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news
A20 vehicle transporter crash (Facebook/Ben Slipper)"Hero" driver deliberately jack-knifed vehicle to avoid hitting cyclists, writing off £2 million supercar cargo
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. "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.
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
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105 comments
Yes.
Look at the diameter difference between a railway wheel and a truck wheel and tyre.
Car transporters normally have a low level bed that is between the width of the wheels as a car can fit in that gap ... its why when you see vans being carried, the bottom deck is over the wheel arches as they are too wide to fit.
Most other trailers, the load bed starts over the top of the wheels.
Two level car transporters are quite a common sight on the motorway. Usually going 60mph +, they don't seem to fall over? Just saying.....
Usually going at 56mph +/-1 due to their limiters in fairness, but not falling over.
The fishtailing the driver describes indicates the trailer was poorly loaded with more weight behing the axles than in front. Negative noseweight will do that to a trailer. (Search youtube for trailer weight for a perfect example with a model car)
Oddly it's only in the Daily Heil that these cyclists are mentioned, also the stretch of the A20 between the B2173 and M25 that was closed does not, as far as Streetview shows, have any steep inclines.
It's a hill - Streetview isn't very good at depicting these. You're dropping 350 feet in about 2.5 miles (100 meters in about 4.5 km) from Brands Hatch (note the 150m trig point) to the first roundabout at Farningham, crossing the River Darent as you go.
There is in fact quite a long hill from brands hatch to farningham and it is fairly steep at the top. It is also dead straight with a clear view for about a mile . I find it difficult to believe the driver deliberately jack knifed the load to save anyone.
I shudder to think what the comments on non-cycling websites' coverage of this story would be.
The Daily Heil is full of praise for the driver managing to throw his wagon in it's side.....
That pleasantly surprises me - although that likely says more about my preconceptions.
Join us over on Drivers and their Problems for an update.
That's what insurance is for. Well done sir.
When I tweeted a sarcastic "Ah bless, losing control of a 40 tonne lorry just happens."
I got a couple of nasty kickbacks from presumably lorry drivers.
Just consider this article: lorry drivers and the police think that losing control of a 40 tonne lorry due to a gust of wind is apparently acceptable.
I'd suggest that the lorry was incorrectly loaded, overloaded or being driven too fast for the road conditions.
Could anyone suggest a sane reason for it being acceptable to lose control of a 40 tonne vehicle?
Imagine a train driver detailing or a plane crashing? Why are these things exceedingly rare? Imagine being on a building site where accidents with heavy machinery were just shrugged off?
You weren't there, you're just assuming.
Why don't you try thinking better of people rather than the worst and maybe your life might be a bit more fulfilling. Putting people down to make yourself feel better is pretty pathetic
I think the driver was talking bullshit.
https://twitter.com/ormondroyd/status/1695479793867755807
"Crosswinds? The wind in Farningham on Wednesday peaked at 5mph"
If the vehicle was so susceptible to cross winds, why was he driving it ?
All vehicles are susceptible to cross winds.
Here's an idea ... get your provisional HGV, and spend £250 on a half day session with a 15ft 3" curtainsider.
Go experience it, and then come back and ask the question.
Or are you suggesting that the driver trashed his vehicle and load out of some kind of hero complex?
I questioning his explanation* when the weather doesn't support it.
What was he going to do if there were other vehicles right next and in front of him ?
Edit * or the mail's presentation of his interview. The mail and cyclists is normally a bad combo.
You don't think that he might be stretching the wind factor given the 1M damage?
You actually believe the weather apps? I have three on my phone, none of them are ever accurate. Mostly the BBC app is completely wrtong, the Met Office can be vague and the Apple weather is the most reliable, but never 100% or near.
Its a record of what happened.
What are you claiming the wind speeds were ?
Don't confuse forecasts with records of past situations
This weather station should show those interested the actual weather at the time:
https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/IDARTF18/graph/2023-08-23/202...
For most of the day, the average wind speed was less than 10kmh, with one gust around 4pm maxing out at around 15Kmh.
More likely telling porkies about speed, or was on his phone and had to react to someting he missed.
Farningham that day had wind speeds of up to 8m/s, not enough to significantly affect a properly loaded car transporter.
Porkies about speed is very easy to prove.
If speed was an issue, then his tacho would be sent away for analysis. Guess the plod were happy with the speed.
Late reaction ....doesn't have to have been on his phone... could have been mirror checking and saw the group late.
Who knows ... unless there is evidence released from an internal camera, the drivers word is all we have to go on.
Well said their are some right smart backsides on here who talk through it.
Its called his job and winds vary this site has some of the most cynical, unpleasant people. Im sure you never do anything without checking the wind, weather and road conditions for your whole journey before you go out anywhere.
Well done the lorry driver from a cyclist/motorist/ human being.
You assumed that what was claimed *and* reported was what actually happened.
Old fat git has described in depth the problems of wind. So we're left with the driver over egging the wind problem after a 2M damage problem or the industry accepting a degree of inevitable accident as IanM Spencer has argued.
I've already stated I do check the wind before cycle trips. Funnily enough I'm very cynical about what the mail publishes. That would be a rational position to take.
What was the actual wind speed ?
I live in the next town. It was clear and dry with only light winds at most.
Sadly there was only scant reporting of the fatal crash further along the A20 earlier that very same day.
Seems to be a lot of nonsense being spoken about the weather etc. the UK get on average 40-50 tornados a year. These are extreme and short lived weather events.
now I'm not for one second suggesting there was one that day. I'm pointing out, weather - by its very nature - is unpredictable. Even on an otherwise calm day you can get the occasional strong gust. The sort that picks up kids trampolines from gardens for example. They just come from nowhere then vanish like a fart in the erm.... wind!
it could have been 5mph or 50mph. Usually vehicles are pretty stable. Even car transporters, but add in many variables and line up enough unexpected conditions, anything can happen. Why such a big push to say the driver was talking BS based on what an app might of said. As I mentioned at the start. Those tornados often don't make it into the records never mine just a strong gust at the wrong time.
I agree i always look for the best in people and will always help a person. The world is full of moaning whiners who wouldn't help a soul.
and
Alexa, what's cognitive dissonance?
How to say you have never driven a high-sided vehicle in your life without actually saying it...
So, let's put it in to terms you can relate to.
You are cycling along quite happily, and you catch a strong gust of wind from the side.
You will be blown the direction the wind is heading ... how far depends on how strong the wind is. If its a strong wind, you will be severely blown off course.
Is that because your are incorrectly loaded on your bike?
No.
It's because the sail area that you provide is adequate for the wind to over-ride your weight and velocity and push you sideways.
Now ... picture a sail 10ft in height and 45ft long ... but on a base thats only 8ft wide.
It does not take much of a crosswind before that surface area - 450ft - has captured enough wind to override the weight and velocity.. and before you know it - boom, you are on your side covered in every loose object in the cab.
I've been blown over - vehicle weight was 39tonnes of railway sleepers.
Load was secure and low to the bed of the trailer.
However, it was not sufficient to overcome the 450ft of sail area caused by the curtains, and over I went.
Result ... M6 between Carlise and Penrith blocked overnight.
I've driven almost every single type of trailer out there - from trombones to King; curtainside to fridges, skeleton to separate bogies.
And I hated every single second I was towing a car transporter trailer.
They are fecking horrible to tow as their sail area is unpredictable.
BTw ... trains and planes are normally stopped when winds exceed their operational safety limits.
And this accident was investigated - driver was breathalysed and was negative.
If I'm thinking of cycling, I check the wind forecast as I'm aware of the risks and consequences. You say "trains and planes are normally stopped when winds exceed their operational safety limits." What is the equivalent then for drivers of these types of loads?
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