National Highways is appealing for help to identify the driver of an HGV that veered across the M6 before hitting the central reservation barrier.

The HGV did not stop, instead continuing its journey leaving a trail of damage in its wake which was spotted shortly afterwards by a traffic officer on routine patrol.

As well as narrowly avoiding another vehicle as it veered across into the third lane of the motorway, the HGV took out 28 lengths of safety barrier – around 100 metres – on the M6 between junction 10 (Walsall) and 10a (M54).

To ensure the safety of road users, the barrier had to be repaired which meant closing off one lane of the motorway to enable the workforce to safely carry out repairs.

This impacted on the busy morning peak traffic with traffic queuing back up to eight miles at one point, back to junction 6 (Spaghetti Junction).

David Hind, from National Highways Network Claims, said: “Incidents like this have a massive impact on the travelling public and the delays prove costly for the many businesses that rely on goods being transported across the country.

“We don’t know whether this driver was distracted for a moment or what caused the vehicle to veer across the high-speed road, but the footage shows we could easily have been looking at a very serious incident and potentially loss of life.

“Fortunately, the steel safety barrier did its job and prevented the lorry going over into the opposite carriageway, but it was important that we then replaced it as quickly as possible to protect other road users.”

National Highways has been liaising with the police as it appears the incident was not reported, the driver left the scene and left someone else to pick up the bill for this damage.

“It is important that we protect the taxpayers’ purse and would like to recoup some of the thousands of pounds spent on the repairs,” continued Hind.

“So if anyone has any information about this, or any similar incidents, please do get in touch.”

The incident happened just after 6am on Tuesday, May 9, on the northbound carriageway of the M6. The road fully reopened shortly before 11am.

Anyone who has any information about the incident or may have captured it on their dash cams is asked to email info@nationalhighways.co.uk, marked for the attention of David Hind.