Police said the motorway was closed in both directions near the Frankley service stations and advised motorists to avoid the area and instead use the M6 and M42. Eye witness Paul Guppy told BBC News there were fog patches on the motorway at the time of the crash. He was driving on the opposite carriageway at about 6.40am. There were fog patches, because I was driving through it with my fog lights on. That area is renowned for having fog, there's a lot of low-lying land," he said. It was quite horrendous at the time, and then it cleared. Whether the fog was a contributory thing, I don't know. The coach seemed to have been hit from the rear, on its offside, and was leaning, virtually intact, against a crash barrier, he said.