Moment van ploughs through construction works in road rage incident as firm fixing potholes forced to give staff bodycams for their own safety

Published: 10:07, 6 June 2026 | Updated: 10:07, 6 June 2026 This is the moment a van ploughed through construction works in a harrowing instance of road rage as a firm tasked with fixing potholes reveals they have been forced to give staff bodycams. Balfour Beatty, the infrastructure company contracted by several councils for road maintenance, said that its staff have also undertaken conflict resolution training and been offered counselling due to the escalating abuse from frustrated motorists. In a video, shared on YouTube, the company showed a collection of the abuse their staff have endured.  This included a white van which angrily smashed through barriers where construction was taking place and another instance where a man moved roadworks out of the way before grabbing a camera off of a worker and throwing it on the ground. In other cases, members of staff have said they faced racial abuse, had bottles of urine hurled at them and were even thrown onto the bonnet of cars. And in the most life-threatening instances motorists have also pulled out knives on road workers. To tackle the abuse, the company has increased CCTV use and developed an app on which incidents of abuse are recorded, detailed and mapped to establish hotspots. The harassment from motorists is often caused by frustration with potholes and disruptive roadworks.  Staff at Balfour Beatty have to endure abuse from motorists on a regular basis including this moment when a white van angrily smashed through barriers where construction was taking place The infrastructure company contracted by several councils for road maintenance said that its staff have also undertaken conflict resolution training and been offered counselling due to the escalating abuse from frustrated motorists Data reveals that the number of recorded roadworks has doubled in two years to more than 400,000 miles in part because of the installation of full-fibre broadband and an ageing road network which requires more maintenance. But delays might only get longer with many councils in England and Wales facing a whopping £18.62 billion backlog of carriageway repairs that would take 12 years to clear - leading to more delays for motorists and, sadly, more abuse for workers. According to one anonymous worker, it is nearly a 'daily occurrence' that someone will yell at them to 'sort these f***ing potholes out'.     Ben Francis, an operations manager based in East Sussex, told The Times: 'In recent years it has got worse. There has been a huge spike in these incidents across the country. 'We had a driver decide to go through a road closure the other day and they mounted onto the footpath and drove at teams that were actually working. After they were stopped and asked to leave they started racially abusing one of our operatives. That's with the police now.' Balfour Beatty has launched conflict resolution training as part of its efforts to combat abuse. This includes teaching staff how to identify warning signs of conflict such as 'frowning, clenching fists and tensing up' or 'raised voice, offensive language or threats'. Brenton McLean, 45, a reactive maintenance supervisor who has worked in the industry for 17 years, said: 'I would say even though awareness is growing we are still seeing unacceptable behaviour. We have parameters in place now that help us catch culprits but it hasn't stopped anything.'  While one of Balfour Beatty's health and safety professionals, Matt Herbert, has called on the public to 'fully understand' that the workers are 'there to make their journey better and not there to take abuse'.    No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.