'Sheer luck' no collision caused when tyre of Mercedes van blew on busy M6

Police say it was ‘sheer good fortune’ there was no collision when a van’s tyre blew on the busy M6 this weekend.

Highways England had to respond to a white Mercedes Sprinter which had suffered a rear tyre blow out in a live lane of the motorway yesterday (Saturday).

As there was no hard shoulder they managed to escort the vehicle into an emergency bay quickly to get it and the two occupants out of the carriageway.

The officer suspected the vehicle was overweight and this is likely to be reason the tyre had failed.

A police spokesman said: “Warwickshire OPU Road Policing officers and special constables attended and formed the same opinion that the vehicle was vastly overweight. It was a refridgerated van which usually means they cannot carry much additional weight, and the remaining three tyres looked dangerously bulged.

"The vehicle was recovered for being found in a dangerous condition, the vehicle was weighed and found to be 33% over it's maximum permitted weight, meaning it was carrying in excess of one tonne more than it was able to!

"The driver has been reported for driving a vehicle in dangerous condition, and being overweight. The fines are likely to be large, the recovery costs expensive.

"But it is only down to sheer good fortune that they did not cause a very collision which would have had much more serious consequences.”