More questions over M5 truck crash PT1M3S http://www.smh.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-2xi6h 620 349 November 14, 2013 The owner of a company whose truck damaged the M5 tunnel has defended his driver's actions, amid more scepticism from within the industry about how the incident was able to occur. Sydney traffic was brought to a standstill on Thursday after the truck's open tray damaged the ceiling of the M5 East Motorway. The director of Engra Haulage, the truck company involved, told police the driver had accidentally hit the switches that control the tipper while trying to pick up his glasses. But NSW Roads Minister Duncan Gay cast doubt over this explanation, questioning how the two-stage process of powering the tipper could possibly be activated without the driver's knowledge. On Friday, Eric Flammia, Engra's director, reiterated his defence, claiming the driver accidentally "hit the toggle switches at the same time" when he was trying to change his prescription sunglasses to normal driving glasses. He said a computer tracking device installed in the truck, showed that the Power Take Off (PTO) switch, the first needed to raise the tray, was hit at 7.54am and 29 seconds while the truck was travelling around 30km/hr. The tunnel was closed shortly after 8am on Thursday. "One would imagine he'd be grabbing his clear glasses first, then swapping them straight away 'cause you don't want to be driving blind," Mr Flammia said. So he's probably dropped his clear glasses and still had his sunglasses on or something like that. Mr Flammia said the toggles were situated side-by-side and "less than a quarter inch apart" and "somehow either the glasses or the glasses case or his hand or his elbow or something has hit the toggle switches at the same time." However, a long-time industry worker expressed surprise that the PTO would be able to be activated while the truck was in motion. Jason Hogan, director of freight and cargo transport company Hogan's Heavy Haulage, who has 30 years' experience in the industry, said it was normally impossible to activate the PTO unless the vehicle was stationary, for safety reasons. Normally you can't have your PTO engaged while you're travelling. It should be disconnected," he said. It's not good for the PTO to travel because you're revving the truck up and it's spinning at different speeds. Mr Hogan said it was a "freakish accident" and that he couldn't understand what had gone wrong. I don't know why. Maybe it had a faulty switch, maybe it's not been wired up properly," he said. No one in their right mind would do that purposely... It was quite obvious on the video that he's bumped a switch. The driver declined to be interview and has been given a few days off to recover.