Trapped driver reveals lorry ordeal

24 March 2010

The driver of a Renault Clio that became trapped under the bumper of a lorry on busy motorway believed she would die, it has been revealed.

Vet Rona Williams, from York, was shunted along the A1(M) near Leeds at 60mph by a Arclid Transport HGV.

The driver of the tanker did not see her join the motorway and took almost a minute to realise something was wrong.

Mrs Williams said she believed the lorry would push the car into a crash barrier and kill her.

Footage of the incident, which was filmed by the passenger of another car travelling on the same stretch of road, was released on Youtube last week.

Mrs Williams told the Daily Mail: "I just screamed at the operator 'I''m going to die, I'm going to die - can you do something?'

"She tried to calm me down but there wasn't really anything she could do at the end of the phone."

Mrs Williams had only joined the motorway 10 minutes away from her vet's surgery in Garforth when her car was clipped by the lorry and twisted sideways, trapping it under the front bumper.

In a bid to release her vehicle she pulled on the handbrake and flashed her hazard lights to try to catch the driver's attention, as well as that of any other road users.

When he did he was "all over the place", Mrs Williams said, and finally managed to bring both vehicles to a stop on the hard shoulder. The driver did not seem too worried about what had happened, Mrs Williams said, and "he even asked if I thought he needed to hang around".

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