Tipton lorry driver charged after M6 horror crash left five dead
The motorway was closed for eight hours after a driver and four passengers died in the crash earlier this year.
A lorry driver has been charged over the deaths of five people who were killed in a horror crash on the M6.
Four women and one man were travelling in a Nissan Micra when it was struck by a Mercedes lorry in the early hours of May 24 heading southbound between junctions 15 and 14 near Stafford.
Zbigniew Grzabel, aged 60, from Glebefields Road, Tipton, has been charged with five counts of causing death by dangerous driving and one count of causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He will appear at Stafford Crown Court on January 15.
The victims, Marius Zevian, 45, Cucoana Zevian, 49, Gheorghita Radu, 56, Nicoleta-Marinela Florea, 42, and 34-year-old Marcela Sandu, were all Romanian and living in Stoke-on-Trent.
Another man who was taken to hospital suffered serious injuries but survived.
The carriageway between junctions 15 for Stoke and 14 for Stafford was closed for several hours as investigations began and recovery teams cleared the wreckage, leading to major tailbacks on the motorway.
It was shortly before noon when the motorway reopened, seven hours after the incident.
The lorry driver, who was unhurt, was arrested and questioned following the crash and has now been charged in connection with the five deaths.
Two ambulances, a paramedic officer, a MERIT trauma doctor and two emergency doctors were sent to the scene along with fire crews from Stone and Longton.
Medics arrived to a scene of carnage and it soon became clear nothing could be done to save the five victims.
