Death-wish run of man on M60

I did all I could to avoid him — lorry driver

A lorry-driver described the horrifying moment when a man ran in front of him on the M60.

Glen Skinner told how he swerved and braked to avoid 35-year-old Ian Fullerd who had taken methadone and been drinking.

But the father-of-one continued to sprint in front of the articulated lorry which hit him near junction 21 at Chadderton.

He suffered multiple injuries and died at the scene.

Tests showed his alcohol level was more than 21/2 times the legal driving level and he had taken a potentially fatal amount of methadone.

Mr Skinner, from Bradford, told an inquest yesterday that he had been driving at 55mph when Mr Fullerd emerged from nowhere and jumped over a barrier on to the hard shoulder.

“Within that split second he ran out in front of me. I pulled the waggon over to the right, into the second lane, to avoid him. He kept on running towards me. I did all I could to avoid the collision,” he said.

A statement from driver Laura McGeever also recounted how jobless Mr Fullerd from, New Moston, was thrown 25 metres through the air at around 5.15pm on May 16 last year.

She said: “As I looked in my rear-view mirror, I saw the man run into the road and appear to jump into the path of the lorry. It appeared he was waiting for a lorry.”

Single Mr Fullerd, who had moved from Fitton Hill to Cheshire as a child, suffered depression and had drug and alcohol problems. He had previously slit his wrists and had talked about committing suicide.

The day before his death, he smoked heroin with a friend. He had not seen his son since the child was five or six-years-old. But Mr Fullerd’s brother, Mark, did not believe Mr Fullerd intended to kill himself, saying he had plans to do up his flat.

Coroner Simon Nelson recorded a verdict that Mr Fullerd had took his own life while suffering from a depressive illness. He said the incident had traumatised Mr Skinner and told him: “I do not believe there was any way in which you could have avoided contact.”