This is the scene on the M40 after up to 40 vehicles were involved in a mass pile-up near, Bicester, Oxfordshire yesterday. Another crash today, on the A511 near Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire has claimed two more lives
The
half term death toll on Britain's roads rose to eight today after two
more crashes claimed another four victims, with those killed on the M1
yesterday thought to be West Ham fans travelling to watch their team.
Two
people died and six more were injured in a collision involving a
minibus and a lorry on the A511 near Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire this
morning, while two women were killed on the A11 near Attleborough,
Norfolk, last night.
The
deaths come just a day after four people were killed and nearly 50 were
hurt in two separate crashes on the M1 and M40, which brought both
roads to a standstill as thousands took to the roads for the half term
break.
One man died, another suffered life-threatening injuries and six were seriously injured in the M40 collision
The scene of the carnage on the M40 motorway near Bicester yesterday. An NHS emergency medical team ambulance was also involved in the crash
Nearly 50 others suffered minor injuries during the pile-up as many families were taking to the roads for the half-term holidays
Emergency crews, including three ambulances, were called to today's crash at Tutbury shortly before 7am, but there was nothing they could do to save the two victims.
A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: 'Despite the intervention of ambulance crews, two patients were confirmed dead at the scene.
Police investigating the crash on the M40 have described it as 'extraordinary' and said it's a 'serious blessing' that more people were not killed
Eyewitnesses who saw the aftermath of the collision described the northbound M40 as being 'utter carnage'
Police were also called to the A11 just before 11.30pm on Valentine's Day night after a crash between three cars - a green Peugeot 306, a blue Vauxhall Zafira and a blue Ford Focus - on the dual carriageway.
The 46-year-old female driver of the Peugeot, the sole occupant of the vehicle, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The 30-year-old woman driving the blue Vauxhall, who was also alone, was rushed to hospital but later died.
The occupants of the Ford Focus sustained minor injuries.
Yesterday's motorway crashes, which happened within an hour of each other, caused chaos in Bedfordshire and Oxfordshire.
A 40 vehicle pile-up in thick fog on the M40 in Oxfordshire left one man dead, another person fighting for life and nearly 50 injured.
In a separate crash, three men - thought to be fans of football team West Ham - were killed when a double-decker bus collided with their broken down car on the hard shoulder of the M1 in Flitwick, Bedfordshire.
The three men were named on social media as West Ham fans travelling to their team's FA cup match against West Bromwich Albion. Among those to pay tribute to the dead was former player Rio Ferdinand
Chairman David Gold has retweeted numerous messages paying tribute to the three fans, and former player Matthew Etherington also took to Twitter to express his sadness at the news
The three men were named on social media as West Ham fans travelling to their team's FA cup match against West Bromwich Albion, but neither police nor the club have confirmed this.
However, chairman David Gold has retweeted numerous messages paying tribute to the three fans, and former players Rio Ferdinand and Matthew Etherington also took to Twitter to express their sadness at the news.
Ferdinand wrote: 'Thoughts are with the families of the 3 West Ham fans who lost their lives traveling to WBA yesterday. #whufc.'
And Etherington said: 'Horrendous news that 3 West Ham fans died on the way to the game yesterday. Supporting the team they love, watching the game they love #RIP'
A fourth person in an Audi A3 was critically injured and airlifted to hospital by helicopter.
The coach driver was arrested in connection with the collision and was taken to the police station where he was due to be questioned by detectives.
Both routes were closed for a number of hours but were reopened yesterday afternoon, the Highway Agency said.
The northbound section of M40 motorway at Bicester was re-opened shortly before 5pm after the 33 badly damaged cars and lorries were removed.
The M40 was closed for most of yesterday while accident investigators examined the scene
Police said it is too early to say whether fog would play a part in their investigation into the crash on the M40
Police said details of the casualties, one of who was described as critically ill, were not being released at least until later today.
Fire crews, police and paramedics rushed to the M40 between junctions 9 and 10, near the busy designer outlet shopping centre in Bicester, Oxfordshire, just before 7.50am.
A spokesman for Thames Valley Police confirmed one man was killed, another person suffered life-threatening injuries and a further six were seriously injured in the collision.
They were all taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford.
Six more were taken to Horton Hospital, Banbury, with minor injuries and paramedics from South Central Ambulance Service accessed a further 49 people at the scene.
Motorist Bob Hanks, whose car was caught up in the pile-up, described the collision as 'absolute bedlam' and said he had 'never seen anything like it,' according to the Banbury Guardian.
The 65-year-old said his car was shunted from behind after traffic slowed to a standstill through a thick bank of fog.
The mangled wreckage of a car is taken away after the M1 crash in which three men died
A double decker coach is towed away from the scene of the M1 accident in Bedfordshire
The crash near Flitwick, Bedfordshire, came when a coach struck a car that was on the hard shoulder
The fatal accidents happened on the M40 at Bicester, Oxfordshire, and the M1 in Flitwick, Bedfordshire
'I think I heard a bang behind me and I though I just have to get out of here,' he told the newspaper.
'There was a big lorry and I thought I'd pull in front of him then I heard 'bang, bang, bang, and there was debris everywhere, people's shopping that had flown out of the cars.'
In the chaos the pensioner's one-year-old chihuahua Jack Russell cross, fled up the motorway and has not been seen since.
Eyewitnesses who saw the aftermath of the collision, which left debris strewn across the road, described it as a 'sea of metal' and 'utter carnage.'
Police investigating the crash have described it as 'extraordinary' and said it's a 'serious blessing' that more people were not killed.
Chief Inspector Henry Parsons, of Thames Valley Police, said yesterday: 'The cause of this collision is under investigation, however, we believe that fog played a major part.
'This has been an extraordinarily large collision, we have not had a collision on this scale for many years in Thames Valley and one man has sadly lost his life.
'We are working as quickly as possible to clear the area and get the traffic moving again. I would like to thank the public for their patience while we undertake our important investigative work before a full reopening of the road is possible.
'Should anyone have concerns about friends or relatives who may have been travelling on the M40 this morning, then they can call our non-emergency number 101 for assistance.'
Police yellow markers were used to identify each of the cars involved in the M40 collision near Bicester
The clean-up of the M40 carriageway took several hours because of the large amount of debris
One person died and dozens more injured after a massive pile-up on the M40 near Bicester, Oxfordshire
Motorists, who were directed off the carriageway by police, described seeing a jack-knifed lorry across three lanes of the carriageway at the front of the pile-up.
'It was utter carnage,' said Zara Smith, 31, who was heading north from her home in Croydon, Surrey.
'It was just a sea of metal, you could not see where one car stopped and another one started.
'There were just so many cars involved, and definitely one lorry. The lorry had jack-knifed and was across three lanes.
'The fog was really bad and you could only see a couple of car lengths ahead.'
The motorway has been closed northbound between the junctions and is expected to remain closed for much of the day.
A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said: 'Officers attended the scene following a report of the collision shortly before 8am.
'One person sadly died at the scene, one person sustained life-threatening injuries, six people were seriously injured and approximately 35 to 45 people have minor injuries.'
An ambulance spokeswoman said: 'It is quite a major collision. We were called at 7.48am to reports of a multiple road traffic collision on the M40, junctions 9 to 10 northbound near Bicester
'About 30 vehicles were involved and they were a mixture of cars, lorries and other vehicles.
'We have sent a lot of resources to the scene - seven ambulances, our hazardous area response team, one BASICS doctor from the helicopter and four ambulance officers.'
The ambulance spokesman said there was heavy fog in the area yesterday morning.
Fire crews, police and paramedics were all at the scene. Pictured: The long tail backs on the M40 as a result of the pile-up
The M40 became a car park with motorists getting out of their cars after the M40 crash. The AA said the area was busy with traffic as families hit the roads for a getaway as schools are on their half-term break
Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service confirmed that eight fire engines were sent to the scene at the height of the incident and were using hydraulic cutting equipment.
Pictures posted on Twitter show cars at a standstill in thick fog on the motorway, while drivers and passengers stand around.
Forecasters said Oxfordshire was hit by fog this morning, which would have hampered visibility.
In a separate incident, three men were killed on the hard shoulder of the M1 in Flitwick, Bedfordshire, after a collision between a stationary car and a coach, police said.
Four men had been travelling in a blue Audi A3 which had broken down on the hard shoulder when the coach crashed into it, killing three of the occupants.
Two of the dead were from Buckinghamshire and the other was from the London area.
A fourth man, also from Buckinghamshire, was severely injured and was airlifted from the scene by helicopter and flown to the specialist head injuries unit at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.
No one on the coach, travelling north from Kent, was injured.
The northbound carriageway of the motorway was closed and green screens erected around the car as the dead men were all cut free from the wreckage.
Yesterday afternoon the car, which had been crushed, was carried away from the scene on a low-loader.
The driver of the yellow and blue Travelmasters coach, from Sheerness, Kent, was arrested in connection with the collision, police said.
He was taken to Luton police station where he was due to be questioned by detectives.
It is understood he had been driving a cheerleading team from a university in Kent to a sporting event in Birmingham.
A spokesman for Bedfordshire Police said that the collision happened at 6.46am between junction 12 and 13 of the northbound M1 when a double decker coach which was travelling northbound and the hatchback car, which was stationary on the hard shoulder, were in collision.
'Three men in the car were pronounced dead at the scene and a fourth man was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, with serious injuries. No one in the coach, which was travelling from Kent, was hurt,' said the spokesman.
'Police are locating and liaising with next of kin, a full collision investigation continues and diversions are expected to remain in place for the next few hours. The coach was not carrying football supporters.'
Thousands of West Ham fans were caught up in the traffic as they made the journey to the West Midlands to watch their team play West Brom.
TWO LARGE JUMBO JET FUSELAGES CAUSING MORE MISERY FOR MOTORISTS
A decommissioned Boeing 747 jubo jet caused more travel misery for motorists as it crawled down the motorway behind a police escort.
Drivers who tried to avoid the chaos on the M1 and M40 came across the front section and cockpit of the 'Queen of the Skies' as it was making its way from Cotswold Airport in Kimble, Gloucestershire, to Staffordshire.
Weighing 60-tonnes, the aircraft measures 22 feet wide, 16ft 3ins high and is 137ft long.
The aircraft left the Cotswold Airport at 7am today and headed north to Cirencester, then south east heading north up the M5 through Gloucestershire.
It will then be driven to Hereford, before arriving at the Staffordshire site.
But before kick off, some fans told of their fears they could miss the start of the game because of long delays on roads.
West Ham fan Paul Challis wrote on Twitter. 'Surely @FA put back kick off. Oh on TV probably won't.'
Writing on Twitter ahead of the clash, West Ham advised its fans to avoid the M1 and M40.
AA president Edmund King said: 'These multiple deaths have brought a tragic, sad and devastating start to the weekend and half term holidays on the roads.
'Our thoughts go out to all those who have lost family and friends in these incidents. What should be a happy day has turned into a Valentines Day Massacre on the motorways.
'We don't know the exact reasons for the crashes but they are a timely reminder that even though motorways are our safest roads, when there are incidents, they can have fatal consequences.
'Drivers always must adapt their driving to adverse weather conditions. AA advice to everyone who breaks down and gets to the hard shoulder is to get out of the passenger door and get as far as possible away from the carriageway.
'We need thorough investigations into both these motorway crashes to ascertain what could have been done to prevent these needless deaths.'
Eye witnesses who saw the aftermath of the collision described it as a 'sea of metal' and 'utter carnage.' Pictured: Traffic chaos on the M40
The thick fog could be seen on the M40 in pictures tweeted by motorists stuck in traffic