‘Impenetrable’ M5 smog caused by fireworks display led to huge crash which killed seven people

Seven people died in a motorway pile-up involving more than 30 cars when they were engulfed by a thick smog caused by the smoke from a firework display, a court heard today.
The smog was so thick and dense that motorists likened it to having a tin of paint thrown over their windscreens.
Prosecutors say that motorists on the northbound carriageway of the M5 near Taunton in Somerset had 'no chance' as they drove along at around 8.20pm on the evening of November 4, 2011.
Anthony and Pamela Adams, Maggie and Michael Barton, Malcolm Beacham, Terry Brice and Kye Thomas died and 51 people were injured, including some seriously, in the pile-up.
A total of 34 vehicles, including cars and lorries, were involved in the crash on the motorway when they were driven into a thick smog, which had blown across the northbound carriageway from the firework display at the nearby Taunton Rugby Club.
Prosecutors allege that Geoffrey Counsell, who was the contractor in charge of the display, breached health and safety rules by failing to ensure the safety of others.
The organiser did not include drawings of the site in his risk assessment plan, a court heard.
The event saw around 1,500 rockets fired during a 15 minute display. And Counsell allegedly did not include sketches of the site when he filled in risk assessment forms.

He then handed the plans to Colin Bentley, marketing manager at Taunton Rugby Club where the event was held, three weeks before the show.

But Mr Bentley did not read them because he is dyslexic and there were no drawings to assess any potential dangers, a court was told.

Counsell, who runs Firestorm Pyrotechnics, did not keep a copy of the risk assessment forms himself, Bristol Crown Court heard.

'Biggest in living memory': Seven people died and 51 were injured in the smash on 4 November, 2011

Counsell is facing a charge under the Health and Safety at Work Act of failing to ensure the safety of others.

Peter Blair, prosecuting, said Counsell met with Mr Bentley on October 14 to hand over the forms.
Mr Blair said: 'They were pre-prepared. Mr Counsell had already brought them in a prepared state.

'Mr Bentley has dyslexia and he accepts he did not read them. He has searched for them and can not find them now but it is his recollection that when he was handed that risk assessment it did not have on it a sketch plan.'

He added that Mr Counsell did not retain a copy of the risk assessment for himself.

He said: 'Would Mr Counsell not retain a copy for himself, not least to remind himself of the significant features of the site and the geography of it to have it at the front of his mind when three weeks later he came to do the display?'
Counsell had been carrying out a fireworks display at Taunton Rugby Club which runs adjacent to the M5 on November 4, 2011.

He set off around 1,500 fireworks during a 15 minute display which was electronically triggered, the court heard.

Counsell is facing a Health and Safety prosecution after the deadly smash on the motorway in Somerset 

Mr Blair said the Les Phippen Memorial Stand - opposite the main clubhouse and where the display took place - was 190 metres from the edge of the M5 motorway.

A combination of a lack of wind and humid conditions then helped create a low smog in the area, the court was told.

Mr Blair said: 'He was not handling little rockets and bangers that we might acquire in November for our back gardens for our children. He was handling explosives.

'Essentially what we will hear is particles making up the smoke are able to attract moisture in the air and as they attract moisture the particles grow.

'Any light that is shone towards that spot then scatters. It can not penetrate. It creates an impenetrable smog.'
The deadly smash happened between 34 vehicles on the northbound stretch of the M5, just after Junction 25 at around 8.25pm.

Counsell is facing a charge under the Health and Safety at Work Act of failing to ensure the safety of others

Aerial shots after the crash showed the trail of devastation with burned out cars and lorries covering the carriageway.

Drivers caught in the smoke from the fireworks display run by Counsell, 51, said it was like 'having a pot of paint tipped over the windscreen', the court heard.
Motorists became 'completely disorientated' and the lights from their cars were not strong enough to penetrate the smog.

Peter Blair, prosecuting, said the pile up happened at around 8.21pm - just six minutes after Counsell's display finished.
He said: 'Essentially the display went on and the smoke drifted east. It engulfed the pitch itself. It was gloomy. It was really thick.
'It hit the motorway embankment and began rising. There was little wind. It seemed to be travelling at a walking pace towards the motorway.

View of the wreckage on the M5 in Somerset

'The prosecution say they experienced a loss of visibility generated we say by a plume of smoke created by Mr Counsell from his firework display which had built up and built up.
'It could not disperse because there was no wind to do that, mixed with that humid air that was around and it drifted towards the motorway becoming a thick smog.
'With visibility at effectively zero there would have been no opportunity for drivers to have reacted.'
He said the first few cars - who were not involved in the mass pile up - described 'the suddenness of entering it and the suddenness of leaving it'.
Mr Blair said: 'The prosecution say this was no ordinary patch of fog. Some speak of it as if someone had tipped a pot of paint over the windscreen.
'They were completely disorientated. Their car lights had no affect whatsoever pointing to what was in front of them.
'They couldn't see any road signs. It was impossible to see anything around them.'
He said as a result 34 cars ploughed into each other and a number burst into flames.
He added: 'Some of them were of such intensity that even firefighters had to retreat and withdraw from the rescue effort at some stage.'
The jury were shown a video from a camera which was attached to the front of a train which travelled on the railway line close to the rugby club.
The train driver, travelling from Bristol to Taunton, spotted the mass smash-up and momentarily could not see anything in front of his train, at around 8.30pm.
Mr Blair said: 'It is more opaque near the club there. It becomes clearer as it moves away towards Taunton.
'You gain an impression as to how visibility was affected at 11 minutes past eight that evening as the train passed that display.
'He [the driver] it was bright silver with grey marble moving very slowly through it. It wasn't until the other side of the motorway bridge he could see a thing.'
The packed public gallery heard the drivers could do nothing to stop themselves colliding with the cars which crashed in front of them.
In October 2012 Mr Counsell, of Ashill, Somerset, was charged with seven counts of manslaughter but those were dropped.

Counsell set off around 1,500 fireworks during a 15 minute display which was electronically triggered

Lorry drivers Terry Brice, from Patchway, south Gloucestershire, and Kye Thomas, from Gunnislake, Cornwall, died in the crash, along with father and daughter Michael and Maggie Barton, from Windsor, Berkshire.
Grandparents Anthony and Pamela Adams, from Newport, south Wales, and battle re-enactor Malcolm Beacham, from Bridgwater, Somerset also died in the collision, which investigating officers called 'one of the worst in living memory'.

Mr Blair said a man who set up a firework display at a school two miles away will be called to give evidence later in the trial.

The trial continues.

Posted in: News