False truck crash ad 'ok' now it's been changed - ASA

An advertisement in which police falsely accused a truck driver of causing a crash is unlikely to cause widespread offence, the Advertising Standards Authority has ruled.

A series of YouTube clips promoting a road safety campaign was launched by police last month, with one video blaming a truck driver for causing a high-speed crash by using a mobile phone.

Police have since apologised to the people involved in the crash after it was revealed the truck driver was innocent.

The message at the end of the clip was also changed to "Merge like a zip''.

K Burton complained to the ASA and said the advertisement has caused offence because it alleged the driver of the truck was on the phone and was therefore to blame. However in the complainant's view, the car caused the accident and police should apologise for misleading the public.

The ASA noted that since receipt of the complaint police had publicised they wrongly blamed the truck driver for the accident, as well as changing the road safety message.

The advertisement contained an important safety message as part of a wider campaign for safer driving which outweighed any offence caused to the complainant,''

Advertising Standards Authority

the authority said.

The advertisement did not reach the threshold to cause serious and widespread offence to most people and because of changes made to the clip, it was also unlikely to mislead or deceive.

The authority ruled that there were no grounds for the complaint to proceed.