A MAN has described the moment when a lorry was blown over on the M40 just a short distance away from him during Storm Eunice.

Ben Handy was on his way to Oxford driving a van for his logistics company for a delivery when the shocking incident happened yesterday on the northbound carriageway.

The 31-year-old captured footage on his dash cam of the lorry when it overturned.

Describing the events as they unfolded just a short distance away from him, Ben said: "You see alerts about weather warnings but you take it with a pinch of salt really as goods still need to be delivered. But yesterday was next level.

"I was driving along at a steady pace and out of nowhere the lorry just tipped. I didn't really know what to do. My initial reaction was to brake, but you can't with traffic behind you.

"It's hard to explain what was going through my head at that time - it was a shock, you just kinda freeze at the same time."

Ben then made his way around the vehicle for his safety as he did not want cars piling up behind him.

With help from two other men who pulled over, he managed to get the lorry driver out of the vehicle.

"I pulled up in front of the lorry and I thought 'what do I do now?'. It suddenly came to me I need to get out the van and help the guy in the lorry," he said.

"I went to a different mode then and there were two lads in another van that pulled beside me and we noticed the guy was moving in the cabin of the lorry.

"So one of the guys gave me a boost on top of the lorry and I had to try and open the door. Obviously the force of the wind made it quite difficult but I mananged to get the door open and pulled him out free."

Ben said the driver had sustained an injury to his head.

He added: "The driver was a bit out with it. He'd hit his head hard and there was blood down his face. But he was awake and able to move and we assisted him down out of the lorry. He didn't say much, he was obviously in shock.

"We checked to see if he was okay and that no one else was about. If that motorway was busy there would have been fatalities - I'm sure of it."

Soon after, Ben said a woman pulled up an called emergency services who quickly arrived and assessed the situation before telling him and other drivers who had helped that they could make their journey home.

Ben said it wasn't until later that he felt shaken up by the terrifying incident.

"The thing that hit me the most yesterday evening was that if I was driving just a few miles per hour faster or a few seconds ahead that would have come on top of me or the car in front would have been crushed," he said.

"I'm used to driving - I've been doing it for years up and down the country no problems at all, but later on I was in a bit of a panic. I don't know if it was delayed shock or what but I felt a bit out of it and I had to get some fresh air and I then I was fine."

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