Inquest hears Celtic football fan walked on to M6 near Carlisle

A Celtic football fan died when he walked on to a motorway and was hit by three cars, an inquest heard.

John Burns, 22, of Glasgow, got off a coach taking supporters back to Blackburn, Lancashire, following a match in his home city in September 2024.

He told people he wanted to attend a party in Preston, the hearing was told, but decided to get off at Junction 42 of the M6 near Carlisle, where the coach had stopped to let other fans leave.

Cumbria’s coroner Margaret Taylor concluded Mr Burns, a dad of one, died of multiple injuries as a result of a road traffic collision after walking on to the northbound carriageway while intoxicated.

Cockermouth’s Coroners Court heard evidence from Mr Burns’ mum Marion Bell.

In a statement, she said her son had sustained a brain injury in 2018.

Although he could not recall what had happened, police told her it had been the result of a one punch attack.

“Following this incident he was different, he had anxiety, but he didn’t seek any help,” she said.

She had called his GP to ask for support with his mental health but Mr Burns did not want to engage.

Ms Bell said although her son did not have a drinking problem, she felt he used alcohol as a coping mechanism and it had a “negative effect” on him at times.

The inquest heard Mr Burns had decided to board the coach heading to Lancashire after a match in Glasgow on 14 September.

Evidence from fellow passengers said he had been loud and although coherent, he was intoxicated.

Asked by the coach organiser if he had money to get home from Preston, Mr Burns told him he did.

However, he decided to get off at Junction 42 and told other fans he would get picked up from there.

Passengers said they saw him sitting on the side of the road behind a safety barrier looking at his phone.

A passing motorist said Mr Burns was standing “waving his hands around”.

“He stood in my path intentionally, he was trying to get me to stop,” he said.

The man had his grandchild with him and decided he could not stop and needed to call the police.

He said he drove on to a bridge to see if he could spot Mr Burns to give officers a location when he “heard a bump”.

“It was clear he had been hit,” he said. He added he saw another two cars hitting Mr Burns.

The three drivers reported not having seen him and the inquest was told all stopped and called the police.

A Cumbria Police collision investigation report said although there was no evidence of a suicide, the force needed to consider the impact of his brain injury, “combined with alcohol and mental health struggles”.

Evidence from Mr Burns’ phone showed it had been switched off about 40 minutes before the collision.

A toxicology report found he had 207mg of alcohol per litre of blood, which was deemed “medium level”.

The coroner said the 22-year-old had “hitched a lift” with people he was not very familiar with and he “probably shouldn’t have been on that coach at all”.

“It’s not possible to say which impact caused his death, very possibly all three impacts,” she said.

She added the drivers could not have avoided what happened.

Ms Taylor said it was a “very tragic death” of a young man.

The inquest was told Mr Burns had been an electrical engineering student at the time of his death.

His mother said he had been “ecstatic” to find out his partner was pregnant in 2022 and he doted on his partner and child.

“He was a huge Celtic fan through and through,” she said.