Tractor driver arrested after horror crash outside airbase

A tractor driver has been arrested on suspicion of drug driving after a car was destroyed in a collision with a tractor outside a Suffolk airbase.

Following the incident, an 18-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs and being unfit to drive.

A spokesman for Suffolk Constabulary said the man had been released on bail pending further police enquiries.

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It is understood that the tractor driver had been transporting maize to an AD plant when the accident happened.

Can’t work out what’s going on with the tractor driver here the first swerve should have been enough to wake him up/snap his eyes off his phone and back to the road?! Car driver escaped without injury incredibly, left hand drive car. pic.twitter.com/VuarYPtjNJ

— Daniel Brown (@DanPBrown) September 28, 2022

Video footage shows the driver of a silver Honda Accord car braking to avoid the tractor, which veers across the centre of the carriageway and collides head-on with the vehicle.

The tractor drives over the top of the car, leaving it in a crumpled heap, before toppling onto its left-hand side.

The US Air Force 100th Air Refuelling Wing is based at RAF Mildenhall, and the car driver is an airman with the unit.

Incredibly, he suffered only cuts and bruises. The car was left-hand drive and the right side took the worst of the impact.

Emergency crews were called at 12.24pm on Saturday 24 September to reports of a collision between a tractor and a car on the A1101 in Beck Row, near RAF Mildenhall. Police said everyone involved in the crash was “conscious and breathing”.

‘Buy a lottery ticket’

Video footage of the incident was captured on a US Air Force CCTV camera on the airbase and posted to the Facebook page Air Force amn/nco/snco.

Commenting on the video, one man wrote: “Wow, someone was watching over him. So lucky. Glad he was OK.”

Another wrote: “He better buy a lottery ticket!”

A 100th Air Refuelling Wing spokesman said: “We can confirm that on 24 September at approximately 12.08pm local standard time a tractor collided with a car that was driven by an airman stationed at RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom.

“The member is OK and had no major injuries. After a medical review and care from the airman’s leadership, the airman returned to work on Monday, 26 September.”