A WITNESS to an accident on the M1 last Wednesday in which a lorry overturned has spoken of how the quick thinking of other drivers prevented further chaos. Police closed the motorway northbound between Junctions 8 and 9 causing traffic chaos on roads in

A WITNESS to an accident on the M1 last Wednesday in which a lorry overturned has spoken of how the quick thinking of other drivers prevented further chaos.

Police closed the motorway northbound between Junctions 8 and 9 causing traffic chaos on roads in and around St Albans during the morning rush-hour.

Student Jason Cressey, aged 17, was in a car with his brother and a friend following the lorry when it drifted out of its lane at around 2am and flipped on its side.

With five other drivers, they stopped to help and another lorry swerved across to barricade the motorway, preventing other cars crashing into the stricken lorry.

While other motorists stopped the traffic, Jason and his friend went to the cab to help the driver. The driver's face was bleeding where it had hit the windscreen and Jason cut his own hands helping him out.

He added: "The driver was German and he seemed like he was in shock when we got him out as he was trying to roll up a cigarette. He also wanted to go back into the cab to find his glasses. I am a lifeguard and so I did some basic first aid on the guy but he began drifting in and out of consciousness by the side of the motorway.

"What really stuck in my mind was the amount of diesel the lorry spilled. What I first thought were puddles of rain actually turned out to be diesel. It was everywhere and we had to tell drivers to turn their engines off."

The police arrived in about 17 minutes and the motorway remained closed until midday to enable the lorry to be recovered and the carriageway to be cleaned. The lorry driver suffered only minor injuries.