Tipper truck driver found guilty after crashing into M5 gantry

• Watch CCTV and dashcam footage of the incident

A tipper truck driver has been convicted of dangerous driving after he crashed into a motorway gantry.

Bristol Crown Court heard Anthony Baker, aged 48 and from Downend, failed to lower the tipper truck before he drove his 32-tonne vehicle onto the M5 on 2 March last year.

The jury heard how the tipper was fully raised when it hit the overhead signs.

Baker had delivered a load of stone to a site in Cribbs Causeway. Afterwards, the court heard, he had failed to switch the Power Take Off (PTO) lever, which would have lowered the tipper.

CCTV showed the truck driving from the site to the M5. A dashboard camera, filmed by another motorist, showed the moment before the crash.

Baker told the court that after making his delivery, he had engaged the lever and felt the tipper start to lower, and started to drive off.

He said he thought it would have been in the correct position before he reached the public highway. But he was mistaken - he said he had not looked in his rear mirror.

PC Ian Hudson, of Avon and Somerset's roads policing unit, said: "The consequences of this collision could have been catastrophic had the matrix sign hit a vehicle travelling at 70mph or the gantry collapsed onto a live motorway.

"Anthony Baker's failure to perform even a basic check that the lorry bed had been lowered is inexplicable and put other road users in danger.

"Road safety is something everyone needs to have at the forefront of their minds when they get behind the wheel of any vehicle."

The motorway was closed for 14 hours to ensure the gantry was safe. The motorway was then closed the following weekend to allow the gantry to be removed.

The court heard Baker had an unblemished driving record and tested negative for drugs and alcohol in his bloodstream.

Baker had told the jury he admitted the lesser charge of careless driving, but the jury convicted him of dangerous driving. He will be sentenced in August.