M62 coach bomb victims remembered

Deputy Mayor Councillor Derek Heffernan lays a wreath at the service

RELATIVES, friends and officials remembered the people killed in the IRA bomb attack on the M62 in 1974 with a special service at Hartshead Moor service station yesterday.

L/Cpl James John McShane, who was 28, of Long Land, Chadderton, and Fusilier Jack Hynes, who was 19, from Age Croft, Alt, were among the 12 victims.

The blast tore the back off the army coach transporting soldiers and relatives to Catterick after weekend leave on February 4, 1974. Nine soldiers and three civilians died and another 50 passengers were seriously injured.

Oldham’s deputy mayor and mayoress, Derek and Di Heffernan, were among those who paid tributes at the service. The Oldham Liaison of Ex-Service Associations organised the act of remembrance, at the westbound Hartshead Moor services. A memorial to those who died is now installed at the entrance hall of the building, which was used as a first-aid station after the attack. There is now a larger memorial, set away from the foyer, following a campaign by relatives of the victims.