M5 drivers 'were travelling normally', says man who rescued baby

A man caught up in the devastating M5 road crash last night has said people were driving "absolutely normally".

Thirty-four vehicles were involved in the pile-up that so far has killed seven and injured dozens more. Emergency crews say they expect the death toll to rise.

Thomas Hamell, 25, escaped injury when two lorries jack-knifed behind his car, forming a barrier. He carried a baby to safety as cars ploughed into the debris at 70mph.

The teacher from Wells in Somerset had just joined the motorway in a Renault Megane with his girlfriend Katherine Lane, 24, and father George Hamell, 56, when they came to a “wall of lorries” – one of which jacknifed in front of them.

Two other lorries jacknifed behind them, creating a safe area that enabled them to leave the car and go to the aid of a shocked mother with a young baby as trapped motorists screamed in their cars around them.

“We just carried on to a safe distance about 20 metres away,” he said. “We were incredibly lucky. The woman who gave her child, her car was wiped out. It was utter carnage.”

Emergency workers described the crash as “the worst road traffic collision anyone can remember”.

Mr Hamell said that as they drove on the motorway "it was suddenly very foggy like driving in emulsion paint".

He said that his car was caught in what he saw as the “second wave” after the initial accident.