An ambulance worker from Oldham has spoken about the moment a driver drove through a roadblock on the motorway after a crash.
Scott Woodhead, an ambulance worker who owns Sports Physio UK and co-founded charity Defibrillators Save Lives, was tending to people who had been involved in a crash on the M62 on Sunday, September 29 at around 8.30pm.
He had been off duty, and on his way home from an ambulance shift when he saw the crash and stopped to help, thinking people may have needed medical attention.
He said no one was injured, but as a vehicle was stranded in the outside lane, he and others called emergency services for help.
A roadblock was then set up for the safety of the emergency workers and pedestrians.
But a Nissan Micra was then seen being driven up the hard shoulder and through the roadblock.
Shocking footage of the moment was released by Greater Manchester Police (GMP), who stopped the vehicle.
Scott said: "I was walking over to lane one and I'd spotted the car pretty much straight away, but in the dark of the night with all the emergency lights blaring, I just assumed it was another emergency vehicle. All I could see was the headlights.
"Then it, very kindly, indicated to move into the first lane and I realised that absolutely no emergency vehicle would indicate in that kind of situation, and then realised very quickly it was just a normal civilian car.
"Within seconds, a big police Volkswagen booted down lane one and about 25 yards away from us, made tactical contact and basically just rammed the side of the car and ran him off the motorway towards the barrier."
Scott explained that the common use of roadblocks on the motorway is a new addition to procedures, and a welcome one.
He said previously it would often just be the affected lane that was closed off and traffic could move around the incidents, but roadblocks had been introduced in order to create a safer environment.
He said: "Of course, we're trained to never turn our backs to traffic anyway and I was aware of what was going on around me at all times.
"But while we were walking across the carriageway under what we think is a protected highway, we saw a vehicle and they decided they didn't want to wait any longer behind the police.
"I have no concerns he was doing it with any malicious content, he was just trying to sneak around and didn't want to hang about."
He added he worried if police had not made tactical contact the pedestrian could have been hurt as he was 'in absolute shock'.
He said: "His mind wasn't on thinking 'I need to look and listen I'm on the motorway', he feels just like all of us that the roadblock was put in place for everybody's protection, and he was following our instructions to walk across so we could reopen the highway."
He added: "It is ridiculous, people need to be taking that care and consideration. Everyone has places to be and we all understand that, and the motorway is not closed down for a menial thing. It's closed to not put our lives at risk when we're working and that's the most frustrating thing."
Chief Inspector Mike Parker from GMP's roads policing unit said: “This clip highlights the real and stark dangers of motorway policing that thankfully prevented any serious injury, due to the fast actions by our officer to make tactical contact whilst first responders were in the road.
“We can’t express how dangerous this driver’s action were, especially as a pedestrian and paramedic were crossing the carriageway following the initial crash.
“At times due to how busy our motorway network is you may be stuck in standstill traffic due to accidents, there is no excuse for ignoring the signage and becoming impatient it is there for a reason to ensure the safety of all.
"It will not be tolerated and in this case retrospective action is being taken against this irresponsible driver.”
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