M65 accidents cause traffic chaos

THREE traffic incidents in as many minutes caused travel chaos on an icy stretch of motorway between Nelson and Colne yesterday morning.

Police attended the scenes of all three accidents on the M65 between junctions 13 and 14 around 10 a.m.

The fire and ambulance services also attended the most serious where a four-vehicle crash left the Burnley-bound carriageway closed for two hours after an accident close to the slip road at junction 13.

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Nobody was seriously injured but an ambulance had been called as a precaution after a woman had complained of discomfort. A member of the fire service described conditions underfoot as “treacherous” and “lethal”.

The fire service had originally been called to an incident just after the junction 13 slip road on the Colne-bound carriageway where two cars had slid into the crash barriers closing the motorway in that direction too.

While this was taking place at Nelson, police were also dealing with a third incident near to the roundabout at junction 14 at Colne where another car had skidded into crash barriers.

Roy Edwards, Watch Manager at Nelson Fire Station, who attended the most serious of the incidents, said: “It must have just froze all at once. We skidded about 10ft in the fire engine.

“We were mobilised to both incidents (at Nelson) but police were dealing with a third car further on towards junction 14.”