Coach loads of pupils involved in road pile-up
Three coaches taking British secondary school pupils to the annual Clotheshow Live exhibition were today involved in a major road pile-up.
More than 100 children were en route to Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre when they became caught up in a series of accidents involving 30 vehicles on the A38 near Lichfield, in Staffordshire, UK.
Derby City Council said 32 students from the city’s Littleover Community School, in Littleover, were transferred to hospital.
One was receiving treatment for a fractured vertebrae but it was not thought any other youngsters had been seriously injured.
Staffordshire Police said it could not confirm the total number of people injured in the incident on the southbound carriageway between Fradley and Hilliards Cross at 9.45am.
A force spokesman said 30 people had been transferred to three different hospitals in the area directly from the scene but that it was not known how many people may have sought treatment subsequently.
Among those taken to hospital was a coach driver with serious leg injuries who was freed from his vehicle by fire and rescue crews.
A spokesman for Staffordshire Fire Service said the consequences of these collisions could have been far worse.
“Given the fact it is one of the busiest stretches of the A38 – the main route between Birmingham and Derby – and given the number of vehicles involved, it could have been much more serious than it was.
“There was just a trail of devastation. There were cars littered over a quarter of a mile.”
He said people at the scene reported seeing a car ablaze on the road before the first collision.
“The first call we received was this car fire giving off thick black smoke.
“Together with fog, this would have seriously restricted visibility.
“It seems this car was possibly the catalyst for the accident,” he added.
The pupils were attending the fashion exhibition as part of their GCSE textiles course and were accompanied on three 58-seater coaches by six parents and at least six teachers, the council spokesman said.
Police said the road would remain closed for several hours.
