Four dead in double motorway tragedy

Four people were killed in two separate crashes on a Saturday of mayhem on Britain’s motorways.

Three men died when a double-decker coach collided with a stationary car on the M1 earlier today.

And, in another tragedy, one man died and another was fighting for his life with six seriously hurt and 45 more with injuries in a 40-car pile-up on the M40 in Oxfordshire.

The first crash happened after a coach collided with a hatch-back car which had stopped on the motorway’s hard shoulder near Flitwick, Bedfordshire.

The three victims were pronounced dead at the scene and police launched a full investigation.

A fourth occupant of the car was taken to Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital with serious injuries. The M40 pile-up happened in dense fog at about 8am.

Fire crews, police and air and road ambulances rushed to the scene, near a busy designer outlet shopping centre in Bicester.

Speaking in front of debris scattered on the road, Thames Valley Police Chief Inspector Henry Parsons, said the M40 crash was an “extraordinary” and unusual accident.

He said it was a “serious blessing” that more were not killed.

He said: “It is awful, whatever way you dress it up.”

The family of the dead man has been informed.

“Clearly the fog will play a major part in our investigation,” CI Parsons added.

The fatal crash happened between junctions nine and 10 the scene of a fatal tragedy just eight months ago. Joanna Bull, 29, died when her Peugeot 406 collided with a lorry last June.

Amazingly, her five-week-old daughter Ruby was pulled alive from the twisted wreckage of the car by rescuers.

The AA said the area was busy during yesterday’s crash, as families hit the roads for a getaway.

Its president Edmund King said: “Traffic on the M40 has been busier than normal for a Saturday morning due to the beginning of half-term holidays.”

West Ham fans travelling to West Brom for the FA Cup fifth round clash were also caught up in heavy traffic.

Thousands made the journey to the West Midlands.