M'way debris warning
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Lancashire Police have issued a warning about drivers stopping to retrieve debris from the motorway following an Incident in which a truck driver risked his life to prevent vehicles crashing into two canoes which had fallen from a car.
Reuben Boyd from Preston, who works for Roadferry in Leyland, spotted the boats on the northbound M6 while he was travelling south near Preston. Fearing they would put lives at risk by causing a crash, he parked on the hard shoulder and ran across four busy lanes, climbing the central barrier in the process, and moved them to the central reservation.
Father of four Reuben, 60, said "I just thought of the danger. There could have been a car coming up carrying children, and it would have been carnage. I didn't really think, but it could have been the end for me—traffic was coming up at 8090mph. At my age I should have known better!"
When the police arrived they thanked Reuben, but stressed that the safest thing to do is to leave debris and report it immediately.
Police Sgt Martin Greaves, based at Charnock Richard Service Area, says: "We appreciate what this man did, but if anyone comes across this sort of thing they should inform us immediately from a mobile phone or the emergency service boxes on the hard shoulder. We can pill speed restrictions up on the matrix to slow traffic down to 30mph and patrols would arrive at the scene within 15 minutes.
"We can then set up a rolling block with a Land Rover or police car to slow traffic down and create a gap for an officer to run on and get the debris," he explains.