TODAY marks the eighth anniversary of one of the most horrific motorway crashes in Britain.

A total of seven people were killed and 51 injured in a 34-vehicle pile up just past Junction 25 northbound on the M5 at Taunton.

A huge fireball erupted after the multiple crash during thick fog on November 4, 2011.

The crash coincided with a fireworks display at nearby Taunton Rugby Club – an inquest said the smoke from the event did not cause the area of reduced visibility leading up to the crash, although the Coroner said it “may have added to the intensity of the obscuration” on a night of thick fog.

Among those to lose their lives were Tony and Pamela Adams, aged 73 and 70, who were on their way home to Newport after visiting their daughter, Tonia White, and her family in Taunton.

Also killed were father and daughter Michael, 67, and Maggie Barton, 30, from Windsor; Malcolm Beacham, 46, from Woolavington; and lorry drivers Terry Brice, 55, from South Gloucestershire, and Kye Thomas, 38.

Hundreds of emergency workers rushed to the scene and hospitals staff were called in to deal with the sheer volume of people needing treatment.

The heat of the fire that engulfed the vehicles melted the road surface and left a scene of mangled wreckage.

There were several cases of heroic rescuers pulling badly injured people to safety.

A permanent memorial to those who died in the crash was opened at Hankridge on the anniversary of the tragedy.

Phil White, the husband of Tonia, said: "We want to remember everyone who died that day - not just our family."