A STONED lorry driver high on cannabis swerved into a car leaving the passenger needing emergency surgery.
Anthony Campbell, 55, from East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, lost control of his articulated vehicle and careered into the car on the A47 in Cambridgeshire.
The force of the impact from the 44-tonne lorry sent the dashboard hurtling into the car’s passenger, who had to be cut loose by firefighters.
He suffered serious injuries to his chest and was airlifted to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge where he was operated on.
One police officer can be heard saying to him in shocking video footage as he lay terrified and trapped in the vehicle: “Stay with us bud, we’ve got everything coming alright, okay, we’ll look after you,”
The injured victim later said in a personal statement that he thought he was going to die and adding that the crash had left him “sad, upset and angry”.
Campbell, 55, was tested for cannabis at the scene and was found to be almost double the drug drive limit.
His lorry hit a telegraph pole after the impact with the car, leaving the emergency services concerned about live overhead power lines.
Campbell was arrested at the scene for drug driving, causing serious injury by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by driving without due care and attention.
The accident happened on January 3 when Campbell was behind the wheel of a Scania heavy goods lorry.
The oncoming black Mercedes GL320 was towing a trailer on the A47 at Guyhirn near Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, when the horror impact occurred.
The 33-year-old driver, from Birmingham, suffered minor injuries, while the passenger, a 38-year-old man, also from Birmingham, suffered serious injuries.
Campbell walked away from the collision uninjured.
After failing the roadside tests, he later gave a blood sample which showed his cannabis level at 3.7mcg per litre of blood. The legal limit is 2mcg.
Campbell was sentenced to two years in prison after previously pleading guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving at Peterborough Crown Court on Friday July 12.
He was also disqualified from driving for four years.
In a Victim Personal Statement, the passenger said: “When I was trapped in the car at the scene of the crash, I thought I was going to die.
“After my release from hospital I remember seeing lorries diving on the roads and I was shouting ‘slow down’ and grabbing hold of the handles in the car.
“I can’t believe that someone would be so stupid as to drive a 44 tonne lorry with drugs in their system. What he did that day could have easily killed us.”
PC Boris Kahn, from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and Hertfordshire’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: “Campbell displayed unbelievable recklessness and ignorance in getting behind the wheel after smoking cannabis.
“It is nothing short of a miracle that the driver and the passenger in the Mercedes are still here today.”