On 4 November 2011, a

multiple-vehicle collision A multiple vehicle collision (colloquially known as a pile-up, multi-car collision, multi-vehicle collision, or simply a multi) is a road traffic collision involving many vehicles. Generally occurring on high-capacity and high-speed routes such ...

occurred on the

M5 motorway The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West England, South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 motorway, M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Brom ...

near

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

, Somerset, in

South West England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities ...

. The crash involved dozens of cars and

articulated lorries A semi-trailer truck, also known as a semitruck, (or semi, eighteen-wheeler, big rig, tractor-trailer or, by synecdoche, a semitrailer) is the combination of a tractor unit and one or more semi-trailers to carry freight. A semi-trailer a ...

, and a large fireball ensued. Seven people were killed and 51 others were injured, making the pile-up the deadliest on a British motorway since 13 people – 12 of them children – died in a minibus crash on the M40 in 1993. In October 2012, a man who had organised and was operating a

fireworks Fireworks are a class of low explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large number of devices ...

display for

Guy Fawkes Night Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Guy Fawkes Day, Bonfire Night and Fireworks Night, is an annual commemoration list of minor secular observances#November, observed on 5 November, primarily in Great Britain, involving bonfires and firewor ...

at Taunton Rugby Club's ground, which is adjacent to the motorway, was charged with seven counts of

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...

. In January 2013, the manslaughter charges were dropped and instead he faced a single charge under health and safety laws of failing to ensure the safety of others. In December 2013 he was found not guilty of the charge. In April 2014, the West Somerset

coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within the coroner's jur ...

concluded that the accident was caused by dense fog, and that smoke from fireworks may have been a contributory factor, but was not the prime cause of the incident.

Circumstances

At 8:25 pm on Friday 4 November 2011, 34 vehicles were involved in a pile-up on the northbound carriageway of the

near junction 25 at Bathpool and Creech St Michael, northeast of

. The vehicles included cars, vans and lorries, some of which exploded and started a fire. Flames rose up to high. Fifty-one people were injured and seven were later confirmed dead. Sixteen casualties were treated at

Musgrove Park Hospital Musgrove Park Hospital is a large NHS hospital located in Taunton, Somerset, England, run by Somerset NHS Foundation Trust. Originally a US Army General Hospital during the Second World War, it became an NHS hospital in 1951. History The 67th ...

in Taunton and 26 at

Yeovil District Hospital Yeovil District Hospital is a healthcare facility in Yeovil, Somerset, England. It is managed by Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. History The hospital has its origins in a general dispensary established at the suggestion of Dr El ...

. A surgeon was flown by helicopter from the major trauma centre at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital to cope with the load and the types of multi-system trauma, including multiple fractures and chest, abdominal and lung injuries. Fifteen fire engines from

Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service (DSFRS) is the statutory fire and rescue service covering the county of Devon (including the unitary authorities of Plymouth and Torbay) and the non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West Engla ...

attended, travelling from stations across the region. By 8:30 am on 6 November the emergency services had removed the vehicles from the crash site, but both carriageways of the motorway, between junctions 24 and 25, remained closed for repair work. The fatalities had not yet been formally identified. of the road was damaged by fuel spillage from vehicles, and of it was damaged by intense fire and explosions. Two lanes of the southbound carriageway reopened at about 5 pm on 6 November, and the motorway was fully re-opened in both directions four hours later, in time for the Monday morning rush-hour.

Aftermath and reaction

One of the lorries involved was from the food company

Samworth Brothers Samworth Brothers is a British food manufacturer which produces a range of chilled and ambient foods, both own-label and branded. It is the owner of Cornish pasty maker Ginsters and malt loaf manufacturer Soreen, and is also known as a make ...

, and another was from Samworth subsidiary

Ginsters Ginsters is a company based in Callington in Cornwall, in the south-west of England. The largest pasty maker in the UK in turnover, it specialises in making mass-produced pasties, sausage rolls, sandwiches, pasta bowls and other savoury snacks ...

. Two of the company's drivers were killed and another was injured in the crash. On 8 November, the seven people who died were named: lorry drivers Terry Brice and Kye Thomas; father and daughter Michael and Maggie Barton; grandparents Anthony and Pamela Adams; and Malcolm Beacham. One eyewitness described the scene of the crash, saying: "It was a horrific accident. There were a number of explosions and black smoke. It's not something you expect to see on the motorway, it was more like a scene from

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

Investigation

Initially, an assistant chief constable of

Avon and Somerset Constabulary Avon and Somerset Police is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement in the county of Somerset and in four districts that used to be in the defunct county of Avon: Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and ...

, Anthony Bangham, told reporters that it was feared more bodies were still trapped in badly-burnt vehicles, some of which had been "burnt to the ground" and were unrecognisable. After an overnight forensic search no further bodies were found. Police stated that a

display taking place at Taunton Rugby Club just before the accident occurred was a "major line of inquiry", as "a blanket of thick smoke", which could have drifted from the display, was lying across the motorway at the time of the crash. The club's location was described as only "a few hundred metres" away from the M5. Bangham went on to say: "Accountability is clearly something we will look at ... it is a crime investigation as well as a road policing investigation." He added that driving conditions were "difficult", and that there was fog in the area at the time of the accident.

Justine Greening Justine Greening (born 30 April 1969) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Education from 2016 to 2018. Prior to that, she served as Economic Secretary to the Treasury from 2010 to 2011, Secretary of State for Transpor ...

, the Transport Secretary, told the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

that it might take weeks to determine the cause of the crash. An inquest into the deaths was opened at the Old Municipal Building in Taunton on 10 November. A report by consultants Balfour Beatty-Mott McDonald into warning systems on the motorway in April 2010 advised the

Highways Agency National Highways, formerly the Highways Agency and later Highways England, is a State-owned enterprise, government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving Roads in England, motorways and major A roads in England. It al ...

to upgrade the current fog warning system, which must be manually activated if fog is seen on the road, either via

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly ...

or from police calling in to the control centre. On the night of the crash, the agency said it did not receive any such reports, so the signs were not switched on. On 13 March 2012, following media reports that interim findings from the investigation showed fog rather than drifting smoke was to blame, police issued a statement to clarify that they had not published any conclusions to the investigation.

Prosecution

On 19 October 2012, Geoffrey Counsell, a 50-year-old man from Somerset who had provided the fireworks display at Taunton Rugby Club, was charged with seven counts of

. He appeared at Bristol magistrates' court on 12 November and was bailed until 4 December when he appeared at

Bristol Crown Court The Bristol Crown Court is a Crown Court venue in Bristol, England. It is located at the Law Courts in Small Street. Until 1993 the Crown Court met in the Guildhall, on the opposite side of the road. The new Crown Court, which has ten courtrooms ...

for an initial preliminary hearing. Counsell was bailed again until an additional preliminary hearing at the court on 15 January 2013. At 15 January hearing the manslaughter charges against Counsell were dropped. He instead was charged with a single count of failing to ensure the safety of others, under health and safety laws. His trial began on 19 November and concluded on 10 December when the judge directed the jury to find him not guilty of the charge, stating that Counsell had "no case to answer" and that there was not sufficient evidence that he should have foreseen smoke from the display might drift and mix with fog to form thick smog. After the trial Counsell criticised the police and local council for being "motivated by a desire to find someone to blame for this terrible accident, simply for the sake of it", saying that the

, Taunton Deane Borough Council and

Avon and Somerset police Avon and Somerset Police is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement in the county of Somerset and in four districts that used to be in the defunct county of Avon: Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and So ...

were all consulted before the event but "no objection of any kind was raised".

Consultation to increase motorway speed limit

At the time of the accident, the issue of the UK motorway

speed limit Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed - expre ...

was being debated widely in politics and the media, with proposals to increase it from 70 mph to 80 mph. The accident put a swift end to this debate; the speed limit has remained 70 mph ever since.

References