Car going wrong way on M6 in crash that left two children, man and woman from Glasgow dead
A horror crash that left four people from Glasgow dead occurred when a car went the wrong way down the M6 motorway, police have confirmed.
Five people, including two children, tragically passed away in the collision on the motorway on Tuesday (October 15) afternoon.
Emergency services were called to the incident on the northbound carriageway near Tebay Services at 4.04pm. Cumbria Police have now confirmed a Skoda was travelling southbound on the northbound carriageway, causing the head-on crash with a Toyota.
The driver of the Skoda, a 40-year-old man from Cambridgeshire was pronounced dead at the scene.
READ MORE: Resident '50 yards' from M6 tragedy which killed Glasgow family describes harrowing scene
READ MORE: Glasgow family die in tragic M6 crash as third child remains in hospital
The driver of the Toyota a 42-year-old man, a 33-year-old woman and two boys aged 15 and seven - all from Glasgow - were also pronounced dead at the scene.
A fifth person in the Toyota, a boy, aged seven and also from Glasgow, rushed to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle where he remains in a serious condition.
Formal identification of those involved has not yet taken place. The families of those involved are being supported by specially trained officers.
Cumbria Police said in a statement: "Officers would like to thank members of the public that assisted at the scene and those affected by the collision for their patience.
"We would also like to thank those that have already been in touch who witnessed or have dashcam of the incident, we continue the appeal to anyone with information or with dashcam to contacts us.
"Anyone with information relating to this incident can report online at https://orlo.uk/MUAd3, quoting incident number 146 of 15 October 2024.
"You can also phone on 101. Alternatively, you can contact Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111."
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Local resident Chris Isles said he was around "yards" away from the accident and saw black smoke and flames. The 58-year-old from Kirkoswald near Penrith, in Cumbria, told the PA news agency: "From where I was, 50 yards further back, it just seemed like a vehicle fire.
"I was parked up and I could see the smoke. It hadn't really happened that long. I literally must have been two minutes behind it happening.
"I got out of my (campervan) and just looked down the line and between the lines of vehicles in front of me, I could see there was quite a big fire that started. This was at 10 past 4. Less than 20 minutes later the air ambulance was there."
Mr Isles, who captured a photo of smoke billowing into the sky, was driving home and was expected to take only seven minutes to drive from junction 38 to 39, but said he was stuck in "standstill" traffic for around three and a half hours.
"I was up near the front. They seemed to have turned everybody back from the back of the queue forward," said Mr Isles, who is a publican.
"So where we were, we were probably some of the last people to get off. It was about half past seven when we eventually got moved."
He said he feels "really shocked" at the incident and is "thinking of the family of everybody". He added: "It's terrible. It never crossed my mind that there would have been five people killed. It's awful."
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