Driver arrested over coach crash that killed one and injured 40

Dozens of passengers on the coach carrying a party of fruit pickers were treated for less serious injuries after a lorry crashed into the rear of the vehicle near Frankley Services yesterday.

West Midlands Police said a 49-year-old coach driver from Birmingham had been arrested in connection with the incident and has been bailed pending further inquiries.

The Central Motorway Police Group said the coach was reported to have broken down in the nearside lane of the M5 before it was struck by the heavy goods vehicle at about 6.24am.

A 35-year-old man from the Smethwick area of the West Midlands, who was among at least 30 people travelling on the coach, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Another male passenger and the driver of the lorry, which was returning to Devon from the Manchester area, both suffered life-threatening injuries and were taken to Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Witnesses and a survivor of the crash said the accident happened after the coach came to a halt close to a footbridge in Bartley Green, Birmingham.

The driver’s side of the lorry’s cab was left embedded in the rear nearside of the coach following the collision, which also left debris strewn across the approach to the footbridge.

The single-decker bus was not fitted with seatbelts and is thought to have been carrying fruit pickers en route from Birmingham to the Evesham area of Worcestershire.

Signs warning road users of fog in the area had been active since 4.46am but police declined to speculate whether low visibility was a factor in the collision.

Chief Inspector Carl Flynn, of the Central Motorway Police Group, said: “This was a very serious collision which has tragically claimed one life. Emergency service personnel worked together in very difficult conditions to assist survivors and to ensure the safety of other road users.”