Bus crash driver arrested
Police have arrested the driver of a bus after a motorway crash that left one man dead and more than 20 people in hospital.
The driver was arrested after collision near Frankley Services on the southbound carriageway of the M5 between junctions three and four.
Witnesses said the bus, carrying a party of fruit pickers, had broken down on the hard shoulder when a lorry struck it from behind in foggy conditions.
The impact pushed the coach across several lanes of traffic and into the central reservation.
West Midlands Police said a 49-year-old bus driver from Birmingham had been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving in connection with the incident and had since been bailed pending further inquiries.
Several ambulances, rapid response vehicles and a hazardous area response team has been deployed to the incident along with doctors and ambulance officers.
Police said the confirmed death and one serious injury was from the coach. The dead man was 35 and from Birmingham. The driver of the lorry was also in a serious condition.
West Midlands Ambulance Service said 40 people had been assessed and treated at the scene, and 27 had been taken to various hospitals around the region.
“Whilst the majority of patients appear to be walking wounded there are a small number with potentially serious injuries,” a spokesman added.
West Midlands Police said no children had been involved in the accident.
It was a very foggy stretch of road this morning. Police are investigating the exact cause, but the weather has not been helpful. Steve Wheaton
Eyewitness Paul Guppy, who was driving in the opposite direction shortly at the time of the crash early on Saturday morning, said: “There were fog patches, because I was driving through it with my fog lights on. That area is renowned for having fog, there’s a lot of low-lying land.
“It was quite horrendous at the time, and then it cleared. Whether the fog was a contributory thing, I don’t know.”
The coach seemed to have been hit from the rear, on its offside, and was leaning, virtually intact, against a crash barrier, he said.
West Midlands Ambulance Service assistant chief ambulance officer Steve Wheaton said: “It was a very foggy stretch of road this morning. Police are investigating the exact cause, but the weather has not been helpful.”
