Trucker who hit M5 gantry guilty of dangerous driving

A lorry driver who wedged his tipper truck under a gantry on the M5 has been found guilty of dangerous driving.

The motorway was closed for almost 14 hours near Bristol after the strength of the impact caused the lorry bed to be torn from the main body of the vehicle.

Driver, Anthony Baker, 48, "put other road users in danger" after failing to perform a basic check of his lorry and lower the bed, police said.

Nobody was hurt in the incident on 2 March 2023, and Baker was able to pull over on the hard shoulder about 100m further down the carriageway.

Baker, of Garnett Place, Downend, Bristol, was travelling on the M5 southbound on 2 March 2023 after delivering materials to a site at Cribbs Causeway.

He was seen by other motorists driving along with the lorry bed fully raised.

Police began receiving calls at about 08:20 GMT, minutes before the incident.

Upon impact, the bed became wedged vertically underneath an overhead gantry and knocked a matrix sign onto the carriageway.

After the crash, officers attended the scene and carried out a breathalyser and drugs test on Baker, but both returned negative results, Bristol Crown Court heard.

Anthony Baker's lorry bed became wedged under an overhead gantry on the M5 near Bristol

Baker was convicted on Tuesday after a two-day trial.

The jury viewed CCTV and dashcam clips showing the lorry being driven along Highwood Lane and the M5 southbound before the moment of impact.

Baker had held a clean HGV licence since 2016.

He was working for GTI Transport at the time, after spending years working for his brother's firm.

While some tipper lorries, including the ones Baker had used in his previous job, had alarms fitted that alerted drivers if the bed of the lorry was raised, the ones at GTI did not.

It was not a legal requirement for lorries of this type to be fitted with alarms, the court heard, but GTI Transport fitted the entire fleet with the alarms after Baker’s crash.

'Careless'

At his police interview, Baker told officers he did not usually check the lorry bed had lowered after making a delivery, but in hindsight, stated he should have.

He added that he was not alerted of the hazard by any other motorists, and was unaware of any mechanical malfunction which would have caused the issue.

During cross examination on Monday, the prosecution said Baker "got complacent".

He did not directly address the claims that he had acted dangerously, only admitting that his conduct had been "careless".

The road was closed for almost 14 hours after the incident

PC Ian Hudson, of Avon and Somerset Police, said: "The consequences of this collision could have been catastrophic had the matrix sign hit a vehicle travelling at 70mph or the gantry collapsed onto a live motorway.

"Anthony Baker's failure to perform even a basic check that the lorry bed had been lowered is inexplicable and put other road users in danger.

"Road safety is something everyone needs to have at the forefront of their minds when they get behind the wheel of any vehicle."

Baker was released on bail and will next appear at court for sentencing on 2 August.