An angry motorist who stormed out of his car to confront a van driver in a moment of road rage was punched to the ground by his larger opponent.
The brawl was caught on dashcam footage after the pair started swinging for each other in broad daylight following a coming together on a motorway roundabout.
The video was captured by HGV driver Darrren Waite, who was forced to act as peacemaker as the warring drivers threatened to let the rage get the better of them on the slip road at the M58 near Wigan on July 5.
The 50-year-old’s dashcam footage from a fortnight ago shows a white van appearing to pick the wrong lane on a roundabout before switching to avoid re-joining the motorway.
A white car jostles with it for position until it swerves dramatically and appears to ‘ram’ the van, sending both vehicles crashing into a grass verge.
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The incident began after the van appeared to choose the wrong lane at the roundabout, before an apparent coming together as they merged into the same lane as the car. The car then swerves sharply in front of the van, forcing them both onto the grass verge
The driver of the car then gets out his vehicle and shouts at the van driver through his window
The car driver sees ‘red mist’ and begins ‘throwing punches’ through the van driver’s window – prompting him to eventually get out and the pair begin brawling on the road.
The stocky-build van driver quickly floors his opponent with three punches before grabbing onto his legs and kicking him.
He only stops once Darren jumps from his HGV to separate the pair and tell them to exchange details, which he says they never did.
Instead, the car driver can be seen throwing another final punch through the window of the van before it drives off and appears to jump a red light.
Dad-of-five Darren, who was dropping a lorry off at his depot, admitted he ‘just wanted to go home’ after a week working away and ‘couldn’t be bothered’ being stuck behind the brawl.
He says a nine or ten-year-old child, who he believes to be the car driver’s son, was even crying in the passenger seat during the brawl.
Facebook users sided with the van driver, who appeared to win the fight, and slammed the ‘total idiot’ hatchback driver for ramming him off the road.
They joked that ‘the bloke who started it didn’t finish it’ and another said ‘red mist has got a lot to answer for’.
The van driver then opens his door and confronts the other motorist after being shouted at
The pair then walk towards each other as they continue to exchange words over the incident
The pair then swing for each other as traffic continues to move past them on the roundabout
The larger man then forces the car driver to the ground as the brawl continues
He then grabs the car driver’s legs and pulls them up into the air
The fight was broken up when lorry driver Darrren Waite got out of his cab to stop the pair
Darren, from Wigan, Greater Manchester, said: ‘It was shocking to see it because you see this stuff online but you never expect to be right behind it.
‘I thought the van had come over to the car but when I watched the video you can see the car veer over quite violently.
‘The bloke in the car just launched straight at the van driver and started throwing punches through the window.
‘The van driver’s got out so they started fighting and then they ended up rolling around.
‘I work away all week and I just wanted to get home. I couldn’t be bothered to get stuck behind these two so I got out to break it up.
‘The man in the car had a bit of a shock when he saw how big he was. The van driver definitely won.
‘The bloke in the white car had his son in the car and he was about nine or ten years old and he was crying.
‘It could have ended up worse and someone could have been run over.’
Darren says he didn’t report the incident to police and hasn’t heard from the motorists after giving his number out at the scene.
A friend of Darren’s posted the video to Facebook on Friday, July 12, and it has since had more than 160 reactions and 40 comments.
One commented: ‘The bloke who started it didn’t finish it.’
A second said: ‘Red mist has got a lot to answer for.’
A third wrote: ‘Wtf was the guy in pink playing at? He literally caused the accident and then got beaten up for acting tough.’
A fourth added: ‘I am sorry to sound a p***k here, but ANYBODY who rams me off the road like that, for a simple lane change mistake, I would of kick the living s**t out of him.
‘You can’t ram someone off the road and expect not to get a beating. Simple as that.’
A fifth simply said: ‘The car driver appears to be a total idiot.’
