Hatfield Tunnel: Car 'battered' by loose cable

A man whose car was "battered" by a loose cable in a road tunnel has said the incident "could have been so much worse than it was".

Ben Giffen, 20, was in the Hatfield Tunnel on the A1(M) in Hertfordshire when he saw a cable "come from the ceiling and hit me, as quick as that".

He felt "lucky this wasn't a fatal accident" and asked for "someone to take accountability for what happened".

Highways England said a high vehicle had dislodged the now-repaired cable.

Mr Giffen, from Standon, Hertfordshire, had been on the way to work in Hemel Hempstead on Thursday, travelling at 60-65mph (96-104km/h).

"I was just approaching the tunnel and within a split second I've just seen this big cable flying around, almost as if something's knocked it," he said.

"There wasn't really much I could do and then bang, it was as quick as that."

The auditor said he had "glass all over" him after the cable smashed the windscreen, but managed to pull into the hard shoulder and call police.

He said the whole bonnet was battered, one of the door mirrors had been ripped off and the rear-view mirror had fallen off.

"It was just a scary thing to happen, especially given the speed I was driving and given that it wasn't another vehicle involved.

"It happened before I processed it."

He said his insurers told him he would have to pay his £450 excess because another vehicle was not the direct cause.

"Ultimately this should never have happened. I'm lucky this wasn't a fatal accident," said Mr Giffen.

"There's so many ways this could have been so much worse than it was."

A spokesman for Highways England, which is responsible for the A1(M), said safety was its "top priority and we take any accident on our network extremely seriously".

He added: "Having assessed the damage within the Hatfield tunnel following the incident last week, it would appear that a high vehicle dislodged the overhead cable.

"Engineers have since fixed the issue and will continue to carry out safety inspections on the tunnel."

Highways England said a claim for damage to a vehicle caused by a road could be made by contacting it.

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