 'well done' messages and a few from people who have told me they had been feeling down or in a bad place, but they said, 'what you did raised my spirits'.
"The guy's actual son messaged me to say thank you.
He said 'my family really appreciate what you have done'."
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