A RUNNER has described seeing the roof of a lorry peel off like a tin of sardines being opened and hit the pavement a few feet in front of him after hitting the notorious Wootton Bassett Road railway bridge.

Andrew Porter was out for a jog and about to go under the bridge on the afternoon of October 25 when the DPD lorry struck an overhead beam.

He watched with horror as the lorry carried on. “It stopped me in my tracks. It was a bit like watching a disaster movie but it was happening in front of me,” he said. “If I had been running just a tiny bit faster I would have been right under it.”

Andrew, who has his own property maintenance firm, went out for a run but stopped to chat to a friend for a few minutes before continuing in the direction of Wootton Bassett Road.

He told the Advertiser: “I just turned the corner and I was heading for the bridge. The lorry overtook me going the same way and sort of ploughed into the bridge.

“My mouth was wide open and I was thinking: ‘Oh my God!’

“It just carried on and the roof kind of rolled up like a can of sardines. As he carried on driving through the whole roll of that roof slammed down in front of me.

“The noise was deafening. It was a real thunderous crashing noise,” he said.

The lorry pulled up leaving the debris covering the pavement and one lane of the busy road.

The driver appeared badly shaken as he got out of the cab and the crew of an ambulance that was passing on a blue light run quickly checked he was OK before getting under way again.

Bystanders who had suddenly appeared from shops and businesses because of the noise, stood around taking pictures on their phones.

Andrew, 42, said: “I was thinking: ‘We need to do something.’ So I decided to direct the traffic.”

The police had been alerted and until they arrived he did his best to keep things moving.

Most drivers were understanding although one driver expressed indignation at being delayed.

“The public were great,” he said.

Cool as a cucumber, Andrew, of Blunsdon, gave the police his details and carried on with his run. It wasn’t until he told other people what he had seen that the close shave hit home with their reactions.

“It was shocking to see and when I tell people they say how lucky I am,” he said.

If he had been a second or two further ahead, or if he hadn’t stopped to chat, he could easily have found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But he said: “The driver was more shaken than me.”

The crash led to long tailbacks until the road was eventually cleared. Firefighters were called in to inspect the bridge and train drivers were instructed to pass over it extremely slowly until the all clear was given.

It was the third incident of the kind since August and Wiltshire has been rated the worst county in the south west for bridge strikes with 14 of them over the past six months.

A new campaign called Bridge Bash has been launched to make drivers and haulage firms check the height of the vehicles and not to chance it.