The MATTERS OF CONCERNS are as follows: -

I received a report from a Road Safety Engineer employed by Balfour Beatty Mott MacDonald, on behalf of the Highways Agency. That report confirmed that the current road lighting system for that section of the M65 Motorway was not operating during the hours of darkness, having been decommissioned in March 2011, as part of a “full lighting switch-off” process.

The collision involving Mr Burgess left debris in the carriageway, including an engine block which had become detached from his vehicle. I heard evidence from four witnesses, each of whom were unable to see the debris in the unlit carriageway, such that over a period of several minutes four other vehicles then collided with debris and/or accident damaged vehicles. In addition to Mr Burgess who was killed there were up to eleven other people who received varying degrees of injuries. The evidence I received was that in the absence of any street lighting and in the absence of any ambient light, including moonlight, and once vehicles had sustained sufficient damage such that no lights were operating, drivers were unable to avoid further collisions.