M40 closed after multi-vehicle accident

Fire service: “it is a miracle nobody was seriously injured”

The northbound carriageway of the M40 has remained closed all morning after a multi-vehicle accident during the night.   Several heavy goods vehicles and a car were involved in the collision between junctions 10 and 11.

Despite the scale of the crash amazingly no one had been trapped in their vehicles and the occupants had all managed to escape with just minor injuries, for which the emergency services administered first aid on the scene.

The accident happened at around 2am when the emergency services were called to reports of multiple lorries and a car involved in a collision on the motorway.   The incident was not far from the location of an earlier collision.

All three lanes were completely blocked by the vehicles involved in the accident.

Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue acknowledged how much worse the situation could have been.   They said: “From the photos you can see the extent of the damage to the vehicles and it is a miracle nobody was seriously injured.

“We can’t stress how important it is to keep your eyes on the road, wear your seatbelt, take breaks if driving for long periods of time and give yourself enough free space in the road ahead to allow you to come to a stop safely if you should need to.

“Collisions happen when you run out of time and space. “

The clean-up operation took several hours, during which the M40 remained closed.   The Highways Agency had to deal with a spillage and complete barrier repairs.   They said that recovery had been complex due to the positioning of one of the heavy goods vehicle and its trailer.   Until that was moved they had been unable to assess the carriageway surface on lane 3.

---

Published: 02/10/2021 12:21pm by Banbury FM Newsteam

---