Weather warning as 20 vehicles crash on M1

MORE THAN 20 vehicles were involved in a crash on the M1 in Derbyshire yesterday as weather experts warned conditions would remain treacherous in the run-up to Christmas.

Part of the M1 was closed for the second time in three days as the southbound carriageway at junction 30 near Chesterfield was closed for four hours, causing a 20-mile tailback.

Last night's accident, which involved six lorries, resulted in 15 casualties. Visibility was down to 100 yards.

The RAC has warned that the M1 in Derbyshire will remain the country's worst blackspot for the next few days as freezing fog and black ice continue. In the Midlands, temperatures are expected to drop to minus 8C while visibility in Northamptonshire will be 100 yards.

The London Weather Centre said England and Wales would remain frosty and foggy until the beginning of next week. Fog would persist in the Midlands while temperatures would not rise above four or five degrees in most places. In the Birmingham area, due to cold air, they could remain at minus 1C.

Elsewhere in Britain, one woman died and two others were seriously injured in a crash on the A42 in Chippenham, Wiltshire. In a separate incident in the town two people were taken to hospital after a three car pile-up on the A350 Lacock by-pass.

In Addlestone, Surrey, rescue equipment was used to free a driver from a car after a collision with another vehicle.

A woman motorcyclist was killed when she was in a collision with a car on a minor road between Sedlescombe and Westfield in East Sussex.

In Kidlington, Oxfordshire, a motorcyclist broke his leg in a collision with a car. The accident was blamed on icy road conditions and freezing fog.