Narrow escapes for motorists

One motorist said they narrowly avoided colliding with a flying sofa seemingly blown from a van by ‘Storm Desmond’.

He said: “It was like something out of the movie Twister. I was driving in the right hand lane and saw the van in the left lane. A large gust of wind caught an object that was on the back of this flatbed and it lifted off the vehicle and landed right in front of me. It was then I realised it was a three seater sofa completely across the lane.

“I barely had enough time to react and swerve to avoid crashing into the sofa which would have been catastrophic. I attempted to get the driver’s attention but they seemed completely oblivious to the items blowing out of their vehicle.

“I feel incredibly lucky that it didn’t land on top of my vehicle and I’m glad I was able to have enough time to avoid hitting it.”

Another motorist travelling on the dual carriageway that evening also said: “There was a lot of debris across both lanes and it wasn’t cardboard, it was bits of wood so I had to swerve to avoid driving over it.

“It could have caused serious damage to my vehicle or perhaps even an accident.”