We had our first trip out in our brand new Van at the weekend.
Going Eastbound on the M25 just past Clackett Lane Services, it's four lanes and we were in Lane 3, as we were passing an articulated lorry -my front wheels were 5fy past the rear axle of the lorry, the driver either got distracted or dozed off....he veered from lane 2 into our lane... All his offside wheels were in our lane, I could not move over to lane 4 as I was being overtaken and had I moved I would of forced the driver into the central reservation.
Talk about scary..... The lorry driver was oblivious to all this as the lorry ripped off my near side wing mirror.. I blasted my horn, he moved back and continued on his way.
I was so angry I chased him and managed to get in front of him and using my hazards, I slowed him down and with arm signals got him to pull into an emergency lay by (no hard shoulder on this speech).
It was a British registered lorry - the driver came out of his cab and didn't have a clue what had gone on. I vented my spleen and showed him the damage -thankfully no damage was caused to the body of the van, however it became apparent the driver could not speak English except to say no, no...oh and he could shrug his shoulders...
He got in his lorry and drove off , however not before I photographed him and the lorry.
So this morning I rang the company whose lorry it was and they advised that all their cabs have dash cams - great I said, you will be able to see your driver veer across the lanes and see me talking to him in the layby. They have promised to come back to me tomorrow having viewed the footage and spoken to the driver. I told them I will be billing them for the replacement of the wing mirror as a minimum.
I reported it to the police but they say because I am now in contact with the vehicle owners they do not consider it a police matter. I asked what would it take to become a police matter.... Me being forced off the road and taking out another vehicle? They declined to comment.
Will see what happens.
Going Eastbound on the M25 just past Clackett Lane Services, it's four lanes and we were in Lane 3, as we were passing an articulated lorry -my front wheels were 5fy past the rear axle of the lorry, the driver either got distracted or dozed off....he veered from lane 2 into our lane... All his offside wheels were in our lane, I could not move over to lane 4 as I was being overtaken and had I moved I would of forced the driver into the central reservation.
Talk about scary..... The lorry driver was oblivious to all this as the lorry ripped off my near side wing mirror.. I blasted my horn, he moved back and continued on his way.
I was so angry I chased him and managed to get in front of him and using my hazards, I slowed him down and with arm signals got him to pull into an emergency lay by (no hard shoulder on this speech).
It was a British registered lorry - the driver came out of his cab and didn't have a clue what had gone on. I vented my spleen and showed him the damage -thankfully no damage was caused to the body of the van, however it became apparent the driver could not speak English except to say no, no...oh and he could shrug his shoulders...
He got in his lorry and drove off , however not before I photographed him and the lorry.
So this morning I rang the company whose lorry it was and they advised that all their cabs have dash cams - great I said, you will be able to see your driver veer across the lanes and see me talking to him in the layby. They have promised to come back to me tomorrow having viewed the footage and spoken to the driver. I told them I will be billing them for the replacement of the wing mirror as a minimum.
I reported it to the police but they say because I am now in contact with the vehicle owners they do not consider it a police matter. I asked what would it take to become a police matter.... Me being forced off the road and taking out another vehicle? They declined to comment.
Will see what happens.