PIC: Gary Lineker leads criticism of Daily Mail for sensationalist front page about ‘foreign truckers’

Conor Heneghan

Because only foreign drivers are guilty of using their phones while driving after all.

Gary Lineker was just one of a number people who criticised the Daily Mail for a sensationalist front page on Wednesday morning, a front page that features images of 17 foreign truck drivers spotted illegally using their mobile phones while driving on the M20 motorway in the UK.

The front page and accompanying article follows on from the tragic deaths of Tracy Houghton, her two sons and step daughter after Polish truck driver Tomasz Kroker, distracted while using his phone behind the wheel, ploughed into traffic on the A34 in Berkshire and killed them instantly.

Kroker has been jailed for ten years as a result.

The Daily Mail subsequently captured images of 17 drivers, all of whom they claim to be ‘foreign truckers’, using their mobile phones while driving in a 90-minute period on the M20 motorway, most of whom were heading to or from Dover and the Eurotunnel.

While outrage at such actions is justified, the insinuation that only foreign drivers are guilty of the offence was the subject of criticism from Lineker and many others on social media overnight.

Would never condone using a phone whilst driving, but to suggest it's only foreigners is just so horribly wrong. pic.twitter.com/HS5VoWyIvJ

— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) November 1, 2016

This is vile. Fuck you, @DailyMailUK. Fuck you, Daily Mail 'readers'. Fuck you, Dacre. Enough. Genuinely, enough of this vile shit. https://t.co/NB80lbYjsx

— Philippe Auclair (@PhilippeAuclair) November 1, 2016

https://twitter.com/Andrew_Heaton/status/793620992916611072

Out and out racism on the front page of the Daily Mail again. This stream of poison seeps through, and has seeped through already. Enough. https://t.co/69Vdw17Wi8

— Schona Jolly KC (@WomaninHavana) November 2, 2016