Richard Mills, 53, claimed a diesel spill caused the crash (Pictures: Steve Finn/PA)

A lorry driver had been chatting on a video call for almost an hour when he crashed, it has emerged.

Richard Mills, 53, propped an iPad on his dashboard to speak to his now-wife in the Philippines on April 7 last year.

The couple had been on a call for 49 minutes when Mills started to snake across the M25, at the Darenth Interchange, in Kent.

He hit the central reservation and rebounded back across the lanes, smashed through railings and came to a halt. A part of the lorry’s trailer and several wheels were left dangling over the A2 below.

No one was hurt but the accident forced the closure of the M25, the A2 and the A282 in Dartford for up to 13 hours.

The damage caused is estimated to have cost several million pounds, Maidstone Crown Court heard.

Mills was ‘extremely’ co-operative with police and told them about the video chat straight away.

The lorry crash caused several million pounds worth of damage (Picture: PA)

Mills insisted he was not distracted by the video call (Picture: Steve Finn)

However, he initially denied the charge of dangerous driving, insisting he was not distracted by the call.

He argued the smash was caused by a diesel spillage on the road.

The prosecution said police bodycam footage proved this was ‘implausible’ while the defence criticised the investigation into the accident stating Mills ‘was not wrong about the smell of diesel’.

Judge Robert Lazarus previously said he was ‘entirely confident’ the trucker ‘genuinely believes he wasn’t distracted’.

Mills, who was living in Kegworth, Leicestershire, at the time, eventually pleaded guilty to dangerous driving.

He was given a six-month jail term suspended for 18 months and a year-long driving ban. He will have to take an extended test to regain his licence.

Judge Lazarus said it was ‘not a usual case’ of dangerous driving case involving alcohol, drugs or speeding, and that Mills had made ‘a dreadful error of judgement’.

He told Mills: ‘You are not the kind of person who chooses to drive vehicles in an obviously reckless way for fun or for whatever reason, and I have no doubt this incident has weighed heavily on your mind.’

But he added: ‘I suspect the reality is that the defendant had become complacent about being engaged in conversations with his fiancée while he was driving and was, in a sense, taken completely by surprise when he lost control of his vehicle.’

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Richard Mills, 53, propped an iPad on his dashboard to speak to his fiancée.