WHAT A SHAME! :-)
The driver of a car transporter deliberately crashed his vehicle in order to avoid a potentially fatal collision with a group of cyclists, after the large lorry carrying nine supercars began to fishtail in crosswinds on a steep hill.
Richard Kilburn's almost £2 million cargo was written off in the incident on the A20 near Farningham on Wednesday, a video posted on Facebook by Ben Slipper showing the nine supercars smashed and the transporter overturned.
The 61-year-old has been called a hero for his quick thinking to avoid a worse crash as he was taking the cars from Brands Hatch race track in Kent to Goodwood in Sussex.
"It's a hill and because of the weight the transporter picks up a bit of speed, so I just touch the brakes and try and keep it to 35mph as I go down," he told MailOnline (link is external). "But it began to sway and veer and that's when I saw the
cyclists on the and thought I need to stop now and just jack-knifed.
"Obviously because of the manoeuvre all the cars came off but thankfully no one was hurt and it could have been a lot worse. It was more than 40 tonnes in weight so it would caused a load of damage but the only person hurt was myself with some slight
bruising but I'm ok and already back at work.
"The whole thing looks worse than it is because of the value of the cars involved and it did cross my mind what the boss would say but the insurance will cover it. The most important thing is that no one was hurt."
When police officers attended the scene, the driver was breathalysed (testing negative) and was treated for minor injuries.
A source at the driving experience company, Everyman, for whom Mr Kilburn was working told the Mail their employee is "very much the hero in all this".
"He is a solid driver with years of experience behind the wheel and his quick thinking avoided something which could have ended very differently and very badly," they explained.
"These things happen but the most important thing is no one was badly hurt – the only damage was to the cars which is nothing compared to someone being hurt or killed.
"Richard has been with the firm for three years and he's held a licence for 12 years so he is very dependable and knows what he is doing behind the wheel. He tested negative and apart from some bruising from the seatbelt he was fine. The police
investigated but there is no suggestion he did anything wrong.
"When you are driving those transporters and there is a crosswind they can sway a bit because of the weight and that's what happened to him. It got to a point where he reached the tipping point, and it went over but he went over on the side of the road
to avoid the cyclists in front.
"If he had miscalculated it he would have ended up squashing them instead of scratching a few cars which will now have to be written off. The insurance teams are looking at it now but it will easily be more than a million to replace them probably more."
Kent Police confirmed they had attended an incident at 7.57pm on Wednesday 23 August. Among the damaged vehicles were a £271,000 Lamborghini Aventador, a £181,000 Aston Martin DB11, a £170,000 Mercedes AMG, two Ferrari models, and a BMW.
"Officers attended the scene where the driver reported a minor injury. The road was closed while arrangements were made to recover the vehicles," a police spokesperson said.
https://road.cc/content/news/hero-driver-jack-knifed-vehicle-avoid-hitting-cyclists-303499
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