Chaos on M5 as ‘loose dog' sparks 3-car crash with emergency crews scrambled & hour-long tailbacks
The crash occurred yesterday (May 11) at around 12.15pm.
1
Emergency services were called to the scene of a three-car crash between junctions 8 (M50) and 7 (Worcester South).
Motorists suffered delays around 8am today after Lane 3 of the M5 was closed following the collision.
The crash caused around 4 miles of congestion which added an hour to normal journey times.
Lanes were reopened around 10am, with expected delays of around half an hour remaining.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Top Gear
2 hours ago
- Top Gear
Aston Martin Vanquish Volante Review 2025
You thought BMW was into big grilles? Just have a look at the faces of the current Aston Martin range. The new Vanquish Volante is an absolute stunner though, and everything about this open-topped, self-proclaimed 'Super GT' is big. The mouth itself is apparently 13 per cent bigger than the one on the previous DBS Superleggera Volante. That's to help with cooling, of course, but we reckon the designers didn't mind having to go large. There's also a 25mm wider rear track and an extra 80mm in the wheelbase compared to the old car. Heck, just look at the length of the carbon bonnet. Advertisement - Page continues below What's under that bonnet? Has Aston been downsizing? Absolutely not. Said bonnet hides a twin-turbo 5.2-litre V12 that sends a terrifying 824bhp and 738lb ft of torque to the rear wheels through an eight-speed auto gearbox by ZF. Aston freely admits that it wants this car to be just a little bit scary, and it's got the proportions of a proper old school muscle car. Oh, and if for some reason you can't see the roof, you'll be able to tell the Volante apart thanks to its lower rear lip spoiler. The floating 'shield' is still there on the rear though and can be specced in myriad different ways. So, is it fast? Absolutely. The Volante may be saddled with an extra 95kg over the Vanquish coupe thanks to the roof mechanism and some extra body strengthening, but it's still alarmingly quick. That should be obvious with an on-paper 0-62mph time of 3.4 seconds (one tenth slower than the coupe) and a top speed of 214mph. But it's the way it gets there that's so visceral, particularly if you spec the lightweight titanium exhaust option and spend 14-seconds dropping the neat 'K-fold' roof. Advertisement - Page continues below And it's not just straight-line speed either, the big Aston gets an e-diff on the rear axle and will go round corners too. Click through to the Driving tab of this review for all the detail. And it's not just straight-line speed either, the big Aston gets an e-diff on the rear axle and manages to shrink itself when things get twisty. This is a near two-tonne car so it's not the last word in steering feel, but it's got a sharp front end and drive modes that allow you to change its character. Click through to the Driving for a full debrief. Tell me more about that roof… Ah yes, that's why you're here isn't it? Aston has gone for a fabric top that can pop back up again at the touch of a button in just 16 seconds. You can operate it both ways at speeds of up to 31mph, and while stowed it sits at just 260mm tall so the rear deck can remain remarkably flat. It also has many layers of insulation, and Aston claims that it offers 'a level of thermal insulation directly comparable to Vanquish Coupe'. Blimey. How much does it cost? Prices should start at around £15k more than the Vanquish coupe, so you're looking at an entry price of around £345,000. Yikes. And you'd better ask the bank manager for even more than that, because the options list is endless and Aston says that over 70 per cent of Vanquish coupes sold so far have had some form of bespoke work carried out by its special Q department. You'll want to get in quick too, because Aston will only build 1,000 examples of the Vanquish each year, with the coupe and convertible both contributing to that overall number. It's probably worth noting that you will actually be saving yourself some cash if you go for the Vanquish over its main rival, though. That's the £366,500 Ferrari 12Cilindri Spider, which also features a whopping V12 engine but does without turbocharging. Your call. Failing that, the bargain bin option is the Bentley Continental GTC. Not something we ever imagined saying about a Bentley. Or a V8 hybrid with more power than a Le Mans Hypercar. But here we are. What's the verdict? ' It doesn't feel as though chopping the roof off has had an adverse effect on the ride and handling ' The Vanquish Volante's headline figures and muscle car looks might make you think that it'd only tell a bedtime horror story, but this is actually a car with a real breadth of ability. It'll sing you a nice lullaby too if you ask it nicely and stick with its softer GT mode. We're yet to drive it back-to-back with a coupe, but it doesn't feel as though chopping the roof off has had an adverse effect on the ride and handling, and it just means that booming V12 sound is even more accessible. Plus, even though it's a fabric roof you could still comfortably cross continents in this thing while still chatting to a passenger or making hands-free calls. Just remember to hang up when things get twisty, because with over 800bhp heading to the rear wheels, the Vanquish still has the ability to transform into a supercar that demands your full attention.
Top Gear
2 hours ago
- Top Gear
The fastest electric Vauxhall is this new Mokka GSE, and it'll do 0-62mph in 5.9s
First Look Remember when we said 'make the GSE Rally prototype'? Well, they sorta did Skip 7 photos in the image carousel and continue reading This is the Vauxhall Mokka GSE, and when it arrives at some undisclosed point in the future, it will be no less than the fastest all-electric Vauxhall. Admittedly not the highest bar to breach, but still: Fast Vauxhalls are back! Only, this won't get any actual drive to the back, because it's front-wheel drive only. Taking its inspiration from the GSE Rally prototype - and Opel's involvement in e-rallying - Vauxhall has sent its Mokka to Motorsport School. So, there's a 54kWh battery, a 276bhp/255lb ft front-mounted motor and a Torsen multi-plate limited slip diff. You're already seeing the similarities to other hot crossovers in the Stellantis stable, aren't you? Advertisement - Page continues below Then come a shiny new set of 'double hydraulic' dampers, a rear axle that's 189 per cent stiffer than the regular car (don't sneeze during a corner or you'll fly), and further undisclosed tweaks to the steering and chassis. Massive brakes, too: 380mm/four-pots up front, courtesy of Alcon. All this motorsport finery means the new Mokka GSE will be able to accelerate from 0-62mph in just 5.9s and top out at 124mph. Fast. Vauxhall claims a 1.6-tonne kerbweight – impressive for an EV – and the option of three driving modes including normal, eco and sport. You can guess what each one does. You might like No need to guess about its design. You'll spot GSE inserts, new 20in wheels hiding yellow calipers, Alcantara sports seats and inserts, a new steering wheel, and a GSE-specific design for the touchscreen. All of this laid on top of a car that scooped a TG design award a few years ago. 'The Mokka GSE is made to be exciting to drive and builds on a proud heritage of sporting Vauxhalls for the modern electric era,' said Vauxhall boss Steve Catlin. Advertisement - Page continues below No word on when it'll arrive or indeed how much this sporting Vauxhall will cost, but stay tuned. Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Look out for your regular round-up of news, reviews and offers in your inbox. Get all the latest news, reviews and exclusives, direct to your inbox.
Top Gear
3 hours ago
- Top Gear
Aston Martin Vanquish Volante Driving, Engines & Performance
Driving What is it like to drive? As you might expect with 824bhp from a twin-turbo V12, the driving experience is mostly dominated by that engine. We described full throttle in the Vanquish coupe as 'like falling horizontally towards the view', and although the Volante sacrifices a tenth of a second in the 0-62mph stakes, once you've got the roof down and can feel the wind tearing your hair out, it feels like it's even faster than its tin-topped sibling. Advertisement - Page continues below Like the coupe, the convertible gets Aston's clever new 'Boost Reserve' function to help the turbos react as quickly as possible, and while you can catch it out by burying the throttle in too high a gear, if you drop a couple of quick cogs using the wheel-mounted paddles you'll feel exactly when the turbos are fed with that stored pressure. There's serious, almost-instant shove. Excellent grip from the special Pirelli tyres too, although it's still a wild ride and is accompanied by a brutal 12-cylinder soundtrack. The drop-top Volante is all the better for hearing said sound, too. What about when you get to a corner? Okay, perhaps there's not quite as much feedback through the steering wheel as we might like, but this is a giant GT that still gets a sharp front end and changes direction very neatly. The extra weight mostly sits towards the rear of the car, so the weight distribution is closer to 50:50 than you'll find in the coupe. The steering has a decent weight to it and doesn't feel overly assisted either, while the e-diff shuffles power to keep the rear in check through bends. You get a hefty brake pedal too and awesome stopping power from the standard carbon ceramic brakes, plus there's Aston's multi-stage traction control to up the ante and remove assistance in carefully judged stages. Advertisement - Page continues below Can it still do the job of a GT? While Sport and Sport+ modes deliver noise and thunder that make the Vanquish Volante feel like a maniacal supercar, in the standard GT mode the torque curve is carefully shaped in the first four gears for slightly more relaxing acceleration that builds to a crescendo higher in the rev range. The adaptive Bilstein dampers are softened to allow for a little bit of body roll too and – when closed – the fabric roof deploys its 'multi-layered insulation' to keep road and wind noise from filling the cabin. It's a remarkably quiet cruiser, with noise cancelling tech in its tyres and that monstrous engine ticking over at 1,500rpm at motorway speeds. Probably worth noting here that you also get a 'Wet' mode, and while we didn't drive the Vanquish Volante in any rain, we'd imagine we would be quite thankful that it limits torque to just under 300lb ft. What's the ride like? The Volante's rear spring rate is up seven per cent over the coupe and the front anti roll bar is seven per cent stiffer too, but it's the same basic chassis as the hard-top and Aston says it developed them side-by-side to ensure that no compromises were made when chopping off the roof. The ride is on the firmer side particularly if you step out of GT mode, but it still copes admirably with bigger bumps in the road and there's seemingly no flex in the chassis. We're told it's around 75 per cent stiffer than the previous DBS Superleggera Volante. Of course, there's also an Individual drive mode that allows you to benefit from the softer suspension setup of GT mode and the barnstorming throttle map of Sport mode.
