AS SOON as he heard of a 33-car collision on the M40, former Banbury fire station manager Nigel Robinson said he knew exactly what stretch of the motorway it would be.

That is because 24 years ago to the day, an almost identical collision happened on that same stretch of the motorway known as the “fog alley”.

On Valentine’s Day 1991, at 8.30am, a lorry broke down on the southbound slip road off the M40 at Junction 9.

Just like on Saturday, thick fog limited visibility. Within minutes, a car ploughed into the back of the lorry, starting a pile-up that would involve 101 cars.

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And as in yesterday’s crash, just one person lost her life – a young teacher at Oxford Brookes University.

Mr Robinson, now retired and living in Sussex, said he saw the news on Saturday on the Oxford Mail’s website, which he still checks every day.

The father-of-two said: “As soon as it happened I thought ‘I know where that is’.

“I just thought it was amazing, it was almost the exact same time.”

The grandfather-of-two said he remembers being called out to the M40 on that cold and frosty morning.

He said: “I remember getting out the car and running down the carriageway thinking ‘how far does this go on for?’ “It was still happening on the northbound carriageway because of the fog.”

Mr Robinson, who served with Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service for 32 years, said he felt “frustrated” that accidents happened in such similar circumstances.

He said: “The fact anyone dies is a tragedy.

“But we knew before they extended the motorway through the Cherwell Valley it was going to be subjected to low-lying fog.”

John Wheeler, 70, was a traffic inspector for Thames Valley Police at Bicester on February 14, 1991.

Like Mr Robinson, he said his mind went back to that day as soon as he heard the news of Saturday’s devastating collision.

Mr Wheeler, who retired in 1992 and lives in Kidlington, said: “The line of cars was exactly a mile long. At the very back of the queue was a girl in a Peugeot. She was a teacher at Oxford Brookes.

“She was getting out of her car, but then a lorry came up behind her and she was trapped inside.”

He added: “When that stretch of the motorway opened, people said there would be problems because Cherwell Valley attracts fog.”

John Lowe, 69, from Headington, worked in the control room for Oxfordshire Ambulance Service at the time.

He said: “I just find it incredible it would happen on the same day, and one person killed each time.”

Peter Barrington, who was the chief reporter for the Oxford Mail in 1991, said: “It took a long time before we were allowed on the M40 itself. I remember it was a grey day like Saturday was but it was a weekday not a weekend.”

A police investigation into the crash resulted in 30 drivers prosecuted for careless driving and one person for causing death by dangerous driving.

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