Pub footballers killed in crash

FIVE MEMBERS of a pub football team died and 13 other men were injured when their minibus and a lorry collided. The team, from the Stamford Arms, Groby, near Leicester, was heading for a night out when the crash happened in freezing fog, police said.

Four men died at the scene of the crash, on the A42 near Measham, at 8.15pm on Monday. A fifth victim died in hospital. One other person was in a "very serious" condition last night and 12 other men in the minibus were also hurt. Five of the team were treated for minor injuries and went home.

A service engineer, Simon Barnard, who drove near the scene, said: "It was like a scrapyard ... with twisted metal everywhere. It's a very busy, overcrowded road and I'm not surprised there was a crash there."

Both vehicles were thought to have been travelling in the same direction. Visibility was about 150 yards when fog descended.

Police named the dead men as: Stephen Curtis, 28, from Newtown Linford; Paul Thompson, 22, from Groby; Stephen Parker, 21, from Groby; Panayi Kouroushi, 30, from Groby; and Jeremy Goodhall, 30, from Leicester Forest East.