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Truck is not to blame lor t l h ( ro H wn Gil [ 0 7

21th March 1991, Page 8
21th March 1991
Page 8
Page 8, 21th March 1991 — Truck is not to blame lor t l h ( ro H wn Gil [ 0 7
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• Police have rejected media reports that a lorry carrying propane gas was responsible for the fire in last week's M4 pile-up which killed 10 and injured 25.

"Reports suggest the fire was caused by an explosion of propane gas. There is no evidence at all at the moment as to what caused the fire — it certainly wasn't that," says Thames Valley Police chief constable Charles Pollard.

Bad driving in fog was the basic cause of the disaster which involved more than 40 vehicles, he says.

A van at the accident may have been carrying one canister of propane gas, say the police, but the inferno was thought to be largely caused by exploding petrol tanks.

The Daily Mirror had reported that crash victims were "incinerated as a lorry load of propane gas cylinders blew up".

The Road Haulage Association condemns the inaccurate reporting as a "knee-jerk reaction by journalists who are getting the stories done quickly without checking the facts". It says its members are very angry, "particularly tanker peo pie, who are very careful".

"The media will blame the lorry if they can," says the Freight Transport Association, adding that later reports of the crash were accurate. Attempts to suggest that the pile-up would not have occurred if all trucks were fitted with speed limiters are misguided, says the FTA — but "speed limiters on cars might have done it", it suggests.

The Department of Transport says it is waiting to see the police report on the acci dent before deciding whether to call for a public inquiry.

Thames Valley Police stand by their policy, agreed by all UK police forces, of not using M4 matrix signals to warn of fog, the signs are used to warn of "unforseen hazards" and are capable only of indicating advised speed limits, lane closed or all clear.

Pollard agrees that more sophisticated signals, like the fog signals currently on trial in Surrey, might have prevented the crash.


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