TOM Raeburn was driving south on the M5 when he spotted the mayhem created by the massive pile-up.

He said: "People started braking and coming to a stop.

"My first thoughts were, 'Let's get out and run and try to do something.

"But there's flames 20 or 30 feet high, lots of smoke, lots of people running, children crying, people crying, people sitting on the road not knowing what to do with themselves.

"What do you do when you've got masses of flames?"

Pam Martin, 83, of Creech St Michael, who was one of the people observing the scene this morning (Saturday) said:“We send our sympathies to the families of those involved.

“The last thing we saw the motorway like that was when it was being built.

“We heard a bang at about 8.30pm but we thought it was a big fire work.

“We could see down the road and there was the lights and big black smoke.