“we were on the way to burnham wen me and my dad saw this man and he look tragiced, im socked and shamed tht he jumped. he didnt look like a bad person, he was quite old, had a ripped creamish t-shirt and teared jeans, as i can remember , he had a long grey beard and i cnt remember if he had hair, but i kno tht he will be sadly missed”

“my family & I (inc. my 1yr old Grandson) were caught up in this terribly sad situation, it took us 15 hours to get back home - but you what? we let it go, you want to know why? because if by causing abit of inconvenience The Emergency services managed to save a life then inconvenience means nothing at all. some are using this as a stick to beat The local Police, would you have swopped places with the Officers that day? or with the Officer who couldn't grab him as he fell? i know we wouldn't! would you have been happy for huge screens to be erected around YOUR loved one just to keep the traffic moving,? we know we wouldn't! screens would not have been practicle in this instance 1. with the motorway at standstill it would have taken so long to get them to the bridge making them pointless . 2. the danger from 'rubber-neckers' would have put us all in danger 3. the wind that day was fierce, ten times worse on the brow of the bridge i've no doubt. some people have attempted to create the picture of starving/ dying people etc , it wasn't like that at all, people were very generous and looked out for each other, so ok, we may have been abit uncomfortable but hey we all got home to our loved ones which is more than this gentlemen did.
to the Officers on duty that awful day - you did all you could in EVERY way, thank heavens for our brave men & women of our Emergency Services - it's YOU we ALL turn to when the proverbial hits the fan!! including the complainers! there for the grace etc etc etc”

“having been held up for 4 hours trying to get back from portbury docks to avonmouth, i believe the avon police were entirely to blame with the way they handled the situation, why not put up covers to shield the situation from motorists and allow the traffic to flow, at the end of the day this person created mayhem on the m5, and put thousands of motorists at risk, how good is this police negotiator ?, and how much has this all cost too bristol taxpayers.”

“It was not this poor guys actions that caused the traffic mayhem, that must fall directly upon the shoulders of the Avon & Somerest Constabulary and the Highways Agency. The Highways Agency 'practice' rolling road blocks on the M5 every week, and it is just a shame they did not bring that into action last friday by introducing them through each stretch of the M5 between junctions and have traffic leave the M5 at the next exit(s). Something like this is not rocket science and would have kept the traffic moving. We must insist that for the future we need contingency plans in place, as this willl not be the last time the motorway network here in the west country will have closures.”