Traffic Officers, who cover the motorway network in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, have issued the warning following a number of incidents involving motorists being hit by foreign lorries pulling out into an outside lane.

Left-hand-drive Large Goods Vehicles (LGVs) can have a blind spot on the right hand side of the vehicle. The blind spot is between what the LGV driver can see in his mirrors and what he can see out of the front window. This is roughly alongside the cab, when the front bumper of the car is level or slightly in front of the lorry's front bumper. This means drivers of left-hand-drive LGVs are sometimes unable to fully see what is alongside them before pulling out, resulting in a spate of these incidents on East Midlands' motorways.

Operations Manager Matt Pates said: "This type of accident can by avoided by decisive driving. Our advice to drivers is to stay back to give the lorry room to manoeuvre until there is enough space in front of you to fully get past the lorry. Drivers should avoid travelling alongside the truck if possible, and not loiter in its blind spot."

In Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire between junction 25 and 24a on the southbound carriageway of the M1 a brand new car was written off when it was side-swiped by a foreign LGV. Between junction 26 and 25 a car carrying a mother and young children ended up facing the wrong way in lane one after a similar collision.

There are frequent incidents between J29 and 28, one of the latest was when a car towing a trailer was spun around in lane two when it was side-swiped by a foreign LGV. The trailer had been carrying racing pigeons, but luckily these had been released just minutes before.

In Leicestershire recently, a foreign LGV came into contact with a car on the M1 between J21a and 21. The incident occurred when the lorry was changing lanes from lane one to lane two while the car was overtaking it. Due to limited visibility the two vehicles collided.

A further incident occurred on the M6 between J1 and the M1 where a foreign LGV collided with an estate car while changing lanes. The two occupants of the car, and the family dog travelling in the boot were injured in this collision.

In Northamptonshire between J17 and 16 another sideswipe collision occurred with a foreign lorry. Luckily, the mother and two children involved were uninjured.

Mike Salmon, area manager for the Road Haulage Association in the East Midlands suggests that for drivers in a left hand drive LGV, seeing a car in its blind spot would be just as difficult as for a car driver to spot something the size of a cardboard box in a similar position. He added: "Drivers need to be very mindful of the problem that drivers of left hand drive vehicles do have, and all drivers should be aware that if they get right up alongside a LGV there is a chance that its driver might not know that you are there and this could lead to a collision."