I saw the immediate aftermath of accident, as was on bus going from Brockley Rise to Crystal Palace that got stopped - I carried on on foot past the scene, not knowing what was going on til I got there. I didn't look too close; the emergency services were there in force. My impression was that there were 3 cars in the smash - there seemed to be 3 damaged cars anyway. The road was still closed 3 or 4 hours later when I came back, so it must have been really bad. Thanks for the information. There always seem to be more accidents at Christmas - for obvious reasons - but this year I have seen 5 (fortunately none of the others as bad as this one). Other people I've spoken to have said something similar - I guess there is maybe even more stress around this year.