One dead, 40 injured in coach crash

A male passenger has been killed and 40 other people were injured when a coach and lorry crashed in fog on a British motorway.

The man, 35, from Birmingham, a passenger in the coach, was killed and two people seriously hurt in the accident near Frankley Services on the M5 in the West Midlands.

Forty people were treated at the scene, on the southbound carriageway between junctions three and four. Police said the death and one serious injury were from the coach, and the driver of the lorry was also in a serious condition. No children were involved.

Chief Inspector Carl Flynn, of the Central Motorway Police Group, said the coach had broken down in a “live” lane of the M5 before the accident.

Addressing a news conference at a Highways Agency control centre near the crash scene, Mr Flynn said a 999 call was made by a member of the public reporting the stranded coach about 12 minutes before the crash.

The officer told reporters: “At 6.12 a.m. a 999 call was made by a concerned member of the public about a coach having broken down on lane one of the M5 south.

“The Highways Agency did the appropriate signage on the network and dispatched their resources to the scene of the broken down coach as is normal practice. However, unfortunately at 6.24 hours a further call was received to say that a large goods vehicle had collided into the rear of the coach.

“Central Motorway police officers were immediately dispatched and arrived at the scene six minutes later and then assisted colleagues from the Highways Agency, the ambulance service and fire service to manage the scene.”