A MASSIVE motorway pile-up allegedly caused by smog from a fireworks display may have been avoided if the organiser had fulfilled his heath and safety duties, a jury heard yesterday.

Seven people died - including Newport pensioners Anthony and Pamela Adams - and 51 were injured after 34 cars collided when a section of the M5 in Somerset was “engulfed in thick smog” in November 2011.

Bristol Crown Court heard the smog built up during and after a fireworks display at Taunton Rugby Club and drifted across the northbound carriageway.

Motorists had “no chance” of escaping the series of crashes, which began just six minutes after Geoffrey Counsell’s 15-minute display.

Counsell, 51, of Ashill in Somerset, denies breaching health and safety regulations by failing to ensure the safety of others.

Prosecutor Peter Blair QC said Counsell boasted of a “stringent safety regime” but could not fulfil his responsibilities operating as a “one-man band” during the display.

“We say people were exposed to an appreciable risk to their personal safety that night as a consequence of the way Mr Counsell prepared for and then went about his business,” Mr Blair said.

Mr Blair said the prosecution and defence would disagree whether there was a “substantial risk” to safety from the smoke generated by the fireworks.

The jury was told that Counsell, operating under the name Firestorm Pyrotechnics, was contracted to carry out his “showstopper” £3,000 show, called the Jupiter Display.

Counsell, who claimed he had 20 years of experience, said “highly trained” experts would carry out his shows “while working to the highest possible safety standards”.

Mr Blair said the claims were “an exaggeration” and “sales talk”, with Counsell describing himself as “managing director” when he was in fact a “one-man band”.

Counsell was awarded certificates in pyrotechnics in 1999 and 2008, after studying courses featuring modules including health and safety, the court heard.

Mr Blair said Counsell attended Taunton Rugby Club three weeks before the show to discuss matters with employee Colin Bentley.

“He handed over some paperwork, which unfortunately Mr Bentley didn’t keep,” Mr Blair said. "That was, as Mr Bentley understood, a document that Mr Counsell had prepared assessing the risks for this planned fireworks display.

“Mr Bentley’s evidence was that he wasn’t handed sketches of the site.”

Mr Blair said Counsell told officers he only had one copy of his original risk assessment, which was handed to Mr Bentley. Of sketches later found at Counsell’s home, Mr Blair said: “They have fundamental misconceptions of the site, as to how far away the motorway was, as to how the fall-out might affect the motorway.”

Mr Blair said his lack of assistance had serious consequences as the thick smoke built up.

Adrian Darbishire QC, defending, said: “The prosecution’s case is that the crash was caused by an area of reduced visibility.

“The Crown suggest that the reduced visibility was caused by fireworks at the display.

“The defence say that the evidence you will see just doesn’t establish that possibility with any real certainty.

“You will see many witnesses are absolutely clear that what they saw and indeed in some cases what they drove through was not smoke, nor smog but fog.”

Proceeding.