A police officer was fortunate to escape serious injury after his car was crushed by a lorry which was blown over on the A1 in East Lothian at around 10.15am yesterday.
As heavy rain and wind battered the country, the patrol sergeant arrived on the scene to “carry out scene protection” in relation to a separate collision.
The route was closed between the Abbots View roundabout, Haddington and the Thistly Cross Roundabout, Dunbar, until 10pm on Tuesday night.
There were no reports of serious injuries following the incidents.
Sergeant John Easton from Police Scotland’s Road Policing Unit said: “When I got to the scene, I jumped out the car, went across to check on the driver from the first lorry to make sure that he was ok, and he was already in another vehicle with one of our support drivers, so I said to them they needed to get off the bridge as it was too dangerous.
“As I struggled trying to get back to my car I had to hold onto the lorry to try and pull myself around. I had to get back into my car to then contact our control room and Traffic Scotland to close the bridge and the road.
“That’s at which point as I was speaking on the radio that the lorry started to fall over onto my car. As it happens, my favourite car in the RPU fleet.
“I took a deep breath, got out, and checked that the driver of the lorry that had hit my vehicle was ok before radioing for more assistance. Colleagues quickly arrived to help at the scene and we closed the road at the bridge.
“It could have been much worse but fortunately I walked away unscathed. I certainly won’t forget why it’s called the ‘Windy Bridge’ now.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
