The hard-shoulder leak at 21:15

Priority is protecting people, then stopping the escape reaching water, then getting help.

• Stop safely. Pull as far onto the hard shoulder as possible, hazard lights on, engine off, parking brake on. Do not continue to the next exit looking for a tidier place - heat from the brakes and the adjacent traffic are the two immediate ignition risks.
• Keep people out and ignition sources away. No smoking, no naked flame, keep bystanders upwind and uphill. The wind is blowing left to right across the carriageway, so the upwind side is the driver's right as he faces forward; this is where he should stand.
• Warn traffic before dealing with the load, because a fast dual carriageway kills more drivers than the leak will.
• Identify before touching. Read the transport document and the emergency information in writing to confirm what is actually leaking and what the instructions say; do not assume it is the corrosive rather than the flammable.
• Protect the drain. Fifteen metres is close, and rain is spreading the product. Bund, block or divert with whatever is on the vehicle before attempting anything at the drum.
• Call 999/112 and give substance, quantity, location and direction of travel, then notify the carrier.

Do not try to plug, upright or repackage a leaking drum from a public road unless it is clearly safe to do so.

Refuse, politely and clearly. Three reasons, and the driver should be able to state them:

• The vehicle is no longer fit for continued carriage. A load that is escaping its packaging during normal running is in breach of the requirement that packagings be closed against leakage in ordinary conditions. Continuing extends the leak, the contamination and the fire risk along a moving route rather than containing them at one point.
• The driver cannot verify the state of the remaining drums. If one has failed, others may be damaged or degraded; a visual check by torchlight in the rain proves very little about a 200-litre drum on a wet deck.
• The decision is not the consignee's to make. Transhipment, recovery or safe disposal is a matter for the carrier, its dangerous goods safety adviser and the emergency services, and may need a specialist recovery vehicle.

The driver should tell the consignee what has happened, that emergency services are attending or have been called, and that the carrier will confirm the recovery arrangements. He should not be talked into moving a leaking vehicle by a promise that "it'll be fine once it's in the yard".

From the transport document and the emergency information card the driver can give the precise package the services need:

• UN number and proper shipping name for each line, hazard class and packing group, and the quantity of each on board.
• What appears to be leaking and from where on the vehicle, plus whether the drum is still upright or has fallen.
• Exact location, direction of travel, lane position and access route for appliances.
• Wind direction, the presence of the surface water drain and whether product has reached it, plus the rain conditions.
• Any injuries, and whether the vehicle is still loaded with the other drums.

On reporting: an incident involving escape of dangerous goods is reportable by the carrier under 1.8.5. The driver's part is to make sure the facts are recorded accurately and promptly - what was carried, what escaped, where, when, the consequences and the authorities involved - and to complete the carrier's own incident paperwork. Photographs taken from a safe position, notes of the wind and the drain, and the names of the officers attending all help the carrier produce an accurate report later.