Miracle escape (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Miracle escape

9:18am Thursday 28th August 2008 in News By Scott McPherson

The horrific accident on the M4 near Chippenham on Tuesday caused the worst traffic jams the town has seen for decades.

The accident, which involved three lorries, an empty coach and four cars, has been hailed as a miracle by emergency workers as no-one was killed.

It is understood that the trailer unit of one of the lorries went through the central reservation, hitting westbound traffic head on.

Dr Adam Brownhill, who lives in Chippenham and belongs to the South Wiltshire Intervention for Trauma group (SWIFT), was one of the first on the scene.

He said: "We have never experienced anything like this. It is an utter miracle that no-one lost their life that morning. It was pure luck.

"It was just utter carnage."

The pile-up, which happened just before 2am, caused an entire stretch of the M4 to close in both directions for more than seven hours.

Mum-of-two Marian Hargreaves, 35, of London Road, Chippenham, was involved in a secondary crash as a further ten cars collided after the initial impact.

Ten ambulances, two rescue response cars and 35 firefighters were at the scene and used thermal imaging cameras to help free some victims trapped in their vehicles.

Paul Hanlon, Watch Manager at Chippenham Fire Station, said: "We were down at the scene for about four hours, more than an hour was spent cutting the coach driver free from the wreckage. We had to use very heavy hydraulic equipment to free some of the drivers.

"Although we attend a lot of traffic collisions this one was so different purely because of the number of cars involved."

Motorists were diverted through Chippenham and mile-long queues of traffic built up during rush hour.

Some drivers were stuck in the traffic jams for more than two hours as the town's main roads could not cope.

Driver Tim Meacham, from Chippenham, was returning from a bank holiday break in Cornwall.

He said: "The traffic was horrendous, the worst I have ever experienced in this part of the country.

"Although the emergency services were doing everything they could, the infrastructure of Chippenham is not designed to take that many cars in such a short space of time."

A full police investigation is now under way.

Anyone with information should contact Wiltshire Police on 0845 408 7000, or anonymously on Crimestoppers 0800555111.