Terrifying moment lorry topples onto police patrol car on windy bridge in Scotland

Rebecca Speare-Cole11 December 2019

This is the terrifying moment a lorry toppled over onto its patrol car in Scotland after it was hit by a strong gust of wind.

The car was crushed on an A1 bridge near East Linton, East Lothian, at around 10.15am on Tuesday morning with its the driver escaping just in time.

Sergeant John Easton had been called to the scene after another HGV had been blown on its side and was checking on the driver.

He returned to his vehicle to contact Traffic Scotland to close the bridge as the area was deemed too dangerous due to the weather conditions.

The incident happened on a bridge on the A1 near East Linton, East Lothian, at around 10.15am on Tuesday morning.
Police Scotland

It was at that moment that a lorry passing the static police car was hit by a strong gust and it toppled over on to Sgt Easton's vehicle.

The officer said: "When I got to the scene, I jumped out the car, went across to check on the driver from the first lorry to make sure that he was ok, and he was already in another vehicle with one of our support drivers, so I said to them they needed to get off the bridge as it was too dangerous.

"As I struggled trying to get back to my car I had to hold on to the lorry to try and pull myself around.

"I had to get back into my car to then contact our control room and Traffic Scotland to close the bridge and the road.

"As I was speaking on the radio the lorry started to fall over on to my car.

"I took a deep breath, got out, and checked that the driver of the lorry that had hit my vehicle was ok before radioing for more assistance.

"Colleagues quickly arrived to help at the scene and we closed the road at the bridge."

Sgt Easton added: "It could have been much worse but fortunately I walked away unscathed. I certainly won't forget why it's called the 'Windy Bridge' now."

Footage of the incident was posted on Twitter by Chief Superintendent Stewart Carle, head of the road policing unit, who said he was "relieved that one of my road patrol sergeants was not seriously injured".

He said Sgt Easton "was as cool as a cucumber" during the incident involving his BMW.

Mr Carle said that during the call, the sergeant inside the car said: "We need to close the A1 now: a lorry has just toppled on to my patrol car. And I just polished it yesterday!"

A Police Scotland spokeswoman confirmed no-one was seriously injured in the incident, which closed the road until around 10pm.

Mr Carle added: "I nearly spilt my mug of tea but was quickly reassured when told the BMW was a '64 plate!"

It was the second incident recorded of lorries toppling over on the road due to severe weather on Tuesday.

Two other HGVs were travelling along the A1 and toppled over between Innerwick and Skateraw in East Lothian at around 7.45am, leaving the road blocked in both directions. Again there were no reports of any injuries.

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