In June 2023 a third party owned concrete truck mixer was making a delivery, the vehicle suffered a significant structural failure of the mixer chassis/A frame. The failure resulted in the mixer drum becoming detached from the vehicle and coming to rest at the side of the carriageway.
![](/UserFiles/image/Tarmac%20drum%202.jpg)
There was no one harmed during the incident and no other road users were in the vicinity of the truck at the time, which was brought to a halt safely. All spilled fluids and concrete from the drum were contained in the immediate vicinity and cleared up shortly after the event by specialist contractors.
![](/UserFiles/image/Tarmac%20drum%201unbranded.jpg)
The mixer truck and drum were recovered by specialist recovery services, for forensic investigation by specialist technical experts.
Key Findings:
- 360 CCTV footage from the mixer truck demonstrated that the vehicle was been driven appropriately and the operating standard by the driver was not a factor in the incident.
- The driver is a fully qualified HGV operator and has completed all required inductions, training, qualifications, which were held on his valid OneCard.
- The driver had completed his pre-start check and noted no issues.
- Statutory inspections were up to date and no issues had been identified to the mixer body.
- A forensic examination of the truck was completed by independent specialist technicians who concluded that:
- The concrete mixer sub-frame snapped suddenly.
- The failure initially occurred at a weakness in the sub-chassis which had been previously welded for a repair in 2019.
- The weld had been carried out by a previous owner and not highlighted to the current haulier.
- The weld had weakened over time and eventually failed resulting in the incident.