BACK up to the emergency services was provided by St John Ambulance.

A spokesman said: "Sixty-five first aiders from the charity were due to provide emergency medical cover at the Bridgwater carnival.

"St John Ambulance volunteers faced their own challenges to reach the event following the collapse of a large section of wall and road into the River Parrett at West Quay.

"St John Ambulance was then called on to provide back up to the South Western Ambulance Service Trust which was dealing with the M5 accident. Eight of the charity’s ambulances and two staffed paramedic cars were deployed to assist South West Ambulance Service Trust.

"Overall, 70 St John Ambulance volunteers were involved during the night, including running a command and control facility to co-ordinate the effort.

"At the carnival, there was one treatment unit manned by a doctor, nurse, and first aiders, three cycle response units, and five teams of first aiders."

Gerard Woods, Acting Commissioner Operations for St John Ambulance Somerset, said: "We had what can only be described as an unprecedented evening of events from the collapse of a road in the centre of Bridgwater into the river at the start of the evening to the M5 crash.

"The road collapse impacted on our initial deployment to our triage and treatment unit at the carnival at a time when lots of traffic was entering Bridgwater for the carnival. This also caused other issues for ourselves and the emergency services.

"Followed by the tragic incident on the M5 later in the evening, we managed first aid cover at the carnival and delivered a 999 service supporting the ambulance service which was committed to the M5 incident. Our last unit stood down at 5am on Saturday morning."

St John Ambulance provides back up to ambulance services all around the country in times of need.