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.

Please can someone (preferably mumsnet admin) just put an end to this thread. Someone's daughter is in a serious condition right now, yes it's a shame for everyone stuck in traffic, but dear god some posters on here need to get a grip.

I was stuck on the m25 for 5 hours when I was 20. I was freezing in my little metro. However, I was grateful I wasn’t one of the 2 motorbike riders who I witnessed crash and die. It was horrific and I’m still teary about it 22 years later. All the drivers were looking out for each other though and there was a lot of kindness shown. Hopefully your dd has the same experience.

I'm local to this and a teenage girl has been taken to hospital in Bristol - they're quoting 2am on local FB pages to clear the backlog. A work colleague only goes one junction to another to get home, they're diabetic and have no food or water and their car is nearly out of fuel - their wife is frantically trying to get some food to them. Trouble is they're directing all the southbound traffic off at Gloucester, and also trying to reverse a 3.5km backlog all out of one slip road so it's taking a long long time.

If you look at the Gloucestershire Constabulary FB page @GinForBreakfast they are posting regular updates. I hope she's off the motorway soon. There are 2 or 3 high bridges along that stretch from Cheltenham to Gloucester and sadly it's becoming the local suicide spot of choice

You have misread my post, i literally said its not a matter of one issue v another.

So you have never ever vocalised a worry in your life? Because by your rationale any negative thing you say can always be trumped by anothers loss. You can't be worried about money, someone else is homeless, you can't be upset your DC is sick at least they are alive, you can't be upset about your chronic back pain at least you can walk etc.

Well I can only speak for myself but I always tried to make sure I had milk & hot water with me when I was going somewhere I wouldn’t be able to access it easily, like on a road trip.

You’d hope that there are services for these things though, that could check on the cars and ID anyone who needs things like that, and get it to them. It would be beyond stressful to be stuck with nothing for your baby.

You don't have to be going on a 'long trip' to get stuck on a motorway for 6 hours! You might just hop on for one junction and find yourself on a closed road and stuck in situ! I don't take a drink and snacks everytime I use a motorway, depending on where you live in the UK they may be included on any short journey

@Dontlletmedownbruce

Vocalised? Yes.

Posted on social media when it's clear it's a very, very tragic situation? No.

That’s the point op is trying to make. Some of those in the cars might not be safe. There might be people without their medicines or that might be cold (it’s cold outside) and who might be vulnerable after 6h blocked in the road. It might not be the case of OPs daughter but I’d not assume that everyone is safe being blocked for 6h in the motorway

Our local road was shut for 3 days after some boy racers hit and killed a family pulling out of the pub car park.

Presumably they needed that long to assess all the burned rubber marks along the half a mile of road before the fatal collision.

I'm sure they're working as quickly as they can in the dark and the rain.

Really @JohnMcClanesVest? From one thread you can deduce my entire personality? I think that says more about you than it does me.

@EasterIssland the vast majority will be.

well - on the other hand your daughter hasn’t been killed or hideously injured which is very probably what’s happened.

she must be reasonably close to the accident - if she’d left maybe ten minutes earlier she might be dead now.

of course they don’t clear major accident traffic’s quicker in other countries.

of course it’s a pain for your daughter - but being outraged about it is pretty grim

In most cases, what they need to be kept safe is a bit of personal responsibility and some basic common sense. Every time you get in your car to drive somewhere, you run the risk of getting stuck for all sorts of reasons. It is a known risk and you can take steps to reduce it and prepare for it.

100%!

As somebody whose sibling unfortunately took out a main road and the rail system for 8 hours when somebody was looking at their phone whilst driving over a crossing - what do you suggest? Getting a broom out to push assorted parts to the side of the road and chuck a bucket of Jeyes fluid over the brains and blood?

Never mind about accident investigation or forensics, let's just get the bits out the way so drivers just have a sticky residue to clean off their tyres, eh?

It makes me laugh that people seem to think there are just emergency service workers sat twiddling their thumbs who could be deployed to manage the stuck traffic. I work in a very large city in the south and we have around 6 ambulance crews to cover the entire city at night. It’s a similar situation with the police. They won’t have prioritised the traffic because there won’t have been anyone available to do so. If you want stuff like that then be prepared to pay more taxes to pay for it.

Sounds like your work colleague is very disorganised. Maybe this will be a lesson to her. Don't let your petrol run down to nothing (she would have had plenty of chances to fill up en route,) and get better supplies in the car on a journey!

He usually approach is to turn people round and send them the wrong way up the motorway

If we had more police (funds) ( taxes) it would happen quicker

I agree, I don't take those things and don't have blankets in the boot. I would only have water.

Very sad for the teenage girl.

😶

It’s awful when this happens. Happened to us once when a vehicle crashed and was on fire directly in front of us. It was traumatic to watch. It was also awful having young kids in the car and needing a wee etc. So yes I was very glad to not be caught up in the incident but it was still horrible. Hope your DD is ok.

I’m sure your DD is doing a lot better than those seriously injured or dead as a result of the serious incident. Posts like this are disgustingly tactless.

You can have empathy for the unfortunate person at the centre of the incident AND you can have empathy for your own DD who's stuck in gridlock as a result.

The two aren't mutually exclusive you know.

They literally travel 6 minutes from one junction to another, at the end of the work day. What a stupid comment, they're not on a 200 mile trip - it's 8 miles door to door, mostly motorway!

Or they are just living their life...