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A “very intricate clean-up” will be required after flying metal shards punctured hundreds of car tyres along a major highway connecting two cities, bringing traffic to a screeching halt.
Some 25km of the M1 Motorway north of Sydney was closed on Friday after a truck carrying scrap metal debris spilled its contents at about 5am.
The shards were scattered along more than 20km of the southbound lanes, slashing the tyres of hundreds of vehicles driven by unsuspecting motorists.
Clean-up underway
Multiple tyres on some cars were affected, the NSW transport department said.
State transport officials tallied about 145 vehicles damaged and marooned due to burst tyres.
A 20km stretch of the major arterial road connecting the Central Coast to Sydney was closed. Source: Supplied / NSW Fire and Rescue
A 20km stretch of the major arterial road connecting the Central Coast to Sydney was closed while traffic was backed up another 5km further north.
A cleanup operation, comprising emergency crews and sweepers, was underway on Friday morning, with a Transport Management Centre spokesperson saying it would be an “intricate” process to ensure more vehicles are not affected.
Dozens of tow trucks have been dispatched to more than 200 drivers, NRMA roadside assistance spokesperson Katrina Usman told the Australian Associated Press.
“Our patrols are able to fix [single punctures] on the side of the road,” she said.
“But for cars with multiple wheels damaged, we’ve provided tows … as of this morning, it was nearly two hours [to wait] for roadside assistance or a tow truck.”
Company behind spill apologises
The trucking company behind the metal spill apologised and pledged to foot the bill for impacted drivers.
Daniel Falconer of NJ Aston Group told 2GB radio: “We’re very sorry for all the concern.” “Thank God that no-one’s had a major accident or anything.”
Falconer said the company had “been doing this for about three or four years, and we’ve never had a problem with it” and blamed a “mechanical error of some sort”.
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