WEST Somerset Coroner Michael Rose has announced that inquests into the deaths of seven people killed in the M5 pile-up near Taunton on November, 4, 2011, will resume on March 31 next year.

His announcement follows the collapse of the trial at Bristol Crown Court this week of fireworks display organiser Geoffrey Counsell, who had been accused of breaking health and safety rules over a display he organised at Taunton Rugby Club on that night, a short distance from where the series of motorway collisions took place.

Father and daughter Michael and Maggie Barton, from Berkshire, grandparents Anthony and Pamela Adams, from south Wales, and Malcolm Beacham, from Woolavington, died in the crash along with Terry Brice from South Gloucestershire and Kye Thomas from Cornwall.