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5 Sep 2013

Motorway pile-up in Kent leaves dozens hurt

Eight people are seriously injured and 60 suffering minor wounds after 100 vehicles were involved in a pile-up on the new Sheppey Crossing in thick fog.

Pictures: @DavidJohns_ITV / ITV Meridian / SKY

Police officers at the scene said the fact that no-one died in the crash, which witnesses have described as “carnage”, was a “miracle”. Drivers caught up in the incident described cars going too fast for the foggy conditions, many using just side-lights or with no lights on at all.

The incident happened on the new Sheppey crossing bridge in Kent, at around 7.15am and continued for 10 minutes as cars and lorries crashed into each other in visibility that was down to 20 yards.

Lives were probably saved because an unidentified quick-thinking lorry driver used his truck to block the entrance to the bridge and stop more cars piling into the crash.

The scene was full of buckled cars, lorries and even a car transporter as people waited at the side of the road to receive help from the emergency services.

It was reported that people were trapped and a fleet of 30 ambulances and response vehicles went to the scene, with some casualties receiving treatment at the roadside.

Witness Martin Stammers, 45, from Minster, told Kent Online: “It’s horrific. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.

“All you could hear was cars crashing. We got out of our car and it was eerily quiet, with visibility down to just 20 yards.”

A Kent Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: “There are no fatalities but ambulance crews are dealing with a large number of walking wounded casualties. Firefighters have used hydraulic cutting equipment to release five people from their vehicles.

Those injured were being ferried to local hospitals including Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate.

The uninjured and the walking wounded were taken down from the bridge on the Sittingbourne side.

Kent Police said there were collisions at the top of the bridge and at the foot of the approach to it.

“Officers are urging motorists to avoid the area but if a journey to the island is essential, the old Kingsferry Bridge remains open but expect long delays,” a spokeswoman said.

South East Coast Ambulance Service said it was dealing with a major incident and deployed its hazardous area response teams to the scene.

Student Jaime Emmett, 19, was driving through the fog when she became involved in the pile-up.

“There was a man at the side of the road saying to stop. I stopped in time but a van smashed into me and I smashed into the car in front,” she said.

“I was lucky I was not injured. It was all quite surreal when it happened.”

Ms Emmett said the fog was so thick that you could only see a few cars in front but added: “All I could hear was the cars smashing in front of each other and I could not know how far ahead the accident was.

“It was so foggy I could literally see two or three cars in front of me – that was it. Then I could literally see smashed cars everywhere and a lorry had smashed into the central reservation as well.

Saying she was “still quite shocked” as she stood amid the aftermath, she noticed that the ambulances were on the scene straight away.

She said: “By the time I got out of my car there was already an ambulance there. There was a man being taken off in a stretcher.

“I could see that everyone was shocked but they were just checking to see that everyone else was OK.

“It was surreal and it might have been worse but people were going slower because it was quite foggy.”

Conservative MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey Gordon Henderson said he would be talking to the authorities about the accident and he said he had concerns about the design of the bridge’s lighting.

“Today my concerns must rest solely with the people that have been injured on the bridge. Today is not the time to ask questions but later I will be asking questions of the authorities about the accident.

“I have had concerns in the past, particularly about the level of lighting on the bridge, but, until we understand the cause of the accident, and what was a contributing factor, I do not want to make any further comment.”

At the scene, motorists caught up in the accident milled around in hot sunshine waiting to get their cars back.

AA president Edmund King said: “This particular crash on the Sheppey Crossing was probably made worse due to the unique layout of the bridge.

“We suspect that some people drove into the carnage descending from the apex of the bridge with next-to-no visibility or warning. “

He went on: “We are calling for a review of safety on the A249 Sheppey Crossing to look at the speed limit, lack of matrix warning signs and lighting.

“This is a wake-up call to drivers to always expect the unexpected, especially when visibility is so poor and it is impossible to see a long way ahead due to the layout of the road.”