Is this the luckiest truckie in Europe?

A truck driver who came within inches of plummeting 45 metres in the Genoa bridge collapse has revealed how he escaped the disaster.

His green truck was pictured abandoned next to the precipice created when a 200-metre section of the Morandi bridge crumbled into a heap of twisted steel and concrete yesterday.

The 37-year-old father, identified only by the initials FL, was returning from delivering groceries for Basko supermarket.

He slammed on his brakes, bringing his truck to a stop just metres from the precipice formed by the collapsed bridge.

According to the Express in Britain, he said: “I saw the road collapsing, with all the cars that I had in front of me at that time.”

Rescue workers said that up to 35 people had died in the collapse.