Fireworks smoke was not to blame for one of Britain’s worst motorway pile-ups, a coroner has ruled.
But West Somerset coroner Michael Rose said he could not dismiss the possibility that the smoke had mixed with thick fog and maybe further reduced motorists’ visibility.
Seven people died and 51 were injured during a series of collisions between 34 vehicles on the south-bound carriageway of the M5 near Taunton, Somerset, on the evening of November 4, 2011.
The pile-up happened at 8.20pm – five minutes after a £3,000 fireworks display by Geoffrey Counsell had finished only 200ft away at Taunton rugby club.
Last year, Mr Counsell, 51, was cleared at Bristol Crown Court of breaking health and safety laws.
During an eight-day hearing, he said he did not consider smoke to be a danger to motorists and insisted it did not drift on to the M5 from his display.
The build-up of smoke during the display did not give him any concern and there was “no reason whatsoever” to consider it as a potential hazard.
But some people at the display described seeing a “wall” of smoke drift across the rugby pitch towards spectators.
Mr Counsell agreed that if there was a fault that night, it was with the rules, regulations and guidance.
The coroner said: “I dismiss the possible cause being the smoke from the firework display itself.
“There were in the Taunton area pockets of very dense fog – in some cases of such density that only occur possibly once or maybe twice in a decade.
“Varying plumes of smoke from the firework display, particularly that caught below the inversion area, may have mixed with the fog and therefore I cannot rule out the possibility that they drifted under the inversion to the motorway and may have added to the intensity of the obscuration.”
Mr Rose said he had considered all the published literature for fireworks display organisers and “none contained a warning against using fireworks in foggy conditions”.
He said he was considering making a report to prevent future deaths but first wanted to hear from the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, the Health and Safety Executive, the Highways Agency, the British Pyrotechnists Association and Taunton Deane Borough Council.