and was even hooted at by some drivers as they continued towards the crash. The crash included 51 vehicles and lasted 19 seconds, car fuel was ignited along with the combustible material being carried in one of the vans and the eastbound motorway was closed for four days as the melted wreckage was cut away and the tarmac replaced. Ten people were killed and twenty-five were injured, and there were three minor crashes caused by distracted drivers on the other side of the motorway. In Parliament Sir Michael McNair-Wilson MP asked why the Thames Valley and Wiltshire police forces had not turned on the motorway warning lights to warn drivers of the fog, but the Secretary of State for Transport, Christopher Chope, stated that these were only used for hazards not readily apparent to drivers and not adverse weather conditions. The crash led to warning lights being used to warn drivers of fog on British motorways. Governance The civil parish of Lambourn has a population of 4,103. Besides Lambourn itself, it comprises the villages of Upper Lambourn, Eastbury, Woodlands St Mary and Lambourn Woodlands, together with the hamlets of Mile End, Sheepdrove and Bockhampton and a considerable area of rural downland. The civil parish is split into four wards for electoral purposes: Upper Lambourn, Eastbury and Woodlands St Mary/Lambourn Woodlands elect two councillors; and nine are elected from Lambourn itself. The parish shares boundaries with the Berkshire parishes of East Garston and Hungerford, with the Wiltshire parishes of Chilton Foliat, Ramsbury and Baydon, and with the Oxfordshire parishes of Ashbury, Compton Beauchamp, Woolstone, Uffington, Kingston Lisle, Sparsholt, Childrey and Letcombe Bassett. The parish is part of the unitary authority of West Berkshire, and lies within Newbury parliamentary constituency. Geography Lambourn covers most of the upper valley of the River Lambourn, a bourne in the chalk upland area of the Berkshire Downs. It is northwest of Newbury, southeast of Swindon, southwest of Wantage, north of Hungerford and west of London (via B4000 and M4). Since the 1974 boundary changes, Lambourn has been the westernmost parish in Berkshire, bordering northeastern Wiltshire and southwestern Oxfordshire. Membury Services, on the site of RAF Membury, Membury transmitting station and the northeastern quarter of Membury Iron Age hillfort are in the southwest corner of the parish. Lambourn Downs The Lambourn Downs (an area of the Berkshire Downs) are part of the North Wessex Downs Area of