Coach carrying Black Country passengers in 'serious' M5 crash
Seven people were injured after a coach from a Lye-based company, carrying more than 50 people from the Black Country, crashed on the M5 and ploughed into a ditch.
Around 50 passengers escaped injury, but six passengers and the driver were taken to hospital to be checked over.
The coach left the road and rolled into a ditch shortly after 10am this morning near junction 13 of the M5 near Stroud.
The coach was one of four from Prospect Coaches which was taking a mixture of adults and children from a children's centre in West Bromwich for a day out at the seaside in Weston-Super-Mare.
Christopher Nice, a spokesman for the Confederation of Passenger Transport, said: "The coach was one of four Prospect Coaches taking members of Action For Children, two from Dudley and two from West Bromwich.
"There was a mixture of children and adults on a seaside day-trip to Weston-Super-Mare.
"They left at around 8.30am this morning and the coach involved in the crash had left West Bromwich, from Bright Futures Children's Centre on Huntington Road.
"The 57-seater coached crashed on the M5 near to Michael Wood Services."
There was no one from Prospect Coaches available to comment this afternoon.
A Gloucestershire Police spokesman said: "We were notified shortly before 10am that a coach had left the southbound M5 motorway close to junction 13, had overturned and landed in a ditch.
"54 people believed to be of various ages were on board including the driver.
"Seven people have received minor injuries, not believed to be life threatening or life changing, and the driver has a suspected back injury, but is conscious."
