Gridlock and Grounds: How Britain's Love of Big Rigs Contributes to Road Chaos As drivers took to social media to complain about the latest traffic nightmare on the M6, a question hung in the air like the acrid smell of burnt rubber: what exactly were they carrying?
The three heavy goods vehicles involved in Monday morning's serious collision with a car were just the latest chapter in a long and sorry tale of Britain's addiction to oversized lorries.
The country's narrow lanes, designed for horse drawn carts and farm wagons, are now regularly clogged with 44 tonne monsters that seem to be driven by an invisible hand, oblivious to the human cost.