DETECTIVES INVESTIGATING one of Britain’s worst motorway incidents are focusing on a theory that thick smoke from a rugby club fireworks display might have caused the tragedy.
The police’s main line of inquiry is that fireworks released on pitches alongside the M5 motorway in southwest England created a deadly “bank” of smoke that reduced visibility to a few metres. Members of Avon and Somerset’s major crime team have joined collision investigators to try to establish the cause of the crash near Taunton, Somerset, which left seven dead and 51 injured.
Details of some of those who died are also emerging. They include an elderly couple from south Wales who had been visiting relatives in Somerset, and a father and daughter from Berkshire who had been to a funeral. Three lorry drivers are also thought to have died.
Asst chief constable Anthony Bangham confirmed that seven people lost their lives in the series of collisions involving 34 vehicles on Friday night. He said the bodies had all been recovered and the inquiry was “moving firmly” into the investigative phase.
Mr Bangham said: “Our main line of inquiry has now moved towards the event that was on the side of the carriageway.” A fireworks display was taking place at Taunton rugby football club’s Hyde Park ground. There was no bonfire, but police believe smoke from the fireworks could have drifted on to the motorway a few hundred metres away.
The officer said there was also fog in the area, but witnesses had told police there was “very significant smoke across the carriageway”. This “caused a bank similar to a fog bank, which was very distracting and very difficult to drive through”, he said. Asked whether the display was too close to the M5, Mr Bangham said: “The display was certainly very close.” The rugby club has previously said its display was over by 8.15pm – 10 minutes before the incident. However, people who were at the display said the smoke hung around the area.
“There was that acrid feel to the air you get after a firework display,” said Tim Jones, from Taunton, who was at the club. “It didn’t vanish, it hung around.” The rugby club has been cordoned off and police have spoken to club officials. They were also planning to interview some of the scores of people who attended the display.
Mr Bangham said detectives would look at who gave permission for the display, and how it was organised. Channel 4 reported the fireworks company hired by the rugby club insisted the wind had blown the smoke away from the motorway, and said the event would have been cancelled had smoke been drifting on to the M5.
It was expected that the motorway, which had been closed in both directions, would fully reopen overnight by Monday after the 60 metres of carriageway damaged by fire was repaired.
Formal identification of the victims has yet to take place, but they are known to include an elderly couple, Tony and Pamela Adams, from Newport, who had had been visiting family in Taunton.
Neighbour and close friend Doreen Martin (88), said: “It is so tragic – they were such lovely and caring people, devoted to each other and their family.”
Wheelchair user Michael Barton and his daughter Maggie, from Berkshire, who had been attending a funeral, are also victims. Mr Barton’s other daughter Emma was injured in the incident and is in hospital.
More eyewitness reports of the dreadful driving conditions have also emerged. Matt Craker, who was travelling from Devon to Gloucester with his wife Michelle and seven-year-old son Freddie, said: “It was like someone turned out the lights. It was like a wall of pitch black fog. In my mind, it was either a total freak of nature weather condition, or there was some sort of smoke mixed with it.
“There was one car in front of us. Then all of a sudden – bam – it was black. I said to Michelle: ‘It’s like that car has vanished, weird.’ We might as well have been blindfolded. Next thing we knew we were smashed into the back of it.”
Mr Craker said they managed to scramble clear of their car just before it burst into flames.
"It truly was complete and utter carnage. There were flames everywhere. We could hear people screaming, but we couldn't see them. The heat of the fire was immense. It was utterly horrific." – ( Guardianservice)