Lorry driver dies in M1 smash between Milton Keynes and Northampton

Police have confirmed a lorry driver died in a smash which closed the M1 heading towards Northampton for more than eight hours on Saturday.

Crash investigators have launched an appeal for drivers who may heve dashcam footage of a VW Crafter flat-bed lorry which was involved in the fatal collision with a Volvo HGV on the northbound side between junction 14 and junction 15 at around 9.55pm.

The VW lorry driver, a man in his 50s from Stoke-on-Trent, sadly died at the scene.

Thames Valley Police revealed the smash happned near to a blue Vauxhall Astra which had broken down in lane one of the motorway, which is currently being upgraded into a smart motorway with no hard shoulder.

Officers say the Astra was not struck and neither the driver of the silver cab Volvo HGV — which had a blue curtain sided trailer —.nor the Astra driver were injured.

Senior investigating officer, Sergeant Daniel Collett from Joint Operations Roads Policing Unit, based at Milton Keynes, said: “We are appealing for any drivers, who have not already been spoken to by police officers on scene, who witnessed the collision, or those who may have dash-cam of the moments leading up to the collision, or the collision itself, to contact us.

"We would ask them to call 101 asking for Thames Valley Police and quoting the reference 43210116853."

Highways England confirmed the northbound ccarriageway was closed between Milton Keynes and Northampton until 6pm with some traffic trapped for more than three hours.

The southbound carriageway was also closed for around 90 minutes to allow an Air Ambulance to land at the scene with traffic diverted via the A508 through Roade and the A5