A SERIOUS accident was narrowly averted after a lorry driver suffered a stroke at the wheel on the A12.
A SERIOUS accident was narrowly averted after a lorry driver suffered a stroke at the wheel on the A12.
A worried motorist spotted the lorry swerving across the road at Mountnessing shortly after 12.30pm on Thursday.
Police trailed the vehicle but were unable to stop it, with the driver, from Colchester, slumped at the wheel.
The lorry was driven off the dual carriageway at Galleywood, but travelled around the roundabout and began down the slip road to rejoin the A12.
Police said the vehicle was swerving and travelling at “random” speeds
Sergeant Stewart Gason, from Chelmsford, got out of a following police car and ran alongside the moving lorry. He attracted the lorry driver's attention by shouting at him to throw his keys out. Although unwell, the driver responded to this and stopped just before the dual carriageway.
Paramedics conveyed the lorry driver to Broomfield Hospital. He is believed to have suffered a suspected stroke.
Sgt Gason said he wished to thank the motorist who alerted the police to the incident for helping to prevent “a nasty crash that could have had tragic consequences”.
The sliproad was closed for 30 minutes while the lorry was recovered.
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