THE lorry driver charged with causing serious injury and more than £1.5million of damage after a motorway bridge collapsed on the M40 has appeared in court.
The accident during last August's bank holiday weekend caused carnage and closed the motorway for a day, but no one was killed.
The bridge fell after a wheeled excavator and dumper being transported on the back of a lorry struck it between junctions four and three on the London-bound carriageway in Kent.
Jim Shaw, 73, of Thamesmead, south-east London, suffered three broken ribs after he came off his motorbike to avoid the fallen bridge.
Alan Austen, 63, of Jedburgh Drive, Darlington, County Durham, appeared today accused of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and three counts of criminal damage.
One biker who saw the carnage unfolding in front of him had to throw himself off and slide through a tiny gap to avoid being crushed by falling concrete.
The man, in his 50s, was seen lying under his bike and taken to hospital with broken ribs.
Meanwhile, another lorry that was passing under the devastated structure as it crashed down was sliced in two.
The driver of that vehicle was treated for shock at the scene.
Incredibly no one was killed in the incident on the busy M20 which left drivers heading off for Bank Holiday breaks trapped in 15-mile tailbacks.
Kent Police last night confirmed that a digger being transported on the back of an HGV had collided with the pedestrian footbridge between Junction 3 — for Gatwick and the M26 — and Junction 4.
Pictures from the scene showed half of the bridge still hanging over the coast-bound side of the road.
Alex Magaisa was driving his family past the lorry involved on the London-bound stretch as the bridge collapsed at midday.
He said: “My instinct was to just drive through. My wife saw the bridge falling and there was a big noise. I had to manoeuvre through the debris.
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“We stopped afterwards for about 30 minutes and there was another car with a family behind us. Luckily no one seemed to have been hurt.”
The Kent University lecturer, 41, had been on his way to Gatwick airport to catch a flight to Belfast to see family.
He added: “It’s a big shock. It’s only just starting to sink in now what might have happened.
“We were in the line of fire and could have been crushed.”
Cops launched an investigation after a major incident was declared on the motorway — which is a key route between London and Dover and the Channel Tunnel near Folkestone.
Immediately after the crash stunned motorists left their gridlocked vehicles to get a closer look at the destruction, which shut the M20 all day.
Prosecutor Mark Kateley told the court around £1.5 million of damage was caused to the bridge, £118,000 damage to the Daf truck and trailer and £35,107 damage to the Hitachi wheeled excavator and yellow dumper.
Mr Kateley said "luckily or miraculously" the motorcyclist survived with only broken ribs. He added that the level of damage caused required the case to be sent to the crown court.
No pleas were entered, and magistrates sent the case to Maidstone Crown Court for a hearing on March 17. Austen was granted unconditional bail.
Natasha Najam arrived at the scene with her husband and kids just after the collapse.
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