Kent pile-up to cost insurers more than £600k

A 130 car pile-up on the Sheppey Crossing in Kent is estimated to cost insurers more than £600,000.

The crash occurred in foggy conditions and more than 200 people were injured in what has been described as one of the country’s biggest incidents in living memory.

AA product and marketing manager Ian Crowder said: “Today, insurers will be counting the cost. Dealing with multiple collisions of this sort and handling the personal injury claims that result is complex. The cost of claims will likely run to £600,000 or more but that of course ignores the considerable additional costs.”

Sittingbourne and Sheppey MP Gordon Henderson said he had raised concerns about the design of the bridge when it was first built in 2006.

Henderson said: “These concerns revolved around the lack of lighting on the bridge and a lack of a hard shoulder. Yesterday’s major accident is now subject to an investigation. Now until the results to that are known we have no idea whatsoever if the lights on the bridge would have made any difference to that.

“I will be raising the issue in Parliament and will ask the Department of Transport to undertake a review into the safety of the bridge in light of the accident. I am sure the Highways Agency will carry out its own review. I would like to see matrix signs at either end of the bridge, which in future could warn people in advance of any incidents.”

Institute for Advanced Motorists policy director Neil Grieg said the incident could have been worse.

“I think the heavy traffic saved people yesterday. With a 70mph speed limit, the bridge has the look and feel of a motorway but with no hard shoulder, a steep gradient and limited space it is not safe to go at that speed in bad weather, so I think the speed limit and design of the road need to be reviewed,” he said. “People have driven in fog on that bridge before with no problem – something different happened yesterday and I think that needs to be the focus of the police investigation.”