VIDEO: ‘I thought I was going to die’ Driver’s terror after being rammed by lorry on M1

Matthew Stockdale, aged 46, was driving home from visiting his mother when the ten tonne HGV came up behind him in the middle lane of the M1 in Northamptonshire blasting its horn.

The impatient lorry driver used his full beam headlights to dazzle the dad-of-one before tail-gating his Hyundai Santa Fe and repeatedly blasting the horn.

Shocking footage captured the moment the lorry veered into the fast lane before repeatedly whipping the huge trailer into Matthew’s 4x4.

The video then shows the lorry smashing into the Hyundai as it cuts back in front of the car before breaking suddenly and then speeding off.

Mr Stockdale, who lives in Northampton with his wife Maxine, 46, and daughter Lauren, 15, said he had “never felt fear like it”.

He added: “I honestly thought I was going to die.

“My life literally rushed before my eyes. I can honestly say I have never felt fear like it. I began shaking uncontrollably.

“I had my hazards on and all the traffic behind us was backing up.

“Then 14 minutes later he tried to run me off the road again exactly the same way.

“My car was left with £3,000 worth of damage with bumps, scratches and dents all along the driver’s side.

“That driver didn’t know whether I had children in the car or an elderly person.

“He showed no regard for my safety or the safety of other road users.”

Despite calling police six times from his mobile phone hands-free kit during the high-speed attack, police took three hours to respond after he got bounced between three forces.

Mr Stockdale, a former police and crime commissioner candidate and special constable who now runs a dashcam company, followed the lorry to a WHSmith depot in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, where he was seen by Bedfordshire Police officers and treated by paramedics for a suspected pulmonary embolism.

Northamptonshire Police have now apologised to Matt and said it couldn’t initially attend because officers trained to deal with the incident were in a car chase.

Superintendent Dennis Murray, added: “What we should have done was contact the other forces.

“That’s a failure on our part, for which I apologise to the driver of that vehicle.”

A spokesperson for the force confirmed officers had seen the footage and an investigation is under way but no arrests have been made.

The lorry driver, who lives in Bedfordshire, was employed by haulage firm Wincanton through an agency.

A spokesperson for the company confirmed he is “no longer conducting deliveries”.

A spokesman for Bedfordshire Police said: “Bedfordshire Police was called at 9pm on November 11 by Thames Valley Police about a lorry being driven dangerously on the M1.

“At this time the nearest available units within the collaborated Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Roads Policing Unit were committed with other incidents.

“Our control room contacted the ambulance service when medical assistance was requested by the informant and he was taken to hospital.

“A Bedfordshire officer did attend the incident and a road traffic collision report was prepared.”

Video via SWNS - includes comments added by Mr Stockdale.