Exploding tyre on M4 was ‘scariest moment of my life’

It was captured on dashcam

Emma Slee and Jack Fifield, SWNS 09:22, 12 Dec 2025Updated 09:29, 12 Dec 2025

Shocking dashcam footage shows the moment a lorry driver narrowly avoided a massive crash after a terrifying motorway blowout.

Lab worker Ben Moshi, 27, was driving to work when the front-right tyre of a highway maintenance vehicle on the inside lane exploded, sending debris flying into the carriageway.

Quick-thinking Ben managed to swerve his Hyundai out of the way as the driver of the Wainwright-branded lorry expertly controlled the vehicle and brought it to a stop in the hard shoulder.

Ben, who captured the moment on the M4 near Bristol on Friday, December 5, on his dashcam, said it was 'probably the scariest three or four seconds' of his life.

He said: "The road was quite clear, there really wasn't that much traffic about. I was quite relaxed.

"The bang was the main thing that really shocked me.

"The video looks really bad, but there's no sound.

It doesn't emphasise how loud it really was.

"It really felt like an explosion, it was an explosion. The tyre exploded. It was so loud.

"I was just getting back into the middle lane, and just managed to quickly get back into the right-hand lane as there was no-one behind me, so I could do that.

"The main credit goes to the truck driver.

It could have been much, much worse than it was.

The truck driver deserves the most credit in that situation, for holding it."

Ben, of Bristol, said he hadn't realised how close he was to a 'serious accident' until afterwards.

He added: "Once I was past the truck, that was when my heart started beating, when I realised how close that was to a really bad accident."

Wainwright has been contacted for comment.