Man whose brakes failed on A1 thanks lorry driver rescuers

A driver whose brakes failed when the front wheel of his truck came off on a dual carriageway has thanked two lorry drivers who stopped to help him.

Aubrey Elliot, 67, was driving on the A1 when a noise "like an explosion" came from his vehicle.

He used his handbrake to slow down and stop in bushes next to a lay-by.

Two lorry drivers saw him in distress and pulled over, using their vehicles to protect him from passing traffic and collected his lost wheel.

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Mr Elliot was on his way home to Gotham in Nottinghamshire when he realised something was wrong with his truck near Peterborough on 5 August.

"My first thought was that I'd had a blowout on the front wheel - it was like an explosion," he said.

"Then I was fighting to get it away from the barrier. I don't know whether I touched it or what but the wheel just came flying off."

Aubrey Elliot stopped his truck by driving into bushes by the side of the A1

Mr Elliot said he steered his truck into bushes by the side of the road, where he then lost his other front wheel, before two lorry drivers stopped to help.

"One was hammering on my window," he said. "I said, 'I think I've had a puncture' and he said 'I think you've had a bit more than a puncture'.

"They were good because they positioned the lorry so nothing could get at me."

Mr Elliot's daughter tracked down Daniel Samoluk and Florin Wolf after making an appeal on social media

Mr Elliot forgot to thank the men, so his daughter made an appeal on social media and tracked down Daniel Samoluk and Florin Wolf, who work for JJ Foodservice.

Mr Wolf, from Fleckney, Leicestershire, said it was "human instinct" to stop and help.

He said: "We are pleased we could help nothing bad to happen."