Coach driver bailed over M1 fatal crash

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A coach driver who was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving following yesterday's fatal M1 collision has been released.

Three men travelling in an Audi A3 died - the driver, a man in his 50s from London, and two men in their 20s who were returning to their Buckinghamshire homes following a night out in the capital, Bedfordshire Police said.

A third passenger, also in his 20s, is in a critical but stable condition at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford following surgery.

Police said the coach driver has been released on unconditional bail to return to police headquarters custody suite in Kempston in May.

The double-decker coach collided with a stationary car on the hard shoulder on the M1 near Flitwick.

The killed men's next of kin have are being supported by specially trained family liaision officers from Bedfordshire Police.

None of the victims will be named until formal identification has taken place and inquests are opened and adjourned, which will be early next week.

Nobody on the coach, which was travelling from Kent with a group of 60 women and three men in their late teens and early 20s, was hurt.

Police continue to appeal for witnesses to the collision, which happened on the northbound hard shoulder of the M1 between junction 12 and 13 at 6.46am yesterday.

The road was closed for several hours.

A total of four people were killed in motorway crashes yesterday as families hit the roads for half-term breaks.

The two fatal crashes happened within an hour of each other and caused traffic to come to a virtual standstill.

A 40 vehicle pile-up in thick fog on the M40 in Oxfordshire left one man dead, another person fighting for life and injured 40 more.

PA