Six people are taken to hospital in eight-car pileup on the M5

Six people have been taken to hospital after a series of crashes involving eight vehicles including a coach on the M5 motorway on Thursday, emergency services have said.

Police were called at around 10.15am to reports of three collisions on the same stretch of road between Weston-super-Mare and Burnham-on-Sea.

Emergency crews rushed to the scene and conveyed six patients to hospital, South Western Ambulance Service Trust (SWAST) said.

Traffic on the northbound carriageway was stopped briefly to allow an air ambulance to land and lift, according to Avon & Somerset Police.

The force said it believed no injuries were deemed to be life-threatening or life-changing at this stage.

The M5 was closed on Thursday after an eight-vehicle pileup on Junction 5 occurred

A spokesperson said in a statement: ‘Emergency services attended collisions on the M5 southbound between junctions 21 for Weston-super-Mare and 22 for Burnham-on-Sea.

‘The first call came in to police just after 10.15am today, Thursday February 24.

‘Eight vehicles, including a coach, were involved in three collisions on the same section of road at that time.

‘The fire and rescue service and air and land ambulances attended.’

Lanes two and and three were reopened by 11.45am while closures in lane one were handed to National Highways at about midday ‘pending recovery of the vehicles’, it added.

A spokesperson for SWAST said: ‘We were called at 10.16hrs to a road traffic incident on the M5 between junctions 21 and 22.

‘We sent an air ambulance, two double-crewed land ambulances, two operations officers, and a hazardous area response team, and conveyed six patients to hospital by land ambulance.’