DD has been stuck on the M5 for 6 hours

[GinForBreakfast]

I know there's been a serious incident but you can't leave people stuck on a motorway for 6 hours. That will include elderly people and tiny children. In other countries they manage to clear the roads far quicker.

No sign of anything moving and even once she does she's still 4 hours from home.

It can't be any joke being stuck on the motorway for that long, but they wouldn't close both lanes of the motorway without good reason. It wouldn't have made any difference to OP's DD but a problem was announced on the M5 within 15 mins as I heard it when I was near the M5 itself and decided to avoid.

We always take a drink and snacks with us, it doesn't stop the frustration but at least you're not thirsty or hungry.

I agree with you.

Hang on - she wasn’t even driving. There are many people I’d really feel for in this situation (I.e a parent with young kids in the car) but as inconvenient it is to be a passenger, it could be much much worse.

I'm sorry. We had this happen on holiday last summer and were stuck most of the day...we got in very, very late, and ended up having crisps for dinner instead of the nice one we had planned. Hope your daughter can be on her way soon.

OP, I'm totally shocked that you've left out that she was being looked after by friends.

The motorway didn't reopen until 3:30. That suggests that somebody was fatally injured - Facebook comments are speculating that a teenage girl jumped and was then hit by a car.

How can you honestly, with a clear conscience, create a thread on Mumsnet complaining about your daughter being safe in a car with two other people, while a teenage girl has done that? A family has just been torn apart, and you can't even consider them for a second?

Yep welfare checks and water handed out. But it’s the police that have duty of care and responsibility for this. And we all know there’s not enough of them to do it

We were once stuck for nearly 7 hours. Our children were all under 5.

I think it was made harder because we didn't know anything. Estimated time of moving would have helped.
It isn't easy being stuck and that does not mean there's no empathy for those involved in the incident.

Thanks @MsNeis and others.

For others accusing me of leaving information out, I can't help what assumptions you made or if you didn't read the whole thread. I never said my DD was alone or the driver, I don't think I ever even mentioned her age. Tbh being stuck for 8 hours on the motorway is miserable whatever the circumstances (although I imagine the woman with two toddlers in the car next to hers wished she was alone!).

A few people have pointed out that we are so used to things just not working in this country that we just accept it. She cadged a lift for this journey because the trains have been so unreliable. We seem to just accept that schools and hospitals and GP surgeries and councils and transport systems and water companies and post office companies and dental services are dire and there's nothing we can do to fix them. In the meantime other countries seem to be able to deliver public services with minimal fuss.

It is a fact that they don’t do this in many other countries where they will open a lane as soon as possible.

She didn't leave it out. She said her dd had a lift. It's not op fault if people can't read her posts

And why shouldn't she worry about her daughter.

We can be desperately sad for the person who is gravely ill and worry about our own family. The two aren't mutually exclusive

I've unfortunately been hospitalised after being stuck on the motorway for 5 hours several years ago. I'm disabled and was with my dh. I'm not mobile and use a wheelchair so I couldn't just pop out for a wee. I self catheterise but it's impossible in a car!. My bladder became so distended and I was in a lot of pain. Then I had a seizure.

There has to be measures put in place to clear motorway traffic in situations like this. I have every sympathy for the poor people involved in the accidents and I totally understand the need to close the road, but why don't we have contingency plans in place like other countries.

You heavily implied it.

You keep defending yourself, with no admittance that this thread was, at best, in very poor taste.

Of course it happens in other countries, I was stuck for hours in Belgium once.

Also stuck on the m25 for over four hours. A lorry burned down, which melted the road, which meant the road had to be repaired before traffic could move again.

@CassandraWebb no. She didn't. Not within her OP, or the first few posts, by which point a pile on has started.

@losingweightandgainingconfidence your life must be very difficult if you are "totally shocked" that I didn't mention she was getting a lift until a whole 13 minutes after my OP.

Yet.

@GinForBreakfast
They would have to in France or there would be a riot!!!!

The lack of resource and crappy infrastructure is the main issue. I don't think anyone is suggesting accidents are swept away and no one should bother investigating; but if we were a country that still had a functioning set of emergency services and an investment in infrastructure that wasnt dire and mismanaged then there would be alternatives to people being stuck in their vehicles for hours upon hours.

By which point a pile on had started.

A young girl had jumped from a bridge. Her family has been torn apart. A driver has had their life ruined, by the guilt. Multiple people will have witnessed possibly the worst thing they'll ever witness.

I'm sure it was so awful for your daughter though, warm and safe in a car with mates.

Don’tBiteTheCat
I am so very sorry for the loss of your sister.. I have lost a sister too and it’s horrendous.

@GinForBreakfast I expect most of these people hectoring you would be equally concerned for their own child in the circumstances you described

They're just trying to make themselves feel good by giving someone a kicking

This kind of emotional guilt trip is partly the reason why so many of our public services are a bag of shite- people would rather try and make people feel bad for acknowledging there is definitely a better way to do these things than accepting this is the case so successive governments get away with their corrosion. Same with the NHS, it's pathetic.

No she wasn’t driving or alone. I had a quick look this morning to see if I mis read the OP’s post and she does mention it later in a post further into the thread so I hold my hands up to that. Apologies OP for previous post. However, many other people including myself did not see the further down post on that. The original post does not say it so we all thought the same thing for the first 8 pages, offering hotel and prep advice. Just shows how much we read the first post, make our comment, and not go beyond that.

@Santaclawws the road had to be closed to carry out an investigation. What do you want them to do? Not investigate crashes?

This whole “you can’t complain about anything ever if someone else has suffered an appalling tragedy” is ridiculous.

We could all apply that to every aspect of our lives all day long and life would be completely unliveable.