Metro chaos as two die in car crash

Feb 3 2006 By Steve Johnson, Birmingham Mail

TWO women were killed in a hump-backed bridge horror crash which brought chaos to the Midland Metro system.

The two victims of the tragedy were both in the same car which lost control and smashed into a wall in the Black Country.

The accident on the A41 Bilston Road in Monmore Green, Wolverhampton, caused travel mayhem for Metro passengers, with trams forced to start and finish at Priestfields instead of the St George's terminus in Wolverhampton city centre.

Acting Insp Bal Mand, of Bilston Street police, said the crash happened just before 2.20 am.

"It appears there was only one vehicle involved, with three people inside. Two people in the car were killed and a third person was taken to New Cross Hospital and later discharged.

"Investigations are under way into the cause of the accident but it happened close to a hump-backed bridge and it is possible that may have contributed to the crash.

"The car smashed into a wall near the Hartwell car dealership and officers were at the scene for a number of hours carrying out tests," he added.

Travel bosses laid on a fleet of buses to ferry Metro passengers from the St George's terminus to the Priestfields stop further up the line. n A man was seriously injured when his car smashed into the rear of an articulated lorry on the M6 in the Black Country.

The accident happened at about 10.20 pm yesterday on the southbound cariageway of the M6 at junction 10 at Walsall.

The man suffered severe head and chest injuries and was trapped in the wreckage of his Vauxhall vectra for more than half an hour as firefighters battled to free him.

West Midlands Fire Service Divisional Officer Andyn Grosvenor said that crews used cutting gear to release the driver, who was in his 20s.

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