The response to a tragic accident which left the M6 being closed for a whole day last month was beset with errors, leaked documents reveal.

Crews stuck in traffic, fuel spills not being communicated, a lack of signs and delays in resurfacing exacerbated traffic nightmares for thousands of drivers after a collision on the M6 on February 4.

While police had to close off lanes to investigate, after a fatality involving two HGVs and one car, a Highways England debrief lists more than a dozen failings which hindered the response.

West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson said the “outrageous” response came as the incident cost the region tens of millions of pounds.

The document reveals:

  1. Crews did not take the correct routes to the scene – and were held up in the queues.
  2. A fuel spill was not reported until five and a half hours after incident, during rush hour.
  3. There was a discussion around the fuel spillage on scene – but it was not fed back to the Regional Control Centre.
  4. Uncertainty about how far the fuel had seeped into the carriageway.
  5. At 7am the control centre was advised there were no crews from Kier to remove the spillage. This was down to shift changes between 6am and 8am – although there was a crew available at the Doxey depot at junction 14.
  6. There were no signs available which had four lanes on.
  7. Wider impacts on roads outside Highways England control “did not seem to be addressed”.
  8. Central Motorway Police Group (CMPG) was not included in teleconferences – which “may have been benefitted decision-making”.
  9. The option to run on a planed surface “wasn’t fully explored”.
  10. There was a “delay in decision to resurface” due to a focus on mitigating the spillage.
  11. There was no decision log set up.
  12. There was no indication of a fuel spillage when the scene was handed over from the CMPG.
  13. While it was accepted it was a common incident, it was not treated as such. The document states: “This incident should have been Routine Operations.”

More: M6 closure hell could have caused 'risk to life' if weather had been colder

Transport in many parts of Birmingham ground to a halt after the M6 was closed between junctions 5 and 6 as a result of the collision.

The incident occurred at 1.50am on February 4 and the fuel spillage was first reported at 7.20am.

The first Regional Alert Coordinating Group took place at 11.45am, nearly 12 hours after the incident.

The carriageway was fully re-opened at 2am the next day.

PCC Mr Jamieson said: “While the police were doing the forensic work, there is no reason why people can’t be checking out the road. That could have been done at 2.30am in the morning – not during the rush hour. he place must have stunk of diesel.

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“Then someone should be taking a decision about what to do and getting the machines and tarmac ready. By the rush hour, a lot of this could have been dealt with.

“It is outrageous – you couldn’t run a business like his.”

He added: “The clock is running at about £1.7 million an hour when three-lane motorways are closed nad anecdotal evidence we have collected, from the chamber of commerce and other places, suggests it was running higher.”

Mr Jamieson will hold authorities directly to account at a hearing on March 18.

The debrief admits the response could have been quicker if crews brought in to clean up “arrived in a timelier manner” and were not “held up in traffic queues”.

The “recommendations” portion of the report states: “Incident managers to be cognoscente of wider traffic impacts and welfare of public in queuing traffic and review transport management plans both on and off network, during such incidents.”

The document also states the decision-making process for running traffic on the affected section “wasn’t thorough enough”.

Richard Burden
Richard Burden

It also concludes the incident should have been dealt with as routine as it was “common enough” – but was not.

The recommendations also call for a contingency plan for the management of major incidents in Birmingham.

The document, however, does state that certain things were done well.

A list of items considered to have been performed well included closing the roads in a timely manner and clear media messages.

MP Richard Burden (Lab Northfield), the Shadow Minister for Roads and Road Safety, said he was amazed at the admission there was no contingency plan for such incidents.

He said: “It looks like there were far too many points where one hand did not seem to know what the other was doing and it is astonishing that there is not already a contingency plan in place for the management of major instances in the Birmingham box.

“Their reading of what is in the structured debrief looks superficial and they show no sign that they are asking Highways England the difficult questions that need asking if this kind of disruption is not to happen again.”

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A spokesperson for Highways England said:

“We are sorry for the delays experienced following the incident on the M6 on 4 February. We take safety extremely seriously and we learn from every road accident we attend, and this one is no exception.

“We work hard to minimise delays and we do all we can to reopen roads as soon as it is safe to do so following incidents.

“Although our investigation into this incident is not yet concluded, we will be participating in the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner’s hearing on 18 March to help ensure lessons are learnt and we work as closely as possible with the emergency services and other partners in future.”