An angry motorist who stormed out of his car to confront a pickup truck driver in a moment of road rage was punched and knocked to the ground by his larger opponent.
The fight was caught on dashcam footage after the pair began punching each other in broad daylight following an encounter at a motorway roundabout.
The footage was captured by HGV driver Darren Waite, who was forced to act as peacemaker as the warring drivers threatened to let their anger get the better of them on the slip road to the M58 near Wigan on July 5.
Dashcam footage from the 50-year-old’s vehicle from a fortnight ago shows a white van appearing to take the wrong lane at a roundabout before swerving to avoid re-joining the motorway.
A white car races for position until it makes a sharp turn and appears to ram the truck, causing both vehicles to crash into the grass.
The incident began after the van apparently chose the wrong lane at the roundabout, before an apparent crash as it merged into the same lane as the car. The car then swerved in front of the van, forcing them both onto the hard shoulder.
The car driver then gets out of his vehicle and yells at the van driver through the window.
The driver of the car sees a “red mist” and begins “throwing punches” through the driver’s window of the van, prompting him to eventually get out and the two begin fighting on the road.
The burly pickup truck driver quickly knocks his opponent down with three punches before grabbing his legs and kicking him.
He only stops when Darren jumps out of his HGV to separate the pair and tell them to exchange details, which he claims they never did.
Instead, the driver of the car can be seen throwing one final punch through the van’s window before the van drives away and appears to run a red light.
Darren, a father of five who was dropping off a truck at his depot, admitted he “just wanted to get home” after a week working away and “couldn’t be bothered” to be stuck behind the fight.
He says a nine- or 10-year-old boy, who he believes is the son of the car driver, was even crying in the passenger seat during the fight.
Facebook users sided with the pickup truck driver, who appeared to win the fight, and slammed the hatchback driver for “totally idiotic” driving him off the road.
They joked that “the guy who started it didn’t finish it” and another said that “the red mist has a lot to answer for.”
The van driver then opens the door and confronts the other driver after being yelled at.
The couple then walk towards each other as they continue to exchange words about the incident.
The pair then hit each other as traffic continues to pass them on the roundabout.
The bigger man then forces the car driver to the ground as the fight continues.
He then grabs the car driver’s legs and lifts them into the air.
The fight was broken up when truck driver Darrren Waite got out of his cab to stop the pair.
Darren, from Wigan, Greater Manchester, said: ‘It was shocking to see because you see these things online but you never expect to be behind them.
‘I thought the truck had gotten close to the car, but when I watched the video you can see the car swerved quite violently.
‘The guy in the car lunged straight at the driver of the pickup truck and started throwing punches through the window.
‘The driver of the van got out and they started fighting, and then they ended up rolling on the ground.
“I worked away all week and just wanted to get home. I didn’t feel like getting stuck behind these two, so I went outside to break them up.
“The man in the car got a bit of a scare when he saw how big it was. The van driver won hands down.
‘The guy in the white car had his son in the car, he was about nine or ten years old and he was crying.
“It could have ended worse and someone could have been run over.”
Darren says he did not report the incident to police and has not heard from the motorists after giving his number at the scene.
A friend of Darren posted the video on Facebook on Friday, July 12, and it has since had over 160 reactions and 40 comments.
One commented: “The guy who started it didn’t finish it.”
A second said: “The red mist has a lot to answer for.”
A third wrote: “What the hell was the guy in pink playing at? He literally caused the accident and then got punched for acting tough.”
A fourth added: ‘Sorry to sound angry, but ANYONE who runs me off the road like that, for a simple lane change mistake, I would beat the shit out of them.
“You can’t push someone off the road and expect not to get beat up. It’s that simple.”
A fifth simply said: “The driver of the car seems to be a complete idiot.”