Major Collision On M5 Shuts Down Southbound Carriageway

Two cars and a van crashed on the M5 in Somerset, causing the southbound carriageway to close.

An Avon and Somerset Police spokesperson said: "We received multiple reports about a collision between three vehicles on the M5 southbound between Junction 22 (Burnham on-Sea) and Junction 23 (Bridgwater)."

Adding: "No one has been injured however the motorway has been closed while emergency services and recovery attend the scene."

According to traffic monitoring site Inrix, there were delays heading southbound in Somerset.

The motorway was shut at 9 a.m. but has now been reopened.

This comes following a recent fatal crash on Tuesday night near Manchester on the M62 motorway which caused the death of a man.

The M62 had to close in both directions – it remained closed for 16 hours, causing gridlock on the M62 and surrounding roads.

The M5 is a motorway in England which links the Midlands with the South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon.

In October 2009, workmen clearing vegetation from the slip road at Junction 14 discovered human bones in a black bin bag dumped in the bushes.

After calling the police, it was established that the bones belonged to a young woman – DNA found on the remains a few days later confirmed that the body was Melanie Hall, a Bath hospital worker who disappeared in June 1996 after a night out in Bath. She had been declared dead in absentia in 2004.

Dental records confirmed that the body was hers and the police opened a formal investigation into her murder. Some keys were also discovered, and the police contacted Ford to trace the vehicle. However, as of 2016, no one has been prosecuted in connection with this case.

Furthermore, on 4 November 2011, seven people were killed and 51 injured in a devastating crash involving over 50 different vehicles near Junction 25 near Taunton, Somerset.

The 2011 M5 Motorway crash was the deadliest pile-up on a British motorway since 13 people (12 of them children) died in a minibus crash on the M40 in 1993.

The crash took place in wet foggy conditions close to a firework display. The crash caused a huge fireball with the flames rising to 20 feet high.

One person was charged for breach under health and safety laws and found not guilty.

A reported 40 metres of the road was damaged by fuel spillage from vehicles and 60 metres was damaged by intense fire and explosions. Two lanes of the southbound carriageway reopened at about 5 p.m. on 6 November, and the motorway was fully re-opened in both directions 4 hours later.

In 2020, it was announced that Junction 10 of the M5 motorway would be undergoing significant roadworks in 2023 as part of a redevelopment project on the A4019. They will involve making the interchange full-access and dualling the A4019 east of the junction into Cheltenham.

The works are to be completed in 2024, according to the Gloucestershire County Council.

Improvements to Junction 25 at Taunton were approved with an £18 million programme that will include the enlargement of the junction roundabout, the widening of the eastern junction slip road exit, and an additional roundabout southeast of the junction to provide access to a new business park and to a proposed bypass of the hamlet of Henlade.

By Kaja Traczyk

Kaja Traczyk is a reporter for the International Business Times UK and a Journalism Undergraduate with experience in news writing, reporting, and researching.