Lorry Fire M4 – Driving Lessons Thatcham

On Friday 17th a lorry carrying hydrogen fuel cells caught fire on the M4 near Swindon, between junctions 15 and 14. Due to the ‘nature of the fire and contents of the lorry’ this hazard brought traffic to a standstill, with both sides of the motorway stopped for people’s safety. Despite safety being the top priority for emergency services, local police said that they found twelve motorists using their phones behind the wheel while trying to catch footage of the dangerous spectacle.

Wilts Specialist Ops tweeted on the morning of the incident, ‘Following the lorry fire on the M4 a number or vehicles ended up striking the cones on the road too busy staring and filming the burnt lorry, due to a few near misses 12 drivers can now expect to from us for being on their mobile phone!’ Fortunately, no injuries were reported during and following the incident, but traffic was severely delayed, even in Marlborough and Hungerford as people tried to change routes.

As the traffic was immobilised for almost three hours, one man tried to escape boredom by getting out of his car and playing with a football in the middle of the road. I imagine if you were stuck in a traffic jam on one of Thatcham’s roads in sweltering heat, your first thought wouldn’t be on exiting the vehicle for a game of keepie Uppie.

I feel it should be needless to say, but no driving schools would condone this behaviour. Police described the actions of certain people there as extremely hazardous, and I would tend to agree.