Coach overturns in thick fog on M40 close to stretch where woman died two days ago

A driver and 16 passengers were being treated in hospital after a coach overturned in foggy conditions on the M40 in the early hours of Friday 30 December. All of the injured are believed to be stable but South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) has described treating broken bones and declared the event a "major incident".

Emergency services were alerted at 2.45am to reports of a coach operated by the Oxford Bus Company having careered off the slip road on the M40 northbound at Junction 7 near Milton Common, Oxfordshire.

Thames Valley Police, Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service including SCAS attended the scene just 30 miles from the stretch of A40 where a female driver was killed on a foggy morning two days ago.

An SCAS spokesman described "thick fog in the area at the time of the accident", adding that this "also presented challenges to the emergency services getting to the scene".

He said: "The male coach driver and 16 adult passengers (mixture of male and female) had sustained a variety of minor injuries, such as cuts, bruises, broken bones, etc., and all 17 patients were taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

"At the scene, we had six ambulances, a rapid response vehicle, three ambulance officers (two bronze and one silver), a BASICS Doctor and the trust's hazardous area response team. We also sent a silver officer to the emergency department at the John Radcliffe Hospital to assist with the arrival of this large volume of patients."