A Sheffield lorry driver is facing years in the wilderness after having all forms of camaraderie removed by the HGV community. The extreme punishment was served because Michael McGuire mistakenly flashed a Fiat 500 car back into the first lane of the motorway after it had overtaken his truck between Junctions 18 and 19 of the M6.
‘That helpful quick double flash, and the compulsory obligation on the part of the recipient lorry driver to give a quick ‘left-right-left’ thank you with your indicators are a social convention available exclusively to the 7.5 tonne plus vehicle-driving community,’ said judge Peter Smith of the Haulage Association, following a hearing of fellow HGV drivers at Lymm truck stop. ‘Otherwise society will just break down.’
In his defence, McGuire’s lawyer argued that the hapless lorry driver had glanced in his mirror earlier and had clearly seen a Homesense truck pulling out rather than a Fiat overtaking. Unbeknown to him, the Homesense driver had decided to stay in the inside lane and get right up the arse of an elderly couple in a Micra.
In passing sentence, Smith ordered other lorry drivers not to acknowledge McGuire on major carriageways for the next two years. He will also be barred from doing that thing that lorry drivers do when a lane is closing on the motorway, where they straddle the two lanes and drive really slow with their hazards on.
