Police are investigating why a loaded tipper truck apparently careered out of control on a steep hill in Bath, killing a four-year-old girl and three adults.
The truck was taken away for forensic examination and the road remained closed as officers try to establish the cause of the accident on Monday afternoon, in which five other people were hurt, including the driver.
Police said the lorry collided with pedestrians and cars as it travelled at speed down the hill close to Weston All Saints primary school as parents and children milled around outside.
Residents described hearing the frantic sounding of a horn just before the crash and police said early witness reports suggest the driver of the 32-tonne lorry lost control after taking evasive action to avoid an earlier accident.
The four-year-old girl, from Bath, was walking with her grandmother when the crash happened. The three men who died, all from south Wales, were travelling in a car when it was hit by the truck. Police said they were aged 59, 52 and 34.
The 59-year-old was from Cwmbran, and the 52- and 34-year-old were from Swansea, police said.
Ch Insp Norman Pascal, of Avon and Somerset police, said on Tuesday morning that investigators had worked through the night to try to establish what caused the crash. He said the lorry had been examined in situ but was taken away at 5.30am for further tests.
Officers were waiting to speak to the driver as soon as he was well enough to be interviewed and were appealing for more witnesses.
Pascal said the hill was very steep and it was cold at the time of the crash. He said it was lucky that most children had already left the area around the school.
Schoolchildren, parents, grandparents and parishioners packed All Saints church in Weston for a special service on Tuesday morning. Some carried flowers, others wrote messages of condolence in a book at the back of the church. One man sobbed uncontrollably, consoled by a friend as he waited for the service to begin.
Rector Patrick Whitworth said those in church represented not just the people of Weston but the “many thousands across the nation” who had been shocked by the crash.
He said the community would come together to support the families of those who were killed or injured. “We’re here to remember those who died and those who are recovering in hospital. We are also here to comfort each other. We encourage each other by being together.”
Whitworth thanked the many children who were able to attend church because their school remained closed. He said staff and the headteacher were meeting to plan how to re-open the school on Wednesday.
The rector said the investigation would find out whether a mechanical fault was behind the crash. But he said nobody knew, on a more fundamental level, why on a lovely, bright February afternoon “such a terrible disaster” should occur.
Whitworth said police had thanked those people who were first on the scene for the help they had provided. He said many of the congregation would know the families of those involved – and perhaps the girl, too. “We will weep with them and then mourn with them,” he said.
One large candle was lit to represent God’s presence and four smaller ones for those who lost their lives.
On Monday evening, Ch Supt Caroline Peters, of Avon and Somerset police, described the scene as “carnage”.
“Early reports are [the lorry] was travelling down at speed … it has tried to avoid an accident but in doing so has then collided with two pedestrians.” She said the lorry subsequently hit a number of other vehicles before spilling its load across the road.
The scene of the crash, Lansdown Road in Upper Weston, is known locally as a “rat run” and people have long campaigned for more safety measures. The road has a vehicle-width restriction in parts and police will be investigating where the lorry began its journey, and where it was going.
Don Foster, the Liberal Democrat MP for Bath, said: “The community is in shock, both for the families of those killed and also those who have been injured.”
Foster said the council had imposed 20mph speed restrictions on parts of the road to try to prevent accidents. “It is a road where we have put speed limits in and flashing lights because it is quite a steep hill coming down,” he said. “There have been attempts by the council over the years to improve safety.”
Councillor Colin Barrett said he had been campaigning for safety on the road for 14 years. “Although we have a 20mph limit here, drivers just don’t adhere to it,” he said.
One 21-year-old woman, who ran outside when she heard the crash, said: “It was a loud rumble and then all of a sudden all you could hear was a lorry beeping constantly and then there was a loud bang and the beeping stopped. I think he was trying to warn people he couldn’t stop. It was a mess. There was someone lying in the road with a blanket over them. I’ve never seen anything like that before.”