14/11/2011 Inside Out West

Tonight we are just outside Taunton, reflecting on the night seven

people lost their lives on this motorway.

As the police investigation continues, we will be looking at

the events leading up to the crash and we will hear amazing new

testimony about the bravery of some of the people caught up in the

incident. When I stepped out of the car it was like stepping on to a

movie set. You just don't think it's real for a minute.

Also in the programme tonight: Never mind Greece, it turns out it

was the Cotswolds that inspired the modern Olympics. That's the

cruelest sport I think I have ever seen. I am Alastair Mackey and this

is Inside Out West. First tonight, the M5 crash. Seven

people dead and more than 50 injured. Ten days on, still no firm

conclusions about what may have caused the pile-up. Travelling on

the M5, getting up to speed and ahead of us we noticed a white wall

and I turned to Dan and said wow, that's the thickest fog I have ever

seen. The lorries hit cars in front of us. We could hear bang, bang,

bang from behind, as well. It was hell. Just the worst noise running

through your head, just these screams of people and not knowing

what to do first. The next thing was as if somebody had thrown a

black blanket over the windscreen. It was jet black. It was a night no

no one involved will ever forget. Now Inside Out can reveal no fog

warnings were displayed on electronic signs at the time of the

accident, despite forecasts and reports of poor visibility. The BBC

had warned of fog. With the added smoke from bonfires that will be a

perfect recipe for mist and fog... So had the Highways Agency, at

4.00pm its website was sent information from The Met Office

forecasting fog and mist. A forecast which proved accurate.

There were small patches of fog. There was water on the ground. It

wasn't raining heavily, there was a bit of drizzle coming down. Despite

this, no warnings were displayed on the M5 itself. We asked the

Highways Agency, which controls the electronic boards, why? It said it

had received no reports of adverse weather on any of its roads and it

said its control centre had been given advice by The Met Office that

did not highlight fog as a potential hazard at the time of the

crash. At around 8.15pm that evening a fireworks display at

Taunton Rugby Club ended, a police investigation is ongoing into

whether smoke from that played any part in the accident. Whatever the

cause, for Ciara and Roger there was no warning of what was to come

as they joined the motorway at junction 25. We pulled on to the M5

and were getting up to speed behind the Iceland truck in the middle

middle lane when we rolled into a wall of very sudden, very, very

thick, what appeared to be fog. was like somebody had thrown a hood

over the windscreen of the car, you could not see a thing. Almost as

soon as that happened I could see the truck again but it was

stationary. Closing quite fast from about 80 metres, and having to

brake very sharply. I literally stood on the brakes. I am thinking

we are not going to stop. But we do, we stop, from my memory, with about

maybe ten feet to spare. The lorries hit cars in front of us and

we could hear bang, bang, bang from behind, as well. It was rhythmical

almost, thump, thump, like a beat. I said we're going to get hit.

Based on post-crash pictures, we have tried to indicate what

happened in the aftermath of the accident. The vehicles represented

may not be exactly where they ended up, the Nenos were in the first

phase of the collision and Ciara was one of the first to dial 999.

said this isn't just a small crash, there's many, many crashes and I

can see fire. Then came the second phase of the crash, a lorry jack-

knifed behind them, protecting the couple from impact. After probably

90 seconds, I said I am not sitting here any longer, I have to go out

and see what I can do. In fact, that's when I stepped out of the

car, it was like stepping on to a movie set. You just don't think

it's real for a minute. Just mangled bits of metal everywhere. I

can hear the music from the rugby club and I just keep thinking God,

they've no idea what's going on up here. Roger saw two men trapped in

the car directly in front of him. He borrowed a tyre lever from a

truck driver. I ran back, told the guy in the seat to turn away and

smashed the window and it smashed first time. He reached out and I

pulled him out. The chap on the other side was very dazed. He was

in a slightly worse way. We said move over, come on, we will get you

out. We couldn't open his door, he was against the barrier. And he

said why, I am OK, kind of thing. I said your engine's gone, your car's

smoking, you might go up in flames. You need to get out. He shifted

over and we pulled him out. Hamill, his girlfriend Catherine

and his dad, had pulled up behind the jack-knifed lorry. They too

were remarkably lucky not to be hit. I remember sat there and Thomas was

like we're going to get hit, brace yourselves and we just waited and

heard and saw to the left cars just crashing in. And someone shouted

please take my baby, take my baby. My husband's trapped in the car. I

need to try and get him out. I did 999 standing at the central

reservation as more cars were crashing into the back of us and I

remember the 999 nine call call going how many cars? In this third

third phase of the crash, Matt and Michelle and their son and three

dogs ended up wedged on the hard shoulder between a lorry and crash

barrier. We got out of the van and straightaway I could see flames in

front, not coming from us and I don't think the car in front, but

seemed about, I don't know, ten feet away, big flames. Fire,

essentially there was fire. I can remember before I actually

descended the embankment looking to my left the lorry was well alight.

Looking to the right and the road surface was on fire, there had

obviously been a fuel spill. last image of looking at the van I

think was actually from the bottom of the embankment and looking up.

The cab of the van, it had flames in it. On the other side of the the

blazing lorry Roger Neno followed a young woman's cries for help.

car was pinned under the jack- knifed lorry. I am thinking that

fire is going to spread underneath this lorry and it won't take very

long the way it's burning. I jumped over the front - the front door was

slightly ajar at the top. I put the lever in and tried to open it, tpwu

wouldn't move. I told her to move back and swung the iron at the

window and I think on the fourth attempt it broke. So I went around

the side, took most of the glass out, shy lean -- she leaned out and

I pulled her out. I am trying to keep her calm, not panic, so not to

panic her. But I am thinking, I am looking down at my coat and it's

just raining and I am thinking oh, drizzle is all we need. But there's

this really strong smell of fuel and there's fuel all over the floor.

As I was doing this I saw the lady that was... The lady that was

pinned by her legs under the back wheel of that car underneath the

lorry. She was screaming "help me, get me out", obviously fearful she

was going to lie there and burn, as well. With no chance of releasing

her, Roger ran for help, returning with an offduty doctor and one of

the firecrews. Coy see Roger -- -. I could see Roger going towards the

car and there's a huge fireball behind. It just exploded and I just

screamed at him, get out, get out. Because I thought everything was

going to go up. Despite the fireball, the woman was saved.

Roger and Ciara spent hours at the scene before heading home. The time

between the Nenos stopping and the first emergency services arriving

took about the time it's taken you to watch this film. 51 people were

injured in the crash, seven died. The The sights and sounds of that

night will live with the people involved for the rest of their

lives. I am sitting here talking about

that and those people who have lost family members, there's people who

have been permanently injured and their lives are changed forever.

You know, I don't even have a scratch. It just doesn't make any

sense. The police investigation into the

crash is continuing. But one major line of inquiry is looking at

whether smoke from a firework display held right here may have

been a contributing factor. Scott Ellis has been looking at whether

tighter regulation is needed to help prevent smoke from firework

displays drifting into roads. It was billed as a dazzling night

of family fun but within 48 hours this event was at the centre of a

police criminal investigation. do believe that whilst there was

fog and it was difficult conditions in the area, that actually from

witness evidence that there was very significant smoke across the

carriageway, that in effect, caused a bank, similar to a fog bank which

was very distracting and difficult to drive through. Ten days on, the

question remains unanswered. Did a fireworks display at Taunton Rugby

Club cause or contribute to Britain's worst motorway crash for

20 years? We wanted to talk to experts from the fireworks industry

and those caught up in the tragedy. We found conflicting eyewitness

accounts. I can't believe you can have a

fireworks display so close to a motorway. It was extremely foggy.

So, you couldn't have - wouldn't be able to tell if there was smoke.

The firework displace was somewhere over there and I was over there and

the accident happened just almost parallel - almost behind where the

rugby post is. Bev Davies heard the fireworks go off, it took her and

her horses by surprise so she went I can't believe it and ran down to

the entrance to the Rugby Club as fast as they could, to ask them to

stop the display to get my horses While she was there, she asked

about the question of safety. I said you can't believe they were

having a firework display so near to a motorway. It was obviously so

bright and glaring I couldn't see how it could not be anything other

than a distraction to those driving past.

Fireworks causing a distraction and worries about the smoke. They are

all issues that have worried the public since the crash and they are

the ones that the police are examining. Tom Smith takes an

active interest. He is a pyrotech necks consex ant.

This is the Rugby Club. This is where the fireworks came from. This

is the motorway and this is where the accident site was.

Tom estimates that the fireworks were 200m from the carriageway.

Here are the lower level fireworks, then higher up in the picture, the

shells bursting over the top. Are they producing to you, what

looks like a lot of smoke? It is the amount of smoke that I pect to

see from a display of that size. There is obviously smoke, but it is

not excessive. We will see it drift down wind, but we didn't know where

that was. By 8.00pm, the local records

suggested that the wind was light and variable.

If it is south-westerly, the smoke produced from this area would

travel in this direction, that is parallel to the motorway, rather

than heading to the motorway. Regardless of direction, what would

happen to the smoke once it is travelling 200m? It is only a

finite amount of smoke. You can't have it both thick and then very

deep if it is over an extensive portion of the motorway, by

necessity it must have been dilute and relatively thin.

We decided to take a much closer look at the smoke again rated by

the fireworks. Alan Christie is helping us. He

detonates 16 tonnes of fireworks every year. He is the man who puts

the bang noose the Bristol Balloon Fiesta.

I have brought along a small selection of the typical things you

would find on a professional firework display a conical fountain,

a Roman candle battery. 56 shots. One views by 36 seconds.

Close up, this firework smoke appeared to be fine. It is almost

like an aerosol spray. The Met Office told us that smoke can cause

mist or fog to form in damp air. It can also thicken them up, but

that's not what Alan's found from his experience with fireworks.

Well the smoke generate fog or mist? No, not a chance, really. A

fog or mist is a natural element. You know, the weather conditions,

low pressure can help to hold the smoke on the floor, but it normally,

if the wind is not blowing far, you see it dissipate over four or five

minutes. Well, the fireworks are set up

there now, what we are going to do is to have a look at one large

firework going off, producing the smoke and heading across the road

that we are about to drive down to see how thick the smoke can be.

As you can see, we have the firework going off there. The smoke

is being blown across the road here. It is thick smoke and certainly it

doesn't help to have the head lamps on it, it is hard to see ahead.

This experiment on a farmer's track is far from scientific, in way does

it replicate the display of November the 4th. Firework smoke

can reduce visibility, but is that what happened on the night? Those

at the display offer differing upon -- opinions.

The display was big, supposedly the biggest in Somerset. There was a

lot of smoke created. The display ran for 15 minute, after, the smoke

stayed around for a long time. You could not see some parts of the

grass on the pitch. There was no smoke. Literally I walked over

after the fireworks, there was no smoke it was just fog. Thick fog.

It was not drifting at all. It was holding fast, from what I

understand. So I don't think it cleared quickly at all. The wind

was blowing towards me, so effectively from where I was stood,

by the Grandstand, that is away from the motorway.

Two opposing accounts, the police no doubt have many more point of

views. Alan doubts smoke was an issue, but

thinks that the display itself had the potential to distract drivers.

Would you have done it 2 or 300 to the M5? That is perhaps a little

too close. 6 or 600 metres away, that is not a problem, but not

within 100m. So, the chances are you may not

have run a show there? Yes. It is a bold admission, he would

not have run a display at the Taunton Rugby Club.

The report suggested that the fireworks finished ten minutes

before the crash muchment -- the police will have the final word.

The police have had00 words of line up for the inquiry. A camera may

hold vital clues. Smoke and fireworks are a significant part of

the investigation, the fawn Taunton is working closely with the Avon &

Somerset Police. I was going to an event in

Taunton... We joined the MP of the area Tessa Munt on the bridge where

many have come to mourn. She tue is an eyewitness, driving -- she too

is an eyewitness, driving south. The heat was so intense. Its with

burning hot. We were all those lanes away.

She was not aware of smoke or fireworks. On reflection feels

sympathy for the event organisers. If I were a part of the Taunton

Rugby Club I would feel awful. It must be so stressful for the people

involved in organising this. So often they are for charity. They

are events to raise money for good causes. I guess that must just feel

terrible. It will take many weeks for the

police to reach their conclusions but already the issue of fireworks

safety is under scrutiny once again. Obviously if the investigation

shows that smoke from the firework display was an issue, it is

something to look at very seriously and the BPA would incorporate

information about that in their training courses.

We don't want to react too quickly to what we don't really know about

yet. All of these investigations, like

yours, will no doubt add to the picture.

Scot Ellis on the events of November the 4th, a night that

changed the lives of so many. Next year, Gloucester holds

Paralympic Games, yes, really, the market town of Chipping Campden

holds the Games every year and claims to the birthplace of the

modern Olympic movement. Here is our history man.

It may sound a preposterous claim, that the modern Olympic movement

began here in Chipping Campden, but it is actually true! If you don't

believe me, then perhaps you will be convinced by this... When London

made its successful bid, the 2012 Games, they were only too keen to

acknowledge that Chipping Campden connection.

While most people in the West Country have never heard of them,

the Cotswold Olympicks have drawn television crews from around the

world to see the bizarre sports. Some of them, little changed, from

those that entertained crowds in Shakespeare's time.

I just had to have a go, it was time to get prepared.

I gather that state-of-the-art equipment is necessary for the

Modern Olympics athlete. Well, this is state-of-the-art from the

Cotswold Olympicks. Well, I may not have all of the

attributes for London 2012, but for Chipping Campden, 2011, I think I'm

fairly well equipped. It was on this hillside just north

of the town that organised sporting games were first held nearly 400

years ago. It was a Cambridge-educated lawyer,

Robert Dover whose vision it was to bring sporting ideals from the

original Greek application to the natural amphitheatre in rural

Gloucester. I declare my Games for 2011, open!

APPLAUSE The current organiser of the

Cotswold Olympicks is local stonemason Graham Greenall. So, who

was this mysterious Robert Dover who founded the Games? It is

difficult to know exactly who he was, but he was certain a lawyer.

He turned up in the area about 1611. He had relatives here. Somehow he

managed to take over the existing festival, which had been going on

for centuries and to turn it into this first Modern Olympics.

Contemporary reports say that Robert Dover was a jovial, kindly

character. His version of the Olympics didn't concentrate too

much on leet sporting achievement. His idea was to adapt the Olympics

ideal. Prizes were awarded to the winners, but the main focus

provided entertainment for the public.

This was favoured by the puritanists -- this was not

favourored by the purists of the day.

Today, it is still good cleanish, sporting fun! Where did they get

the buckets? That is cheating!? That is not cheating, that is

tactics. The rules are almost non- existent. I don't think we have

disqualified anybody! The fun and games went on more or lesstownously

for 200 years. By the mid-1800s they were drawing massive crowds

from across the Midlands, but to the Victorians everyone enjoying

themselves was too much! Concerns about the loose morals of the

crowds flocking to the games were voiced by the local vicar, a

certain Canon Borne. The church took over the land and the Games

were banned. So, this is it? Yes, this is the

grave of George Drinkwater Borne, he was the Rector here.

He was the villain of the games to close them down? Yes, but by all

accounts, the games had become lawless with a lot of people, maybe

30,000 people coming. It is referred to by a later writer as

the scum of the Earth, people coming from all points between

Birmingham and Oxford to spend the whole week here.

It must have been chaos, terrorising the neighbourhood?

think so. People did not feel safe in their houses. There was no

police of course, you have to think of the Notting Hill Carnival but

without the Police Force. So maybe he was a touch of a

villain at all? I don't think so. He was a young man, trying to do

his best on getting the best from all sides.

It is not like that now? Do you go yourself? I have not been so far.

I have never ventured out. If I want shin-kicking I go to a sin yod.

Bizarre as it may seem, shin kicking does appeal to some people.

It is certainly the high light of the Olympics of Chipping Campden.

This is one of the original games from Robert Dover's time. I am

worried, health and safety does not seem to have changed much since

Dover's day. Does it hurt a lot? A lot, yeah.

Especially when they miss. When they hit the sides by accident.

That can kill. Really?! Ready? Kick! This really

is not for the faint-hearted, is it? Kicking only, boys.

I think that I will whimp out! They are tiring, I think, look at them!

They are exhausted. That's the crudest sport I think I

have ever seen. Can I have a look at your wounds?

He doesn't draw blood, did he? Now for the final. Here the rules do

matter. Remember, kicking below the knee.

The judges are sticklers, the old English expression forum pyres

scrutinising fair play. Take your shoes off! That's a win.

Well, if anyone deserves Olympic gold, it is these guys. I have no

idea how they are still standing. What is it lick to be the world

champion? Really good! But, also really painful.

You are a natural! Don't say that, I'm not doing it again.

So, with the spirit of Robert Dover presiding, 2012 will see the 400th

anniversary of his Cotswold Olympicks. And perhaps London 2012

could take tips on how to stage a closing ceremony. Here everyone

gets to carry the Olympics flame and it is quite a spectacle.

This is England at its very best. If 2012 can repeat the experience

of tonight then it's going to be a roaring success! Well,

unfortunately, we have reached our closing ceremony. You can keep in

touch with what we are up to on both Facebook and Twitter.

Next week we are back on the Olympics trail. Meeting a beach

volley ball team based in a city without a beach. Also, asking why

the Government is cutting subsidies for solar power. We are

investigating a Somerset businessman, who promised his