Truck tunnel crash causes chaos
Nine hours after a tip truck ripped its ceiling apart and trashed the morning commute for thousands of drivers, the M5 East tunnel finally reopened.
The truckie involved is blaming a dropped pair of sunglasses for the incident which caused chaos on Sydney’s roads.
Caught on CCTV, dramatic vision shows a truck – and the city’s traffic – coming to a crashing halt.
The truck’s tipper bin starts to rise as it reaches the M5 East tunnel. It enters the tunnel at around 40km/h and rips at the ceiling destroying lighting and ventilation.
David West was following in his car when the debris came crashing down, leaving his Falcon dented and smashed.
“There was just glass and pipes and stuff raining down on me,” said Mr Weston.
The driver of the truck was not hurt – or saying much. But his boss says he dropped his glasses, and while trying to reach them bumped the tipper controls.
Traffic was quickly gridlocked for kilometres and then surrounding roads clogged as people tried to get around the closure.
The tunnel reopened at around 4.30pm but will close again tonight for repairs.
The driver of the truck was not hurt – or saying much but his boss says he dropped his glasses, and while trying to reach them bumped the tipper controls.
The cost of those repairs may have to be paid by the truck’s owner.
He insists the driver is very experienced and just an innocent victim but the state government is yet to be convinced.
Truck owner Eric Flammia said this was an unfortunate accident that began with his driver dropping his glasses.
“I've been in the game 30 years and I've never had something like this happen to myself or one of my drivers,” he said.
“He's gone down to pick the glasses up, as he's done that he's either bumped the switches with his hand or the glasses themselves might have triggered the switches."
It is a two stage process before a driver can activate the tipper. It is claimed..this morning's driver did not know he had tipped his truck.
Roads Minister Duncan Gay said: “We willl take a look at it but I have got to tell you there is a lot of people including me that will take a lot of convincing.
“If you are driving into one of our tunnels, you make damn sure you are doing the right thing because we will come after you with every penalty we can.
“I’m as furious as the motorists caught in today’s incident on the M5 East Motorway. It has come at a high cost to the network and to the tunnel itself.
“Not only are these drivers putting themselves and other drivers in danger – it’s plain idiotic given the fines and penalties that result for them and their owner operators.”
