In October 2012, a man who had organised and was operating a fireworks display for Guy Fawkes Night at Taunton Rugby Club's ground, which is adjacent to the motorway, was charged with seven counts of manslaughter.

[2] At 8:25 pm on Friday 4 November 2011, 34 vehicles were involved in a pile-up on the northbound carriageway of the M5 motorway near junction 25 at Bathpool and Creech St Michael, 2.2 miles (3.5 km) northeast of Taunton.

[5] By 8:30 am on 6 November the emergency services had removed the vehicles from the crash site, but both carriageways of the motorway, between junctions 24 and 25, remained closed for repair work.

Two lanes of the southbound carriageway reopened at about 5 pm on 6 November,[7] and the motorway was fully re-opened in both directions four hours later, in time for the Monday morning rush-hour.

[10] On 8 November, the seven people who died were named: lorry drivers Terry Brice and Kye Thomas; father and daughter Michael and Maggie Barton; grandparents Anthony and Pamela Adams; and Malcolm Beacham.

"[12] Initially, an assistant chief constable of Avon and Somerset Police, Anthony Bangham, told reporters that it was feared more bodies were still trapped in badly-burnt vehicles, some of which had been "burnt to the ground" and were unrecognisable.

[9] Justine Greening, the Transport Secretary, told the House of Commons that it might take weeks to determine the cause of the crash.

[20] On 19 October 2012, Geoffrey Counsell, a 50-year-old man from Somerset who had provided the fireworks display at Taunton Rugby Club, was charged with seven counts of manslaughter.

[25] His trial began on 19 November[26] and concluded on 10 December when the judge directed the jury to find him not guilty of the charge, stating that Counsell had "no case to answer" and that there was not sufficient evidence that he should have foreseen smoke from the display might drift and mix with fog to form thick smog.